Hanoi: Thang Long Water Puppet Theater Fast Entry Tickets

4.57

(68 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I noticed was the sound — not the puppets yet, but this bright, slightly twangy music drifting out of Thang Long Water Puppet Theater. We’d just come from Hoan Kiem Lake, where scooters buzzed and couples took photos under those old banyan trees. Inside the theater it felt cooler, almost damp, and I remember this faint smell of wood polish mixed with something sweet (maybe incense? hard to tell). There were families everywhere — some kids bouncing in their seats, a few tourists like us clutching our fast entry tickets so we wouldn’t get stuck in line.

Our seats weren’t far from the front, and you could see the water shimmer under the stage lights. When the show started, I honestly didn’t expect to laugh — but there was this bit with a dragon puppet spitting water at a fisherman that got everyone giggling. The musicians sat to one side, playing these instruments I couldn’t name (our guide later called one a “dan bau”), and they sang stories about rice planting and village life. Li laughed when I tried to say “water puppet” in Vietnamese — probably butchered it. It’s “múa rối nước,” if you’re curious.

It’s not a long show, maybe an hour or so, but there’s something kind of hypnotic about watching those lacquered puppets glide across the water while the band plays on. You can step outside after and walk back through Hanoi Old Quarter if you want more chaos — we did — but honestly I still think about that moment when everything went quiet except for the splash of a wooden buffalo tail. Hard to explain unless you’ve been there.