Quan Thang Ancient House, Hoi An: Tickets, Hours & What to See

Tucked into the busiest stretch of Tran Phu Street, Quan Thang Ancient House is the one most people walk straight past — no queue, no crowd, just a dim timber interior that has barely changed in three centuries. It takes ten minutes to see and it is quietly one of the finest pieces of woodwork in Hoi An.

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№ 01What the ticket actually covers

You cannot buy a ticket at the door of Quan Thang. Entry is through the shared Hoi An Ancient Town ticket, sold at the yellow booths around the edge of the Old Town — near the Japanese Covered Bridge, on Tran Phu, Le Loi, Bach Dang, Nguyen Thai Hoc and by the An Hoi bridge.

• The ticket is valid 24 hours from the moment you buy it — you do not have to see everything in one push.
• It comes with five tear-off tabs. The attendant at each site tears one off, so a wasted entry is a wasted tab.
• Booths generally sell from around 8:00 to 20:00, but individual sites close earlier — Quan Thang shuts at 18:00.
• Walking the Old Town streets is free. The ticket is only needed to step inside the listed heritage buildings.

№ 02The house and its history

Quan Thang (Nhà cổ Quân Thắng) takes its name not from a person but from the trading house that once operated out of it — a Chinese merchant firm whose shop sign, Quân Thắng, stayed with the building. Vietnamese state records place its construction in the late 17th century; many travel sources put it a little later, in the 1700s. Either way you are looking at a building somewhere north of 250 years old, and one of the oldest surviving merchant homes in the Old Town.

Like most houses on Tran Phu, it was a shop and a home at once — goods at the front where the street could see them, family life behind. The timber work was cut and carved by artisans from Kim Bong carpentry village, a few minutes across the Thu Bon river, whose craftsmen built much of old Hoi An and still work there today.

What makes Quan Thang unusual is how little has been altered. Where some of the more famous houses have been restored and re-restored for visitor traffic, this one has kept its original layout, its aged wood and much of its furniture. It is also one of the quietest: the crowds tend to flow toward Tan Ky and Phung Hung, which leaves Quan Thang refreshingly empty.

№ 03What to look for inside

Ten minutes is not long, so it helps to know where to point your eyes. The house is a single-storey timber structure built on the chồng rường giả thủ frame — stacked beams carried on carved brackets rather than nails, a technique you will see repeated across Hoi An once you know it.

1. The sky wellThe open courtyard in the middle is the whole design in one glance. It pulls daylight and air into a deep, narrow building and gives the house its cool, even light — the reason interiors here feel comfortable without any fan.
2. The bracket carvingsLook up where the beams meet the columns. The carved brackets are the most skilled work in the house: fruit, birds, and prosperity motifs cut by Kim Bong hands.
3. The lacquered panelsDark inlaid panels along the walls carry Chinese characters and scenes of daily life. They record what the family valued rather than simply decorating the room.
4. The floor and the flood marksHoi An floods most years. On the columns of many old houses you can find marks left by past high water — a quiet reminder of what preserving these buildings actually involves.

№ 04Getting there and what to combine it with

Tran Phu is closed to cars and motorbikes during pedestrian hours, so however you arrive you will finish the last stretch on foot. Park at the edge of the Old Town and walk in — the whole heritage quarter is barely a kilometre across.

Coming from Da Nang, it is roughly 30 km. A taxi or Grab takes about 45 minutes; the coastal road past An Bang is the nicer ride if you have your own motorbike or an electric bicycle.

Because your ticket buys five entries, it makes no sense to visit Quan Thang alone. Everything below is within a few minutes’ walk on or around Tran Phu:

• Fujian Assembly Hall — the grandest of the Chinese congregation halls, two minutes east.
• Tan Ky Ancient House — the best-known old house in town, and the busiest.
• Japanese Covered Bridge — the symbol of Hoi An, at the western end of Tran Phu.
• Museum of Folk Culture — a good pairing if the woodwork here interests you.
• Sa Huynh Culture Museum — for the archaeology that predates the trading port entirely.

№ 05Tips from a local

• Come before 10:30 or after 16:00. The house opens at 9:30 and the tour groups arrive mid-morning. Late afternoon light through the sky well is also the best you will get for photographs.
• Only 40 people are allowed inside at once, so at peak times you may wait a few minutes at the door.
• Bring a wide lens. The interior is dark and tight — a phone will manage, but anything wide-angle will do far better justice to the roof structure.
• Dress respectfully. These are family homes as much as monuments, and several are still lived in.
• Don’t lean on the furniture. Much of what you see is original and several hundred years old.
• Keep your ticket stub. With 24-hour validity you can come back the next morning for the remaining tabs.

№ 06Frequently asked questions

Updated: July 2026. Ticket prices and opening hours are set by the Hoi An Center for Culture, Sports and Broadcasting and can change — check the official Da Nang tourism portal before you travel. Spotted something out of date? Tell us via the contact page and we will fix it. More Hoi An guides: Hoi An travel tips.