Half-day option: Visit 2 Villages: Conical Hat and Incense Craft Village + Train Street (optional)
Duration: ~ 5 hours
Morning from 7:20~12:30
Afternoon from 12:30~17:45
Discover Vietnamese handicrafts on an immersive, guided tour from Hanoi that will take you to meet a local artisan, discover a historical incense-making village, and learn about the conical hat-making process. Get a unique look at the local culture with this discovery of detailed artisanal crafts.
Start with a pickup from Hanoi’s Old Quarter and head to Chuong, a village that has been well-known for the craft of conical hat-making for over 300 years. Observe how conical hats are made and decorate a hat by painting it then bring it home as a souvenir.
Depart for the Quang Phu Cau village, which has been producing incense for more than 100 years. Take a walk to the center of the village and see how locals make incense on the artisanal, family scale. Meet a family who specializes in dyeing incense sticks and take in the colorful bundles of incense.
See the next level of incense production with a tour of a nearby factory. Learn how incense is made from scratch and more about the lives of manual workers. Take home memories of your visit with incense souvenirs from the place they’re produced before returning to Hanoi. Back to the city center. First place for drop off: Hanoi Train Street. If you don't want to visit it, please wait on the bus.
Please note: This half-day tour does not include lunch, so we recommend eating beforehand or bringing snacks to keep you energized throughout the afternoon.
Choose drop-off at the famous train street or your hotel. If you choose train street, you can enjoy your time there, then take a taxi/Grab back to your hotel on your own.
Full-day option: Visit 3 Villages with home cooked lunch: Lacquer, Conical Hat and Incense + Train Street ( Optional Drop-off )
7:20 - 7:40: Pick up time.
After pickup from your hotel, meet your tour guide and head to your first stop, the incense stick-making village. Learn more about the techniques from local artisans as you walk through the village. Stop at some places in the village to take some awesome photos.
Then, get back on the bus, and hop to your next destination, just 15 minutes away, the traditional conical hat-making village. Not only observe but also get involved in the process of making and painting your own hat, a souvenir to remember your day.
Continue to a local artisan’s house or a riverside restaurant for a meal. After bidding farewell to a hat-making village, depart for the last stop, the lacquer art-making village. Observe and learn the quintessence of local artwork from the artisans as you visit a large family-run factory.
Visit the local artist house in the village to know the process of producing lacquer art products and have the chance to paint a lacquer piece. Finally, get back on the bus and head back to Hanoi city center. Train Street ( Optional Drop-off )
