Tieng Vong Pho Lantern workshop

A family-run lantern workshop where you actually build the thing from scratch – bamboo frame and all. Two class lengths on offer: a 90-minute express version and a 2-hour full build. The difference matters more than you’d think, and the French reviewer who did the long class had it right: making the frame yourself is the whole point.

The family running this place are genuinely funny and warm, which makes a difference when you’re fumbling with silk and wire for the first time. Instructors move around the room, catch your mistakes before they become problems, and throw in a history lesson on Vietnamese lantern traditions without making it feel like a school trip.

You leave with the lantern you made. It’s not a souvenir you bought – it’s one you built, which is a different thing entirely.