I’m Vietnamese and I’ve visited Hoi An a few times. Many visitors spend 2-3 days in Hoi An to explore the city, so in this post, I will share with you my opinion about how long you should spend in Hoi An, and my itineraries for 2 to 3 days in Hoi An.
Hoi An is one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Vietnam. It was a famous trading port town in South East Asia from 15th-19th century and is best known for its old town with well-preserved wooden shop houses dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
Besides the old houses, the city is known for its laid back beaches, beautiful rice paddies, quality custom-tailored clothing, coconut boat rides, and delicious local dishes.
Located in central Vietnam, in Quang Nam province, Hoi An is also a good base for day trips to nearby cities and attractions such as Da Nang, Hue, Cham islands, and My Son sanctuary.
The main content:
How many days in Hoi An is enough?
In my opinion, two to three days are the minimum amount of time to spend in Hoi An. It is enough to get an introduction of the old town, the countryside, and the beach area.
Hoi An old town is the top attraction of Hoi An. And it’s best to explore both day and night time. During the daytime, you can visit the ancient houses, assembly halls, museums, and watch the folk performances. These attractions can be explored within a couple of hours or a half day.
In the evening, you can enjoy the lively nightlife scene along the banks of Thu Bon river, visit the night markets, and take the lantern boat rides.
Within the first full day, you can explore beach areas such as An Bang or Cua Dai. These are just 10 minutes drive from the old town, and are great spots for sunset, sunrise, swimming, sunbathing, and trying fresh sea food.
Within this first full day, you can search for beautiful cafes, restaurants, try delicious local dishes, and shop. If you want to make custom clothes, make sure to prepare in advance for a short time in the city, and do it first when you arrive in the area because it’ll take time to make.
Taking the coconut boat ride is also a popular tourist thing to do in Hoi An. In my opinion, it’s worth a try. You can experience the spinning boat, listen to bustling music on the boat, and take some nice photos.
If you take a tour, it’s often included with the lunch or cooking class. These usually take half a day to do but if you just drive there and take the coconut boat ride, it’ll take around a couple of hours.
If you have more days in Hoi An, you can take day trips to My Son Sanctuary, and Hue. If you don’t plan to stay in Da Nang, you can spend a couple of day trips from Hoi An to visit Da Nang’s attractions such as the Marble Mountains, Linh Ung pagoda, Ba Na Hill and Golden Bridge.
In addition to visiting popular attractions, there are many workshops in Hoi An where you can learn making lanterns, carving, pottery, weaving, and rice paper making.
Visiting traditional craft villages such as Thanh Ja pottery, Kim Bong carpentry, or Tra Que vegetable village are easily from the old town and you can spend a couple of hours in these places.
I already had a few nights in Hue and Da Nang, so I only explored the town itself when I was in Hoi An. I stayed one night in An Bang beach at AIRA Boutique Hotel, and two nights in Hoi An old town at Hoi An historic Hotel and Square Villa.
How Long to spend at each major sights in Hoi An:
The old town: You’ll need a couple of hours to half a day to explore the old town with its museum, assembly halls, pogodas, communal houses, Japanese bridges, and traditional markets. Make sure to explore the old town in the evening because it’s the best time to visit the old town.
The beach: a couple of hours, it’s a short ride (10 mins Grab ride) from the old town. Sunset is the most popular time to visit the beach, but if you want to wake up early, sunrise is also a great time to visit.
Coconut Boat Ride: The Bay Mau coconut forest is located in the countryside area of Hoi An, around 15 minutes drive on scooter from the old town. The boat ride itself lasts for 30-45 minutes. If you take tours, it’s often included with lunch time or cooking tours. So it’ll take a couple of hours to a half day.
Thanh Ha Pottery village: The village is located 10 minutes drive from the old town. It’s a small town, and it’ll take a couple of hours to continue walking around the museum and local houses. You can try to learn to make simple pottery items within a few minutes.
Kim Bong Carpentry village: the traditional village is located 20 minutes drive or boat ride from the old town. It’s a small village with two main streets and several carpentry workshops and cafes. Depending what you want to do, it’ll take a few minutes to a couple of hours of exploration.
I rented a scooter and spent a half day exploring Kim Bong and Cam Kim island. There are incense making workshops, mat weaving workshops, and fishing villages in the area to explore. If you don’t have time, skip this part, it’s a lesser known area of Hoi An.
Tra Que vegetable village: If you just drive around to sightsee, it’ll take an hour to drive and take photos. If you want to take cooking class or try to be a farmer here, it’ll take half to a full day.
If you have time: day trip to My Son Sanctuary, Cham island, Ba Na hill, or Marble Mountain. These places are around a 1 hour drive from Hoi An, so it’ll take half to a full day to explore.
How long to spend at each attraction really depends on how you are going to explore each place. If you rent a scooter, bicycle, ride share services, or private driver, you can be flexible with your time. If you take tours, it usually has a fixed duration.
See more:
How to Spend 2 to 3 Days in Hoi An Itinerary
Day 1: Hoi An ancient town and the beach
Hoi An Old Town
Hoi An Old Town is a UNESCO world heritage site, known for its well-preserved wooden shop houses that date back to the 18th and 19th century. It is a small area lined between Phan Chu Trinh street and Thu Bon river.
A leisure walk around the old town along the main street will take around 1 hour. To explore attractions and read about history, it’ll probably take a half day.
Along the old town, you will see ancient houses, Chinese assembly balls, communal houses, pagodas, Japanese covered bridges, and museums. You can spend time at these places, learn about their history and admire its architecture.
Most popular historic sights in the old town require tickets to go inside. If you don’t buy a ticket, you can view it from outside and take photos from there. The ticket counters can be found at the multiple entrances to the old town.
The 80k ticket allows you to enter the 3 sites, and the 120k ticket allows you to enter the 5 sites within 20-something important sites in the old town. You can choose any of the sites on the list, and there are ticket check points at each popular attraction that requires a ticket.
Many visitors just wandered around the old town happily exploring it without the ticket. I highly recommend buying one to have a deeper understanding of the cultural attraction.
The folk show included in the ticket itself is well worth watching. The show is held at the Traditional Art Performance House at 66 Bach Dang at 10.15, 15.15, 16.15 daily. I enjoyed the show and won a lantern as a gift at the end of the show.
I booked the 80k ticket and the staff recommended that I visit the Japanese Covered Bridge, Tan Ky Old House, and Phuc Kien Assembly Hall. The ticket helps to maintain, preserve and develop the old town.
The huge Hoi An Market is also well worth checking out. It has both indoor and outdoor areas and you will find everything at the market including food, clothes, souvenirs, shoes, and groceries.
Hoi An Old Town at night
Evening is the best time to explore the old town and also the most popular time due to its cool weather and its generic atmosphere when the lantern lit up the street and the river.
At night, you can visit the night market. There are two night markets, one on Nguyen Hoang street on An Hoi island, and another is near Hoi An market. There are great spots for shopping and eating street food.
Taking the lantern boat ride is also a romantic thing to do at night in the old town. It costs around 150k a boat, and the ride is around 20 minutes along the Thu Bon river. You can see the city from the water, enjoy the cool breeze from the river, and release a paper flower lantern.
On the riverside street of the old town is packed with cafes, restaurants, and bars with live music performances. You can enjoy the lively nightlife and search for great places to eat.
Custom Made dress and suits
There are dozens of tailor shops in the old town, so if you want to have a custom made clothing, you should plan to do it the first day when you arrive in Hoi An. It’ll take some time to make and fix it, even though it’ll often be quick within 1 to 2 days.
Hoi An food and cafes
There are many nice cafes and popular restaurants in the old town where you can try Vietnamese iced coffee, egg coffee, or local dishes like Hoi An chicken rice, and Cao Lau.
Some popular ones that I’ve tried are Com Linh, Com Ba Buoi, Banh My Phuong, and Met Restaurant. Popular restaurants often have queues especially at peak hours at lunch and dinner, so if you really want to check out these places, come a bit later after lunch or early dinner.
Surrounding islands near the old town
If you want more local life and a relaxing atmosphere, you can rent a scooter, bicycle, or even walk to the surrounding islands near the old town. Some nice islands nearby are Cam Nam, An Hoi, and Cam Kim.
The weather is extremely hot during late April early May, so remember to wear the hat to protect yourself from the sun.
If you’re short on time, you can explore Cam Nam and An Hoi. If you have extra time, you can consider exploring Cam Kim, which is a bit bigger island and it took me a half day on a scooter to drive around and explore.
Cam Kim island is home to several traditional craft villages such as Kim Bong Carpentry village, Traditional Mat Weaving, incense making traditional craft, or Tra Nhieu fishing village. You can easily take a workshop on this island to learn these crafts from an artisan.
Join a Workshop to learn traditional craft
While walking around the old town and countryside area in Hoi An, you can see many workshops where you can have your hand on traditional craft.
In the old town, between the shops, you can see lantern making classes, as well as embroidery workshops, and Jewelry & metalwork classes.
Within a few minutes drive from the old town, you can visit the popular Thanh Ha Ptery village where artisans teach you how to make a simple vase, bow, and shape. You can bring your self made products to home with a small fee of 50k.
Hoi An Beach: An Bang and Cua Dai
These places are laid back beaches located 10 minutes drive from Hoi An old town. The best time to visit is at sunrise and sunset. You can use Grab and Green SM with reasonable prices to the beach. It’s a great spot for swimming with clean clear water, soft sand, and gentle waves.
There are also lots of seafood restaurants and nice beach bars along the beachfront where you can enjoy the meals, the drinks with the breeze of the ocean. I recommend trying the clam porridge from the local vendor on the beach.
Day 2: Bay Mau Coconut Forest
After a day/ half day sightseeing the ancient town, you can venture a bit to the countryside, the craft villages, and the beaches. Taking the boat ride in Bay Mau Coconut Forest is a popular activity in Hoi An.
To do this activity, you can take a guided tour, rent a motorbike or bicycle to explore at your own pace. I rented a scooter and went directly to the village, and bought a ticket from the counter at the entrance. The entrance fee is 30k, the boat is 150k, and extra for a spinning boat (100k) if you want to experience it.
You can use Grab, GreenSM, or cycle to Bay Mau Coconut Forest. It is located in Cam Thanh, just a few km from the old town. It can be reached by road or by boat from the old town. Cam Thanh village is also a great area for cycling to explore the countryside, rural life, and beautiful rice fields.
If you take a tour, it’ll probably take half a day to explore this area, have lunch, or you can consider taking the cooking class while on the tour.
I went there with my scooter, and it took around 30 minutes on the boat ride only. With a scooter, I can explore the nearby areas of the Coconut forest to drive on Cua Dai bridge to more local areas of Hoi An.
In the afternoon, you can spend your time at the old town, the beach, or exploring more countryside areas such as Tra Que vegetable village.
Day 3: Day trip to the area outside of Hoi An
Option 1: Day trip to My Son Sanctuary
My Son Sanctuary is a popular day trip from both Da Nang and Hoi An. It is located around 1 hour from both cities. You will have a chance to explore the historic ruins and the spiritual center of the Champa Kingdom that dates back to the 13th century.
To get to My Son, you can take a guided tour, rent a motorbike, or have a private driver. I’ve visited many Cham ruins around Central Vietnam such as Ponagar Temple in Nha Trang, and Cham Towers in Quy Nhon and Mui Ne, this one is one of the largest places to visit with very nice music performances.
Option 2: Day trip to Marble Mountains & Linh Ung pagoda
If you don’t plan to stay in Da Nang, you can take day trips from Hoi An to Da Nang. The Marble Mountains and Son Tra peninsula are well-worth a visit.
Marble Mountains are only located in Ngu Hanh Son ward of Da Nang, 30 minutes drive from the old town of Hoi An. There are many tour agencies that can take you there as well as private drivers.
In the Marble Mountains, you can explore different caves, temples, and pagodas. You will have good views of Da Nang coastline and skyscrapers from its mountain’s peak. The most impressive cave for me is perhaps Huyen Khong cave where you can see a huge lady buddhist statue and cave.
Then you can drive along Da Nang’s coastline, pass My Khe Beach to head to Son Tra peninsula and visit Linh Ung pagoda. It has a huge lady statue overlooking the sea and Da Nang. If you have time, you can ask the driver if they can take you to Ban Co peak nearby, where you can have sweeping views of the city.
Option 3: Day trip to Ba Na Hill and Golden Bridge
Ba Na hill is another popular day trip from Hoi An to Da Nang for people of all ages, including families with kids, couples, solo, and older people. Ba Na Hill is located high on the top of a mountain that is located around 1 hour drive from Da Nang city center and Hoi An Old Town.
You will take the 15 minutes cable car ride to the top through the lush forest to explore the complex. There is a Fantasy park with lots of thrilling games and rides for both adults and children. I enjoyed doing the alpine coaster ride.
There are plenty of things to explore at Ba Na Hill such as the golden bridge, the French village, beautiful garden, temples, and enjoy the cold atmosphere.
Option 4: Day trip to Cu Lao Cham island for snorkeling
Cham islands are located only a short boat ride from Cua Dai port in Hoi An. It is a great place for snorkeling, diving, swimming, and enjoying fresh seafood.
To visit Cham island, you can take a guided tour where the agency will pick you up from your hotel and give you more information about the island and activities. You can also do it at your own pace, by taking a taxi, bike to the port then take a boat/cano to the island.
Option 5: Day trip to Hue, the old capital of Vietnam
Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam and is known for its old imperial palace, tombs, pagoda, and delicious food. A trip from Hoi An to Hue will normally require a full day from early morning to early evening. A drive from Hoi An to Hue is around 3 hours and will pass through the beautiful Hai Van pass.
In Hue, you can visit the old citadel, Thien Mu pagoda, Huong River, as well as numerous tombs such as Khai Dinh tomb, Minh Mang tomb, and Tu Duc tomb. You will have a chance to try Hue food such as Bun Bo Hue, Banh Beo, Banh Nam (all the cakes are made from rice with ingredients like dry shrimp).
See more:
- Best Months to Visit Hoi An
- Best Things to Do & See in Hoi An
- 10 Best Family Hotels in Hoi An
- One Day in Hoi An Itinerary
I summarize how long should you spend in Hoi An in this video, you can watch it here:
There you have it, how long to stay in Hoi An really depends on your interest, your pace, and your available time. I personally think 2 to 3 days is enough to see the major attractions in Hoi An such as the old town, the beaches, and some parts of the countryside. You will have time to try local food, have your custom clothes made, and enjoy the nightlife.
If you have more days, there are plenty of day trips that you can make from Hoi An. You can explore Da Nang, Hue, or the My Son Sanctuary. I hope you will have a wonderful vacation in this ancient city.