Hoi An was a trading port from the 15th to the 19th century, and its old town came through the twentieth century largely intact. Today it runs on visitors: tailors, lantern boats, cooking classes and a ticketed old town, each with its own price.
The Ancient Town and its ticket
The old town ticket costs 120,000 dong (about $5) and buys a booklet of five coupons, each admitting you to one of the 22 protected buildings: assembly halls, merchant houses, the small museums, the Japanese Covered Bridge. The ticket is officially required to enter the old town, and staff at booths on the main streets sometimes ask for it, though street checks are patchy. The heritage buildings check it at the door, between roughly 8am and 5.30pm. It also covers the Fujian and Cantonese assembly halls and Tan Ky House, and the money goes to maintaining the old buildings.
Go before 9am at least once, before the tour groups arrive.
Getting something made
Hoi An has hundreds of tailor shops, and the spread is wide: linen dresses from about $30, trousers around $70, jackets from $70 to $160, suits from roughly $115 at the mid-range houses up to $200 and beyond at BeBe, and $700 for top-of-the-line cloth at Yaly. The names that come up trip after trip are Yaly, BeBe, Tuong and, for linen, Milan Linen.
Shops can make a suit in 24 to 48 hours, but the best results come from ordering on the first day and having two fittings before you leave, which needs about three nights. Bring photos of what you want and be specific about lining and buttons.
The lantern boats
The rowing boats on the Hoai river cost 150,000 to 170,000 dong for one to three people, 200,000 to 220,000 for four or five, per boat, not per person, for about twenty minutes among the reflections. On the fourteenth night of each lunar month, the town’s Lantern Festival, the river is crowded with boats, and the An Hoi bridge is a good place to watch from instead. Boats run from late afternoon until about 9.30pm; go at dusk.
An Bang beach
Four kilometres from the old town, straight up Hai Ba Trung street, past rice paddies, an easy ride by bicycle: 15 to 20 minutes pedalling, or a 60,000 to 80,000 dong Grab. An Bang is a proper beach with loungers, seafood shacks and room to swim. The sea is rough from October to December.
My Son at sunrise
The Cham temple sanctuary at My Son sits about an hour inland, entry 150,000 dong, open from 6.30am. The red-brick towers, some over a thousand years old and some patched after American bombing left craters that are still visible, are best in the first hour of light, before the heat and the coach groups arrive together. Shared sunrise tours from Hoi An start around $26 including pickup and the entrance fee, which costs little more than going on your own.
Tra Que and the basket boats
Tra Que vegetable village, between town and beach, charges 35,000 dong to wander its herb gardens, watch the farming, and eat things picked in front of you; the fee goes to the village fund, and it is much quieter than the old town.
Cam Thanh’s coconut-palm basket boats are the opposite. The ride itself costs 200,000 to 250,000 dong per boat plus a 30,000 eco fee, and the experience comes bundled with floating karaoke speakers, spinning-boat performers who expect tips, and roadside touts selling marked-up tickets to drivers they flag down with claims the road is closed.
Eat, then learn to cook it
Cao lau, the pork-and-noodle dish that only claims to be authentic when made with local well water, white rose dumplings, banh mi from the famous stalls, and mi quang from the market: a full street-food day in Hoi An costs less than one tailored shirt. Red Bridge cooking school runs a half-day class with the market tour and a boat ride for $35, or a longer garden version at $59, and combo classes around town start near $20.
Where to stay, and when to come
The two main choices are the edge of the old town, for lantern-lit evenings and quiet streets at 8am, and An Bang, for sea air and quiet nights a short cycle away. Places inside the pedestrian zone mean carrying luggage along car-free streets, so check the map pin on Booking.com if you have a heavy suitcase.
February to April is the best time to go: dry and warm, before the summer heat. The Thu Bon river floods the low riverfront streets most years between late October and mid-December, sometimes deep enough that boats replace pavements. Hoi An has no airport of its own; you fly to Da Nang, 30 km and about 40 minutes away, from where a Grab runs 250,000 to 350,000 dong. Ordering it beside the luggage belt needs data, which is what a Vietnam eSIM installed at home is for. Where Hoi An fits in a longer route, it is the natural middle stop between the two big cities; the Hanoi vs Ho Chi Minh City guide covers those ends.
FAQ
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Prices checked September 2026; the old town ticket has held at 120,000 dong since 2017. Tailor prices are examples, not quotes.
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