Vietnamese Women’s Museum
Photo: Own work — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Established in 1987, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi preserves and exhibits artifacts and documents highlighting the roles and contributions of Vietnamese women throughout history and in contemporary society.
Planning your visit
The Vietnamese Women's Museum is consistently rated among the best museums in Hanoi, and it earns that through clarity of purpose. Three thematic floors cover women in family life, women in history, and women's fashion across Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups.
The historical floor is the strongest. It documents women's roles in the resistance wars — as fighters, couriers, tunnel diggers and porters on the Ho Chi Minh trail — through personal testimony and objects, including material on the Heroic Mothers who lost multiple children. It is direct and affecting without being propagandistic.
The ethnographic floor holds textiles and costume from the minority groups, which is where the museum's collection is materially finest — the weaving and embroidery traditions are extraordinary.
Contemporary displays cover street vendors in modern Hanoi, and the museum also runs research and advocacy work on gender equality.
It is central, well labelled in English, and takes around ninety minutes.
Bookable options include guided tours and walking formats combining the museum with Hỏa Lò Prison nearby — two very different accounts of the same twentieth century. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is Vietnamese Women’s Museum?
Vietnamese Women’s Museum is in Hanoi, Vietnam. The map on this page marks its exact location.
Do I need to book Vietnamese Women’s Museum in advance?
Guided tours run to a fixed schedule and small group sizes, so they are usually booked ahead.
