Hanoi abolished its 30 districts: what changed
Since 1 July 2025, Hanoi has no districts. Hoàn Kiếm disappeared as a district; the Old Quarter now sits inside Hoàn Kiếm ward.
This sheet is not a travel story. It gathers what official sources say, and stops where they stop.
Hoàn Kiếm district no longer exists. The Old Quarter has not moved an inch, but the address that names it has changed shape.
01What changed
On 16 June 2025, Resolution 1656/NQ-UBTVQH15 of the National Assembly Standing Committee reorganised Hanoi’s commune-level units. The new local authorities took office on 1 July 2025.
The capital’s 30 districts are abolished. What remains is 126 commune-level units: 51 wards and 75 communes.
02What became of Hoàn Kiếm
Hoàn Kiếm district was dissolved. Its territory and population were split across several wards, one of which keeps the name Hoàn Kiếm.
That ward brings together the former Old Quarter wards — Hàng Bạc, Hàng Bồ, Hàng Buồm, Hàng Đào, Hàng Gai, Hàng Mã, Lý Thái Tổ — and parts of others. The rest of the old district passes notably under Cửa Nam.
The city chose to keep historic names rather than number them. The “Hàng” streets keep their names; it is the tier above that changed.
03What it changes in practice
An address reading “Hàng Bạc street, Hoàn Kiếm district, Hanoi” names a real place through a district that was abolished. It is still understood locally; an administrative form expects a ward.
Online guides, booking platforms and mapping applications have not all followed.
04How to check it yourself
The text of Resolution 1656/NQ-UBTVQH15 is published in English on the Vietnamese legal databases. It lists the 126 units and what each contains.
05The principle behind the reform
Vietnam goes from 63 provinces and cities to 34, and the district tier disappears everywhere. Commune-level units drop from 10,035 to 3,321.
Hanoi remains one of the six centrally governed cities.
06What this sheet does not say
Where to sleep, where to eat, which ward to choose, what a night in the Old Quarter costs. None of that has an official source.
Nobody here has been. This sheet says what can be checked, not what can be felt.