Introduction
Thinking about a shopping date during your vacation in Halong Bay, Vietnam? Take our local insights into shopping in Halong Bay and learn where to buy the best items—specifically those home to Halong.
Halong Bay has become a familiar destination for vacationers as one of the top tourist attractions in Vietnam. It holds great appeal for visitors through its enchanting beaches, refreshing seascapes, and, most interestingly, the complex of hundreds of limestone islands, recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
Besides such a remarkable nature, shopping activities contribute greatly to tourists’ experience in Halong. Shopping is an ideal approach to the local lifestyles. Shoppers in Halong will discover not only a wide range of native merchandise but also how the locals run businesses and consume goods.
After all, what should I buy on my trip to Halong? Where can I buy things here? Let’s dig deeper into shopping activities in Halong Bay and get useful tips on this matter.
Best 5 Things To Buy In Halong Bay
On your excursions in Halong City, you may come up with the idea to buy something for yourself or your family and friends at home. Then, Halong market areas offer many options that are worth spending money on.
Visitors can find various goods, ranging from souvenirs and gifts to daily items and fresh food. Moreover, the most intriguing thing when shopping in Halong Bay is the affordable price range for everyone, if you choose the right place to shop.
Let’s see what special items we can get from the market areas in Halong. We would like to introduce 5 choices for tourists:
Pearls
You may wonder, “What is Halong Bay famous for shopping?” Pearl is possibly the right answer. In Halong, pearls are considered a unique local product, closely tied to the native community and culture.
Thus, this is not only an agricultural and technological product but also a meaningful souvenir for tourists.
Pearls in Halong Bay are made by developed pearl farming techniques. The process requires high craftsmanship from the local workers. However, Halong Bay’s pearl farming continues to thrive, with high-quality and valuable pearl products.
Authentic pearls in Halong cost around $100. It promises to be a luxurious and delicate gift for tourists.
Handmade Jewelry & Handicrafts
Apart from pearl jewelry, tourists can find more affordable jewelry options in Halong Bay. This coastal land offers various ingredients for sea-themed jewelry and accessories. For example, you can find adorable items made from seashells or nacre.
Moreover, handicrafts in Halong are very diverse. It ranges from wind bells, keyrings, and hair accessories to dishes, cups, photos, and even lacquered paintings. If you’re lucky, you may come across handicrafts made by famous local artisans.
When you wander around Halong night markets, these inexpensive and pretty goods may catch your eye. You can easily buy them to bring home as souvenirs and as a way to support the local sellers.
Embroidered Items
Halong Bay’s domestic embroidery never loses its charm to visitors, especially international holidaymakers. Thus, embroidered products can be found easily in almost all markets in Halong Bay.
On their stroll around night markets or malls, tourists can come across colorful and sophisticated embroidered clothes, brocade bags, scarves, or fabrics.
Typically, the embroidery on those clothes features images of Halong’s landmarks. Or, you may notice brocade products, which the native minority groups, such as the Dao and San Diu peoples, usually make.
Traditional Ceramic Products
When it comes to what to buy in Halong Bay, ceramics are also mentioned. Halong boasts several long-standing traditional ceramic villages, such as Dong Trieu, Vinh Hong, and Duc Chinh. Therefore, ceramic products in Halong have gained tourists’ interest, too.
Although Hanoi also has Bat Trang as a famous ceramic village, the ceramic guild in Halong brings another color. Halong ceramics possess a specific pastel blue and highly durable products, resulting from excellent firing techniques.
Those keen on ceramics and pottery shouldn’t miss out on the chance to shop for this special merchandise when visiting Halong markets.
Dried Seafood Specialties & Snacks
As a seaside city, Halong specializes in fresh seafood. Many food specialties are sought after by many tourists, such as Cha Muc (grilled squid sausage), Bun Be Be (mantis shrimp vermicelli), Sa Sung (marine peanut worm), or other special types of fish.
Furthermore, markets in Halong Bay, especially night markets, always sell mouth-watering street food. This adds more flavor to your nightlife entertainment in Halong. You can try Bun Cu Ky (a.k.a. Bun Be Be), Sam dishes (horseshoe crab), Banh Gat Gu (sleepy cake), and boba yogurt.
As fresh as they are, tourists normally choose to relish them on site. However, if you want to bring those tastes home, dried seafood products are available, too.
You’re a foodie? Don’t forget to look out for well-dried and portable food souvenirs when shopping in Halong Bay. You can try Ruoc Tom (shrimp paste), dried squid, Sa Sung, yellowstripe scad, and, of course, Cha Muc Halong.
Top 10 Shopping Areas In Halong Bay
Halong boasts a diverse shopping system. It includes traditional marketplaces (e.g., Halong Market 1 & 2) and modern supermarkets (e.g., Marine Plaza and Vincom Plaza) as well as special forms, such as night markets and seaside fishing markets.
Each kind provides a different shopping experience. Additionally, besides the market functions, the Halong market system helps preserve and promote the native conventional values, practices, and customs. It creates one of Halong’s cultural identities.
Therefore, shopping areas have become part of Halong tourism’s charisma. If you want to explore the locals’ ways of life, go shopping in the city’s marketplaces. Let’s go through the best 10 shopping locations in Halong Bay, as follows:
Marketplaces In Bai Chay Area
Bai Chay is a dynamic hub in the heart of Halong City. The main tourist offerings concentrate in this area, so do marketplaces. Thus, numerous tourists who want to go shopping in Halong Bay flock to the Bai Chay area.
Travelers can find a great variety of shopping hubs, including traditional markets, night markets, and malls. We have collected 8 shopping locations that you can try out when visiting Bai Chay, Halong. They sell everything you can ask for, promising a great time shopping.
Halong Bay Night Market (Marine Plaza)
📍 Address: Hoang Quoc Viet Street, Halong City
⌛ Opening hours: 5 PM to 11 PM on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
✨ Specialized goods: dried food, souvenirs, handicrafts, fashion products
💲 Price level: not too expensive, varied for each item
Halong Bay Night Market usually refers to the night market held inside the commercial and entertainment complex of Marine Plaza. This is a familiar center to tourists. It’s perfect for a night out with family or friends, to enjoy street food tours, or to seek a nice souvenir.
Marine Plaza opens from 9 AM to 11:30 PM every day. So, you can come to do shopping anytime. But if you want to experience the night market, it becomes liveliest from 9–11 PM. It offers a large space (5000 m²), with over 150 stalls and shops.
Tourists can get everything here, from specialties, such as dried food and handicrafts, to simple souvenirs like clothes. What’s more, visitors can dive into Halong Bay’s best cuisine paradise here, with all food specialties available.
Bazaar Halong Night Market
📍 Address: Sun Carnival Halong Square (88 Halong Street)
⌛ Opening hours: 3 PM to midnight, every day
✨ Specialized goods: souvenirs and street food
💲 Price level: varied
Bazaar Halong Night Market is another night market located right at the city center. Its ground belongs to Sun Carnival Square, much larger than the Halong Bay night market in Marina Plaza. It can accommodate up to 333 kiosks, numbered orderly so that tourists can easily visit each one.
Besides the busy night market area, Bazaar Halong Night Market also brings a vibrant Halong Bay nightlife entertainment for visitors. Outside the market is a vast complex of a sightseeing garden and outdoor stages. Water music performances and musical nights usually take place here.
Furthermore, situated right by the sea, this night market is imbued with a chilling-out beach atmosphere. A bonus is that it’s close to other amusement sites, such as Valley Beach Bar, Bai Chay Beach, International Cruise Port, and SunWorld Halong. It’s very convenient for tourists to combine other delights with their shopping experience.
Halong Bay Vincom Plaza
📍 Address: Tran Quoc Nghien Street, Halong
⌛ Opening hours: 10 AM to 10 PM, every day
✨ Specialized goods: high-end brands’ products
💲 Price level: quite expensive
Vincom Plaza Halong is a luxury mall situated amid the four main streets of Halong City. It overlooks the bay, bringing an impressive perspective for the shoppers.
In addition to an advantageous position, Vincom Center Halong promotes a well-structured and glamorous shopping building. It features 4 floors and a basement, designed in European style. This creates a gorgeous and elegant space for the customers’ experience.
Going with such an imposing outlook, this mall offers a series of dining services, amusements (e.g., cinema and game center), and upscale brands. Thus, it’s suitable for those looking for premium products and deluxe entertainment.
Cai Dam Market
📍 Address: 20 Hoang Quoc Viet Street, Halong
⌛ Opening hours: 7 AM to 10 PM, every day
✨ Specialized goods: fresh & dried seafood
💲 Price level: cheap
Cai Dam Market is another traditional market located in the Bai Chay area. It mainly serves the locals. Thus, tourists who want to explore the native ways of life should check out this market once. It promises an interesting opportunity to see how the locals do their daily shopping. You will feel like merging into the local practices when visiting this marketplace.
Cai Dam Market is quite spacious, suitable for shopping. It also has diverse goods at reasonable prices. All Halong’s typical food, garments, and daily items will appear here to accommodate shoppers.
Vuon Dao Market
📍 Address: Anh Dao Street, Halong
⌛ Opening hours: 4 AM to 7 PM, every day
✨ Specialized goods: fresh food
💲 Price level: affordable
Vuon Dao Market is not as large as other traditional markets in Halong. However, its location at the center of the Bai Chay tourism area earns it some popularity. One interesting fact is that its name “Vuon Dao” means cherry blossom garden, originating from the past local farming of this plant around here.
Nowadays, this cherry blossom farm has turned into an energetic marketplace with busy businesses and seaside restaurants.
However, this is not a perfect place for tourists to buy souvenirs. It preferably serves the local needs. So, it’s better for those wanting to experience local tastes.
Hung Thang Market
📍 Address: 217 Hung Thang Street, Halong
⌛ Opening hours: 5:30 AM to 9 PM, every day
✨ Specialized goods: fresh seafood & snacks
💲 Price level: fairly affordable
Hung Thang Market specializes in fresh seafood and local snacks, located 4 km away from Bai Chay center. It’s not a large marketplace, but you can find a great range of freshly caught seafood here.
Aside from seafood, you can find several grocery stores, shops of veggies& fruits, massage parlors, etc. Most interestingly, it offers tourists a nice place for local street dishes, such as spring rolls, squid sausage, and finger snails.
You can also pass by decent seafood and Indian restaurants (the famous Red Coral Restaurant is also close to this market). If you only want to eat local food and buy basic things, Hung Thang Market is good enough.
Markets In Hon Gai Area
Halong Market 1 (Hon Gai Market)
📍 Address: Van Xuan Street, Halong
⌛ Opening hours: 5 AM to 6:30 PM, every day
✨ Specialized goods: fresh seafood
💲 Price level: affordable, depending on the sellers
Standing right in the city center, Halong Market 1 is one of the busiest and longest-established marketplaces in Halong Bay. Its position right next to Hon Gai Port and close to Bai Chay tourism area, this market is very popular among both locals and visitors.
Halong Market 1 is most famous for fresh seafood. It accommodates various fresh seafood, promptly caught from the nearby port, such as lobster, king crab, flower crab, mantis shrimp, oyster, marine peanut worm, etc.
Moreover, tourists can see celebrated local specialties in Halong Market 1. Its best seller is Cha Muc Halong. Apart from that, dried seafood, such as mackerel, squid, or shrimp, and native fermented sauces, such as fish and shrimp sauce.
Besides the outdoor area, shoppers can get inside the market to buy souvenirs, handicrafts, clothes, electrical products, footwear, and accessories. The market is well-arranged, facilitating your shopping activities.
Halong Market 2
📍 Address: 433 Le Loi Street, Halong
⌛ Opening hours: 8 AM to 5 PM, every day
✨ Specialized goods: dried food
💲 Price level: cheap, varied among sellers
Halong Market 2 (also known as Loong Toong Market) is close to Halong Market 1, only 1.5 km away. In contrast to the first one, it focuses on dried food products instead of fresh seafood. Therefore, those who want to buy food souvenirs to bring home should visit this market. It will offer you diverse choices.
Except for the mentioned seafood, this market also sells specialty sweets and cakes, such as Banh Gat Gu, Banh Tai Long Ep, or glutinous rice wine. Seashell items, charcoal accessories, and wood carving paintings can also be found here.
Halong Fishing Market
📍 Address: Cao Xanh Street, Halong
⌛ Opening hours: 3 AM to 7 PM, every day
✨ Specialized goods: fresh seafood
💲 Price level: cheap
Want to get a deep insight into the local life? Visit Halong Fishing Market. It’s not simply a shopping place in Halong Bay. Of course, you can buy super fresh fish, crab, squid, shrimp, snails, etc., here at a very good price. But that’s not everything. This early fishing market is a living exhibition of how native fishermen live their daily lives.
The market opens very early, at 3 AM, even before dawn. Fishing boats return to land after a laborious night and bring abundant fish to the market. The local sellers will gather and start their business until they can call it a day.
Visitors can come here to hunt for great deals of fresh seafood. As they are collected directly from the fishermen, products here are much cheaper than in other markets. If you want to eat the food right away, you can have nearby restaurants cook it for you.
Specializing In Pearls: Farms & Museum
Pearl farming in Halong Bay has played an important role in the local economy. Additionally, it has become a charming tourism product, attracting many vacationers. Halong’s sea area is extremely preferable for pearl farming. Thus, the land can create the best-quality pearl products.
Therefore, when shopping in Halong Bay, many tourists must think about owning sophisticated pearl jewelry or souvenirs. We recommend the top 5 places to learn about and buy pearls in Halong Bay.
✔️ Tung Sau Pearl Farm: Tung Sau is considered the most famous and reliable pearl farm in Halong Bay. Its products reach a high level of delicacy.
✔️ Vung Vieng Pearl Village: Vung Vieng Village is known for its hanging pearl-farming cabins above the water.
✔️ Halong Pearl Museum: Explore the history, culture, and art of Halong Bay’s pearls and pearl farming in Halong Pearl Museum. This has been developed since 2008, ensuring a professional approach to pearls.
✔️ Halong Pearl Research and Development Center: Visitors can find great exhibitions of pearl products from local pearl farming villages. Also, you will understand more about the processes of pearl farming.
✔️ Minh Chau Pearl Farm: This is another good place to learn about pearl farming and buy excellent pearl products.
Advice & Tips For Shopping In Halong Bay
- Keep an eye on your belongings: Markets in Halong are usually crowded. So, please stay alert to avoid pickpockets or thieves when shopping in Halong Bay.
- Bargain properly: Ask for prices before you buy things or use any services. You can bargain for 20–30% off. Then, kindly refuse to buy when the prices are not suitable for your needs.
- Touch things gently: When buying fragile things, please stay gentle when touching them. If you break anything, the sellers will demand compensation fees.
- Wear comfortable clothes & footwear: Shopping areas in Halong Bay are usually large. So, you should wear comfy shoes and light layers to move around easily.
- Stay close to your kids: If you go shopping in Halong Bay with your kids, stick to their side. Large and crowded marketplaces may make your kids get lost.
Final Thoughts
Shopping in Halong Bay offers a unique experience for visitors. Tourists can find a variety of items that reflect the local culture and workmanship.
So, all in all, what to buy in Halong Bay Vietnam? First, pearls are especially popular and serve as a luxurious souvenir. Many markets also showcase handmade jewelry and handicrafts, making it easy to find affordable and beautiful gifts. Finally, embroidered items, traditional ceramics, and dried seafood specialties capture the essence of Halong Bay.
Furthermore, while exploring the bustling markets, visitors can immerse themselves in the local lifestyle and support small businesses. The vibrant atmosphere of night markets adds to the excitement.
Remember, each purchase tells a story and serves as a reminder of the enchanting landscapes of Halong Bay. Shopping here is not just about buying items. It’s about connecting with the local community and experiencing the rich heritage of Vietnam.
So, make sure to dedicate time to shopping during your visit to this stunning destination. Halong Private Car hopes our information on where and what to buy in Halong Bay can help you in your upcoming holiday in Halong. Thanks for reading.