Phường Tây Hồ, Hà Nội · Lake
West Lake
A natural freshwater lake of more than five hundred hectares in Hà Nội, originally an old bend of the Red River; the lakeside road of about seventeen kilometres is where Hanoians exercise from first light and come to watch the sunset.
01What this lake is
A natural freshwater lake, originally a stretch of the old Red River left behind when the river changed course, with a surface of more than 500 ha and a perimeter of more than 17 km. Its old name Dâm Đàm dates from the Lý–Trần period and, according to Prof. Trần Quốc Vượng, means 'misty lake'; in 1573 the lake was renamed Tây Hồ to avoid the taboo name Duy Đàm of King Lê Thế Tông.
What people come for
People come to cycle or walk around the lake, especially on the south shore, where there is a bicycle rental stand every few hundred metres, and to watch the sunset on clear days, busiest on Thanh Niên road. In early summer, Bách Diệp (hundred-petal) lotus blooms around June in the ponds along the lake on the Quảng An side, not on the main lake surface, and opens at first light.
Hungda · CC0 · source
Busy and quiet times
From first light, the lakeside road is already crowded with older and younger people doing health exercises, running, cycling and playing shuttlecock kicking; early morning and late afternoon to evening are busiest, and midday is quiet. The south shore along Nguyễn Đình Thi and Trích Sài is lively at weekends, while the north shore is quieter; on public holidays and Tết, the lakeside area along with Trấn Quốc Pagoda and Phủ Tây Hồ is very crowded.
Before you go
Swimming, fishing, releasing animals and dumping litter into the lake are banned under Decision 02/2024/QĐ-UBND; the informal swimming spots along the lake have deep water in places, slippery banks and no permanent lifeguard. From late spring into summer the lake often gets squalls in the evening; if you see storm clouds coming from the west or southwest, get ashore at once; in late winter there are mornings of thick fog with drizzle, when vehicles must turn on lights in the daytime; since 28 Aug 2026 the lake area and the lakeside road have been under renovation, expected to last until 2030, and it is not clear which sections are fenced off.
Getting there and around
There is currently no regular tourist boat service on Hồ Tây; 6 boat landings were planned in 2026 but are not yet operating. Many sections of the lakeside road are narrow, and bicycles share the road with cars and motorbikes.
Photographs
18 of 18 on fileDavid McKelvey · CC BY 2.0 · source
NKSTTSSHNVN · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Nguyen Duc Anh · CC0 · source
Alex 69200 vx · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Viethavvh (Wikipedia tiếng Việt) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Amenoc · CC0 · source
NKSTTSSHNVN · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
NKSTTSSHNVN · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Jon Rawlinson · CC BY 2.0 · source
cloud.shepherd · CC BY 2.0 · source
Gary Todd · CC0 · source
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 · source
Rungbachduong (Wikipedia tiếng Việt) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Amenoc · CC0 · source
Christophe95 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Mig Gilbert · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
The story
West Lake: an old river bend Hanoi built its life around
Picture yourself walking along Thanh Niên Road ("Youth Road"), with water on both sides. On one side is West Lake (Hồ Tây), on the other Trúc Bạch Lake. They used to be a single lake. Villagers built a dike to close off one corner for raising fish, and that dike later became the very road you are walking on. Just off the east shore, Trấn Quốc Pagoda sits on a small island. Go back further still and West Lake was once a stretch of the Red River, left behind when the river changed course.
Vibe
Tags
Source
The lake's origin, area and perimeter come from VnExpress (4 Oct 2016) and Việt Nam News (2024), cross-checked against the lake shoreline on OpenStreetMap measured on 15 Sep 2026. The perimeter of 14.8 km in the body of the Vietnamese Wikipedia article was rejected because it disagrees with all three of those sources; the figure of 13.5 km is the length of the road axis in the renovation project, not the lake's perimeter. The layer of names Dâm Đàm and Tây Hồ comes from the Government Electronic Information Portal (27 Apr 2010). The address in Tây Hồ Ward comes from a document of the West Lake Management Board under the Tây Hồ Ward People's Committee (13 Oct 2025), cross-checked against the OpenStreetMap boundary. The ban on swimming and fishing follows Decision 02/2024/QĐ-UBND of the City People's Committee. The warning about informal swimming comes from VOV (27 May 2026) and Thể thao & Văn hóa (14 Aug 2026). The warning about thunderstorm squalls comes from an interview with the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting in Người Đưa Tin (2013); a 2020 Dân Việt article repeats that interview word for word, so it counts as one source. The 2014 boat capsizing in a thunderstorm comes from Nông nghiệp Việt Nam; two articles from the same day disagree about casualties, so it is recorded only as 'two people in distress'. The lotus season and the Bách Diệp lotus come from Hà Nội Mới (29 Jun 2025) and Người Hà Nội (12 Jul 2024); the start and end of the season differ between sources, so only 'early summer, peaking around June' is kept. The sunset comes from VnExpress (29 May 2026). The winter mist comes from Tuổi Trẻ (2 Feb 2024) and the ward information site (tayho360), the latter having a promotional motive. The exercise rhythm comes from VnExpress (2018) and VietNamNet (2016), both now dated. Cycling and the lake shores come from Nhân Dân (2 Mar 2023). The absence of tourist boats comes from Kênh14 (31 Aug 2026). Information on the 2026–2030 renovation works comes from VnExpress (28 Aug 2026). Details rejected: the figure of 71 monuments (counted for the area of the former Tây Hồ district), the line 'Trấn Quốc pagoda lies in the middle of the lake', the year the coots disappeared, and any time given to the minute. Birds nesting at Thủy Trung Tiên temple were excluded because it belongs to Trúc Bạch lake.
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