Dong Xuan Market Opening Hours & Timings, Hanoi

This page covers the hours only. For what to buy there and the other markets worth a stop, read our guide to shopping in Hanoi.

Our Vietnam desk cross-checked these timings against Vietnam Tourism's Dong Xuan Market guide and four other published guides.

Dong Xuan Market Timings at a Glance

Dong Xuan Market Opening Hours

The covered market opens at 6 AM. By then the ground-floor wholesalers have been unloading bolts of fabric, sacks of dried mushrooms and cartons of plastic sandals for an hour, so the doors open onto a floor that is already loud. Retail stalls on the upper floors roll up their shutters between 7 and 8 AM. That is where you'll find clothes, bags, souvenirs and household goods.

No single authority sets these hours. Every stall keeps its own time, which is why guides online quote anything from 6 PM to 8 PM for closing. Across every source we checked, 6 AM to 6 PM is the window that holds seven days a week. Shop inside it, and don't count on the last half hour.

What Time Does Dong Xuan Market Close?

The day market closes at 6 PM. Vendors on the upper floors start bagging stock from about 5:30 PM, and by 6:30 PM most of the building is shuttered. A handful of ground-floor stalls linger past that, which is where the 7 PM figure on some sites comes from. If you get there after 4:30 PM, head straight for the floor you need instead of browsing from the bottom up.

On a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, closing time isn't the end of the evening. The street outside the gate turns into the night market from 6 PM.

Wholesale Hours (5 to 9 AM) and the Quietest Time (1 to 3 PM)

Come between 5 and 9 AM if you're buying in bulk. Fabric, ready-made clothing, dried food and packaging are all at their lowest prices then, because traders from across northern Vietnam are stocking their own shops. Most wholesalers sell by the dozen, the bolt or the carton, and in the morning rush some won't split a pack for one piece. Porters push handcarts through aisles barely wider than the cart. Keep to the side.

After lunch the pace drops. Weekdays between 1 and 3 PM are the quietest, the easiest time to browse the upper floors and bargain without a queue behind you. The catch is heat. The upper floors have little airflow, and from May to September they get close.

Dong Xuan Night Market Timings (Friday to Sunday)

The Dong Xuan night market is an open-air street market, not the market building. It runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from about 6 PM to 11 PM. It starts on Hang Dao Street near Hoan Kiem Lake and runs north through Hang Ngang and Hang Duong to the Dong Xuan gate. Stalls are up by 6:30 PM. The crowd peaks between 7:30 and 10 PM, and vendors start packing after 10:30 PM.

Some sites give midnight as the closing time. A few food and clothes stalls do stay that late on Saturdays, but most of the street is cleared by 11 PM, so treat 11 PM as the practical end. Sunday stalls often leave a little earlier.

The route sits inside Hanoi's weekend walking-street zone. Cars and motorbikes are kept out, and Grab drops you at the edge. Expect cheap T-shirts, phone cases, lacquerware souvenirs and snack carts, and on some weekends a folk-music stage. Our guide to Vietnamese street food covers the Hanoi dishes worth trying along the way.

Is Dong Xuan Market Open Today? Sundays, Public Holidays and Tet 2027

Almost certainly yes. The market has no weekly day off. It opens on Sundays and trades on most public holidays, including New Year's Day (1 January), Reunification Day (30 April), Labour Day (1 May) and National Day (2 September).

Tet, the Lunar New Year, is the exception. Tet 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. The wholesale ground floor usually closes from Tet eve for 3 to 5 days, so expect a shut or half-empty market from around 5 to 10 February 2027. Retail floors reopen first, on shorter hours.

The two weeks before Tet are the other side of that coin. It is the busiest stretch of the year, with stalls stacked high with red gift boxes, candied fruit and peach-blossom decorations. If your trip lands in late January 2027, go. Just go early in the day.

Best Time To Visit Dong Xuan Market

For the local scene, go on a weekday between 7 and 9 AM. For easy browsing, go between 1 and 3 PM. For street food and a crowd, go on a Friday to Sunday evening.

October to April is the comfortable stretch. December to February is cool and often drizzly, around 15 to 20°C, so a light jacket helps on early-morning visits. May to September is hot and humid, with afternoon storms, and the upper floors get stuffy by noon. For a month-by-month view, see the best time to visit Vietnam.

One timing trap for Indian travellers. Hanoi is 1 hour 30 minutes ahead of IST, so reset your phone on landing. A quick stop before closing planned on India time will reach a shuttered market.

How to Reach Dong Xuan Market

The market stands on Dong Xuan Street at the northern edge of the Old Quarter, about 1 km north of Hoan Kiem Lake. The walk takes 12 to 15 minutes up Hang Dao and Hang Ngang streets, the same route the night market uses. A Grab bike from the lake costs roughly 15,000 to 25,000 VND and a Grab car 30,000 to 45,000 VND. Long Bien station is about a 5-minute walk and the old Long Bien Bridge about 10 minutes. For bus routes and step-by-step directions, see how to reach Dong Xuan Market.

Tips for Timing Your Visit

Carry Vietnamese dong in small notes. Few stalls take cards, and early-morning wholesalers rarely have change for a 500,000 VND note.

Bargain on the upper floors, starting at around 60 to 70% of the asking price. Ground-floor wholesale prices are mostly fixed.

Wear your bag in front and keep it zipped during the 5 to 9 AM rush and at the weekend night market. Both are prime pickpocket hours.

Photograph the arched French-era façade (the market dates from 1889) before 7 AM, while it is still free of delivery trucks.

Entry is free. More detail on our Dong Xuan Market entry fee page, and practical advice in our Dong Xuan Market tips.

Plan Your Hanoi Trip

Dong Xuan fits neatly into an Old Quarter morning. Walk down to Hoan Kiem Lake afterwards, and save a water-puppet show for the evening. The things to do in Hanoi guide covers the rest of the city. For the bigger picture, start with our Hanoi travel guide.

Short on planning time? Our Hanoi tour packages build an Old Quarter walk into the first day, and Vietnam tour packages add Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh to the trip.

Edited by TravelTriangle