Some parks are open to everyone but are not nice, while others are beautiful but charge a fee to visitors.

The 60-year-old 50 hectare Thong Nhat Park is the largest park in inner Hanoi and also a historical site, which reflects aspirations for the country’s reunification.

Dao Ngoc Nghiem, former director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture, said all architectural works in the park are winning works from competitions and they are suitable to the landscape. The park also shows value of value planning and architecture.

Located in the inner area, where public and green space is scarce, Thong Nhat park has not attracted residents over many years. Why?

Nguyen Van Thanh, from nearby Nguyen Dinh Chieu street, said only people living near the park come for morning physical exercise. People from other districts hesitate to visit the park as it is closely guarded.

To enter the park, people pay VND5,000 for motorbike parking and VND4,000 for admission ticket/adult and VND2,000/child.

Visitors to Thu Le Park also pay an entrance ticket of VND30,000/adult and VND20,000/child to see the animals. If they want to play games, they have to pay additional fees.

Nguyen Quoc Hung from Thanh Xuan district said that he sometimes takes his children to Thu Le Park to see the animals and walk around. However, the children only feel excited in the first minutes. Later, they complain that it is boring.

As facilities at Thu Le Park have not been appropriately invested, the park has lost its appeal, though it is the largest zoo in the capital city.

Linh Dam is one of the open-for-free parks in the capital city. The park is always packed with visitors, from morning until late evening, mostly those who come for exercise or dancing, martial arts and aerobics.

“There are 60,000 residents on Linh Dam Peninsula. It would be really suffocating if there was no park,” said Pham Thi Hao, a local resident. “I go jogging in the park every evening after I return from work."

However, people are unsatisfied because many items in the parks have degraded and have been left unused for many years. The way to walk around has subsided with broken concrete parts, which pose danger to people. In the entertainment area for children, many items are broken, and the electricity system is not well organized.

Cau Giay Park in Cau Giay District is another free park and it also attracts large numbers of visitors, especially on weekends. In 2013, VND10 billion was invested to build a free entertainment area for children here, with all equipment imported from Japan. The surface of the playing field is lined with artificial grass, which allows children to run and jump without worry about getting scratched up.

Tran Thu Ha from Hoai Duc District said Cau Giay Park is an attractive destination for her family. While her children can climb and enjoy the space in the park, Ha and her husband can jog around the park. However, Hanoi has few places for children’s entertainment like Cau Giay.

As a busy place for many families over the last 10 years, the park's facilities have degraded.

Quang Phong - Dinh Hieu