Hoi An - Latest Travel Guide

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, 122 km from Hue. When traveling to Hoi An, we must mention the rows of ancient saffron-colored houses, the river shimmering with lanterns at night, or the delicious food at affordable prices.

What season is beautiful in Hoi An?

Hoi An's climate is a mix of climate between the South and the North, with distinct rainy and dry seasons. Each season, the old town has its own beauty.

The first three months of the year are the most ideal time to roam in Hoi An when the sun is not too harsh, the weather is cool, and there is occasional light rain.

From April to June is the harsh period of the dry season, but Hoi An's weather is quite pleasant, due to its location in the south of the Truong Son range. This is also the peak tourist season.

July is still the dry season. August and September is the season change time. The weather is still sunny, starting to rain sporadically and it will be chilly at night.

The last three months of the year are the rainy season in Hoi An, it is rarely sunny, it rains heavily and sometimes there are floods. Tourists from the South coming to Hoi An in the cold season should prepare appropriate clothing to avoid affecting their health.

Transportation

Airlines like 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 good prices and convenient departure times.

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 get to Hoi An center. 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 running 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 with prices from 250,000 VND per trip.

To get around in Hoi An, you can use bicycles and motorbikes rented from the hotels and homestays you stay at. Bicycle rental is about 30,000 VND a day, motorbike is 120,000 VND.

Hotels, homestays

Each season of Hoi An has its own beauty, but it attracts the most visitors during the summer. Therefore, if you go this season, you should research where to stay to book a room as soon as possible at a good price, especially on weekends.

Prices for 4 or 5-star hotels and resorts here are about 2,500,000 VND or more for a night in a room for two people. 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 grown rapidly in recent years, able to serve all types of guests, from solo travelers, groups or families. Not only is it a clean place to sleep, the homestays are all cared for with unique architecture, interiors, lovely gardens, and spacious and airy rooms. Hoi An homestay prices are very cheap, not fluctuating much even in peak season, from 200,000 VND per night for one person.

Some beautiful homestays that young people tell each other about are Maison de Tau, Under The Coconut Tree, An Bang Beach Hideaway, Heron House, Le Bleu...

What to do in Hoi An?

Cafe

For drinks besides herbal drinks, tea and coffee in Hoi An are equally delicious. Furthermore, 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, the shops are located on the rooftop so customers can watch the street while sipping drinks, or the shops have wait staff who are all deaf...

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 ice cream and delicious coffee at Hoi An Roastery...

In addition, if you look hard in the corners of the old town, you will also discover many tea and coffee shops that are both typical of Hoi An and modern, attracting many foreign tourists.

Leaving the center of Hoi An 4-7 km, visitors can explore cafes in the middle of rice fields such as Roving Chillhouse, Xom Chieu Coffee, Old Brick Lo Coffee... to enjoy the fresh air.

Lo Gach Cu Coffee. Photo: Duy Hau

Hoi An ancient town

Hoi An ancient town alone is also a place to walk without running out of check-in points for young people. Every street, ancient corner, row of houses painted in saffron is an interesting stop to take photos and learn about local culture...

With a sightseeing ticket priced at 80,000 VND per person, valid for 24 hours, you have the opportunity to visit three of the most prominent relics in the old town. These are the Covered Bridge, the assembly halls of Fujian, Quang Trieu, Hai Nam, Chao Chau, the ancient houses of Quan Thang, Duc An, Phung Hung, Tan Ky... In addition, the tour ticket also includes artistic street activities, folk games, night markets... take place after 7pm.

Activities on Hoai River are usually busiest from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. To go on a boat, 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 the bridges to watch the streets light up, listen to live music in bars and cafes, watch famous shows such as Morning Dew, 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, blue, clean, not too busy, 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.

Ha My Beach in 2017 was selected by the British Telegraph newspaper as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in Asia. Located 3.5 km from An Bang, 6 km from Marble Mountains, 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 does not lack homestays or hotels or resorts for tourists to choose from.

Cua Dai Beach is a familiar destination of Hoi An. In 2013, it was voted by Tripadvisor in the top 25 most beautiful beaches in Asia. Cua Dai is located 5 km from the center of Hoi An, is a beach of about a few dozen hectares with fine white sand, clear blue water, and small waves. Visitors can lie for hours on the sand to sunbathe, listen to the murmuring waves, or go fishing near the shore, rent a boat to float with the fishermen, or participate in water sports...

Cu Lao Cham

If you depart from Hoi An, there are two means of getting to Cu Lao Cham: canoe and wooden boat. Canoes usually depart at Cua Dai and only about 20 minutes later you will be at Cu Lao Cham, ticket price is 150,000 - 200,000 VND per person. Taking a wooden boat from Bach Dang wharf takes nearly 2 hours but the price is cheaper, about 50,000 - 80,000 VND per person, if you bring a motorbike, it's an additional 30,000 VND per vehicle.

In Cu Lao Cham, accommodation services are mainly homestays, motels or tent rentals with an average of 100,000 - 150,000 VND per room for 1-2 people staying. Tent rental price is about 100,000 VND per night.

Not only providing food, sleeping, and resting services, the motels and homestays here also provide Cu Lao Cham beach tourism services such as: dining, car rental, boat tours to visit the island, scuba diving to see the coral reefs, fishing, walking on the seabed...

Attractions are Cu Lao Cham Marine Museum, Hai Tang Pagoda, Cham Ancient Well, Tan Hiep Market, Yen Island, Nest Shrine, 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 Hoi An center. Coming here, visitors will have the opportunity to learn about dozens of diverse types of leafy vegetables and spices.

Visitors can also experience real farmer life when they dig the soil, plant and harvest vegetables themselves. Then enjoy Hoi An specialties prepared with freshly harvested varieties such as cauldron cakes, mixed mussels, organic 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 and pans, bricks and tiles, dishes, but also many unique souvenirs. Visitors to the village can both learn about the craft and make their own ceramic products.

Kim Bong Carpentry Village is a village more than 600 years old. This place is famous for creating sophisticated and unique wooden works, from houses to boats and today are fine arts, 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 and festivals as well as for daily use. In addition to admiring 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, about 15 km from Hoi An, is a land that possesses many cultural values and unique traditional crafts such as wood carving, flower growing, silk reeling, weaving silk, raising silkworms... 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...

Experience weaving in Cam Phu craft village. Photo: Ngo Tran Hai An

Bay Mau coconut forest

From the center of Hoi An ancient town, along the Hoai River bank for more than 3 km is the Bay Mau nipa palm forest of more than ten hectares, in Cam Thanh commune. The basket boat rowing service to transport passengers to visit the coconut forest has appeared in Cam Thanh in recent 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 creeks, flanked by green coconut forests for about an hour.

In addition to riding the basket boat, visitors can also watch boat dance performances and instructions on how to make beautiful small toys from nipa palm leaves such as flowers, locusts, bracelets, glasses, rings, or hats... as gifts. If you come to Bay Mau in the 8th lunar month, you will enjoy ripe water coconuts with crispy and sweet pulp.

What to eat ?

Coming to Hoi An, visitors are never afraid of hunger and lack of food options. From early morning to late at night, Hoi An is always full of shops opening to welcome customers to eat and drink. Prices are also very "affordable" with sweet soup sold on the sidewalk only 5,000 - 10,000 VND per cup, bread priced at 15,000 - 25,000 VND per loaf or bowl of Cao Lau, Quang noodles only 25,000 VND.

Famous eating places that Vietnamese and foreign tourists cannot miss are: Ba Buoi chicken rice, Phuong bread, Madam Khanh bread, Gieng Ba Le pancake, Hoi An market vegetarian rice, Mot herbal drink,...

The snacks sold on the sidewalks of Hoi An, especially the sweet dishes, are countless. Diners with a sweet tooth should try tube ice cream, various types of sweet soup, lotus seed sweet soup, bean sweet soup, tofu, mango cake, pork skin cake...

What to buy as a gift?

Lanterns are a gift associated with Hoi An. You should look to buy at large stores that both make and sell, to have a variety of choices in styles, sizes and materials.

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.

To he dat is a product from Thanh Ha pottery village, Hoi An. There are no diverse designs but this is still a popular souvenir because of its cheap price, about 5,000 VND.

Hoi An craft village is also famous for its wood carvings. The artisans all come from Kim Bong carpentry village, some of them open workshops directly in the old town. The price of an item ranges from 120,000 to 300,000 VND.

Hoi An silk is airy, light and soft. In addition to available clothes, bags, and towels, you can order super-fast tailoring with your own design and receive it back in just one day. The average price of a silk scarf is 150,000 VND.

If you want to buy Hoi An food as a gift, our suggestions are green bean cakes, banh chung, banh phu and chili sauce, which are also good choices.

For your 2023 vacation planning, we hope you found this travel guide about Hoi An tourism to be educational and helpful. You will certainly have a terrific time in Hoi An, which is a great place to learn about Vietnamese history and culture. If you're looking for a trusted and knowledgeable travel company, let Threeland Travel help you organize your trip to Hoi An. Your timetable may be customized to suit your needs and financial constraints, and we can take care of all the details, including ticket and lodging bookings as well as travel arrangements. To find out more about our special offers and packages, please visit our website or get in touch with us immediately. Don't miss this opportunity to travel with Threeland Travel to Hoi An!