The number 1 travel destination you can not miss during a visit to Vietnam is Hoi An. This charming and colourful ancient town is a UNESCO World Heritage sight famous for its mix of Japanese, Chinese and French influences and lantern-lit streets. You’ll find Chinese shop houses next to French colonial buildings and temples and pagodas all in the same street. Due to its UNESCO status the town and its history has been well preserved and it truly feels like you’re stepping back in time.
How Many Days Do You Need in Hoi An?
In my opinion and I’m sure most travelers to Vietnam will agree, Hoi An is the most beautiful and unique tourist attraction in the country. I would recommend at least a 3 night stay in Hoi An to truly experience the ancient town and surrounding country side and beaches. Hoi An has a much different vibe to the chaotic streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, so it might be somewhere you want to relax before continuing your travels through Vietnam.
1. Explore The Colourful Streets of Hoi An Old Town
One of the best things to do in Hoi An is simply wander the streets of the old town, where you could easily spend hours admiring the colourful architecture and lanterns hanging in the streets. All these lanterns light up as soon as the sunsets and it really creates a beautiful romantic atmosphere. The street where Morning Glory restaurant is located has the greatest concentration of lanterns in town and becomes a bit of a pedestrian traffic jam during the evening. Luckily this street is a car free zone like much of the old town.
2. Best Souvenirs to Buy in Hoi An
The traditional Vietnamese hats make for a fun photo op and can be purchased in many of the shops and market stalls in town for only $1 or $2. If you’re traveling during the insane heat and humidity of summer I also recommend purchasing a colourful fan that can easily be folded up and carried in your bag.
3. Hoi An Food Market
This is a great way to experience how the locals do their daily shopping and also the best place to try some new exotic fruits you may never have seen before. Like all markets in S.E Asia it gets pretty hectic with crowds of shoppers, motorbikes beeping and zipping their way through tiny lanes and market stalls all crammed together.
4. Japanese Bridge
To cross the bridge you’ll need to purchase the Hoi An Tourist ticket, which costs 120,000 VND and allows access to other popular tourist attractions in town. It’s one of the most iconic sights in Hoi An and therefore gets incredibly crowded.
5. Tam Quan Chùa Bà Mụ Pagoda
We actually missed out on visiting this pagoda because we weren’t aware of it, but it’s a great display of Vietnamese architecture and somewhere I would have loved to visit if we’d known about it.
6. Quan Cong Temple
There are many temples in town but this one stood out the most because of it’s colours and architecture.
7. Tailor Shops
Hoi An is known as the best place to get tailored clothing made in Vietnam with hundreds of tailors in town. They offer reasonable prices and can be ready in a matter of days. You can either show them photos of particular designs you’re wanting or make a selection from their very comprehensive design books. You can then choose your colours and fabrics and even return to the store for a fitting where they’ll make any changes necessary. This is one of the top things to do in Hoi An, so I’d recommend you visit a tailor on your first day to allow enough time for everything to be made and if any alterations are required.
8. Sunday in Hoi An Boutique: The Famous ‘Hoi An Vibes Only’ Instagram Wall
This cute boutique sells home goods, accessories and clothing and has a very Instagrammable courtyard you’ve most likely already seen on Instagram. It’s pink…need I say more, plus there are a few swings to play on. I ended up taking home some cute printed scarves that could double as sarongs and a wicker handbag with pom-poms. Both very typical S.E Asia purchases that make great souvenirs.
9. Faifo Coffee For a Rooftop View of the Streets of Hoi An
This coffee shop is another Hoi An must see thanks to its popular rooftop. There are very few restaurants and cafes right in the middle of the old town with a rooftop, so this coffee shop is definitely a hot spot to visit.
10. Take a Day Trip To the Beach
An Bang beach is the most popular and therefore busiest beach but is only a 15 minute drive from Hoi An old town. An Bang South is a short walk down from the main beach and is a bit quieter, mainly because not as many people can be bothered making the extra walk. Hidden Beach is another option for people wanting fewer crowds.
11. Bicycle Tour Through Hoi An Old Town and Surrounding Rice Fields and Countryside
Hoi An and the surrounding countryside is relatively flat so it’s perfect to explore on a bicycle. You can explore Hoi An old town and then make your way out to some of the local villages in the rice fields. A lot of hotels will offer bicycles for rent but if not there are shops in town where you can rent them.
12. Cooking Class
If you love Vietnamese food as much as me you might want to take a cooking lesson so you can try and recreate some local dishes when you return home.
13. Hoi An Lantern Market
The colourful lanterns lit up at night are an iconic symbol of Hoi An. If you’re looking to take a photo in front of a lantern stall, market vendors will typically charge 20,000 VND, which is about US$1. However, if you actually purchase a lantern they won’t charge you for a photo. Of course this isn’t just a lantern market, it’s geared towards tourists and starts at 5pm selling clothes, souvenirs and lots of local food stalls to try.
14. Best Food to Try at the Night Market
Bahn Mi is a local dish with the perfect blend of Vietnamese and French influence. It’s a toasted baguette filled with some kind of meat (often pork), coriander, cucumber, pickled carrots and mayonnaise and will only set you back $1 or $2.
There are dozens of fruit shake stores with a huge fruit menu but my favourite was the passion fruit with ice shake. For dessert you can’t go past one of the little street carts selling grilled banana with sticky rice, it’s seriously life changing and was perhaps the yummiest thing I tried in Vietnam. Keep an eye out for the busiest food stalls particularly if the line is full of Vietnamese, that’s almost always a good sign the food should be good.
15. Sunset Boat Ride on Thu Bon River
Hire a private traditional wooden boat for a sunset cruise down the river. If you wait till it starts to get dark you’ll also see people putting lanterns in the water. There’s mixed reactions as to whether these floating paper lanterns and candles are bad for the environment. According to the locals, the paper simply dissolves in the water rather than piling up along the riverbanks and the candles are made from animal fat rather than petroleum based. They also collect as many candles along the river each night in order to reuse them. Either way we didn’t participate because it was super gimmicky and catering mainly to tourists.
Where to Stay in Hoi An: The Mansion
I highly recommend staying at The Mansion Hoi An if you want to instantly feel like you’ve been transported to Morocco. The decor and design here is beautiful and provides plenty of photo ops. They have 2 swimming pools here but only 1 of them is open to all guests. In the below photos you’ll see the pool I’m in is located in the courtyard out back and is open to all guests. The other pool (first photo) is located in the private pool villa, so you’ll need to book the ‘Premium Alex’ executive room with private pool and garden if you want to hang there. No surprise it’s of course the most popular and most expensive room. The Mansion only has 8 rooms so the whole hotel books out fast. Did I mention they also offer a floating breakfast in the swimming pool? It’s very much a Balinese and Moroccan inspired hotel in the heart of Hoi An. Keep in mind like a lot of accommodation in Hoi An, it’s located next to a busy road so you’ll often hear a lot of motorbike traffic.
If you’d rather be staying right on the beach then Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai is a great option if you’re looking for luxury, while Sunrise Premium Resort is more budget friendly and both are only a 15 minute drive to the old town.
How to Get to Hoi An:
The nearest airport is located in the city of Da Nang, which is a 45 minute drive from Hoi An and will cost roughly US$15-20 for a taxi. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi operate daily flights to Da Nang International Airport. You can also fly direct from a number of cities within Asia including Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul. We chose to fly from Hanoi but there is also the option of an overnight sleeper bus or train that run from multiple locations in Vietnam to Da Nang.
How to Get Around:
All of the main attractions are within Hoi An Old Town, which makes it very easy to explore everything on foot. Many of the streets in the old town are also closed to traffic and are ‘pedestrian only’ zones. If you get tired you can always grab a ride in a cyclo rickshaw, which is a mix between a bicycle and tuk tuk. I recommend downloading the app Grab, which is the equivalent of Uber in Asia. You can use Grab or a taxi to travel between Da Nang International Airport and Hoi An and out to any of the beaches. Hiring a bicycle from your hotel or a rental store in town is another great way to get around town and out to the countryside and beaches.
What is the Weather in Hoi An Like and When is the Best Time to Visit?
Hoi An has two distinct seasons, with the dry season running from March to September and the wet season between October and February. During the rainy season Hoi An’s old town can also be prone to flooding. The coldest months of the year are between November and January, though cold in Vietnam is more like 20° C. May through to August are the hottest months with temperatures hovering in the high 30s. Couple this with insane humidity, the weather report will often read something like 37° C but feels like 44° C. This was generally the weather report we had everyday when visiting in May, which called for early morning adventures and afternoon siestas. For the most pleasant temperatures and least amount of humidity and rain, I’d recommend February to April as the best time to travel to Hoi An.
The busiest and most expensive time of year will likely be during Tet, which is Vietnamese New Year and falls sometime in January or February. This could be the best month to visit Hoi An if you enjoy the traditional holiday atmosphere and celebrations and in exchange don’t mind paying inflated hotel and flight costs.
