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How to Travel the Brilliant Hoi An Ancient Town

If you read my itinerary ‘14 Days Travel from North to Central Vietnam‘, you may know our next destinations after Sapa are Hanoi and Ninh Binh. Nevertheless, as I didn’t stay there long enough for a thorough review, I may skip those 2 cities until I have info for superior posts. The place that I come after that is Hoi An Ancient Town, a beautiful and brilliant destination, especially at night.

How to Travel to Hoi An Ancient Town?

By Airplane 🛬

There is no direct flight to Hoi An. The city doesn’t have an airport. Visitors must take flights to Da Nang Airport and then take different transportation to travel to Hoi An.

By Taxi from the Airport 🚕

Me and my friends arrived at Da Nang Airport at around 9 in the morning. We then took a taxi to travel to Hoi An from Da Nang.

At the airport, many taxis are willing to take you directly to Hoi An Ancient Town with a price of around 450,000VND. Of course, you can deal for a better price, or share it with someone else you meet who has the same destination.

By Bus 🚌

From Da Nang to Hoi An, tourists can take bus number 1, which goes through the Marble Mountains, with 25,000VND for the ticket. The trip may take 70 – 80 minutes.

By Motorbike 🏍

This is also an option chosen by many backpackers. You can easily visit a lot of destinations across the route from Da Nang to Hoi An by riding a motorbike. However, it is better to find a trusted motorbike rental agency.

Read more: 3 Days Da Nang Itinerary

Hoi An Weather

HỘI AN WEATHER

The weather was extremely hot at the time I came, at the end of October. And I’m grilled under the sunlight. I didn’t know what was happening with Hoi An weather at that period. Even though many people say it is one of the best times to visit Hoi An.

Suggested from different sources on ‘when is the best time to travel to Hoi An, there are some in a year:

Things to Do in Hoi An Ancient Town

Hoi An is definitely a special place in Vietnam to explore. The Ancient Town itself is like a charming picture all of its corners are a beautiful background for anyone who loves taking pictures. Some people especially love Hoi An and choose it as their favorite Vietnam honeymoon destination.

Before entering the Ancient Town, visitors have to buy a ticket priced at 80,000VND. The entrance ticket goes with 3 additional tickets that allow you to visit 3/21 points inside the town. Upon the entrances, there are many things to do in Hoi An Ancient Town including events, cuisine, shopping, sightseeing, etc., and sometimes there are festivals on different occasions over the year.

Sightseeing Spots

There are 21 points in the list of what to see in Hoi An Ancient Town. Those all have their own stories. The spots are varied in different types so you may want to choose which one to visit if you don’t stay there for long:

Shopping

Tourists can find a lot of products in the town such as clothes, silk, handicrafts, paintings, etc. I especially love the souvenir shops, they have so much cool stuff.

There is also an old market located in the center of the ancient town. Visitors can come there for the specialties of the locals. Some products that tourists may prefer are Hoi An green bean cake, Hoi An chili sauce, dumplings, and ‘Cao Lầu’.

Hoi An center market in the ancient town.

There is a leather-craft workshop located at 51/5b Phan Chau Trinh. If you want to learn the skills of making leather products, you should visit there.

Leather-craft workshop located at 51/5b Phan Chau Trinh, Hoi An Ancient Town, Vietnam.

The Café

Anytime I travel, coffee shops are interesting spots that I usually come to. I love sitting in a beautiful cafe enjoying different drinks and having a chat with my friends.

When I came to Hoi An Ancient Town in Oct 2015, that day was super-duper hot. I just wanted to run out of my homestay and look for a coffee shop. That moment when I realized the town didn’t have a cafe with A/C. Luckily I found one, after all, the Hoi An Roastery. Not for commercial purposes but I have to thank you the coffee shop saved me from that hot noon. Later I found out some other Hoi An Roastery, but those didn’t have A/C either. Overall they are all nice ones.

The coffee shop that has AC, +10 points for Hoi An Roastery.
A coffee shop at night.

Hoi An Lanterns

There is a river which divides the ancient town into 2 areas, the left area (as I called it) is where you enter the town and the right area (also as I called it) is where you cross a bridge with some red lanterns. On the other side of the bridge, or in the right area, there is a night market where the locals sell a lot of beautiful lanterns. I don’t know how to describe the moment I looked at those lanterns but I can only say it’s gorgeous.

Rowing Boat

Me and my friends spent our afternoon on the river in the ancient town. That was sudden when we walked along the river and a guy approached us asking if we wanted to use the boat. The price was VND 30,000 for a person and VND 5,000 more if we wanted to drop the paper lanterns on the river.

Sundown on the river at Hoi An Ancient Town.
Dropped the paper lantern and wished.

The Bars

This surprised me a lot when I sat on the boat and saw the bars on the other side. Initially, I could not believe there were such vibrant things in the ancient town. Those are located in the right area of the town so may not affect much to other points. Anyway, it is now a part of the area and it’s decorated well.

The bars on the other sides of Hoi An Ancient Town are well decorated with red lanterns.

What to Eat in Hoi An Ancient Town?

Of course, there are many delicious foods around Hoi An Ancient Town, and I don’t know how to describe them here but will jump directly to the main points:

Where to Stay at Hoi An Ancient Town?

Homestay

Hotel

If you are looking for more hotels in Hoi An Old Town, you may want to get the best hotel rates here:



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Hoi An Ancient Town is one of the destinations in my 14 days trip traveling around Vietnam. Here are other posts of places on the trip that I believe you will love reading too:

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