Hanoi Holiday Weather today
Date/time of update: November 2, 2025, 12:28 am, Timezone: GMT+7
Overcast Clouds
Temperature: 19.03°C
Temperature feels like: 19.44°C
Minimum Temperature: 19.03°C
Maximum Temperature: 19.03°C
Atmospheric pressure: 1018hPa
Humidity:94%
Visibility: 5000m
Wind speed: 4.63m/sec
Wind Direction: 10 degrees
Cloudiness: 100%
Sunrise: 2025-11-01 10:59:33
Sunset: 2025-11-02 10:20:24
The Hoan Kiem Lake is located in the heart of Hanoi, connecting the core areas of old the old Hanoi: to the south of the Old Quarter and north of the French Quarter. Since the very beginning of Hanoi’s history, the Hoan Kiem Lake has been an important spot culturally and spiritually.
Travel Guide to the Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
History
The current Hoan Kiem Lake measures 700m in length from north to south and 200m in width from east to west.
Originally the Hoan Kiem Lake was a tributary of the Red River called Luc Thuy (Emerald Water Lake). This lake started at the Hang Dao Street (north of the Hoan Kiem Lake) and ran south all the way through the current Hoan Kiem Lake and further south to the Hang Chuoi Street, Lo Duc Street and the Red River. The biggest part of this tributary was at the Hoan Kiem Lake nowadays. To the North of the current Hoan Kiem Lake there was a wooden bridge where the Cau Go (Wooden Bridge) was located. This site is the Cau Go Street nowadays.
In 1599 along with the renewal of the Royal Citadel for the Le King, Lord Trinh Tung also built his own palace to the west of the Luc Thuy Lake.
In 1644 Lord Trinh Doanh filled up eastern area of the Luc Thuy Lake and built Ngu Long Lau (Five Dragon Pavilion, site of the Post Office of Hanoi nowadays. The Trinh Lord also built a road diving the Luc Thuy Lake into the Ta Vong Lake (Hoan Kiem Lake nowadays) and Huu Vong Lake (from Trang Thi Street to Lo Duc Street). The Huu Vong Lake was used for training the Royal Littoral Troops (Navy, Marines), hence the name Ho Thuy Quan (Lake for Training Littoral Troops) from the 19th century.
In 1883 the French completed their invasion of Hanoi and the Huu Vong Lake was filled up for more construction and expansion of the French Quarter. The Ta Vong Lake remained till today which is the Hoan Kiem Lake.
The Name Hoan Kiem Lake
The Name Hoan Kiem Lake was from the 15th century (1528) under King Le Thai To (Le Loi) Reign. In a historical book Dai Nam Thuc Luc by Nguyen Trai it is said that Le Loi who was from a wealthy family and who had a close friend called Le Than. Le Than was a fisherman.
One night the fisherman caught nothing but a piece of metal. On a visit to Le Than house, Le Loi found out about the metal and asked Le Than to give it to him and Le Than agreed. A few days later Le Loi also found out the handle of a sword in front of his house. When he put together the piece of metal and the handle and they were fit!
Le Loi started a revolt against the Ming Dynasty who had invaded Vietnam and ruled the country since 1407. Le Loi managed to drive the Ming out of the country in 1428 and became the King in the same year. When the kingdom was in peace again, the King had a boat trip on the Luc Thuy Lake and a turtle appeared from under the water asking the King to give back the sword which had been given to him by the God of the Water. The kingdom was at peace and there was no need for the sword which should be returned to the owner. After that the turtle got the sword and disappeared into the water. The name Hoan Kiem Lake or the Lake of the Restored Sword was from then on.
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