Hoi An

In October and November 2025, Hoi An’s Ancient Town was submerged by record flooding, with more than 1,000 millimetres of rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period. Streets like Tran Phu and Bach Dang, the Japanese Bridge, and the riverside night market were all temporarily closed. Since late November 2025 the floodwaters have receded and restoration work has returned the town to operating condition. This matters as recent context because Hoi An is a place that floods regularly during the wet season, and planning around that reality is part of visiting intelligently.

What Hoi An Actually Is

Hoi An is a port town that was one of Southeast Asia’s most important trading harbours between the 15th and 19th centuries. Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Dutch merchants all maintained permanent presences here, which is why the Ancient Town contains a Japanese Covered Bridge (built in 1593 and still standing), multiple Chinese Assembly Halls built by different dialect communities, and architecture that layers Vietnamese, Chinese, and European influences in a way that exists nowhere else in the region.

The town’s trading importance declined when the Thu Bon River silted up in the 19th century and larger vessels could no longer access the port. The lack of subsequent industrial development or bombing during the Vietnam War is why so much of the 15th to 19th century streetscape survived intact. UNESCO recognised it as a World Heritage Site in 1999.

The Ticket System

Entry to the Ancient Town costs 120,000 VND per person (around USD $5). The ticket gives you five tearable vouchers, each valid for one entry to any of the 22 listed monuments and heritage structures. The ticket is valid for your entire stay in Hoi An, not just the day you buy it, so you do not need to rush five sites into a single afternoon. Ticket booths operate from 7am to 9:30pm and are positioned at over ten entrances to the old town, including the Tran Phu and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street gates. Children under 16 enter free.

The five most common choices are the Japanese Covered Bridge (Cau Nhat Ban), the Fujian Chinese Assembly Hall (Phuc Kien), the Tan Ky Old House, the Museum of Trade Ceramics, and the Quan Cong Temple. All five are within comfortable walking distance of each other.

Things Guides Often Skip

Most visitors are told about the Japanese Bridge but not about the story behind its construction timing. Japanese merchants in Hoi An proposed the bridge in 1593 as a symbolic gesture of trade and peace, but legend holds it was also designed to pin down a monster whose movements supposedly caused earthquakes across Asia. The bridge was built straddling the creature’s body, with a dog at one end and a monkey at the other, representing the years in the Japanese zodiac when construction started and ended.

A fact that changes how you experience Cao Lau noodles: the dish is traditionally made using water from a specific well in the town, Ba Le Well, whose mineral content is said to give the noodles their distinctive texture. Authentic Cao Lau outside Hoi An is considered a contradiction in terms by serious food people, because the water chemistry of the town is part of the recipe. Whether or not the mineral claim survives scientific scrutiny, it is a good example of how Hoi An’s geography and food are genuinely inseparable.

White Rose Dumplings (Banh Bao Vac) are produced exclusively by a single family in Hoi An and sold to restaurants throughout the town. The translucent rice-flour wrappers are shaped into small flower forms and filled with shrimp. The White Rose Restaurant on Le Loi Street, which has been serving the dish since 1957, is the most cited source; queues form at lunch.

Where to Eat

Banh Mi Phuong at 2B Phan Chu Trinh Street was described by Anthony Bourdain as one of the best sandwiches in the world during his visit to the town. A banh mi here costs around 30,000 VND. The queue in the mornings is worth it; the bread is baked on the premises and the fillings are assembled to order from a menu that has barely changed in years.

Morning Glory Signature Restaurant on Tran Phu Street is the most consistently recommended mid-range sit-down option for local cuisine. Main dishes run around 150,000-250,000 VND. The cooking class run by the same team is among the best in central Vietnam for technique over theatre.

HOME Hoi An on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai offers a refined, quieter setting for traditional Vietnamese food, with regional classics like white rose dumplings and grilled fish in banana leaf done well. Suitable for an evening meal when you want to sit down properly.

Com Linh, recommended consistently by local guides, fills up by 7pm and is worth arriving early for. It does not announce itself loudly, which is usually a good sign.

For market eating, Hoi An Central Market in the morning has bowls of Cao Lau and Mi Quang (turmeric noodles with shrimp, pork, and herbs) from around 30,000-50,000 VND. The food stall section is in the back half of the market; the produce section is at the front.

The Tailoring Industry

Hoi An has several hundred tailor shops, which makes choosing one slightly bewildering. The town’s tailoring reputation is genuine: skilled seamstresses and tailors can produce made-to-measure garments within 24-48 hours from supplied or chosen fabric. Prices for a men’s three-piece suit run around USD $90-200; a custom shirt is USD $15-45.

The established names with long track records are Yaly Couture (more elaborate designs, premium fabrics, higher prices), A Dong Silk (nearly 30 years of operation, consistent quality, English-speaking staff), and B’lan Silk (housed in a 200-year-old building, fixed pricing that removes negotiation anxiety).

The practical advice: arrive in Hoi An with a clear idea of what you want, give the tailor at least two fittings before pickup, and allow at least 48 hours rather than trying to collect on the same day. Rushing a tailor produces the same results as rushing a cook.

Where to Stay

The Ancient Town is the most convenient base, with accommodation ranging from budget guesthouses on the internal streets (500,000-800,000 VND per night) to boutique hotels in converted townhouses (USD $60-150). The Anantara Hoi An Resort and the Almanity Hoi An Resort are the most established mid-range to upper-mid options on the riverside.

For beach access, An Bang Beach (4 kilometres from the Ancient Town) and Cua Dai Beach have their own accommodation clusters of small resort hotels, typically USD $50-120 per night. The trade-off is a 10-15 minute bike or taxi ride to the Ancient Town instead of walking distance.

Getting There

Da Nang International Airport (DAD) is the main entry point, receiving domestic flights from Hanoi (1.5 hours) and Ho Chi Minh City (1 hour) as well as international connections from Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and several Chinese cities. Hoi An is 30 kilometres from the airport; a private taxi costs around 250,000-300,000 VND and takes 30-45 minutes. Grab (the Southeast Asian ride app) is cheaper than negotiated taxis from the arrival hall and works reliably at Da Nang.

From Hue, the distance is 120 kilometres. The Hai Van Pass road route through mountain scenery is genuinely spectacular and worth hiring a motorbike taxi or taking a private car for rather than the faster but dull expressway.

Practical Notes

The best months to visit are February through April: dry, warm, and before the summer heat peaks. October and November are the flood risk months when rainfall can be sudden and extreme, as 2025 demonstrated.

Vietnam operates on Indochina Time (ICT, UTC+7) year-round with no daylight saving.

Cash in Vietnamese Dong is essential for market food, small purchases, and tipping. Most hotels and mid-range restaurants accept cards, but ATMs are your best source and the Vietcombank and Techcombank machines in the town have the most reliable fee structures.

The town is best explored on foot or by bicycle; both the Ancient Town streets and the route to An Bang Beach are manageable by bike. Motorbikes make the traffic worse and are unnecessary given the distances involved.