Street

Yên Phụ: the oldest village on West Lake, between the dyke and two lakes

6 verified homes to rent on Yên Phụ, Hanoi, managed by Nest Living.

The first village on the lake, and the wind that made it valuable

Yên Phụ is described in Vietnamese records as the first old village of the West Lake area and old Thăng Long, and the reason given is the weather. It catches the cool southerly in summer and is sheltered from the north-easterly in winter, which is why the land was prized long before anyone was renting to foreigners.

Flowers, ornamental fish and incense

Its people were farmers who did everything else as well: mulberry and silkworms, flowers and ornamental plants, incense making, fishing, river trading and breeding ornamental fish. Three trades are still named as the village’s own: growing ornamental plants, breeding ornamental fish, and making incense. You can still see the fish tanks.

Đường Yên Phụ and Phố Yên Phụ are not the same street

Get the geography right before you view. There are two things called Yên Phụ. Đường Yên Phụ is the Red River dyke road, about 1,472 metres from Ô Yên Phụ at the top of the Thanh Niên slope down to Hàng Đậu, and it is a primary road with up to four lanes. Phố Yên Phụ is the street, quieter, running through the village between the lakes. A listing on one is not a listing on the other. Ask us which one before you agree a price.

The dyke question every renter should ask

The dyke also raises the question no agency answers. In September 2024 the Red River at Hanoi reached its highest level in twenty years and the city moved roughly 73,700 people out of areas at risk, with the worst effects on the river side of the dyke. Properties inside the dyke were not the ones being evacuated. If you are looking here, the useful question is not does it flood but which side of the dyke is this address on.

What is on the doorstep

The street itself is one of the better ones on this list for daily life: bánh cuốn Hồ Tây, bún chả 29, Cà Phê Duy Trí, Bao Minh, DoubleB’s, a Vietcombank, a SeABank, a WinMart, a post office and a kindergarten, all within fifteen metres of the road. Chợ Long Biên and the Long Biên bus interchange are at the southern end.