Bat Trang Ceramic Village

Bat Trang has made pottery on this bend of the Red River since at least the fifteenth century, when its wares were traded well beyond Vietnam. The village is still working rather than preserved: kilns run behind houses, alleys are stacked with drying pots and blocked by trolleys, and the walls of some lanes are studded with discs of coal paste pressed on to dry as fuel. The recognised styles are cobalt blue-and-white, a crackled ivory glaze and a dark brown glaze, all still produced alongside a great deal of ordinary tableware. A covered market sells the output by the crate, and small workshops let visitors throw and paint a pot for a few thousand dong.

What you actually see

• The alleys - working lanes with drying pots, open kilns and coal discs pressed on the walls.
• The ceramic market - covered halls selling everything from tea sets to garden urns.
• Crackle glaze - the ivory men ran ware with a deliberate craze worked into the surface.
• Throwing a pot - workshops charge a small fee for a wheel and paints and fire the result.

When to go

Weekdays are calmer than weekends, when Hanoi families arrive for the workshops. Mornings are best for seeing kilns and painters at work, since many sheds shut in the early afternoon. The public bus from Long Bien takes about forty minutes. Winter is comfortable for walking the alleys; summer afternoons beside working kilns are punishing.

Honest expectations

Much of the market is cheap tableware and imported stock rather than village work, and the good studios are tucked away and need looking for. The alleys are dusty, uneven and shared with trolleys and motorbikes. Prices for visitors start high and bargaining is expected. Pieces are heavy and badly packed for flights unless you insist.

Nearby

The Red River dyke road back towards Hanoi passes several other craft villages.