Things to Do in Hoi An

Things to do in Hoi An, sorted by how much time you have

Most people land here with a list and no plan. The Ancient Town itself is barely a kilometre end to end, but everything else worth seeing spreads out over about 40 km in three directions – north to the beaches, west to the Cham ruins, north again over the pass. Here is how we would split it.

When you can and cannot ride into the Ancient Town

This is the one thing nobody mentions before handing over a scooter, and it catches renters out every week. The heart of the Ancient Town closes to motorbikes twice a day. Ride in during those windows and a guard stops you at the barrier – politely, but you are not getting through.

Sources disagree on the exact minute. The city publishes 09:00-11:00 and 15:00-21:00; several local guides list 09:00-11:30 and 15:00-21:30 in the rainy season, stretching to 22:00 in summer. Treat the wider window as the rule and you will never be turned back. On the 14th of every lunar month, the monthly lantern night, the afternoon closure is enforced hard and even bicycles get waved off some streets.

Where to leave the bike. Small paid lots ring the pedestrian zone on Hoang Dieu, Phan Chau Trinh and along Nguyen Phuc Chu. If you rented from us, easier still: our shop at 84 Phan Chau Trinh sits a two-minute walk from the edge of the old town, so you can drop the bike with us, walk in, and pick it up on the way out.

What the 120.000₫ ticket actually buys

Walking the streets, eating, shopping and photographing the yellow walls costs nothing. The 120.000₫ ticket only matters if you want to go inside the 22 ticketed heritage buildings – the old houses, assembly halls, museums and the Japanese Covered Bridge. It comes as a booklet of five tear-off coupons, so one ticket gets you into five of those 22, and it is valid only on the day you buy it. Children under 1 m go free. Full breakdown in our Hoi An entrance ticket guide.

The best things to do in Hoi An after dark

Hoi An runs on two completely different clocks. Before 8am it belongs to the people who live here – coffee on plastic stools, shutters going up, the odd photographer. After 6pm the lanterns come on, the electric lights in the old town go off on the 14th of the lunar month, and 2,000 people walk the same lanes you had to yourself at dawn.

Worth your evening: a 20-minute rowing boat on the Hoai River with a paper lantern (bargain first, the asking price moves a lot); the night market on An Hoi island for grilled seafood and a lantern to take home; and the Nguyen Hoang night market for the cheap end of the food. If you want somewhere quieter, ride 5 km out to An Bang – the beach bars there are still open and the sky is dark enough to see stars.

FAQ about things to do in Hoi An

Prices, opening hours and the pedestrian-street windows change without much notice. We re-check this page every time we update the guides it links to; if you find something out of date, tell us on WhatsApp and we will fix it the same day. Roadside help while you are out riding: +84 766 766 087, 24/7.