Best Places for Nightlife in Vietnam
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Beer Streets, Rooftops, Beach Clubs and Night Markets
Here is the list of 9 Best Places for Nightlife in Vietnam
1. Hoi An - A Happening Ancient City
Known For : Hoi An Old Town Japanese Bridge Hoi An Night Market
Hoi An after dark is the gentlest night out in Vietnam and the most photographed. The Ancient Town goes largely car free, silk lanterns come on along Bach Dang Street, and candle lanterns drift down the Thu Bon River. On the 14th day of each lunar month the town cuts its electric lighting for the lantern full moon. The bars sit across the An Hoi footbridge on Nguyen Phuc Chu, with more scattered along Nguyen Thai Hoc and Le Loi, and the beach bars out at An Bang run later than the Old Town does.
Top Places: Dive Bar on Nguyen Phuc Chu, the An Hoi bar strip, An Bang beach bars
Best Time: February to July
2. Hanoi - The Big City Nightlife Experience
Known For : Hoan Kiem Lake Old Quarter Hanoi Cruise to Halong Bay
Hanoi's night is street level rather than glossy. It starts on Ta Hien, the 200 metre beer alley in the Old Quarter where plastic stools spill across the junction with Luong Ngoc Quyen and bia hoi is poured straight from the keg. From Friday evening to Sunday night the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake close to traffic for the walking street, filling with buskers, market stalls and pavement games. Craft beer taprooms and speakeasies have arrived too, but the Old Quarter is still the draw.
Top Places: Ta Hien Beer Street, the Hoan Kiem weekend walking street
Best Time: October to April
3. Ho Chi Minh City - A Tourist Classic
Known For : War Remnants Museum Cu Chi Tunnels Ben Thanh Market
Saigon has the deepest night in Vietnam and by far the widest range. Bui Vien becomes a pedestrian walking street at weekends, a wall of neon, speakers and kerbside bars aimed squarely at backpackers. A few blocks away the rooftops take over: Chill Skybar, on the 26th floor of the AB Tower, has the best known view of the skyline and the river, and it does enforce a dress code. The club cluster around Ly Tu Trong and Dong Khoi is the part that runs past sunrise.
Top Places: Chill Skybar, Lush, the Bui Vien walking street
Best Time: November to April
4. Phan Thiet and Mui Ne - Beach Bars and the Kitesurf Crowd
Known For : Fairy Stream Ta Cu Mountain
Almost everything filed under Phan Thiet nightlife actually happens in Mui Ne, the beach strip roughly 20 km up the coast, and that strip is essentially one road, Nguyen Dinh Chieu. It is a low key scene built around seafood restaurants, beach bars and the kitesurfing crowd that fills the town through the windy months from November to April. Dragon Beach Bar and Lounge has been the main late room since 2012, and Deja Vu runs live jazz and rock most nights.
Top Places: Dragon Beach Bar and Lounge, Deja Vu, Nguyen Dinh Chieu
Best Time: September to December
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5. Nha Trang - Coastal Town For the Party Animals
Known For : Ponagar Temple Watersports at Nha Trang Beach Long Son Pagoda
Nha Trang is the most developed beach nightlife in Vietnam and the closest thing the country has to a resort strip. Tran Phu, the seafront road, carries the beach clubs, and Sailing Club is the anchor: an open air club on the sand with fire shows and one of the busiest dance floors in the country. Inland, the night market and the late seafood streets keep the non clubbing half of town busy, and the Russian and backpacker crowds give the place its mix.
Top Places: Sailing Club, Nha Trang Night Market, Tran Phu seafront
Best Time: January - August
6. Ha Long Bay - A Different Kind Of Nightlife
Known For : Overnight Cruise in Halong Bay Sung Sot Cave Day Cruise in Halong Bay
Ha Long is on the itinerary for its karst islands rather than its bars, and the night reflects that. The base is Bai Chay on the mainland, where seafront bars and seafood restaurants sit within walking distance of the Ha Long night market, and the Sun Wheel above the town runs after dark for the lit view over the bay and the bridge. If you are on an overnight cruise instead, the night is squid fishing off the back deck and drinks on the sundeck.
Top Places: Bai Chay seafront bars, Ha Long Night Market, the Sun Wheel
Best Time: April to September
7. Da Nang - The City of Bridges and Beaches
Known For : Ba Na Hills Golden Bridge Marble Mountains
Da Nang's night has one unmissable fixture. The Dragon Bridge breathes fire and then sprays water over the promenade every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm, free to watch and about half an hour long. Around it the Han River waterfront lights up, the An Thuong quarter behind My Khe beach holds the bars and live music rooms, and the night markets run late. It is a bigger, cheaper and much less packaged night than Hoi An, an hour down the coast.
Top Places: Dragon Bridge fire show, New Phuong Dong, the An Thuong bar area
Best Time: February to May
8. Phu Quoc - Island Shows and Night Markets
Known For : Grand World Phu Quoc VinWonders Phu Quoc Sao Beach
Phu Quoc has the most engineered night on this list, and the most family friendly. Sunset Town at the southern tip is built around the Kiss Bridge, with the Kiss of the Sea and Symphony of the Sea shows staged over the water in the evenings and the Vui Fest night market behind them. Up in Duong Dong the older Phu Quoc night market does grilled seafood and street food, and the beach clubs along Long Beach handle the drinking end of the evening.
Top Places: Sunset Town and Kiss Bridge, Vui Fest Night Market, Duong Dong Night Market
Best Time: November to March
9. Da Lat - Highland Bars and the Night Market
Known For : Datanla Waterfalls Crazy House Linh Phuoc Pagoda
Da Lat is the outlier here. At around 1,500 metres it is genuinely cold after dark, so the scene moves indoors and slows down. Lam Vien Square and the steps below it hold the night market, where the local order is grilled rice paper and a cup of hot soy milk. The bars are lounges and live music rooms rather than clubs, and the other Da Lat night habit is leaving at two in the morning to drive up a peak for sunrise above the cloud.
Top Places: Da Lat Night Market at Lam Vien Square, the live music bars off Nguyen Chi Thanh
Best Time: December to March
Nightlife in Vietnam is cheaper and starts earlier than in most of Southeast Asia, and it is not all bars. Night markets, weekend walking streets, riverside lantern evenings and bridge shows carry as much of the night as the clubs do. The two big cities run latest, the beach towns run loudest, and the heritage and highland towns run quietest. Pick the city to match the night you want rather than expecting all of them to deliver the same one.
This post was published by Shalaka Sen
FAQs on Best Places for Nightlife in Vietnam
Which city has the best nightlife in Vietnam?
Ho Chi Minh City, on range and on how late it runs. It has the backpacker strip on Bui Vien, the rooftop bars, and the only club cluster in the country that reliably goes past sunrise. Hanoi is the better street night, built around the Ta Hien beer alley and the weekend walking street at Hoan Kiem Lake, and Nha Trang is the best of the beach towns.
What time do bars and clubs close in Vietnam?
It varies far more by city and by enforcement than by any published rule, so treat closing times as local rather than national. In practice the smaller and more heritage minded a town is, the earlier it winds down: Hoi An and Ha Long are quiet not long after midnight, while parts of Saigon and Nha Trang carry on until morning. Check with your own venue rather than assuming.
Is nightlife in Vietnam cheap?
By regional standards yes, and street level drinking is the cheapest part of it: bia hoi in Hanoi and kerbside bars in Saigon cost a fraction of what a rooftop or a beach club charges for the same evening. Beach clubs and rooftop venues in Nha Trang, Saigon and Phu Quoc are the expensive end, and some of them charge to get in or set a minimum spend.
What is bia hoi?
Fresh draught beer, brewed and delivered daily and drunk the same day, which is why it is sold from kegs on the pavement rather than in bottles. It is a Hanoi institution above all, and the junction of Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen in the Old Quarter is the best known place to drink it, on a plastic stool with grilled skewers and fried cheese sticks.
Which beach town in Vietnam has the best night out?
Nha Trang, comfortably. Tran Phu, the seafront road, is lined with beach clubs, and Sailing Club is the anchor: an open air club on the sand with fire shows and one of the busiest dance floors in the country. Mui Ne near Phan Thiet is the quieter alternative and Phu Quoc the most family friendly, with staged shows at Sunset Town rather than clubs.
Is there anything to do at night in Vietnam if you do not drink?
A lot of it, and it is often the better half. Hoi An cuts its electric lighting for the lantern full moon on the 14th day of each lunar month. The Dragon Bridge in Da Nang breathes fire and sprays water every Friday to Sunday at 9 pm, free to watch. Da Lat, Ha Long, Duong Dong and Hanoi all run night markets, and Phu Quoc stages shows over the water at Sunset Town.
