Anyone can tell me whether Hanoi or Ho Chi Minhis better for shopping?

Show all answers

OasisNick

Dont worry too much about it, you will find what you are looking for in both HCMC & Hanoi. If you are going to spend a reasonable amount make sure to go to a proper gallery and take the paintings away and send them back home from the post office or carry them home.

There are lots of scams where expensive paintings are shown and then cheap fake copies are actually posted back to you if you let the gallery send them (they pretty much know you're not going to go back - and what can you do if you did!).

As previously mentioned the main artisan centre is in Central Vietnam in the town of Hoi An - lots of small independent art galleries dotted around the cobbled back streets of the old town (same as above applies though)

Hanoi_babe

True - Hanoi is smaller than HCMC, but the quality of the products offered is much better.
HCMC you get very poor quality.
Best palce to shop lacquer ware and oilpaintings would be Hoi An though...maybe you´d change your plans....

MojaveDan

I’ve been in both cities for extensive periods of time. Although many would favor HCMC as the place to shop in Vietnam, Ha Noi has a few things that would make it a shopper’s destination as well.

What Ha Noi has and HCMC doesn’t is the centuries old commerce infrastructure of Ha Noi’s Old Quarter, which encompasses to some degree much of Hoan Kiem District. What makes this a rather unique shopping experience is having several of the same kind of merchants right next to each other on the same block. For example: if you’re looking for jewelry, you go to the jewelry street. Electronics? Go to the electronics street. Lacquer furniture? Go to the furniture street. I compare the Hoan Kiem District as a great big Wal-Mart where you use a taxi instead of a shopping cart to shop.

If you know what you’re doing, you can get just as good and sometimes better prices as you would for the same items in HCMC. However, the shopping experience alone is well worth anything extra that you might pay. The advantage of having the same type of merchants in the same block is it’s easier to bargain and haggle. You can walk next door to see if you can get a better price for the same item. I get silk and wool fabric for my tailor made clothing much cheaper in Ha Noi than I do in HCMC.

HCMC has the advantage of being the heart of Vietnam’s economy. My aunt always says it’s not available in Vietnam if it’s not found in HCMC. Anything that is bought, sold or manufactured in Vietnam is found somewhere in HCMC. To quickly find what you’re looking for at a good price, go to An Dong Market in District 5. An Dong Market is so big that it makes Ben Thanh Market look like a convenience store. Here’s a link to some other reasons why you want to shop at An Dong:

http://www.saigonscene.com/An%20Dong%20Market.htm

Where you want to go specifically is the newer building immediately to the east of An Dong Market. The second or third floor is what I call the “Vietnamese fine arts” floors, where you will find all kinds of Vietnamese artwork, including lacquer furniture, for cheap. I strongly advise that you take a native Viet with you because the merchants will raise the price as soon as they know you’re a foreigner.

You’re going to have a great time shopping in either city. Have a great trip!

Clumsy

I've really never been thoroughly into Hanoi yet...
For me, HCMC is really a shopaholics' dream other than the Natic Mall, but anyway. Just to let you know, I love to shop around Q1 because it kind of has like an outside mall you would see over in the US. I esp. love Zen Plaza and Diamond Plaza.

Have fun shopping!

Izzy_Cool

HCM City...no question.

Mario Tour Leader

Based on my personal experience..
HC MC is better than Hanoi in term of price and variety of goods they sell
if you look for high end product Hanoi will be a better option
Vietnam is one of the shooping paradise for tourist,you can get so many things with 100 USD

daney b

Ho Chi Minh

George E

hello jen hcmc is the best place for oil paintings i buy a lot of paintings from this shop in hcmc duc tai gallery 206 buivien st.dist 1 hcmc. take a photo to her and they will oil paint it a 3 footx3foot painting family portrait with 4 people will cost $70 dollars it was better than the photo.smaller the size cheaper it gets it took them 10 days to paint that for me .well recommend this shop.hope you find what your looking for ,,,,,

Jspeger

No doubt, HCM.
I quite like the way sellers here do their job, they are more friendly than Hanoian.

Shiza

HCMC.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: