The Best Shopping in Vietnam

Bến Thành market has been around Saigon in one form or another for over 300 years. At some points it neighbored bodies of water including a small lake. It is a monster, overwhelming at first. If you come to Saigon and you love to shop, this is the one-stop shop you are looking for. Personally nothing is more thrilling at Bến Thành than the art of “The Barter.” It’s a strategic game of wits of where you pit product desire against pocketbook ability and the house always wins. It’s not always easy, in fact it’s never easy. Hot, stagnant air ripe with the smell of fish and squid always seems to hang in the air right over that gift you can’t live without. You’re constantly walking that fine line between feeling like you got ripped off or feeling you’re further oppressing the local population. Bến Thành is the stadium packed with hundreds of thousands of pieces of clothing, jewelry, and art- and they’re all yours to play for.

If you need a few cute souvenirs for friends and family, but don’t want to bargain or deal with the hustle and bustle of the markets in Ho Chi Minh City then check out Saigon Kitsch. It’s a cute little centrally located boutique that sells well designed souvenirs that your friends would actually enjoy. I missed out on purchasing some propaganda posters in Hanoi, and I was able to find them at Saigon Kitsch for a great price..

The two-story Binh Tay Market is an impossible-to-miss Chinatown landmark on the edge of Ho Chi Minh City’s District Six; it boasts a distinctive Chinese-inspired clock tower, yet it was a French patron who financed the construction of the market in the 1880s. It isn’t geared toward foreigners like the more popular (among travelers, that is) Ben Thanh Market, so there are fewer souvenirs for sale—on the upside, that means prices are already low. The focus here is more on fresh food, though items like bags, clothing, and handicrafts are also sold; even if you don’t plan on purchasing anything, it’s a fascinating place to visit.

When Hoi An’s tailoring scene gets too much respite is offered at shops such Avana, a stylish boutique that stocks off the peg dresses, blouses, shoes and accessories. Although the designs are European in style, the work is carried out by skilled local artisans.

One of the oldest and largest tailoring shops in town, Thu Thuy is well respected and is a good option for having a suit or a fitted dress run up. Good service and an adjoining coffee shop makes shopping here even more desirable.

Behind these buttery walls, the most fashionable tailors are ready to help you design a gorgeous new wardrobe. Yaly may take an extra day or two for your items to be perfect, but it’s worth the extra appointments... and the price. Sure, you can go to any number of tailors in Hoi An to get a blazer made in less than 24 hours, but as with most things, you get what you pay for. Eighteen months later and the items I designed here are still most coveted pieces in my closet. Don’t know where to start? Take a stroll through thousands of fabric bolts in everything from wool to the finest locally made silks, or sift through pages of designer books as you sip on cucumber juice. And, be sure to bring photos of your desired item...Yes, even that DVF dress you swooned over in Vouge Italia last month!

Hoi An is one of my favorite travel destinations in all of Asia. Sure, it’s undeniably touristy, but it’s also quite laid back and relaxed - nothing like other South East Asia tourist hotspots like Chiang Mai, for instance. Hoi An has a wonderful beach, gorgeous old town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and some of the best food on the planet - surely well known to AFAR readers by now. Hoi An is also a great place for shopping. Of particular interest here are tailored suits and dresses, but the city also has a neat little cottage industry of lantern makers. There are quite a few scattered throughout the city, with some of the best being found on the southern side of the river. That’s where I came across this atmospheric little shop. If I ever have a hipster wedding, I’ll be buying my lanterns in Hoi An. Prices are, as all things in Vietnam, wildly negotiable.

Owned by Hoang Van Truong, an avid reader, this is regarded by most as Hanoi‘s best bookshop. Truong and his team are enthusiastic and all speak excellent English and there are over 10,000 titles in stock.

Local artisans benefit from this nonprofit organisation, which sells their crafts such as bags, textiles, scarves and trinkets at fair market prices. Items are of high quality and prices are reasonable.

Chie Design is a lovely boutique specializes in handicrafts made by ethnic groups in northwest Vietnam. It offers a quality selection of textiles, ceramics, jewelry, and fair-trade snacks with tags that explain where each item originated. Chie ensures that artisans are paid a fair wage while selling products at a fair price. The Hoan Kiem shop is slightly below street level, look for a small set of stairs to access it

If you don’t get the chance to visit Bat Trang -- a village just outside Hanoi famous for the quality of its ceramics -- a visit to this long-established shop should do the trick. Colorful crockery, ceramic lamps, and other products are among the items on sale here.

In this workshop designed to resemble a rural village, you can get an up-close look at the detailed work that goes into hand-embroidered Vietnamese silk. The needlework is exquisite, and whether or not you purchase an item, you’ll come away with a better understanding of the meticulous craftsmanship behind the beautiful pieces.

We arranged a private tour of the Mekong River Delta through the Park Hyatt Saigon. We were driven from the hotel to Cai Be in a Cadillac with snacks and drinks, then escorted to our private river boat (also loaded with fresh fruit, coffee and tea, and other snacks). Our english-speaking tour guide brought us onto a small rowed boat through the smaller channels of the delta, explaining local life and the various trades of the people who live there. We saw a floating market and had lunch at Mr. Kiet’s historic house. Highly recommend spending the morning and afternoon on this tour.

In Vietnam’s bustling metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, glittering high-rises and global brands are on the rise—but at L’Usine, a café-boutique hidden along shopping strip Dong Khoi, it’s the old, the handmade, and the local that are revered. Housed in a 1890s building that was once the glamorous Hotel du Saigon, the enormous space was recently renovated to its original splendor, with 20-foot ceilings, oversized arched windows and ornate iron columns. Weaving looms and sewing machine bases from the city’s junkyards have been reborn as fixtures for L’Usine’s treasure trove of locally designed clothing, accessories, and housewares. Look for buttoned-pocket men’s cotton tees from Tinwell & Bismarck and ruffled, deconstructed linen dresses and patterned silk scarves from Trois Filles. And if Wetter Indochine’s darling cupcake-shaped lacquerware tempts your sweet tooth, a homemade red velvet cupcake is just steps away in L’Usine’s café. 151 Đồng Khởi, 1st Floor, District 1, 84/(86) 674 3565, lusinespace.com