The outdoor garden
Full-size traditional houses.
vi:User:Rungbachduong — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — CC BY 2.0 · Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — CC BY 2.0 · Nam Hy Hoàng Phong — CC BY 3.0
The best place in Vietnam to understand its human diversity: a museum devoted to the country's 54 officially recognised ethnic groups, from the Viet (Kinh) majority to the dozens of minorities of the mountains and highlands. It opened in 1997 in Cau Giay district, west of the centre. The main building shows the dress, tools, crafts and daily customs of each group, with captions in Vietnamese, English and French. A second building, opened in 2013, is devoted to the peoples of Southeast Asia. The highlight is the outdoor garden, where about ten full-size traditional houses have been built by craftsmen from the communities themselves: the Ede longhouse on its wooden stilts, the Bahnar communal house with its towering roof, houses from the northern mountains and a traditional Viet house from the Red River delta. Most of them can be entered. Allow at least two hours for the building and the garden together. The museum is far from the Old Quarter, so a taxi or a ride-hailing app is the easiest way there.
Full-size traditional houses.
With its towering roof.
Under one roof.
Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Cau Giay District, about 8 km west of the Old Quarter
40,000 dong for adults and 20,000 for students; free under 6. The museum is closed on Mondays.