Hanoi’s Streets Glow Festive for Christmas Holidays

As December dawns, a holiday transformation overtakes Vietnam’s bustling capital. Streets, shops and public spaces across Hanoi get decked out with elaborate Christmas decorations to dazzle resident and visiting crowds. Colorful lights, tinsel-strewn trees, and giant Santa figures adorn major thoroughfares and downtown districts as locals embrace the festive Yuletide spirit. Both commercial enterprises and the Hanoi people decorate homes, stores and streets, making the iconic holiday season décor a iconic part of the capital’s cultural fabric.

Weeks before Christmas officially arrives, Hanoians energetically prepare decorations for the holiday season. Homeowners, shopkeepers and mall owners stock up on colorful bulbs, tinsels, ornamental figurines, wreaths and model Santas in anticipation. As December begins, decorative light installations get mounted outside buildings, trees get draped in elaborate trimmings while shop displays shift gears to highlight Christmas gifts and specials. Adorning the iconic Ly Thai To pedestrian square, a colossal Christmas tree glimmers, beckoning families and youth to capture social media selfies against its glittery glory.

Hanoi’s main public spaces lead the charge toward Christmas sparkle. Facing Hoan Kiem lake, grand old French colonial buildings like the historic Metropole Hotel shine with hundreds of white fairy lights, contrasting old world charm against modern holiday glee. My Dinh stadium glows bright with a towering wall of bullb lights flashing red and green. Roads like Nguyen Trai, Pham Hung and the legendary Hoan Kiem walking streets harbor rows of glistening trees covered with tinsel garlands and red ribbons spiraling down its Christmas cloak. Interspersed between classic decorations, quirky random touches like giant Santa figurines, reindeer and nutcracker statues surprise both children and adults with extra holiday magic.

Private retailers, hotels and restaurants hop aboard the Christmas décor bandwagon too. Chic cafes like Chez Moi feature glittering golden reindeers pulling sleds through imaginary snow. Evergreen trees flank Hotel de l’Opera Hanoi’s imposing entrance, showering visitors with presents and orbs under its boughs. From the classy Metropole’s festooned façade through budget hostel Hanoi Golden Art’s creative handmade efforts, yuletide aesthetics captivate across accommodation categories.
 
The iconic Trang Tien Plaza shopping center harbors a Winter Wonderland Christmas circus extravaganza beside its enormous tree. While Vincom Center glows with white archways alight withgreen and red flashes. Rows of glistening cone-shaped trees guide shoppers through Aeon Mall’s Christmas setting. As midnight rings, fireworks launch in rainbow sparkles over Hoan Kiem’s tree and lake vista amidst tourist cheers for the perfect holiday framed Instagram pic.

Beyond downtown spectacles, even everyday neighborhood streets enter festive mood with delightful community decorations. Local families, shops and apartments work together decorating small communal trees, stringing colorful light lines across narrow lanes, and spraying fake flurries on verandahs. Miniature Santas smile their greetings atop motorbikes while inflatable snow globes and reindeer adorn front porches. Lanes around St. Joseph’s Cathedral craft special streetside manger scenes paying symbolic respect to sacred Christmas origins. Though downtown’s flashy commercial décor, Hanoi’s neighborhood holiday cheer channels innocent. Community warmth through handcrafted decorations lighting up tiny communal spaces.

As promptly as it began, the iconic Christmas spectacle finishes once real December 25th dawns. By the afternoon of Christmas day, dismantling works are underway clearing away temporary trimming to reveal Hanoi’s normal streetscapes. Places like iconic Hoan Kiem and French Quarter tree-lined avenues revert back to business as usual by December 26th. Only occasional glimpses of leftover ribbons flapping forlornly on bare branches hinting at yuletide memories past. Hotels and retailers follow suit taking down ornamental dressing to welcome the impending Vietnamese New Year festivities. However, the afterglow of Hanoi Christmas décor remains etched in memories. Travel blogs as iconic holiday placemaking until the decorative dance begins again next year. 
If you are in Vietnam and interested in discovering more about Hanoi – the capital and its significance, we invite you to join us at Free Walking Tours Hanoi. We’ll take you across the building, and provide you with a unique perspective of the city. Book now and don’t miss out on this amazing experience.