The festival is a major tourism promotion initiative designed to honour, preserve and promote the values of traditional craft villages and trade streets, while highlighting the capital’s destinations and distinctive culinary heritage. Held under the theme “Hundreds of Crafts, Thousands of Flavours,” the event drew more than 30,000 visitors, including a significant number of international tourists.

Spanning an area of about 5,000 sq.m and inspired by the imagery of Hanoi’s old streets and ancient houses, the festival comprised three main spaces: a craft village and trade street tourism area, a Hanoi culinary heritage area, and a destination promotion area.

The craft village and trade street tourism space featured product displays and live demonstrations from well-known craft villages such as Bat Trang ceramics, Van Phuc silk, Chuong village conical hats, Chang Son fans and Ha Thai lacquerware. The trade street section recreated scenes from Hanoi’s historic streets, featuring stories of Hang Ma street during the Lunar New Year Festival and calligraphers writing festive characters. Watercolour paintings and artistic photographs offered fresh perspectives on Hanoi through the works of artists and photographers devoted to the city. Artisans and skilled craftsmen also guided visitors in hands-on experiences of key production processes.

The Hanoi culinary heritage space presented traditional offerings including the Bat Trang ceremonial feast, West Lake lotus tea, and craft village specialties such as Vong village green young sticky rice, Phu Thuong sticky rice, Thanh Tri steamed rice rolls and Uoc Le pork sausage, alongside iconic Hanoi dishes such as pho, egg coffee, shrimp fritters and freshwater snail noodles. Throughout the festival, artisans and chefs demonstrated and shared culinary techniques with the public.

Meanwhile, the destination promotion space showcased images of Hanoi’s renowned heritage and tourist attractions, including the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, the Temple of Literature, the One Pillar Pagoda and the Hanoi Flag Tower. It also introduced distinctive tours, travel routes and tourism products, as well as souvenirs and promotional programmes offered by travel agencies, accommodation providers and tourist sites. Prominent craft villages such as Bat Trang, Van Phuc, Chuong, Chang Son, Ha Thai and Phu Vinh were vividly presented through product displays, live demonstrations and interactive experiences.

This year’s festival brought together 10 representative craft villages and trade streets, nearly 30 artisans and master craftsmen, along with representatives from tourism and culinary businesses, accommodation establishments and tourist destinations in the capital. Visitors and local residents were able to directly take part in traditional craft activities, interact with artisans, try Hanoi foods, and enjoy a wide array of engaging culinary and artistic performances./. VNA