Bát Tràng Pottery Village, Hanoi, Vietnam

Bat Trang is a village in the Gia Lâm district of Hanoi, and is famous for its pottery. The village has been around for about 1000 years, and is a popular tourist destination in Hanoi for the Vietnamese.

The village houses a pottery museum, places that offer pottery-making lessons, and endless pottery stores.

When we went, I had no idea where we were heading or what we were going to see. All I knew was that my wife wanted to go out to see something with her friends, and she wanted me to come along. So I did!

Pottery Village Info

Bat Trang is about 14km from the centre of Hanoi, and is accessible by bus, taxi, or Grab.

• Address: Bát Tràng, Gia Lâm, Hà Nội
• Time needed to visit: 1 - 2 hours
• Official government tourism site: tourism.hanoi.gov.vn
• Official Facebook page: facebook.com/battrang360.vn

Bát Tràng History

Bat Trang was founded in the 14th century, and was originally named Bach Tho Phuong, which means “White Clay Village”. It’s a historic village that was known for its pottery, and was a major supplier of pottery to the capital city of Thang Long (now Hanoi) and to a number of temples and pagodas, including the Thang Long Citadel, the Temple of Literature, wells of Vietnamese villages throughout the country, and also in the imperial city of Hue and the tombs of Nguyen Dynasty emperors.

The village was renamed Bat Trang in the 15th century, after the village was flooded by the Red River.

Bát Tràng Pottery Village

We headed out to the pottery village from Hanoi, and it took us around 50 minutes to get there by car. We were staying in a suburb of Hanoi at the time, so it took us a bit longer than it would from the central part of Hanoi. If you’re coming from the Hoan Kiem/Old Quarter area, you’re probably only looking at about 30 minutes or so.

When we arrived, we parked at a large parking lot, and were transported by electric cart to the main part of the village. The village is quite large, and there are a number of different areas to visit.

Pottery-making Sessions

Our 1st stop was a place that offers pottery making. I believe there are a number of such places in the village, but maybe this was one of the more known ones?

Pottery-making fee: 20,000 VND per person

The man who runs the place gave us a quick demo, and then set us up on some pottery wheels. The wheels here are the manual type, so you need to constantly turn the wheel with your hands while you shape the clay.

As it happens, I actually used to take pottery lessons when I was a kid back some 30+ years ago. The lessons I took had electric pottery wheels, so this was a bit different. I also realized very quickly that whatever skills I had back then were long gone. 😂

If you make some nice pottery and want to have it fired, you can pay an extra fee to have it fired, and then I think you can come collect it later or have it shipped. I have no idea of the price as we didn’t ask, but I’ve seen it listed online from 35,000 to 50,000 VND, likely not including any shipping. So it’s really not expensive.

For us however, after playing around for a bit and making absolutely nothing of value other than some lumpy mounds of clay, we headed out! 🤪

Bát Tràng Pottery Museum

Next up was the Pottery museum, which was … hmmm, this was a bit of a strange one for me. We had to pay a fee to get in, but, I’m not entirely sure what the fee was for. I mean, there were a few displays of pottery, but it was mostly just a large store with pottery for sale!

The architectural design of the museum was indeed unique, and quite cool.

For fans of fine arts, Bat Trang pottery museum is an appealing place to visit. The museum consists of 6 floors displaying gorgeous pottery, categorized into collections of distinctive styles.

The first floor displays the ceramic products of Bat Trang Pottery Village. It also provides a wonderful background for young people to take photos with its colorful architecture and fantastic lighting. The second floor offers insightful information about the history and development of the village.

Exquisite examples of contemporary art can be found at the Contemporary Art Center on the third floor. On the fourth floor, tourists can enjoy coffee and the view of the Red River. Tea and light art are featured on the fifth floor.
vinpearl.com

I mean don’t get me wrong, the pottery we saw here was absolutely gorgeous, and I think some of it might have been quite old. But mostly it just seemed to be pottery on display, which you can basically see anywhere in the village.

So, yeah … not quite the most interesting museum I’ve seen to date.

Lunch & the Pottery Market

After the museum, we headed into the main village for some bún chả, and then headed to the pottery market nearby.

My wife was looking for some dishes, and this is certainly the place to find them!

The market here has the typical pottery stuff … dishes, ceramic utensils, vases galore, and also some cool looking water fountains.

The Village

Besides the market, the entire village seems to be mostly pottery-making businesses or pottery stores.

My Verdict

I’m not entirely sure what my opinion of Bat Trang Pottery Village is. I mean, there’s a lot of history in the village, going back about 1000 years or so. But when it comes down to it … it’s a town with endless pottery stores. Beautiful pottery, but still just pottery.

So, I mean … I’m not entirely sure I get the popularity of the place.

We visited because my wife and her friends wanted to go, and I just basically tagged along I guess. 😂
But even my wife didn’t think it was really worth coming and doesn’t understand the allure.

I suppose if you spend your entire days looking at pottery, go to sleep dreaming about pottery, and wake up thinking about pottery, then this is probably a great place to visit. Or perhaps you need a new vase? They’ve got plenty!

But if the above doesn’t seem like you, then I’d say you can probably skip this one.