36 Hours in Hoi An

Thanks for this assignment, it was a pleasure to photograph.

The food is good and people are friendly. There are a lot of great destinations to go, see and sightsee. And don't forget to take some photos...….

Thanks for this profile. I will be going back to Vietnam in a few months. I was there last in 1968 under vastly different circumstances. Hoi An is one of the stops I'll be making on this trip. And while I was a reluctant visitor back in the 1960s, I am really looking forward to the one I'll be taking this year.

Have been living in Vietnam for 9 years now and it is always interesting to see what the NY Times has to say. While the author is spot on about the history and some of the specialty foods from the town, have to say that some of the tips are really more geared to mass tourism rather than specialty places. For instance, there are about 600+ homestays now in Hoi An and little to none are actually run by families living on site....just a tax cut for homestays, so most are just cheap hotels. Likewise, when we head down to Hoi An we love staying in the rice fields at Heron House, a french colonial staffed B&B, located between the beach and the old town. And as per food, while we love Tadioto and Seashell by Nu Eatery, the rest of the places mentioned are rather tourist traps. Instead, would say that Mai Fish, Thirty Seven, Aubergine 49 and Mango Rooms all deserve some serious attention. Lastly, Hoi An is more than just the town. The old town is great but our family always likes to head into the old town sometimes and use other days to go exploring in the countryside, party in Da Nang for a night, or head to the south of Hoi An over the new bridge to go swimming on a deserted beach and grab a glass of rhum at the new Sampan Rhum Distillery. No need to get stuck in with all the bus tours unloading around town after all!

Great Place.....worth a visit. Try off season.

We absolutely loved Hoi An. I say that 36 hours isn't enough, but that's why I love this series - it gives you a a taste of what there is to do, and makes you want more. We had bikes at our hotel and rode them to the ocean for lunch one day. The seafood was great. The people are friendly. Vietnam is why we travel. It was one of the stops we hit first when we started full time travel in 2015. You can read about all our adventures on our blog! (http://www.visa-vis.com)

Visitors seem to either love or hate Ho An. We loved it. Yes, the center of town near the Japanese bridge is awash with tourists, but dig a little deeper down the narrow alleys and you'll see that there is more to Ho An than tailors and cheap souvenirs sellers. And the food really is incredible. In addition to Nu Eatery, which was mentioned in this piece, we love the family-run Nostalife and Madame Khan, the Bahn Mi Queen, who lives up to her name. The city is also beautiful. We posted a bunch of our favorite photos here: https://www.twolostamericans.com/27-amazing-photos-of-vietnam/ Happy travels!

Hoi An is a wonderful place; we've been twice and loved our visits. Because it's a UNESCO city, the core historic town is preserved, but the surroundings are great, too.

I would have loved if the many classes and workshops here were featured too. Thuan Tinh Island Cooking Class or Bamboo Souvenir Workshop for instance. The food is definitely the highlight of Hoi An, since all the touristic destinations such as the Market or the Night town is completely overrun by travellers.

I visited Hoi An a couple times on my two trips back to Vietnam in the 1990s. I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman stationed near the Marble Mountains along the coast just bit north of Hoi An during the war (I was not a grunt corpsman, but in a field hospital). It was considered the Disneyland of Vietnam for tourists when I visited. I would encourage a visit to Da Nang and also a stay in Hue, one of the sites of the fiercest fighting during the 1968 Tet offensive. There are other places to see nearby. A village called Viem Dong is not far, just north of the Marble Mountains near the coast where there was fighting. I drank tea there with a former VC who quit the war in 1968 after his companions were all killed. I had heard a rumor when I was last there that it was going to be developed into a golf resort by the owners of the Furama Hotel where I stayed, which was the only hotel at the time on China Beach, near the old in-country R&R spot, the China Beach USO adjacent to the Marine Air Group-16 helicopter base. Also a visit to My Son to see the old Cham ruins is worthwhile. Very close (though during the war it would not have seemed so). There was a famous Marine combat base nearby, in An Hoa, which when I visited it was nothing more than an asphalt strip haunted by cows. (The airport for Hue when I visited was the old Phu Bai combat base.)

Yes! We visited Hoi An about 10 years ago on a trip through SE Asia. The people, food, charm - we loved it all and would go back in a second if we get back to Vietnam!

The key phrase in the review is “mass tourism has landed hard”. A much better strategy is to stay in Hue and hire a driver to visit Hoi An for a day. You’ll get the gist without having to wallow in the bad.

Perhaps the most boring and overrated place I have ever been. Completely overrun with tourist shopping. Minutes from Da Nang which is so much more interesting inclusive of incredible beaches

I wish you had mentioned one of the great joys of travel - taking a cooking class. In Hoi An the Green Bamboo school sets an unsurpassed standard for delicious, hands on, made-from-scratch Vietnamese food.

I recently spent three weeks traveling Vietnam from North to South and Mr. Scott's description and recommendations for Hoi An are accurate. It was a highlight of my trip! I would add that Hoi An, being quite charming, is perhaps one of the most touristic places in Vietnam. If you tour this country you should make every effort to visit some villages and rural areas - you will be rewarded with meeting welcoming and lovely people and see what remains of traditional ways of life.