VietNamNet Bridge - The image of small, crowded sidewalks where many people concentrate on reading the newspaper, smoking or chatting with friends besides cups of coffee has become very familiar in Hanoi.

Across the streets of Hanoi, one can see sidewalk cafes everywhere. There are several streets where the entire sidewalks are occupied by coffee shops.

Nguyen Du Street

There are over ten coffee shops located on Nguyen Du Street, facing Thien Quang Lake. The plus point of these coffee shops is that they face the lake, are located near the Lenin park and under the shadow of big trees.

These shops have inside coffee tables but customers prefer to sit on the sidewalk, except for rainy days. Plastic chairs are both used as chairs and tables. The drinks are simply a cup of coffee, tea, lemonade, or orange juice and a plate of sunflower seeds.

These coffee shops are always crowded from early morning to late evening. The guests are diverse, ranging from the elderly, office workers, students, from young couples to groups of men and women. This is probably partly due to reasonable prices at the sidewalk cafes, which starts from VND15,000/drink. Sipping a cup of coffee, leisurely watching people passing by, the children playing on the lakeside… is the reason why many people would love to sit here. This area is the most crowded in the evening.

Trieu Viet Vuong Street

This street is over 700 meters long but there are a hundred of street cafes. From the street, you can feel the fragrance of coffee.

Cafes there are in different styles, from traditional style with Nang, Thai and Tho cafes to modern cafes like Cong, The Light and ZODI and hi-tech cafes like Blackberry, Iphone...

Although the street is small, thanks to big trees, cafes here are pretty cool. Located in the downtown area but the traffic flow is not too busy so the street is not too noisy. Located near the city center, many office buildings and the Vincom commercial center, Trieu Viet Vuong is the destination of office employees. The rush hour is from 6.30am to 9am, the lunch time or late afternoon.

Most cafes on Trieu Viet Vuong road are relatively spacious with tables and chairs inside but many people still prefer to sit on the sidewalk with a few plastic chairs. Employees are agile and enthusiastic. The price for drinks here is from VND20,000.

Nha Tho Street

Nha Tho Street is famous for lemon tea but it is also a popular place for those who like sidewalk cafes. If the customers of cafes on Nguyen Du and Trieu Viet Vuong roads are office employees, the major customers of coffee shops on Nha Tho Street are students and young people.

The common feature of the cafes on this street is that they are very small so the sidewalks are fully used. Tables and chairs are just plastic chairs for easy move whenever the police come. The small shops here are always crowded, especially in the afternoon, evening, especially on weekends.

Serving mainly young people, the prices for drinks at these shops are cheap. With only VND15,000, you can taste a cup of coffee or tea here while watching the streets, the majestic Cathedral or chatting with friends.

TTVN