Hoi An, before eight and after eight

What Hoi An actually is

Hoi An was one of the great trading ports of Southeast Asia between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries: Japanese, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese merchants all had quarters here, buying silk, ceramics and pepper. Then the Thu Bon river silted up, the trade moved to Da Nang, and the town spent two hundred years being too poor to demolish anything. That poverty is why it survives.

The result is about a thousand timber-framed shophouses, a Japanese covered bridge from the 1590s, and a set of Chinese assembly halls, all in a grid of eight or nine streets that takes forty minutes to walk end to end. UNESCO listed it in 1999 and the tourism arrived shortly afterwards.

The honest version of the current situation: between 09:00 and 21:00 the old town is extremely busy, most of the ground floors are shops selling the same lanterns, and the ticket system funnels everyone through the same dozen buildings. Before 08:00 and after 21:30 it is a different town entirely, quiet, lived-in, and one of the more beautiful places in Asia. Both of those things are true and an itinerary that ignores the first is not being straight with you.

How many nights

Three. One day for the old town at the right hours plus a free afternoon, one day for My Son and the countryside, and one day that has nothing in it. Hoi An is the place in Vietnam where an empty day pays for itself.

Two nights works if you are moving fast and will accept seeing the old town only once. One night does not: you will see it at the worst hour, in the middle of the day, and conclude it is a shopping street.

The beach is four kilometres away and reachable by bicycle in twenty minutes. Staying at the beach rather than in town is a legitimate choice and we will build either; the beach is quieter, the town is walkable, and you cannot have both.

When to go, and the flood months

Note that this is the opposite of northern Vietnam. Hanoi is at its best from October to December, exactly when Hoi An is at its worst. A fourteen-day trip covering both has to compromise somewhere, and February to April is where the compromise lands.

How to get there

Da Nang International is 30 kilometres north, about 45 minutes. It has direct flights from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Singapore and Seoul. There is no airport at Hoi An and no railway station; the nearest station is Da Nang.

From Hue, the coast road over the Hai Van pass takes about four hours with stops and is one of the better drives in the country — 21 kilometres of switchbacks with the sea on one side. The tunnel takes an hour off and misses the point.

My Son is 45 kilometres inland, an hour each way, and best at 07:00 before the coach groups and the heat.

What things cost

Photographs

When to skip Hoi An

• October and November, unless you can accept a real chance of flooding and a typhoon warning.
• If crowds are a serious problem for you and you cannot get up before eight. The middle of the day in the old town is dense.
• If you are looking for authenticity in a strict sense. Hoi An is a preserved town that lives on tourism and does not pretend otherwise.
• December and January if you came for the beach. The sea is rough and grey and swimming is often off.
• If your Vietnam trip is under ten days and you want the north. Central Vietnam costs three days and Ha Giang costs four; both do not fit.

Tours that include Hoi An

Three nights in our fourteen-day Vietnam route, reached over the Hai Van pass from Hue. It is offered as a two-day extension on the ten-day express.

It does not appear in the eighteen or twenty-four-day multi-country routes, because central Vietnam and a second or third country do not both fit. That is a real trade and we would rather name it than hide it.

Questions travellers ask most

Read next