Hoi An

Hoi An is a half hour car ride from Da Nang and is known for its preserved ancient town which was once one of Vietnam’s largest ports. The architecture is very mixed with influences from Vietnam, France, Japan and China. We took a grab (SEA Uber) from Da Nang to Hoi An for $20NZDS.

We spent 5 days here in between our four days in Da Nang. 2 at a Guesthouse with no hot water and roaches, 2 at a five star boutique hotel and 1 at a very comfortable and clean homestay with a great breakfast!

The hotel life was wonderful for two nights for my birthday. We enjoyed their shuttle van to take us anywhere we wanted, the pool and their own private area on the local beach. The buffet breakfast was a real treat but also embarrassing when on my birthday when they stopped breakfast service to blast a Vietnamese rendition of happy birthday through the speakers to present me with a cake 🤪.

During the day we explored the relaxed ancient town and enjoyed the great coffee. Hoi An is known for their tailoring so I got a custom linen dress made as my birthday present from a young woman who owns her own business.

At night time we were shocked to see how busy the streets became. It was packed with people from about 4:30pm onwards and had us wondering where they all came from. Our taxi driver told us on the way back to Da Nang they get bussed in from the resorts for sunset apparently.

The food in Hoi An has been one of my favourites so far. They are known for com ga (chicken rice) but the rice is cooked with coconut oil in chicken stock and the chicken is roasted and shredded with pepper and lemon 😋. It’s hard to find (good) wine in Vietnam for a good price. Anything French or Australian is around $40 and the local wines aren’t great. On my birthday we managed to find a French bottle of sparkling for $13 which the owner of the shop put in the freezer for us while we went out for dinner – score!

We really enjoyed the last homestay as they made us yummy French toast and had bicycles for us to use to cycle around the more rural part of town for the morning.

Hoi An Ancient Town (you can see when the resort people arrive)