Hanoi is extremely beautiful and romantic, especially in the evening, this place will become more shimmering. If one day you come to visit Hanoi, then you can walk out to the streets to hear Hanoi’s rhythm and see Hanoi in the old look. This article will give you the most fantastic things to do in Hanoi city at night, maybe, you can have some great suggestions for your trip!

1) Watching a water puppet show

Water puppetry is a kind of traditional theatrical art, with meaningful and profound educational contents. With the flow of time, water puppetry has still existed and developed as a spiritual product of Vietnamese people, attracting not only domestic audiences but also international tourists. Many people have seen that admiring a water puppet performance is a really entertaining thing to do in Hanoi city at night.
Each character (puppet) in a water puppet is a folk sculpture, made of wood, painted outside to be waterproof to have a distinct appearance that is showing the different characters. The specific feature of this art form is that audiences do not know the actors, but only the wooden puppets working over surface of the water. Artists are always hidden behind the curtains. To make the puppies gliding smoothly on the water, the artists have to take a long time to practice.
Throughout the water puppet shows, foreign audiences will have opportunities to understand the life, culture and people of Vietnam, contributing to improving the knowledge and prestige of Vietnamese culture and art on the international arena.

2) Walking around Hanoi Old Quarters

One of the most fantastic experiences that tourists should try is walking around Hanoi old quarters. Walking is a simple way for you to experience everyday life of Hanoi and local people here. Particularly, you may have opportunities to take part in exciting activities besides going for a stroll such as: shopping or participating in traditional games at Hanoi walking street every weekends, …
Hanoi Weekend Night Market has long been one of the shopping places should not be missed for residents as well as visitors when visiting Hanoi. This is not only a place where people are doing normal shopping activities but also a place for cultural exchanges, preserving many unique features of Hanoi. Therefore, going shopping at the night market has been one of the most amusing things to do in Hanoi city at night. This bustling night market is located in the district of Hoan Kiem, next to the Sword Lake (Hoan Kiem Lake) and Hanoi walking street. Hanoi Night Market is a combination of ancient features of timeless colored roofs, mossy walls with busy and bustling atmosphere. In addition to attractive dishes, Hanoi Weekend Night Market also attracts visitors by items such as cell phone cases, meticulously designed cards, clothes, shoes, bags, belts, homemade goods, souvenirs, … Each item has a suitable and reasonable price.
This night market opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Especially, on every Saturday night, at Hanoi walking street, there is also a place for tourists to enjoy street performances, including modern dance types along with traditional arts … This is also one of the most outstanding features of Hanoi Weekend Night Market.

3) Experiencing a performance at Hanoi Opera House

Among the most enjoyable and entertaining things to do in Hanoi city at night, many tourists are impressed by performances at Hanoi Opera House. Therefore, if you have chance to visit Hanoi, then you should not miss this experience. Hanoi Opera House is one of the typical architectural works in Hanoi. Besides the value of design, the Opera House is also an ideal venue for art troupes and an indispensable address for Hanoi sightseeing tours. At present, Hanoi Opera House is the place organizing important meetings and art performances by national and international art troupes. Watching emotional performances at Hanoi Opera House will definitely bring unforgettable memories for tourists.

4) Enjoying street food

Hanoi is not only attracting visitors by famous places, but also by an attractive cuisine paradise. Having a late dinner is considered as the pleasure of both Hanoi and visitors when coming here. For a wide variety of foreign tourists coming to Hanoi, trying delicious street food has become one of the greatest things to do in Hanoi city at night.
There will be a broad range of delicious and attractive street food that visitors should not miss. Additionally, these food has an extremely reasonable and suitable price. Walking around Hanoi city at night, you may have chances to enjoy pho (Vietnamese rice noodles), steamed wheat flour cake, grilled meat, cake made of sweet potato meal, banana cake, pyramidal rice dumpling, samosa, tofu, …
In addition, interesting places for visitors to enjoy wonderful street food are: Tong Duy Tan Street, Dong Xuan Market, Hang Dau Street, … If you want to fully feel daily life and culture of local people in Hanoi, then you should not forget these famous addresses.

5) Visiting Quang Ba Flower Market

Quang Ba Flower Market is an important wholesale market, therefore, visitors can easily see many kinds of flowers such as rose, sunflower, dahlia, lily, pansy, water-rail, roe-mallow, … The flowers here are divided into rows. Walking in the market filled with flowers, leisurely watching and inhaling the sweet smell of flowers in the morning air are elegant things to do in Hanoi city at night.
This market is most crowded during very early in the morning, at this time, tourists will see a very different Hanoi. When the city is asleep, Quang Ba flower market is bustling and noisy, filled with colorful flowers. In addition, the light from the light bulbs of the market have made the market become shimmering and twinkling. Not only the wholesalers or retailers, Quang Ba flower market also attracts foreign tourists, who come to look at the flower market and take pictures.

6) Drinking beer at Ta Hien street

Many Hanoi food lovers have known a famous “beer paradise” – Ta Hien located at Hanoi Old Quarter, near Hoan Kiem Lake. This street has long become a gathering place for many visitors traveling Hanoi. In the list of fascinating things to do in Hanoi city at night, many tourists find that enjoying beer is a must-try experience.
At Ta Hien, people cannot find multistoried or luxury beerhouses, but simply the sidewalk restaurants, all dinners will sit in front of the house, on the plastic chairs, with a small table. Hanoi people as well as tourists want to come to Ta Hien beer street because the atmosphere here is comfortable and the price is also popular. In addition to beer, there are also lemon tea, iced tea, coffee …, but beer is still the most common drink of this street.

7) Admiring a beautiful Hanoi from Long Bien bridge

Long Bien Bridge is the first bridge across the Red River, connecting two districts of Hoan Kiem and Gia Lam. At night, standing on the bridge, we can see the view of Red River’s ripples, lights from a long distance or you may zoom out to view the Chuong Duong bridge. This is not only a place to admire the glamorous sunset and sunrise, but also the place which shows the shimmer of Hanoi city at night. For this reason, having a panoramic view of Hanoi from Long Bien bridge is an excellent thing to do in Hanoi city at night. The most wonderful sightseeing spot is in the center of the bridge, from where, you can zoom in and out and feel the pace of life when Hanoi lights up.

8) Listening to live music in bars and tearooms

Many music lovers or simply people who want to relax in the tune are fond of listening to live music in some bars, coffee shops and tearooms. Listening to live music is becoming an amazing thing to do in Hanoi city at night, especially for foreign tourists. Coming to enjoy live music, travelers can not only sip drinks, chat, relax with friends but also share love music and listen to romantic melodies.
Music that these places choose often has slow rhythms, which are consistent with most people. However, it is not too hard to find vibrant music bars in Hanoi. Despite differences in terms of audience targets, style and musicality, common point of these places is that once music starts, the distance between performers and listeners will disappear.