Enroute from Central Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City is Hoi An, a quaint historic town with some great stops for the traveling foodie.  Although the architecture has been preserved, its Old Town is now home to nice shops, restaurants and cafés to cater to the large number of tourists that Hoi An attracts.  You’ll find that everything is very walkable, or you can rent cruiser bikes to take you around (check with your hotel to see if they offer use of their bicycles for free). We stayed in Hoi An for 2 days and I think that is more than sufficient, unless you are looking to order custom tailored clothing.

Where we stayed: Vaia Boutique Hotel – We enjoyed our stay here for 3 nights, which included daily breakfast.  The room was comfortable and had air conditioning, which was really nice.  The hotel offers free use of their cruiser bikes.  Cleanliness wasn’t excellent.  Location is decent.  Although it’s not located in the centre of town, the hotel is only a short work into Old Town (approximately 10 min).

Things to Do:

Take a Cooking Class – We joined a cooking class with Green Bamboo.  I have a separate post on this as it is pretty long and heavy on the photos.  We were a class of 11 people, which meant we had the opportunity to sample a wide range of dishes.  Highly recommended!

Stroll Along the Beach – Our hotel offered bicycles for free, so we took them out to Cua Dai Beach, which was about 4 km (15-20 min).  We were stopped & asked to park our bikes in a lot (paid 10,000 VND), which is odd because we later saw other people with bikes riding around closer to the beach. I had read some reviews about the beach being touristy, but I didn’t really feel that way.  We walked further along the beach, and soon we were pretty much alone.  The sand is nice and soft, perfect for building sand castles.  🙂  Taking a break from all that hard work, you can relax on some lounge chairs and sip on some cold drinks.  I was surprised to see that the prices here were considerably cheaper than ordering drinks in Old Town.  Most of the lounge chairs are operated by independent local shops, although some are run by larger resorts.  Being huge advocates for supporting local businesses, we opted for a small shop.

Indulge in the Wonderful Flavours of Vietnamese Food – We did a LOT of eating while we were in Hoi An – sampling the cafés, restaurants and street food.  See my post on eating in Hoi An.

Go Shopping – There are many cute little shops with unique souvenirs.  Just wander around Old Town and you’ll be sure to stumble on some interesting finds.  One store that is worth noting is the Reaching Out Arts & Crafts shop.  They are a fair trade gift shop that showcases the creations of artisans with disabilities.  They have a beautiful storefront and an open workshop in the back.

Custom Tailoring – Hoi An is also well known for its high quality custom tailoring.  This includes suits, dresses, leather handbags and shoes.  In order to ensure that everything is just right, you should allot at least 3 days in Hoi An.  Your first visit will be to select your style, materials, and to get measured.  Your second visit back will be to try on the finished product and have the seamstress mark down any adjustments that need to be made.  And your final visit will be for a final fitting and to take home your new custom clothes.  There are many merchants to choose from in and around Old Town. I didn’t expect to order anything custom-made, but I couldn’t help myself.  It was our last day in Hoi An and I was casually perusing a leather goods store, when the owner told me that they can definitely complete a pair of leather ankle boots for me by early evening (i.e. in 4 hrs!).  I was a bit hesitant, but proceeded to have my feet measured while selecting the leather sample I wanted.  We went back to pick up my boots about 4.5 hours later, and they were ready.  They fit like a glove and I loved them!  However, upon further examination a few weeks later, I noticed that they weren’t perfect.  I guess I anticipated it since they were made with such short notice.  Oh well, I love them anyways 🙂

You can find a pretty good map of Old Town here.

To see where we ate in Hoi An, see my next post.