
The Ultimate Travel Guide To Hoi An 2025
Hoi An is a picturesque town in Vietnam, with yellow walled houses, lantern lit streets and delicious food. It’s not surprising that, for most travellers to Vietnam, it’s their favourite Vietnam destination.
Hoi An, Vietnam is known for its Unesco Heritage colourful Ancient Town located on the Thu Bon River. The perfect mix of beauty and chaos … you’ll find motorbikes and bicycles zipping up and down the streets, handmade lanterns hanging at almost every door and ochre coloured city walls with ancient historical stories.
Hoi An is in Central Vietnam, just south of the imperial city, Hue. It’s also about 45 minutes south of Da Nang in central Vietnam. Originally, this coastal city was a bustling and wealthy port, home to merchants from all corners of Asia and Europe. Different cultural influences from the city past are still visible in the ancient architecture.
Complete Guide To Hoi An, Vietnam
Hoi An is the top destination to buy custom made items. The streets are lined with hundreds of tailors, and shoe makers. Visitors come to delight in the lanterns that light up the yellow streets and to relax at the nearby beaches.
How To Get To Hoi An
Vietnam has a train network that runs from the south of the country to north. So, if you are coming from Hanoi in the north or Ho Chi Minh in the south you could simply take the overnight train to Hoi An. Alternatively, Hoi An is roughly 45 minutes from Da Nang, which has an international airport. Flying within Vietnam can be quite cheap so if you are short on time and don’t want to experience the overnight train, you may want to consider flying.
TOP TIP: When booking the overnight train make sure you book a VIP Sleeper Cabin. It’s cleaner and more comfortable. Additionally, be aware that many are 4 berth, and if there are only 2 of you, and you don’t want to share, contact the operator and ask to book the whole cabin.
We were travelling to Hoi An from the north, coming down from Phong Nha. We booked a VIP Sleeper Bus that took us 7 hours with a few toilet stops along the way. Whilst not the quickest way to travel, it certainly is a unique experience that I suggest you do at least once if you are travelling the length of Vietnam.
Tip – Find Transport – Ferry, Buses, Trains and Planes
In all our travels around South East Asia, when we need to organise longer journeys between regions, capitals and countries, we have generally used 12Go to assess the options. They have a handy feature, which allows you to check the options and manage your travel bookings to get you from place to place on one page.
Getting Around Hoi An

The ancient area of Hoi An is pedestrianised, making walking the best way to get around Hoi An Old Town. Cars are not allowed in the central area and even motorbikes won’t get you everywhere. A good alternative for longer distances is an actual bicycle … however, we stayed a mere 3km outside the Ancient Town and had absolutely no problem walking to and from Hoi An Ancient Town.
For longer distances within Hoi An, for example exploring the beaches, we simply used a Grab bike or a Grab car. There are lots of locals that shout “TAXI” as you walk past, and being aware of the scams, we always use the Grab app when booking a ride. To find out more about the scams in South East Asia, read our in depth article – Tourist Taxi & Travel Scams.
What To Do In Hoi An
Hoi An and the surrounding area doesn’t offer much in the way of sightseeing. Hoi An is one of those towns where you’ll find yourself spending just a day or two, maybe a little longer, because part of its charm is slowing down, sitting back, and watching the world go by. However, if you want more, then let’s discuss what there is to do … that’s if you want to enhance your Hoi An itinerary with anything but shopping, wandering and drinking coffee. It’s a town that makes it very easy to spend your days doing just that!
Roam Hoi An’s Ancient Town
Known as one of the best preserved examples of a 15th to 16th century South-East Asian trading port, Hoi An’s Ancient Town is quite impressive. You could spend days making your way through the many shops, restaurants, museums and assembly halls that make up the town.
You’ll find a mix of architecture in Hoi An’s Ancient Town – from European colonial styles to Chinese trade and shophouses. But what sticks out is the most is the colour. Hoi An is called the Yellow City of Vietnam. This is because of a combination of things, such as practicality and culture. Firstly, it has a practical reason because yellow absorbs less heat than other colours – perfect for keeping buildings cool in Hoi An’s tropical climate. Secondly, the colour is a protected because of it’s Unesco Heritage status – meaning the original yellow walls have remained intact. Culturally, yellow is a colour that symbolises nobility, royalty, pride, good fortune and prosperity in Vietnamese culture. Additionally, in Feng Shui, earth yellow represents wealth, spirit, endurance, and the passage of time.


Go On A Walking Food Tour

One of the first things we decided to book when we arrived in Hoi An was a walking food tour. We had already tried one in Hanoi and loved it. In Hanoi we book our tour through GetYourGuide – for the details read our Hanoi Food Guide. However, this time we booked our walking food tour through GuruWalk – Hoi An Food Tour: Eat like a local. The lovely thing about this tour is that it is run by locals that live in Hoi An. There is no fee – you pay for everything you try and at the end you give the tour guide a donation to thank them for their time. We were part of a small group, just 7 of us. June, our tour guide, took us down laneways and into the lesser known eateries – the ones only the locals frequent.
We tried a variety of the delicacies that Hoi An has to offer:
- Cô lói – bbq pork skewers with fresh greens, wrapped in rice paper.
- Báhn Mi – unlike a Hanoian báhn mi, the Hoi An báhn mi tastes different due to the bread and the slight difference in fillings – roast pork or chicken depending on your choice, Vietnamese sausage, the usual herb and vegetable mix, as well as a strip of a well-seasoned omelette. The highlight though, a secret sauce, slathered in just before the filling.
- Fried wantons – made with rice flour and filled with ingredients such as shrimp, pork, egg, and spices.
- White rose dumplings – made from translucent white dough which is filled with spiced minced shrimp or pork, and bunched up to look like little white roses.
- Cao Lâu Noodle – A specialty dish of Hoi An. The dish cannot be replicated outside of the Hoi An because the water used in the dish must be drawn from a well nearby, the Ba Le well. The noodles are made using the well water and ash from trees grown on Cham Island. This water is mixed with ashes from the trees and then made into the noodles that are left to dry in the sun. You can see the noodles drying as you walk around the market in Hoi An Ancient Town.


Get Tailor Made Clothes from Hoi An Tailors
Central Vietnam is known for its textiles, and around Hoi An there are plenty of silk farms as well as traditional weavers. Tailoring has in fact been a part of the long history in the area and is what eventually brought Hoi An the nickname ‘textile capital of Vietnam’. As you com into Hoi An you will see the streets lined with countless tailors. Not only in the Old Town but throughout the whole of the city. Getting something custom-made is one of the things to do in Hoi An.
We were advised by many, that if you get your clothes tailor made in the Ancient Town you will pay almost double the price than getting your clothes tailored by a family business situated on the outskirts or outside of Ancient Town. We cannot confirm or deny this because …. well we didn’t actually get anything tailored. We simply didn’t have the room in our luggage as we were travelling with backpacks and short on space in our bags. Next time ….
Not only can you get amazing clothes made, but you can grab custom made leather items as well. Walk down any of the bustling streets in Ancient Town and you’ll find just as many leather shops as you do tailors. Here you can get anything from belts, bags, hats right to custom made shoes or cowboy boots.


Not only can you get amazing clothes made, but you can grab custom made leather items as well. Walk down any of the bustling streets in Ancient Town and you’ll find just as many leather shops as you do tailors. Here you can get anything from belts, bags, hats right to custom made shoes or cowboy boots.
Everything Else Hoi An Has To Offer
There is so much more to see and do in Hoi An that you can fill each and every day you spend in this beautiful city. We didn’t explore outside of the Ancient Town as we had been on the move for so long that we simply wanted peace and quite – to stroll the streets, sample the coffee and food and sit in cafés watching the world pass us by. However, if you are after more, here are a few other things you can fill your days with whilst staying in Hoi An.
- Hoi An Central Market – if you want all the local food options under your nose at once, factor a trip to the Central Market into your Hoi An itinerary.
- Lantern Making Class – there are plenty of opportunities to buy one as a souvenir, but why not make your own!
- Hoi An Cooking Lesson – shop at the local market and board adorable basket boats to take you to the kitchen. Then make a spread of Vietnamese dishes with a team of professional chefs.
- My Son Sanctuary – 1,300-year-old ruins hidden in the jungle an hour outside Hoi An built by the Cham people.
- An Bang Beach – Spend the day at the beach.
- Visit the Gold Bridge at Ba Na Hills – located in the Trường Sơn Mountains, take a cable car ride up to the Instagram famous hand bridge.
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Wendy is a traveller, writer, and photographer with an insatiable curiosity for the world. Her journey, spanning South Africa, the UK, and now Australia, infuses her work with a rich tapestry of experiences. Join her on Getting Lost Again as she shares her creative perspective and passion for overland travel alongside Dan.