Hours before the sun shines over Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, streets that were sleepy at night quickly come alive with sounds of honking motorbikes delivering fresh produces to markets, street sweepers tidying up, and vendors setting out to sell breakfast. It’s an amazing beginning of the city’s daily life.
Indeed, the city know and appreciate the special qualities of dawn; they go for morning walks and greeting a new day at 5:00 AM. Yet most travelers miss seeing Hanoi at its most magical moments. Don’t miss the dawn in Hanoi!
Here are the top 5 things visitors can do to truly experience an early morning in Hanoi:
1. Long Biên Wholesale Market
Located beneath the historic Long Biên Bridge built by the French in 1892, Long Biên is a famous wholesale market for fresh fruits and local produces. Established in 1992, the market operates nonstop from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM everyday, distributing many tons of fruits to smaller markets across the city and neighboring provinces each day.
Every night, no matter the weather, the routine remains the same, hundreds of trucks delivering fresh fruits from northern provinces such as Hưng Yên, Bắc Ninh, and Hải Phòng, rush into the market. Then buyers and sellers crowded around trucks, vendors quickly have stalls heaved with fresh produces, while motorbikes loaded with fruits weaving down aisles.
Its largest and busiest section is dedicated to wholesale fruit, while vegetables, spices, meat and other essentials occupy smaller areas at the back and sides. In the summer, expect to see crates of mangoes, watermelons, plums, guavas, jackfruits, avocados, lychees, and longans; while winter brings more oranges, pomegranates, and bananas.
A loop walk from the fruit section takes us to seafood places, where fresh fish, shrimp, crab, and other seafood are major attractions. Vendors bring their catches from nearby coastal areas, ensuring freshness and quality. Then to meat and poultry, where a wide variety of meats, from chicken and pork to more exotic options like frog and quail, are available.
Long Biên Wholesale Market offers more than just a shopping experience, it’s living snapshots of Hanoi’s unfiltered life and labor, and it’s a vibrant and chaotic spectacle created by market workers – the sellers, drivers, porters, vendors, and delivery people handling a massive flow of goods. Men and women of all ages haul heavy loads, moving with practiced precision and faultless choreography. The hustle and bustle here, especially during the early morning hours, is a sight to behold.
2. Quảng Bá Flower Market
Quảng Bá is Hanoi’s largest wholesale flower market, which operates every day, from midnight till sunrise, and that keeps fresh flower alive longer.
Originally a spontaneous trading spot for local flower growers in the nearby Nhật Tân, the former peach blossom growing village, it has thrived into a vital nocturnal hub for flowers from major growing areas like Tây Tựu, Đông Anh, as well as more distant provinces, such as Hưng Yên or even as far as the city of thousands of flowers, Đà Lạt.
Under the dim lighting, the market caters to both wholesalers and retailers. Walking through Quảng Bá is like entering a festival of colors. Bouquets of red roses, golden lilies, pristine white chrysanthemums, and radiant sunflowers fill every corner. The cool morning air is perfumed with the scent of fresh flowers, creating a dream-like atmosphere.
Prior to the Lunar New Year (Tết) and other holidays, the market bursts into an even more lively and luminous scene. Kumquat and pink peach blossoms, traditional symbols of spring in the north, flood the stalls from nearby Nhật Tân commune.
Most flowers are sold separately by type, but you can also have bouquets of different flowers made at some booths and buy flower decorations, or pre-made bouquets. Fresh flowers here are surprisingly well priced.
Markets like Long Biên and Quảng Bá, or smaller neighborhood spots, buzz with activities. Shoppers arrive to get the freshest produce, fish, meat, and flower before dawn breaks over the Red River. Vendors call out prices, negotiate with customers, and laugh with familiar faces.
The joy multiplies many times over. Despite the bustle, there’s a serene charm to the market. As the sun is fully up, motorbikes zip in and out, stacked high with colorful produces, baskets, or crates of fruit, orloaded with flowers, and weave through the narrow streets, delivering freshness to every corner of the capital city.
3. National Flag-raising Ceremony
The daily flag-raising ceremony in Hanoi takes place on Ba Đình Square – in front of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It’s a national ritual, a solemn event that includes the marching of 34 honor guards (representing the 34 initial soldiers of Vietnamese People’s Army), playing of the national anthem, and the raising of the Vietnamese flag.
The ceremony is a public event, and many locals attend to show their national pride and honor President Ho Chi Minh. Flag-raising ceremony time is 6h00 AM during the summer – from 1st April to 31st October, 6h30 AM in the winter – 1st November to 31st March.
Join the crowd of local people gathering in front of the Mausoleum, see the ceremony that exposes the Vietnamese’s patriotic pride. It’s truly a unique experience that fulfill everyone’s visit to Hanoi.
4. Hoàn Kiếm and Trúc Bạch Lakes
Morning life in Hanoi is a vibrant tapestry of traditions, motion, and sensory richness. Happiness and excitement are not only seen in markets or in Ba Đình Square, but also on city’s lakes – where people, from every direction, are walking and jogging for fresh air and movements.
On Hoàn Kiếm and Trúc Bạch Lakes, older generations are found practicing tai chi, doing synchronized group exercises, while young professionals getting in a workout before their commute. It’s a energetic ritual daily in the city. The city’s unique blend of history and modernity is especially palpable in the early hours.
5. Phở & Vietnamese coffee
Won’t miss Hanoi’s street food vendors when talking about city’s early risers, who start assembling their carts even earlier. The aroma of phở, Hanoi’s iconic noodle soup, fills the air as locals gather for a quick breakfast. Plastic stools line the sidewalks where people sit elbow to elbow, slurping noodles while chatting with friends. Other breakfast staples include bánh mì, bún, sticky rice, or Vietnamese steamed bun with sweet soy milk.
At the same time, local cafés also begin to fill up; some favors Vietnamese drip coffee with condensed milk served in glass tumblers, while young patrons go sipping on modern espresso and scrolling on phones. Coffee culture in Hanoi is as varied as its people, and the city takes pride in its signature cà phêtrứng and slow sips.
Despite the rush and density, morning in Hanoi carries a sort of rhythm—unhurried but efficient, social yet personal. It’s a time when the character of the city is most visible, balancing old and new, fast and slow, calm, quiet and uncluttered, peaceful, refreshing and fascinating, witnessing Hanoi at dawn should be on everybody’s list of things to do in Hanoi.
Also, at dawn there’s a sense of being on top of the day, the rare feeling of being one step ahead of time. Because most people are still in bed, it’s a satisfying sense that the dawn is all yours. Check out the itinerary of our “Hanoi at Dawn” and get your private “Good morning, Hanoi” tour booked.
