Vietnam: Thang Long Water Puppet Show

It was a short but interesting and enjoyable experience. Especially the different "strange" music instruments and their sounds were special. Also the unique way in which a story was told in the water was special for us. I recommend this show for a relaxing "break" from the busy streets and noise of Hanoi.

I bought ticket online through Viator. The online ticket said de luxe category and I should sit anywhere between row 6 and 13. I was given a ticket by the agent on arrival at theatre and was shown a seat on row 15 which is a general category. I made a complaint to the travel co no reply yet. Not to take anything away from a unique event and performed by a globally recognised troop of performers. Definitely a must when visiting Hanoi.

These tickets are sold at locations for $3, Viator hikes up the price saying that you don’t have to stand in line and are secured a row 6-10. We were in the last row from the top after paying 4x the price.

I waited until last minute to get my actual tickets. We were 5 but were not seated together as a family and our seats were not placed well. I recommend to buy the tickets directly on the spot from the cashier of the puppet show . it is much MUCH cheaper ( 100,000-150,000 and 200,000VND) but you need to go in advance to secure your ticket as i can be fully booked.

I really enjoyed the puppet show, the singing and music. We made sure to buy audio guides so we could understand what was being depicted. It was easy to find the theatre, but a bit of a run around to get the actual tickets in exchange for the Viator voucher. Still, we had plenty of time to find the ticket office and then return for the show. Hanoi is very far from the cruise port, so getting to the city was the biggest challenge because we could only find one limousine from the port in the morning and only one option to return (by a different tour provider) after the show.

Apparently, a Hanoi specialty, a water puppet show is an exceedingly entertaining must see. Not only is it incredibly entertaining, but it also offers those attending an opportunity to learn something about Asian culture and folk stories.

Chaos! We purchased the tickets online more than 24 hours before the scheduled show. We reached the venue 1 hour before schedule and we were told by the theater stafff at the door that we had nothing to worry since we had already purchased our tickets and we could skip the line. We asked for seat assignment (online purchase doesn't allow seat selection just section or tier reservation) and we were told that we would be assigned seats for our tier once we're inside the theater. When we arrived 45 minutes later, expecting to be seated inside the theater in the tier 1 seating area (closest to the water stage), there was a line of people with tickets in hand. We tried to find the same staff we had spoken to earlier, but there seemed to have been a shift change. The new staff were busy ushering out guests from the earlier show and were unable or unwilling to help us with our reservation. It was unprofessional and total mismanagement. We were asked to stand in line and handed tier 2 tickets instead after waiting for another 30 minutes as utter chaos unfolded around us (the line morphed into a stream of people entering the theater). Once inside, we located our seats in the middle of the theater, which wasn't too far from the stage (the space is small compared to standard theaters), although our original tier had closer seating. By the way, the show is in Vietnamese without any translation, but it is quite unique and represents an integral part of Vietnamese folklore. Language is a huge hindrance for non-Vietnamese and the staff don't seem to want to change that despite the record number of expats that flock the theater.

The puppet show would be enjoyable with an audio guide which we booked but on arrival were told that they had run out.

Wonderful! What interested me most was the curiosity of what happens behind the scenes and how it is done with such precision, more than the plot, which is unnecessary to take the audio for it. Warmly recommend but check the prices because even thru viator the same activity has different prices.

Exceptional show, one of a kind. It is a must do, when visiting Vietnam. Foreigners should take an audio guide as the entire show is in Vietnamese language