Hoi An Travel Guide

Updated October 2026

Overview and Things to Consider

Hoi An is a 400-year-old merchant town that survived because it lost. When the river mouth silted up in the 19th century and Da Nang took the shipping, nobody had money to tear down the timber shophouses, Chinese assembly halls and the little covered bridge the Japanese left behind. The protected core is only about 30 hectares. That smallness is part of its charm and all of its problem.

You'll love Hoi An if you like walking a town before it wakes up, eating noodles that exist nowhere else, cycling through rice paddies to a pottery village, or getting clothes made. You'll hate it if you came for a living community. Wikivoyage puts it bluntly. Since the 1999 UNESCO listing, most houses have been sold off to shops, and the old town is a well-kept shell full of tailors, galleries and restaurants. If Vietnamese court culture is what you're after, Hue has more of it.

The 2026 moment is recovery. From late October 2025 the Thu Bon River rose about 12 centimeters above its 1964 record at the Cau Lau gauge and put one to two meters of water through the old town, then flooded it twice more by November 18. The same storms swept away nearly 8 kilometers of beach between Cua Dai and An Bang. Since mid-2025 Hoi An has also stopped existing as a city, split into wards of Da Nang in Vietnam's administrative overhaul.

The lantern-boat ride is overrated, and so is the evening crush on the An Hoi side. The town's best hours are before 8am, when Hoi An Market is busy with locals and the lanes are empty.

How Hoi An Got Here

People were trading here long before anyone called it Hoi An. More than 50 Sa Huynh culture sites have turned up along the old dunes of the Thu Bon River, with Han dynasty coins showing trade by the first century BCE, and the Cham kingdom ran the area as a seaport for centuries. Its spiritual capital was My Son, a day trip up the valley. The Vietnamese Nguyen lords took control in the 1500s and wanted guns and gunpowder for their war with the north, so they protected foreign trade. By the early 1600s Hoi An was among the busiest ports in Southeast Asia, which Europeans called Faifo.

Japanese traders led the boom. Between 1604 and 1635 at least 75 Japanese merchant ships docked here, and a Japanese quarter had formed by 1617, before the shogunate closed Japan and its traders faded out. Chinese merchants, many of them refugees from the fall of the Ming, took over and built the assembly halls you'll walk into today. Then came a long decline. Trinh armies wrecked the commercial district in 1775, the river mouth silted up, and after 1888 the French made Da Nang their concession and the Chinese merchants moved there.

That decline is why the town survives. Most of the houses took their present form in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as narrow, deep timber row houses with brick side walls, built for a climate that floods them. The government classified the town as a national heritage site in 1985, UNESCO listed it in 1999, and visitors followed in numbers that now worry the people running it.

Getting There and Around

Fly into Da Nang International Airport (DAD), about 30 kilometers north. Hoi An has no airport and no train station. The cheapest direct ride is the Hai Van suburban bus, listed on the airport's own transport page, which runs from 7:30am to 4pm for 120,000 dong (about $4.60) to the Cua Dai parking lot in Hoi An, with waits of 5 to 30 minutes. A Grab between the airport and Hoi An costs about 300,000 to 400,000 dong. Land after 4pm and Grab is the realistic choice.

Most people come from Da Nang, and the choice comes down to money and time. A GrabCar takes 40 to 55 minutes along the coast road for 200,000 to 350,000 dong (about $7.70 to $13.50), with surge pricing from 5pm to 8pm, and a GrabBike runs 80,000 to 120,000 dong if you're alone with a small bag. The public LK-02 bus costs 30,000 to 35,000 dong (about $1.15 to $1.35) and takes 60 to 90 minutes. It leaves from the Vietnam-Korea University bus station in north Da Nang every 15 to 30 minutes between 5:45am and 6pm, runs down Nguyen Tat Thanh road, and calls at Hoi An Bus Station on Hoang Dieu Street, about 1.5 kilometers west of the old town, before ending at the Cua Dai port parking area. It doesn't stop at the airport. Arriving by train, get off at Da Nang station, 30 kilometers away, and take a car the rest of the way.

Entry rules depend on your passport. British citizens get 45 days visa-free, as do the French, Germans, Italians, Spanish, Danes, Swedes, Finns and Norwegians. Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland and several other European states are on temporary visa-free schemes, the newest running from August 15, 2025 to August 14, 2028. Americans, Canadians, Australians and Irish citizens need a visa, and the simple route is Vietnam's e-visa, open to every nationality since August 2023, valid for up to 90 days and costing US$25 single-entry or $50 multiple-entry. The UK government says your passport needs six months of validity on arrival, a safe rule for everyone.

Once you're in town, walk. Motorbikes are kept out of the old town core from 9am to 9:30pm in summer and to 9pm in winter, and cars and motorbikes are banned altogether on the full-moon evenings. Rent a bicycle, which Wikivoyage prices from 20,000 dong a day, or use the free ones many guesthouses lend. For longer hops, Grab and Xanh SM are the apps the UK government names as licensed, and a Grab to An Bang beach runs 40,000 to 60,000 dong. Book the whole trip in the app and check the plate before you get in.

What's Changed Since 2016

August 2023 and August 2025 opened the door wider. From August 15, 2023, Vietnam's e-visa became available to every nationality for up to 90 days with multiple entries allowed. Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland went visa-free on March 1, 2025, and nine more European states followed on August 15, 2025, under a temporary regime that ends in August 2028.

August 2024: the Japanese Covered Bridge reopened. Restoration ran from December 28, 2022 to early August 2024 and cost 20.2 billion dong (about $769,000). The bridge enforces a dress code. On August 4, 2026 a guide turned back a visitor in a revealing dress, and the local culture office now wants multilingual clothing signs at religious sites.

March 2025: the city admitted it had a crowd problem. Hoi An counted 4.4 million visitors in 2024, with 2,000 to 5,000 a day and close to 10,000 on weekends, and foreign visitors told VnExpress the lanes were too packed to walk, one adding that a hawker kept pushing goods into her son's hand. The old town ticket stood at 120,000 dong for foreigners and 80,000 dong for Vietnamese, and officials floated new parking on Vo Chi Cong Street with electric shuttles into town.

Mid-2025: Hoi An stopped being a city. Vietnam's administrative overhaul folded Quang Nam province into Da Nang, and three wards replaced the old city, among them Hoi An and Hoi An Dong. Expect addresses, maps and tour listings to mix old and new names for a while.

October and November 2025: the floods of a lifetime. The Thu Bon peaked at Cau Lau in the early hours of October 30, about 12 centimeters above the 1964 level. Riverside streets took up to 2.5 meters of water, the Japanese Bridge stood in about a meter, its highest since 1999, and the town flooded for the third time in three weeks on November 18. Storms also tore away nearly 8 kilometers of beach from Cua Dai to An Bang, toppled a beach bar on Lac Long Quan Street, and collapsed sections of the Ba Ngan bridge.

What the Usual Advice Gets Wrong

"Hoi An only floods in November, so any other month is safe." The river usually floods three or four times a year for two or three days, and October 2025 brought the worst flood on record. In June 2025 Storm Wutip dropped more than 350 mm of rain and put Bach Dang Street under 20 to 50 centimeters of water, which a 57-year-old boatman told VnExpress he had never seen in midsummer. Book refundable rooms from August to December and avoid the riverside streets.

"Your hotel will recommend a good tailor." Wikivoyage reports that hotels take 30 percent in commission for steering guests to the big-name shops. Get quotes from several shops, order on your first day, expect to leave a deposit of about 25 percent, bring a garment that fits to copy, and order one piece first. Don't expect a refund. Real prices for a men's suit run 3.75 million to 10 million dong (about $145 to $385).

"Take a lantern boat on the river. It's the classic Hoi An evening." It's a 20-minute loop for 100,000 to 200,000 dong for two, sold by touts along the bank, and Wikivoyage's verdict is that the river view looks much like the view from the bank. Walk the Cam Nam side at dusk instead, or come on the full-moon night when the shops switch off their lights.

"Spend a beach day at An Bang, Hoi An's laid-back strand." The late-2025 storms swept away nearly 8 kilometers of beach between Cua Dai and An Bang and left six to seven meter sand cliffs behind businesses on Nguyen Phan Vinh Street. A 2.3-kilometer stretch behind an offshore breakwater finished in 2024 had seen almost no erosion as of April 2025, and a 42-million-euro project for the remaining 5.2 kilometers is due in 2026. Check recent photos before you plan a day there, and swim only from February to August.

"The coconut-forest basket boats show you real village life." Bay Mau in Cam Thanh is a nipa palm wetland, and the tours Wikivoyage lists sell a spinning show, crab catching and net throwing, while a tour operator told VnExpress in 2025 that the place had become over-commercialized. Rides start from 90,000 dong including entry. Go early, take the boat, skip the spinning and the crab-catching act, and cycle on through Cam Thanh on your own.

Ideas to Consider for Your Visit

Have you thought about seeing the town at 6am? VnExpress found the lanes almost empty at that hour, with locals eating breakfast at sidewalk stalls that open from 5am and close before noon, while the tourist shops don't open until after 8am. A bowl of mi Quang or cao lau, or a banh mi, costs 25,000 to 40,000 dong. Walk to Hoi An Market at 19 Tran Phu while the vendors set up, then cross the Japanese Bridge before anyone else is on it.

Eat the town's own dishes. Cao lau is the one you can't get elsewhere, thick noodles made from rice soaked in lye water, served with char siu-style pork, herbs and crisp fried noodle squares, and local legend says the water must come from the Ba Le well. White rose dumplings, banh bao banh vac, mostly come from one family shop at 533 Hai Ba Trung, which sells them from 7am until early afternoon. Madam Khanh at 115 Tran Cao Van has made banh mi since 1975, 25,000 to 30,000 dong each.

Rent a bike and do the craft villages. Tra Que vegetable village is 2.5 kilometers north, farmed since the 16th century and fertilized with algae, and its greens and herbs flavor much of the town's cooking. Thanh Ha pottery village is 3 kilometers southwest, where potters still shape clay by hand and foot pedal. Kim Bong, across the river in Cam Kim, is the carpentry village whose woodworkers helped build the old port and conserve its houses. The Hoi An heritage office asks visitors to buy village entry tickets, which go toward keeping the crafts alive.

Go to My Son at opening. The valley 36 kilometers south holds the ruins of more than 70 Shaiva Hindu temples and tombs built by Cham kings between the 4th and 13th centuries, and much of it was destroyed by US bombing in a single week of the war. Bomb craters still sit beside the towers. Entry is 150,000 dong for foreign adults and includes the electric shuttle. Hire a car or a motorbike driver and arrive at opening, before the tour buses and the heat.

Spend a night on the Cham Islands. Speedboats leave Hoi An's Cua Dai pier for 350,000 dong round trip and take about 20 minutes, and VnExpress found family homestays at Huong and Lang beaches for about 550,000 dong a night. The islands are part of a UNESCO biosphere reserve, with coral to snorkel and seafood for dinner. Go between May and August, when the sea is calm.

Time your visit for the full moon. Since 1998, on the 14th night of each lunar month from 5pm to 10pm, shops and houses in the old town turn off their electric lights, vehicles are banned and the streets fill with lanterns, folk games and bai choi card-singing. The idea came from Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, the Polish architect who worked to preserve both Hoi An and My Son.

The Part Most Guides Miss

The people who keep Hoi An standing live across the river. Kim Bong's carpenters, a craft village since the 16th century, helped build the old port in the 17th and 18th centuries and have helped conserve its houses since, and the village has been on Vietnam's national list of intangible heritage since 2016. They make houses, furniture, boats and fine carving. Seeing a carpenter work makes sense of what you saw that morning in the shophouses on Tran Phu, with their carved beams and their shrines facing inward. It also explains how a town that floods every year still has its timber houses standing.

Where to Base Yourself

Old town fringe. Best for the dawn walks and late dinners that make Hoi An worth a night. Stay in the lanes north of Tran Phu or along Tran Hung Dao and Ba Trieu, a few minutes on foot from the bridge, where budget guesthouses run about $20 to $45 a night and Hostelworld dorms from about US$3. The catch is the crowd at night and the river, because in November 2025 water reached Tran Phu and Phan Chu Trinh as well as the riverside, so pick a place up a block or two and ask about flooding.

An Hoi islet. The island across the bridge from the old town, home to the night market and riverside restaurants with views back over the lanterns. Mid-range riverside boutique hotels around town run about $55 to $90. It's convenient for evenings and loud until late, and it's low-lying, so it floods along with the riverbanks. Choose it in the dry months, from February to July, not in flood season.

An Bang. The beach village 4 kilometers north, a 20-minute cycle or a 40,000 to 60,000 dong Grab from the old town, with resort-style rooms toward the coast around $90 to $160. It suits a slow week with a bike and early swims from February to August. The catch is the shore itself, which lost much of its sand to the late-2025 storms, along with at least one beach bar, so check recent conditions before you book.

Realities to Be Aware Of

Hoi An is cheap if you live like a local and expensive if you shop. A Hostelworld dorm from about US$3 to $10, three street meals at 25,000 to 40,000 dong and a 20,000-dong bicycle come to well under $20 a day. A budget guesthouse at $20 to $45 plus the 120,000-dong ticket and a sit-down meal or two puts you around $40 to $60. Riverside boutique hotels at $55 to $90 and a tailored suit can make it a $150 day fast. A beach-cafe lunch with drinks at An Bang runs 150,000 to 250,000 dong.

Violent crime against visitors is rare. Theft is the common problem. The UK government warns that bag-snatchers on motorbikes work tourist areas, so keep bags out of your bicycle basket and on the side away from the traffic. The UK government warns of methanol-laced drinks, even in licensed bars in tourist areas, so stick to sealed bottles and well-known spirits. Riding a motorbike legally needs a 1968-format international driving permit plus your home license, and Wikivoyage warns that travel insurance often excludes motorbike crashes.

Dress for the religious sites. The Japanese Bridge, the assembly halls and the temples expect covered shoulders and knees, and in August 2026 a guide turned a visitor in a sheer dress back from the bridge. Vietnam is generally tolerant toward LGBT+ travelers in the UK government's assessment, while drug penalties are severe and include the death penalty. Hawkers selling postcards and trinkets are persistent, and the city admits it struggles to control them, so a firm no and walking on works better than a long conversation.

Crowd patterns are predictable. The town fills from mid-morning and is hardest to walk after 4pm, when VnExpress found people waiting up to 10 minutes just to photograph a wall of bougainvillea. Weekends bring close to 10,000 visitors. Typhoons can hit central Vietnam from May to November, and the river floods mostly from October to December, so leave slack in your plans.

If Hoi An Is Part of a Longer Trip

Hoi An is the southern end of the classic central Vietnam stretch. The usual order is Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An, then a flight south to Ho Chi Minh City from DAD. Overnight trains from Hanoi reach Da Nang the next day, SE1 leaving at 8:50pm and arriving at 12:12pm in the 2026 timetable, and Vietnam Railways' dsvn.vn now takes overseas cards, according to The Man in Seat 61. For Hue, Wikivoyage reported hotel minivans door to door in about three hours in 2024, at 280,000 dong for a 13-seat van or 380,000 for a nine-seat limousine.

DAD has direct flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo and Siem Reap, so Hoi An works as an entry or exit point for a wider Vietnam or Southeast Asia trip without going through Hanoi or Saigon. Fly into Hanoi and out of Da Nang, or the reverse, and you skip a day of backtracking. If the trip goes on to Asia more widely, AirTreks can build that kind of open-jaw or multi-stop route as one ticket.

Yearly Things to Consider

Rain sets the calendar. February to April are the dry months, with 0.9 to 1.4 inches of rain and highs of 79°F to 88°F (26°C to 31°C), and they're the easiest time to walk and cycle. May to August turns hot, with June and July highs of 94°F, and domestic summer holidays fill the town. Then the rain arrives. September brings 13.8 inches, October 24.7, November 17.6, and the river floods mostly between October and December.

The counterintuitive pick is the edge of the hot season, May or August, when the sea is still calm enough for the Cham Islands and for swimming, and you can do the old town at dawn and dusk and sit out the midday heat. Don't schedule a once-in-a-lifetime trip for late October or November. The 2025 floods closed heritage sites and kept the old town under water for days, and Storm Wutip proved in June 2025 that even summer isn't guaranteed.

Ideas for Itineraries

3 Days in Hoi An

Day one, get in from Da Nang by early afternoon, buy the 120,000-dong ticket, and use two coupons on the Japanese Bridge and the Fujian assembly hall at 46 Tran Phu before the crowds peak, then retreat until the lanterns light up. Day two, be out at 6am for the market and empty lanes, eat white rose dumplings and cao lau for lunch, and cycle to Tra Que and Thanh Ha in the afternoon. Day three, leave at dawn for My Son and be back for a late lunch and a final banh mi at Madam Khanh.

5 Days in Hoi An

Do the three days above, then add the water. On day four, take an early speedboat from Cua Dai to the Cham Islands in the calm months, or ride the basket boats through Bay Mau in Cam Thanh and cycle back through the paddies the rest of the year. On day five, cross the river to Kim Bong to watch the carpenters, eat on the Cam Nam side, and if your dates land on the 14th of the lunar month, stay out for the full-moon night with the electric lights off.

1 Week in Hoi An

A week lets you split the trip between town and coast. Spend four nights near the old town for dawn walks and the craft villages, then three in An Bang if the beach is in good shape, cycling in for dinner. Get clothes made on your first day so there's time for two fittings.

2 Weeks or More in Hoi An

For two weeks or more, settle in the northern, less touristy part of town near the morning market and Tra Que, where produce sells at local prices and you can cycle into the old town in minutes or out to An Bang in about 20. Use Da Nang, 40 to 55 minutes away, for the airport, the train and a change of scene, and use weekends for Hue by train from Da Nang or a night on the Cham Islands. Plan a long stay for February to August, and leave before the autumn floods.

Sources

What this guide is built on. Every page below was read for this guide; prices and rules were checked in October 2026.

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