The Old Town has hundreds of shops selling lanterns, pottery and carved wood, and almost nowhere to watch any of it being made. The Hoi An Handicraft Workshop is the exception: one courtyard house where craftspeople sit and work, you can try it yourself, and the folk-music theatre is three minutes away. This guide has the walk, the ticket, the twelve crafts in viewing order, class prices and the performance times.

What the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop is

The Hoi An Handicraft Workshop is a working craft house inside a traditional courtyard building at 9 Nguyen Thai Hoc, and it is one of the 21 sites on the Old Town ticket. Under one roof, artisans from the surrounding craft villages demonstrate around twelve traditional trades: silk lantern frames, Thanh Ha pottery on a foot-powered wheel, Kim Bong carpentry, embroidery, sedge mat weaving, bamboo work and more.

That makes it the most hands-on stop on the ticket. Every other coupon site is something to look at behind a rope; here a child can sit beside a craftsman splitting bamboo, glue silk onto a lantern frame and carry it out of the door. If your group has kids, or you plan to buy craft souvenirs anyway, spend a coupon on the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop instead of a third assembly hall.

Where the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop is and how to walk there

From our shop at 84 Phan Chau Trinh it is 700 m, roughly ten minutes on foot, measured on Google Maps: down Phan Chau Trinh, then across to Nguyen Thai Hoc. Nguyen Thai Hoc is deep in the pedestrian core, which closes to motorbikes and e-bikes from 9:00 to 11:00 and 15:00 to 21:30 (until 21:00 in winter), so walking is not just easier, it is usually the only option.

Leave your bike with us — we park it free while our renters explore, whatever time you come back for it. Staying further out at An Bang or Cam Thanh? Have the bike delivered to your hotel, ride to the edge of the protected zone and walk the last few minutes in.

Hoi An Handicraft Workshop tickets, hours and class prices

Ticket booths sit around the edge of the protected zone; the nearest to the workshop are on Nguyen Thai Hoc and Le Loi. Details of prices and the card kiosks are in our guide to Hoi An’s smart ticket kiosks.

The twelve crafts, in viewing order

Inside the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop, work from the front room inwards; the noisier trades sit at the back around the courtyard.

• Silk lanterns — bamboo split into ribs, tied into a frame, then covered. The whole sequence takes minutes to watch and explains why a good lantern costs what it does.
• Thanh Ha pottery — a foot-powered wheel, clay whistles, bowls, vases and animal figures, thrown by potters from the village 3 km west.
• Kim Bong carpentry — chisel work from the carpenters’ village across the river.
• Embroidery — silk thread portraits and panels, worked with the frame on the lap.
• Sedge mat weaving — two people, one loom, a rhythm that has not changed in generations.
• Bamboo and rattan work — baskets, trays and the round basket boats used in the coconut palms.

The rest of the twelve rotate with the season and with which artisans are in that week: conical hat making, wood carving, paper flowers, silk weaving and others. Ask at the desk what is being worked on that day — the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop is a working house, not a fixed display.

This is the only site on the ticket where the heritage is still warm — being cut, thrown and glued while you watch.

Making your own lantern, bowl or basket at the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop

Classes at the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop are the reason to allow extra time. A lantern class runs 60 to 90 minutes and costs around 200,000₫ per person; the pottery wheel is about 60 minutes at roughly 150,000₫; basket weaving takes 45 to 60 minutes at about 100,000₫. You keep what you make, and a collapsible lantern packs flat into a suitcase.

Bai choi and the folk performance house

For years the upper floor here doubled as the town’s traditional art theatre. Since 1 June 2018 the performance house has moved to 66 Bach Dang, on the riverfront about three minutes’ walk away, run by the Hoi An culture and sports centre. The Hoi An Handicraft Workshop kept the crafts; the stage went to the river.

There are three shows a day, at 10:15, 15:15 and 16:15, each 30 to 40 minutes: bai choi singing, Quang Nam and central Vietnamese folk songs, folk dance, traditional instrumental ensembles and sometimes an excerpt of classical opera. Entry uses one coupon from the same Old Town ticket.

What is worth buying at the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop

Prices at the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop are fixed and comparable to the street, and you have just watched the thing being made, which is worth something. Collapsible silk lanterns travel best. Small Thanh Ha clay whistles and figures cost very little and survive a backpack. Embroidery panels and sedge mats are the pieces where the workmanship is obvious once you have seen the loom. Anything you make yourself in a class is the souvenir people actually keep.

Best time to visit the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop

Come between 9:00 and 11:00 or 14:00 and 16:30, when the most artisans are at their benches and pieces are half-finished — mid-morning light through the courtyard is also the best you will get for photos. At midday many craftspeople rest, and early morning the stalls are still being set out. Ask before photographing a person close up, do not touch drying clay or unglued frames, and keep the aisles clear: these are narrow rooms with real work going on in them.

Pair it with the market and the craft villages

• Traditional art performance house, 66 Bach Dang — three minutes, shows at 10:15, 15:15 and 16:15.
• Hoi An Market — five minutes, free, and the obvious lunch stop.
• Tan Ky Old House — two minutes along Nguyen Thai Hoc, a natural second coupon.
• Thanh Ha Pottery Village — 3 km west by bike, where the pottery you just watched is made all day.
• Kim Bong Carpentry Village — across the river in Cam Kim, the source of the woodwork.

Hoi An Handicraft Workshop: frequently asked questions