Van Phuc Silk Village

Van Phuc is around 30 minutes from Hanoi in Ha Dong. What was once a separate town has been absorbed in Hanoi’s ever expanding urban sprawl. It’s Vietnam’s oldest silk village dating back more than a thousand years and its product is said to be the country’s finest.

A highlight of a visit to Van Phuc will be an opportunity to see the old looms in operation. While some basic technology has been introduced to the process in recent years, there’s still plenty of manual labour in Van Phuc’s silk production processes.

Like other so called “craft villages”, there’s not a strong sense of tradition here and most of the village has been turned over to modern shops selling silk wares of varying quality and appeal. You may pay a little more in Hanoi but shop owners there seem to have a better sense of what travellers are looking for.

Van Phuc can be visited enroute to the Perfume Pagoda. Otherwise it’s probably only for those with lots of time or a special interest in silk production.


Travel tips:
20 - 30 mins from downtown Hanoi. Rent a car or take a taxi to get to Van Phuc.