Located on the northern bank of the lower Thu Bon River, Hoi An is an ancient town in Quang Nam, more than 30 km from Da Nang city and 122 km from Hue. When mentioning Hoi An, we must mention the rows of ancient houses in turmeric yellow, the river shimmering with lanterns at night, or delicious dishes at affordable prices.
Best Time to Visit Hoi An
Hoi An's climate is a mixture of the North and the South, with distinct rainy and dry seasons. Each season the ancient town has its own beauty.
The first three months of the year are the most ideal time to visit Hoi An when the sun is not too harsh, the weather is cool, and there is occasional light rain.
April to June is the harsh period of the dry season, but the weather in Hoi An is quite pleasant, due to its location south of the Truong Son mountain range. This is also the peak tourist season.
July is still the dry season. August and September are the transitional months. The weather is still sunny, with occasional rain and chilly nights.
The last three months of the year are the rainy season in Hoi An, with little sunshine, heavy rain and occasional flooding. Tourists from the South who come to Hoi An in the cold season should prepare suitable clothing to avoid health problems.
Move
Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airlines... all operate flights to Da Nang. The average round-trip ticket price for one person from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang is about 1.5 million VND. You should buy tickets early to get a good price and convenient departure time.
Arriving at Da Nang airport, you can choose to take a shuttle bus from the airport, or take a bus, taxi, or private car to the center of Hoi An. Those who like to travel freely can rent a motorbike from Da Nang city to have fun in Hoi An, for about 150,000 VND a day.
If you take the bus, take route 01 Da Nang - Hoi An, which runs from 5:30 a.m. to 5:50 p.m. daily, with a ticket price of 20,000 VND per person. If you are traveling with three or more people and want to travel quickly from the airport straight to Hoi An, you should call a taxi or shuttle bus, which costs from 250,000 VND per trip.
To get around Hoi An, you can rent bicycles or motorbikes from the hotels or homestays you stay at. Bicycles cost about 30,000 VND per day, motorbikes cost 120,000 VND.
Where to Stay in Hoi An
Hoi An has its own beauty in each season, but the most popular season is still summer. Therefore, if you go this season, you should find out where to stay to book a room as soon as possible to get a good price, especially on weekends.
The price of 4 or 5 star hotels and resorts here is around 2,500,000 VND or more for a night in a double room. Hoi An has more and more new resorts with beautiful locations such as in Cam Chau ward, An Bang beach, Cua Dai...
Homestays in Hoi An have also sprung up rapidly in recent years, serving all types of travelers, from solo travelers, groups, or families. Not only are they a clean place to sleep, the homestays are also meticulously designed with unique architecture, interiors, lovely gardens, and spacious and airy rooms. The prices of homestays in Hoi An are very cheap, not fluctuating much even during peak season, from 200,000 VND per night per person.
Some beautiful homestays that young people pass on to each other are Maison de Tau, Under The Coconut Tree, An Bang Beach Hideaway, Heron House, Le Bleu...
Red bougainvillea or pink, orange, and white bougainvillea bloom throughout the streets of Hoi An in the summer.
Top Attractions in Ninh Binh
Cafe
As for drinks, besides herbal drinks, tea and coffee in Hoi An are equally delicious. Moreover, each tea and coffee shop in the old town has its own charm.
Many shops are located deep inside houses that are hundreds of years old, some are on the rooftop so customers can enjoy a drink while watching the street, or some have deaf staff...
Those who like to see Hoi An from above can go to Faifo Café located on the 3rd floor of a house on Tran Phu Street. If you want a quiet space, you can go to Reaching Out tea shop, or enjoy delicious ice cream with coffee at Hoi An Roastery...
In addition, if you take the time to search in the alleys of the old town, you will also discover many tea and coffee shops that are both Hoi An-style and modern, attracting many foreign tourists.
4-7 km from Hoi An city center, visitors can explore coffee shops in the middle of rice fields such as Roving Chillhouse, Xom Chieu Coffee, Old Brick Kiln Coffee... to enjoy the fresh air.
Old Brick Kiln Coffee
Old town
Hoi An ancient town alone is a place where young people can check in even if they are tired. Every street, ancient street corner, and row of houses painted with turmeric yellow is an interesting stop to take photos and learn about local culture...
With a 80,000 VND entrance ticket per person valid for 24 hours, you have the opportunity to visit three of the most prominent historical sites in the old town. These are the Japanese Covered Bridge, the assembly halls of Phuc Kien, Quang Trieu, Hai Nam, Trieu Chau, the ancient houses of Quan Thang, Duc An, Phung Hung, Tan Ky... In addition, the entrance ticket also includes street art activities, folk games, night markets... taking place after 7pm.
Activities on the Hoai River are usually busiest from 6pm to 10pm. To go boating, you rent a boat for 200,000 VND and buy floating lanterns for 10,000 VND each.
At night in the old town, you can walk along the bridges to see the city lights up, listen to live music in bars and cafes, and watch famous plays such as Early Morning Mist, A O Show, Teh Dar, or Hoi An Memories.
Beach
An Bang Beach is located in Cam An Ward, 3 km from Hoi An city center. The sea is clear, clean, not too crowded, just enough space for you to feel relaxed. In 2011, An Bang Beach was voted by CNN as one of the 50 most beautiful beaches in the world.
In 2017, Ha My Beach was selected by the British newspaper Telegraph as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in Asia. Located 3.5 km from An Bang, 6 km from Ngu Hanh Son, and nearly 7 km from Hoi An center, Ha My Beach is not too prominent but still has its own peacefulness and charm. Although quite far from the center, Ha My has no shortage of homestays, hotels, and resorts for tourists to choose from.
Cua Dai Beach is a familiar destination of Hoi An, in 2013 it was voted by Tripadvisor as one of the top 25 most beautiful beaches in Asia. Cua Dai is located 5 km from the center of Hoi An, a beach of about several dozen hectares with fine white sand, clear blue water, and small waves. Visitors can lie on the sand for hours to sunbathe, listen to the murmuring waves, or go fishing near the shore, rent a boat to drift with fishermen, or participate in water sports...
Cu Lao Cham
If you depart from Hoi An, there are 2 means of transport to Cu Lao Cham : canoe and wooden boat. Canoes usually depart from Cua Dai and only about 20 minutes later you will be at Cu Lao Cham, the ticket price is 150,000 - 200,000 VND per person. Taking a wooden boat from Bach Dang wharf takes nearly 2 hours but is cheaper, about 50,000 - 80,000 VND per person, if you bring a motorbike, it will cost an additional 30,000 VND per motorbike.
In Cu Lao Cham, accommodation services are mainly homestays, motels or tent rentals with an average price of 100,000 - 150,000 VND per room for 1-2 people. Tent rental price is about 100,000 VND per night.
Not only providing food, accommodation and rest services, the motels and homestays here also provide Cu Lao Cham sea tourism services such as: food, car rental, boat tours to the island, scuba diving to see coral, fishing, walking on the seabed...
Places to visit include Cu Lao Cham Marine Museum, Hai Tang Pagoda, Cham Ancient Well, Tan Hiep Market, Yen Island, Yen Ancestor Temple, Da Chong Beach...
Craft village
Tra Que Vegetable Village is famous for its fresh vegetables grown on fertile land. The village is located in Cam Ha commune, 3 km from the center of Hoi An. Coming here, visitors will have the opportunity to learn about dozens of diverse leafy vegetables and herbs.
Visitors can also experience real farmer life by digging the soil, planting and harvesting vegetables. Then enjoy Hoi An specialties prepared with freshly harvested foods such as banh vac, mixed mussels, shrimp, Quang noodles, cao lau...
Thanh Ha Pottery Village dates back to the late 15th century, located about 3 km west of Hoi An ancient town, right next to the Thu Bon River. The village’s products include not only pots, pans, tiles, bowls and plates, but also many unique souvenirs. Visitors to the village can learn about the craft and make their own pottery products.
Kim Bong carpentry village is over 600 years old. It is famous for creating exquisite and unique carpentry works, from houses to boats and today, fine art, decorative and souvenir products.
Phuoc Kieu bronze casting village is up to 400 years old. Coming to Phuoc Kieu, visitors will see many bronze products used in ceremonies, festivals as well as daily life items. In addition to admiring the unique and sophisticated products, visitors can watch people casting bronze and buy bronze items as souvenirs.
Cam Phu community tourism village in Dien Phong commune, Dien Ban town, located about 15 km from Hoi An, is a land with many cultural values and unique traditional occupations such as wood carving, flower growing, silk weaving, silkworm raising... Visitors to the village will experience the countryside scenery, visit carpentry and weaving workshops, watch people perform shrimp and fish catching on the Thu Bon River...
Bay Mau Coconut Forest
From the center of Hoi An ancient town, following the Hoai River for more than 3 km is the Bay Mau water coconut forest, covering more than ten hectares, in Cam Thanh commune. The service of rowing basket boats to take visitors to visit the coconut forest has appeared in Cam Thanh for the past few years and has gradually become an indispensable "specialty" of Hoi An tourism. Each boat is only allowed to carry a maximum of two people. To visit the coconut forest, each guest pays 200,000 VND to sit in a basket boat, weaving through the canals, with green coconut forests on both sides for about an hour.
In addition to riding a basket boat, visitors can also watch a boat dance performance and learn how to make small, pretty toys from water coconut leaves such as flowers, grasshoppers, bracelets, glasses, rings, or hats... as souvenirs. If you come to Bay Mau in the 8th lunar month, you will enjoy ripe water coconuts with crispy and sweet flesh.
Specialty
Coming to Hoi An, tourists never fear hunger or lack of food options. From early morning to late night, Hoi An is always full of shops and restaurants open to welcome busy diners. Prices are also very "affordable" with sidewalk desserts selling for only 5,000 - 10,000 VND a cup, bread for 15,000 - 25,000 VND a loaf or a bowl of Cao Lau or Quang noodles for only 25,000 VND.
Famous dining addresses that Vietnamese and foreign tourists cannot miss are: Ba Buoi chicken rice, Phuong bread, Madam Khanh bread, Gieng Ba Le pancakes, Hoi An market vegetarian rice, Mot Hoi An herbal water, Thanh cao lau...
Hoi An's street food, especially its sweets, is countless. Those with a sweet tooth should try ice cream, various types of chè xoa xoa, chè hàu sen, chè đậu cánh, tao pho, mango cake, bánh da heo (pig skin cake)...
What to buy as a gift?
Lanterns are a gift associated with Hoi An. You should buy them at large shops that both make and sell them, to have a variety of choices in style, size and material.
Bronze statues are sold everywhere in the old town, priced from 130,000 to 350,000 VND depending on size. These are all products of the famous Phuoc Kieu bronze casting village in Hoi An.
Clay figurines are a product from Thanh Ha pottery village, Hoi An. Although there are not many designs, they are still a popular souvenir because they are cheap, about 5,000 VND.
Hoi An is also famous for its wood carvings . The artisans all come from Kim Bong carpentry village, some of them have their own workshops in the old town. The price of an item ranges from 120,000 to 300,000 VND.
Hoi An silk is cool, light and soft. In addition to ready-made clothes, bags and scarves, you can order a tailor-made design from a super-fast tailor shop and receive it in just one day. The average price of a silk scarf is 150,000 VND.
If you want to buy Hoi An food as gifts, suggestions for you are green bean cake, thuan cake, phu the cake, chili sauce are also good choices.
