Nowadays, number of private pharmacies has increased quickly. The study was to describe activity situation at private pharmacies in urban and rural Hanoi in 2010. A cross-sectional descriptive study, owner and seller of private pharmacies were interviewed. The results indicated that 40 percent private pharmacies in urban area had GPP cerlificate. 40 percent of owner in urban area had university degree. In rural area the majority owner had the intermediate level in pharmacy (80 percent). In both areas, the level of the drug sellers was mainly intermediate level in pharmacy (57.1 percent and 63.3 percent). Antibiotics were the highest sold. Following were drugs for respiratory diseases and vitamins.