A touristy, crowded yet stunningly beautiful town.
We decided to spend 4 nights in Hoi An as we needed a bit of a pit stop and chance to recharge. We arrived from Hue to Da Nang on the train (read our blog post here), we then jumped in a taxi from Da Nang train station down to Hoi An – this took around 45minutes and cost us about $30. There were plenty of taxis waiting for the train to arrive so it wasn’t a problem finding one.
We had booked as usual through booking.com to stay at Hoi An Sunny Pool Villa we wanted somewhere with a pool to escape the humidity and have some down time over the next 4 days. This place was beautiful, a big, new villa with a lovely little pool and small garden areas which were perfect for the boys to run around in. Our room was great, 2 big double beds, big bathroom, fridge and small balcony for $57 per night with breakfast. We were happy to settle in. It was tucked away over a small bridge that brings you directly into the market, but it was only a 10minute walk from the hotel into where the main town is.
Hoi An is a bustling, historical riverside town and although stunningly beautiful was probably the most ‘touristy’ place we visited during our time in Vietnam. There was an abundance of Chinese tourists being taken around on rickshaws particularly in the evenings and it got so busy at times especially at night that we really had to hold on tightly to the kids so they didn’t get lost in the crowds or knocked down by a tour guide holding an umbrella!
The kids loved spotting them.
The first day we wandered along the river, in and out of shops, markets, little temples and stopping for drinks and snacks along the way. The main way to get around Hoi An is by bike, but we stuck to foot and just ended up carrying one boy each on our shoulders, probably the quickest way to get around for us.
Hoi An at dusk is a spectacular place, people light candles and float them down the river, the lanterns and fairy lights light up and the streets get busy. We spent 3 of the 4 nights here mainly wandering around, if you want to eat in one of the popular places close to the river and the Japanese bridge I would definitely recommend popping in and pre-booking a table as it does get extremely busy (on both sides of the river). We went across the bridge in the evening once but it was so busy, we were being pushed and shoved all over the place, losing boys and had numerous cameras and selfie sticks shoved in our faces. Not a pleasant experience for us personally!
We did a cycling tour over to Cat Kim island with Hoi An Cycling – an incredible day out, read about our blog post here. Also 2 days were spent on the beach at An Bang Beach which we absolutely loved. Again, read about that in our blog post here.
Overall we loved the beauty and charm of Hoi An, it was wonderful to spend an evening strolling around and taking in the atmosphere and wonder of the place.
Our top tip with kids would be to venture out early in the evenings – 4/5pm and get back to your hotel early, if you’re like us and don’t really like crowds of tourists that is!
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