The Vietnam Military History Museum is no longer in the Old Quarter. It was founded on 17 July 1956 as the Army Museum, next to the Hanoi Flag Tower, and opened to visitors on 22 December 1959. It took its present name in 2002. In November 2024 it reopened at a new site at Km 6+500 on Thang Long Avenue, now Xuan Phuong ward, on the western edge of the city. Older guidebooks and maps that put it beside the Flag Tower are out of date.
The building has a footprint of 23,198 m². In front of it stands the 45 m Victory Tower, built as stacked five-pointed stars that stand for 1945, the year of independence. The museum holds more than 150,000 artifacts. Four are national treasures: two MiG-21 fighters (numbers 4324 and 5121), the T-54B tank number 843 and the battle map of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. Tank 843 led the column into Saigon on 30 April 1975 and rammed the side gate of the Independence Palace.
Getting there
Measured in a straight line on map coordinates, the museum is about 10 km from Hoan Kiem Lake and about 9 km from Hanoi railway station; the road distance is longer. Noi Bai International Airport is about 24 km away in a straight line.
Hours and fees
| When | Hours |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday | 8:00 to 11:30 AM, then 1:00 to 4:30 PM |
| Monday and Friday | Closed |
The museum's own site gives 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM; the government portal and Thanh Nien newspaper add the 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM break.
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard | VND 40,000 |
| Ages 16 and 17, college and university students, ages 60 to 79 | 50% off |
| Children under 16, ages 80 and over, veterans | Free |
The fee is set by the Ministry of Finance in Circular 90/2025/TT-BTC of 18 September 2025. The museum charged entry from 11 April 2025; before that, the new site was free.
Our take
The move changes everything here. At about 10 km from Hoan Kiem Lake, this is now an outing of its own, and it shares the mausoleum's Monday and Friday closures. If you want one museum out west, we'd put the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology first: it's about 6 km away and open on Fridays.
Nearby
- Vietnam Museum of Ethnology: about 6 km in a straight line.
- LOTTE Observation Deck: about 6.5 km in a straight line.
Questions travelers ask
Is the new museum worth the ride? Asked for cultural things to do in Hanoi, one reply said:
"The new military history museum is a must. Very impressive."
u/Responsible_Two3164 on r/hanoi
