Circus night «Garden of Wonders»

   Circus in Hanoi usually stays indoors; this one moves out onto the grass. Acrobats work in a lakeside garden with light, music and a food programme laid out around them, and between the acts there is room to walk by the water and come back to the table. JW Marriott is opening its own lakeside lawn to guests in this format for the first time.

   The programme is built from classic circus disciplines: acrobatics and balancing acts, roller routines and magic. Interactive zones run between the performances, guests are promised small gifts, and food and drinks come as a separate curated programme rather than an add-on. The date is picked deliberately: this Saturday opens the long weekend before National Day on 2 September.

   The essentials

• — circus acts: acrobatics, balancing, roller routines and magic;
• — interactive zones and gifts for guests;
• — a separate curated food and drinks programme;
• — the setting: a lakeside garden inside the hotel grounds.

   The evening is built for families: circus needs no translation, children have something to do between the acts, and kids under 1.1 m get in free, while the child rate applies from 1.1 to 1.4 m. If you are coming with friends rather than with children, it still works: this is closer to dinner with a show than to a children's matinee.

   The venue is Khu vườn ven hồ JW (JW Lakeside Gardens), the hotel's own garden right by the water. The organiser gives one warning in advance: bad weather may move the event to another space, so it is worth checking the location on the day itself.

   One evening at the end of August, with a circus ring set on the grass by the lake, is an easy way to open the holiday weekend in Hanoi.