Travel Guide: Hoi An

From Hanoi, we flew into Danang and took a 10 minute cab ride into Hoi An. We chose to stay at a hotel on the beach (rather than in town) so that we could have some relaxation time, but I’ve heard you really can’t go wrong in either location.

Hoi An was by far the highlight of our trip; it is a beautiful old village on the water with so much personality and culture, absolutely worth visiting.

Activities:

• We had a tour guide for a day in Hoi An and I really don’t think we needed it. We very easily could have toured the town on our own.
• We would have loved to go see the My Son Temple while we were there. It was an hour outside of Hoi An, and it looked incredible. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit
• We were really excited to visit the tailors in Hoi An. People had told me to bring pieces of clothing that I loved from home to be replicated for 1/4 of the price. They have lots of great silk fabrics to chose from and its such a fun experience. We visited Yaly (although there were tons of options, this one came highly recommended by our guide) and had a fantastic experience having custom clothing made. If you visit Hoi An, email me and I can tell you more about the experience. I also read The Glamourai’s post on Hoi An for recommendations.
• It was the full moon festival while we were there which was really fun. All the businesses along the river turn off their lights and are lit only by candles, children sell paper lanterns along the water and the city really comes alive. It isn’t a must to be there during this because it doesn’t seem like too much changes, but its fun to see nonetheless.
• We took a cooking class at a local restaurant which was really fun. A friend of mine is doing a class at a farm in the area and picking all the ingredients, it actually sounds better than ours so I would recommend that!
• China Beach (famous spot from the Vietnam War) is close by and Danang and apparently worth visiting, again, we just didn’t have time to get there.

Restaurants:

• Brother’s Cafe is the perfect spot for dinner. Its right on the river in a little private garden, and it was also probably our best meal. Highly recommend
• Mango Mango came recommended by quite a few people, it was good, but not spectacular
• Our tour guide swore up and down that Morning Glory was his favorite restaurant in Hoi An. It was really delicious, but if you didn’t have a table right in front, it really lacked atmosphere

Restaurants: