The Con and Han markets in Da Nang are emerging as “shopping paradises” for both domestic and foreign tourists when they are visiting our beautiful seaside city.  The 2 traditional markets sell whatever you want to buy, including specialities from the northern, the central and the southern regions.

The Han Market is well-known for its live and fresh seafood, as well as local specialities.  It is the best place to buy the famous local “mam” (salted fish) products which include “mam tom” (shrimp paste), “mam ruoc” (fermented shrimp paste), “mam ca com” (anchovy paste), “mam ca thu” (codfish paste), “tuong ot” (chilli sauce), and “nuoc mam” (fish sauce).

One of the most popular mam shops in the market is the Di Can Mam shop.  Started nearly 50 years ago, the shop is considered a must-see destination for visitors because of the many types of mam sold there.  Three weeks ago, the shop started to place pieces of aluminium foil on the tops of jars of mam in order to ensure food safety and hygiene as well as to make sure that the products would not smell as they are taken to other localities as gifts. 

The Di Can Mam shop in the Han Market

Also in the Han Market, the Hung-Tim shop is famous for its different spices.  On sale at the shop are onions and garlic sourced from Quang Ngai Province’s Ly Son Island, dried lotus seeds from Hue and Hoi An cities, and dried seaweed and green chilli from Da Nang.   

Apart from the dried seafood - one of the city’s specialities - visitors can buy “muc rim me” (simmered squid with tamarind sauce) and “ghe sua” (simmered young crabs), both specialties of Nha Trang City, at the Thuan Yen shop in the market.

In addition to improving the infrastructure, the hospitability of the traders, and the sale of specialities from the 3 regions, the management boards of the Han and Con markets are making every effort to attract more shoppers to their markets.

In particular, the Han Market’s small traders are doing their utmost to build the Han Market into a civilised and safe food market.  The focus will be on stopping the harassment of tourists, saying no to overcharging, and improving the attitude and behaviour of traders towards shoppers.  In addition, a website for the Han Market at www.chohandanang.com is being created to promote the advertisement of the market’s images to international friends.

Meanwhile, the management board of the Con Market is paying special attention to distributing leaflets to tourists at Da Nang International Airport.  The leaflets introduce 10 popular speciality-selling stalls in Con Market.  In addition, an over 2,000m² area near the Con Market has been designated for car parking.

In addition to their hospitability, the traders in the markets are trying to improve their foreign language speaking skills in order to easily communicate with foreign shoppers.