Hoi An - World Heritage Site

Hoi An is around 30 minutes south of Danang Airport on the eastern peninsula of the long Eastern Vietnamese coast. It was 18 years since our last visit and were keen to see how it had changed and developed.

We stayed just outside the city at the Hoi An Silk Village Hotel. After checking in we took a walk to the old town, it only took 30 minutes after a quick stop for a local cheap lunch.

When we arrived at the Old Town, we found the centre to be just as quaint as we remembered, lantern lined streets lit your way as you meander and browse through the narrow streets, though always wary of lines of rickshaw peddlers beep beeping their way through the streets.

As the evening drew on the streets became more crowded, thankfully there was enough restaurants, bars and coffee shops to cater for every taste, and across the bridge was a further selection of bars and restaurants and also the night market selling everything from lanterns to banana fritters, all at a reasonable price.

In the following days we hired bikes and cycled to the coast, it was further than it looked, and we remembered. At the time of our visit it was quite windy and cold, the beaches were quite deserted, though you could see how full they would be in better weather.

One of the main draws of Hoi An, are the vast number of tailors, offering both ladies and gents clothes with a promise to have the finished article ready in a day, two max.

We found ourselves being drawn back day after day, just to wander the streets, stopping for regular coffee and cake, to watch the endless tourists walking the streets in their freshly made Ao Dai, taking selfies.

There were many places to eat and drink, we particularly enjoyed the ‘Streets International’ restaurant, where all trainees spend part of each week at the restaurant, applying what they have learned in their classes. It is an essential part of the overall STREETS program, providing a training platform for hands-on learning, observation and practice. The food we had there was probably the best we ate during our visit.

We have tried their restaurants in Cambodia, years ago which was equally as good so please if you are travelling and see the initiative at work, pop in and give them a look.

We always found something to look at, somewhere to eat and drink, and something to buy. If you aren’t staying in an Old Town hotel, you’ll find transport cheap, food cheap and varied and enough to satisfy all your tastes and enough to do to occupy all your days

If you are visiting Asia and have a few spare days, Hoi An is worth adding to any itinerary, give me a call if you fancy a trip.