Hoi An: 9 Things Worth Doing (and 3 to Skip)
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Hoi An is worth it, and most of what makes it worth it costs nothing: walking the Ancient Town’s streets is free, the lantern-lit evenings are free, and the best noodle dish in central Vietnam runs a couple of dollars a bowl. Skip the rushed “24-hour bespoke suit” pitch and the loudest basket-boat rides on the Cam Thanh canals, and you get a genuinely preserved 15th-19th-century trading port, a real UNESCO day trip to Cham ruins at My Son, and cao lau you won’t find cooked right anywhere else. Pay in dong, not dollars, and check the forecast if you’re coming between September and November: this town floods. Here’s what’s actually worth your time, and what isn’t.
Hoi An at a glance
| Days needed | Best months | Daily budget (mid-range) | One thing to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 days for the Ancient Town, 4-5 with day trips | February-April | Sep-Nov is flood season: the Thu Bon overflowed into the Old Town in Oct 2025, past the 1964 record |
9 things worth doing in Hoi An
- Walk the Ancient Town for free, and buy coupons only if you want the sights. The old-town “entry ticket” everyone mentions isn’t really an entry ticket: it’s a booklet of five coupons (~120,000 VND, verify) redeemable at any five of roughly 20 heritage sites in the UNESCO-listed old town, sold at booths on Tran Phu and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. Walking the lantern-lit streets themselves costs nothing, and it shows: most visitors never buy the booklet.
- The Japanese Covered Bridge (Chua Cau), the 18th-century icon that’s on the 20,000-VND note. It was restored between 2022 and 2024, and the bright new timber looks visibly newer than the rest of the old town. Go for the history and the photo, not for patina.
- One assembly hall, done properly. The Phuc Kien (Fujian) Assembly Hall is the grandest of the Chinese congregation halls and the one worth spending a coupon on; the smaller Cantonese and Hainan halls are for people collecting all five.
- Tan Ky, an old merchant house that’s still lived in. Over 200 years old and still occupied by the family that built it, it’s one of the better uses of a coupon alongside the bridge and Phuc Kien.
- A lantern night on the Thu Bon. Any evening the old town’s lanterns are worth seeing, but the Full Moon Lantern Festival, on the 14th day of every lunar month, cuts the street electricity and sends candle-lanterns floating down the river. It’s monthly, not an annual event, so check the lunar date rather than assume you’ve missed it.
- My Son Sanctuary as a half-day trip. Cham Hindu temple ruins, UNESCO-listed in 1999 like the Ancient Town itself but a completely separate site, about an hour southwest. Go early, heat and tour-bus crowds both build fast, and book a sunrise slot ahead if you want to beat them. US bombing damaged much of the complex in a single week in 1969, which is why so much of it is still rubble.
- A tailor fitting, done the slow way. Hoi An has roughly 400 tailor shops and a genuine bespoke tradition, but real bespoke needs 3-5 days and at least one in-person fitting, not the “ready tomorrow” pitch. Get two or three quotes, order one test item before committing to a full wardrobe, photograph the agreed fabric, and pay a modest deposit, around 20%, not the full amount upfront.
- Cao lau, eaten where it’s actually made. The signature noodle, thick and chewy from a lye-and-ash treatment, topped with char-siu pork and crisp croutons, is specific enough to this one town that legend ties it to a single well. Eat it at a market lunch stall, not off a laminated tourist menu.
- An Bang Beach over Cua Dai. Cua Dai has real, visible erosion; An Bang, a few kilometres from the Ancient Town, is the better sand and the better sunset, with beachside cafes doing the job well enough that you don’t need a resort day pass.
3 things to skip
The rushed “24-hour suit” pitch from a shop tout. True bespoke tailoring takes 3-5 days and multiple fittings; anything promising a finished suit overnight is working from a template, not measuring you properly. If you want the real thing, budget the days for it and get a test item first.
The loudest basket-boat “spinning show” on the Cam Thanh canals. The water-coconut village and its round bamboo thung chai boats are a real, old fishing tradition, but the operator who spins the boat in circles for photos over a speaker soundtrack is running a manufactured add-on, not a local custom. A quieter, private basket-boat trip covers the same waterways without the show.
Any restaurant on the tourist strip with a laminated multi-language menu and someone outside pointing you in. Cao lau, com ga, and banh mi are all specific enough that a version aimed at a table that won’t come back is a worse version. Walk toward the market stalls and the addresses locals actually queue at instead.
Do I need a visa for Hoi An?
Most nationalities need a Vietnam e-visa, arranged only through the official portal, evisa.gov.vn : roughly $25-50, about 3 working days, valid 90 days. A shorter list of countries get 45 days visa-free (verify the current list before booking, since it changes). Beware copycat sites charging two to three times the official fee for the same e-visa.
When to visit Hoi An (and does it really flood?)
February to April is the dry, warm sweet spot, roughly 23-29°C. May to August is hot and humid, better for the beach than the old town at midday. September to November is the honest bad-news window: the Thu Bon river genuinely floods into the Ancient Town, and in October 2025 it hit 5.62 metres, exceeding the 1964 record and displacing roughly 40,000 tourists between hotels; a second flood in November 2025 put over a metre of water onto Bach Dang Street. If you’re travelling in that window, book flexible and check conditions before you go. December-January is cooler and drizzly, and Tet (17 February 2026) brings closures alongside crowds, though Hoi An stays more open than most of Vietnam over the holiday.
Where to stay in Hoi An
The Ancient Town itself puts everything within walking distance but is the busiest and priciest base; An Bang Beach, about 4-5km out, is quieter with a real beach on your doorstep; the rice-paddy fringe around Cam Thanh and the riverside areas are calmer still, often at boutique or homestay prices. Budget dorms and homestays run roughly 90,000-500,000 VND; a comfortable mid-range room with breakfast and bikes included runs 500,000 VND to 1.5 million-plus; upscale resorts start around $125 and climb well past $300. Check current Hoi An hotel rates before booking, since Hoi An has no airport of its own.
How many days do you need in Hoi An?
Two days covers the Ancient Town properly. Four to five lets you add My Son, a Da Nang day out to the Marble Mountains or the Golden Bridge, and a slower morning at Tra Que or An Bang without rushing. For the day-by-day version, see our 2-day through 7-day Hoi An itineraries , our Hoi An day trips guide , and our things to do in Hoi An .
Whatever else you cut, don’t cut the free version of the old town at night: it’s the one thing on this list that costs nothing and still beats every ticketed attraction in the coupon booklet.