Overview
Once a major port where Chinese, Japanese and European traders met, Hoi An was bypassed by history and kept its old town almost intact — a compact quarter of tile-roofed shophouses, temples and assembly halls along a river. Cars are kept out of the centre, which glows at night with silk lanterns, and the town has become famous for its tailors and its food as much as its architecture. Warm and walkable, with beaches and rice fields around it, it is a place to slow down.
Highlights
The old town’s lantern-hung lanes lead to the Japanese Covered Bridge, the assembly halls and merchant houses, best in the evening when the lanterns light up. Tailors will make clothes to measure within a day, and the local cuisine — cao lau, white-rose dumplings — is a draw in itself. Bicycles reach the rice fields and the beaches of An Bang and Cua Dai a short ride away.