If you’re in the midst of planning a trip to Vietnam, most everyone will implore you to spend at least a few days in the central coastal city Hoi An. Everyone I spoke to was insistent, sending me lengthy messages about all the things I must do while there, all the business owners I must go meet, and all the tasty morsels I must devour. Like okay guys, thank you, but chill. You’re overwhelming me, and Hoi An better be seriously great after all this ridiculous hype. Cripes.
No one town can possibly be that universally adored, can it?
It turns out that it absolutely can. And, being the walking cliche that I am, I loved it too.
The town is a bit touristy for my liking, and can get extremely crowded at night with people who will shove you to the ground if it means getting a better view of the shining lanterns. This is usually enough to deter me from ever wanting to return to a place again (case and point: Vatican City…cool historical context, horribly packed with sweaty and oblivious tourists).
However, Hoi An is different. It is magical. From the 15th to the 19th century, the town was a massively utilized port town, once considered by other major nations to be the best trading destination in all of Asia. It is one of the best preserved towns of its kind, earning it its UNESCO World Heritage status. Hoi An is rich with history, drawing influences from all over the world, from China to Japan to France, reflected in the food, architecture, and pagodas. And despite the fact that Hoi An is so incredibly popular today, there is something so relaxing and comfortable about it that makes you forget to feel like just another tourist.
Browse the best deals on Hoi An hotels here!
I ended up staying an extra day longer than I had anticipated, and still felt like I didn’t get to do everything I had hoped. Here are my top 10 things that you should try to squeeze in during your trip to Hoi An (which I’m sure you’ll be making, because everyone does).
Go clothing shopping
Hoi An is famous for having countless tailors who want to custom make clothes just for you. If you walk down the street, you’ll have women trying to usher you into their shops to measure you and make you that perfect pantsuit that you’ve always wanted but could never afford!!!
The truth is, this is an excellent opportunity to get perfectly-fitted clothes for a fraction of the price you’d pay at home. A lot of the boys I met in my hostel got custom-tailored suits and had them shipped home for work; a girl I met bought a custom-fitted dress for about $30 based on a photo of a $150 dress; another girl got custom-fitted leather sandals to save money on a new pair of Birkenstocks. This is no joke. These tailors are talented and their work comes out beautifully.
I oscillated back and forth between wanting to order a few items and not. I am not a big spender at all, and I didn’t have anything I particularly needed, so I ended up just buying a pair of pre-made shorts for myself and my sister, haggling the price down ONE ENTIRE DOLLAR (hey, I never said I had good negotiating skills). The Hoi An tailors come highly recommended; just be sure to shop around a bit beforehand to find the most reasonable prices.
Stuff yourself
This town is home to the absolute BEST food I had in all of Vietnam, from its mouth-watering banh mi to its special recipes exclusive to Hoi An. One day I had five meals because I didn’t want to miss out on a single thing. It was painful, but it was worth it.
Read about the perfect self-guided Hoi An food tour here!
Learn to Cook Vietnamese food
Ask anyone who knows me: I am an absolutely terrible cook. The only times I’ve cooked for boyfriends, the meal has turned out terribly and I had to pretend not to notice that they were trying to restrain their immense disappointment in me. Clearly I am going to be a miserable failure as a housewife.
So imagine my excitement when I saw that my hostel was offering discounted cooking classes where we would have the opportunity to learn how to cook the most scrumptious Vietnamese dishes! I would marry Vietnamese cuisine if it wasn’t weird and illegal, so this was an incredibly exciting opportunity to bring some recipes back to Baltimore with me.
The class was fantastic. We stood around a table and took turns making spring rolls, rice pancakes, and papaya salad before we sat down and feasted on the products of our labor. It was DELIGHTFUL. Restaurants all around town offer cooking classes, and there are plenty of companies that offer cooking classes as well, so shop around for the best price.
Lounge on the beach
Any coastal city would be incomplete without a good beach, and Hoi An has two, An Bang and Cua Dai, both within biking distance from city center. I, along with some new friends that I met in the hostel, biked to Cua Dai one afternoon, but sadly what was once a prime destination for Hoi An visitors has been affected by accelerated erosion in recent years and will soon be gone. Sand bags are strewn along the beach to act as breakwaters. There are still a lot of good restaurants near the beach, though, so if you want to have some delicious seafood and see Cua Dai before it’s completely eroded, hurry your ass up!
And if you want to relax by the water, in between Cua Dai and An Bang is a stretch of sand that is less touristy and offers white sand perfect for sunbathing and enjoying the breezes coming off of the South China Sea.
Bike the rice paddies
Hoi An is a relatively small city, when compared to monstrosities such as Saigon or Hanoi, but you’ll still probably find it difficult to want to spend any time outside the city while you’re there. IT IS THAT GREAT.
One of the reasons Hoi An is so much more laid back than some of the other Vietnamese cities is because you don’t see a whole lot of cars driving through here. There are some motorbikes, but more than anything, you can see locals and tourists alike perched on top of bicycles, pedaling their way through town. A lot of hotels and hostels will offer bike rentals free with your stay (just don’t forget to return the bike lock key and then not realize until you’re back in the States and you find it laying in the bottom of your fanny pack, sad and alone).
There are so many villages with smiling children and locals working in rice paddies that stretch for miles and miles right outside Hoi An’s limits. You’ll have no problem spending an afternoon traversing through Vietnam’s countryside, enjoying the quiet serenity and peering into the window of the country’s culture outside of the urban, commercialized beaten path.
Take a day trip to My Son
My Son is considered the Angkor Wat of Vietnam. Only about an hour outside of Hoi An, it is the longest inhabited archeological site in Indochina, construction on its Hindu temples having begun in the 4th century (THE 4TH CENTURY!!!). It was the site of religious ceremonies and burials for Cham royalty during the Champa dynasty. I certainly knew absolutely nada about the dynasties of Vietnam prior to my visit, so this is a cool way to feed your curious brain. Plus, My Son is another UNESCO World Heritage Site to check off your bucket list.
Keep in mind that a majority of this ancient place was wiped out by US carpet bombs during the Vietnam War. Typical, and devastating.
Also keep in mind that the summer is probably not the optimal time to be visiting. I went mid-morning on a mid-May, sunny day, and HOLY BUTTHOLE, I almost perished and melted into a puddle of sweaty misery. There is very little shade, the sun is relentlessly strong in this part of the world, and you will soak through your shirt in approximately 15 seconds. A very cool visit, but expect to get a little stanky.
Walk along the river at night
Nighttime is when most of the tourists come out of their caves, wielding camera phones on sticks. It is a little intimidating, but don’t let it stop you from wandering along the river and enjoying the silk lanterns. Lanterns have been made in Hoi An for over 400 years, and the town is famous for its lantern-lined streets. If you’re lucky, you’ll be in Hoi An during the full moon and can attend the monthly lantern festival.
Traditionally, locals would send lanterns floating down the river to honor their ancestors. Now the festival is a bit more of a party, with tons of visitors flocking to the town to see the magical lights.
If this level of social stimulation sounds heinous to you (I get it), Hoi An is lit up every night, and it is a beautiful experience no matter when you go.
Visit the Ancient Town
This whole ancient town system is a little funky. When you cross over the river to enter Hoi An’s Old Town, there may or may not be people there asking you to pay 120,000 VND for entrance, which is equivalent to about $6 and is valid for your entire stay in Hoi An. It also grants you access to the sites, like the Japanese Covered Bridge or the Fukian Assembly Hall, five times per ticket. To me, that’s not a terrible deal.
Everyone I met didn’t buy the ticket and managed to dodge the ticket vendors at each entrance to the town. One of the girls I was walking with one night literally just ignored the woman at the entrance and strode right in without buying a ticket, which I could physically not do because my guilty conscience would eat at me until the day I die. This Canadian guy who was working in my hostel said that they say you technically need a ticket to actually enter the town, but that you don’t really need one to enter the town. The enforcement in checking tickets at the entrances is inconsistent at best.
I would recommend just sucking it up and buying the ticket. I have always been a rule follower because I was raised to be naive and angelic. The ticket does grant you access to the temples, assembly halls, old houses, and museums, which is also sometimes enforced, sometimes not, but what the hell. The fee goes towards funding conservation work, so why not just buy it, contribute to this lovely town, and avoid getting chased down the street by an angry ticket vendor?
Peruse the Central Market
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there is no better place in any city to really experience the culture and see the society in action than the central market. Everywhere you turn, there’s something new. Women making noodles by hand. Bright and colorful baskets of produce. Amazing and unusual smells of fresh vegetables and fish wafting through the air. It’s a crowded market, and there’s a ton going on no matter the time of day, but it is a great opportunity to speak with the locals, learn more about how they make their daily living, purchase some cheap and fresh local snacks, and whip out your rusty haggling skills!
Enjoy all the puppies!
I was actually a little bit nervous about the kind of cuisine I would stumble upon as I made my way through Vietnam, aware that accidentally finding dog meat on my plate was a very real possibility. Dogs are a big part of my life; I have a dog-sitting side hustle that not only brings some good money into my wallet, but also brings the sweetest and most loving souls into my house. My chihuahua Stella is my entire universe, and the thought of eating her kin sends SHIVERS DOWN MY DAMN SPINE.
A guy I met on Halong Bay said that he really wanted to try dog meat and was actively seeking it out. I stared at him in horror and weeped internally, then spent a good 30 minutes looking at pictures of Stella, my heart strings yanking with every new image of her precious teeny face.
The point is, I didn’t know what to expect. It turns out that Vietnam, especially southern and central Vietnam, has started to steer away from eating dog and more towards keeping them as beloved family members. One of my favorite activities in Hoi An was greeting all the pups that were wandering around town and getting a reminder of the joys of a dog’s love, even when so far away from my own.
The bottom line: the best thing to do in Hoi An is take things slow, absorb your surroundings, pet a few dogs, and enjoy this famous town on your own terms.
Anything I missed? What was your favorite thing to do in Hoi An, or what is it you’re most looking forward to?
