What to Do: Hoi An
What started as a three day stop quickly turned into almost two weeks in this amazing place. I fell in love with the beach, the waves, the pedal bike rides and the laid back lifestyle of the Old Town.
We spent the first few days at a home stay near Ah Bang Beach, which was lovely. We wandered down to the beach first thing in the morning and woke ourselves up with a quick dip in the ocean before starting our days with Vietnamese coffee and breakfast. We pedaled into town, visited the Old Quarter and were lucky enough to time our trip with the monthly lantern festival. The lanterns, which the city is famous for, were everywhere and we took a boat trip (touristy, I know) up and down the river to see them all and let off our own for good luck. It was such an amazing city, which is why we stayed so long!
Unfortunately, after about a week we started experiencing typhoon weather and things got a bit chilly, and wet. We moved to the coffee shops and curled up with Netflix movies and good books. The city was still just as lovely to curl up with and relax although I did start to go a bit stir crazy after a couple days.
Here are a few places to go and a few of my favourites:
Marble Mountains
A quick trip from Hoi An, and nestled in Da Nang are the Marble Mountains. The Marble Mountains are five hills made from limestone and marble that are named after the five elements. The five of us took a taxi from Hoi An into De Nang for 200,000 VND and paid the entrance to the caves to start the trip. We wandered through with the rest of the tourists and then wound our way through the passages and climbed up to one of the lookouts. After leaving the caves we turned left and headed up to the top of the mountains, avoiding the overpriced elevators and climbing up quite a few flights of stairs. There were temples on the hills as well as more caves and after climbing a bit through rocky terrain we popped out on top and got a great 360 view of De Nang. We could have spent another hour adventuring up every walkway, but eventually the climbing wears you out and there aren’t a ton of reasonably priced food or drink options. They were a highlight of the area and we had a great time exploring.
Nomad Yoga
I do love going to yoga back at home, and I do love the calm that it brings me, so along my trip I’m trying to find places where I can practice that aren’t too much money and have good facilities. I really liked Nomad Yoga and the teacher Victoria, who was also a Canadian, hailing from Toronto. She was really sweet and led us through a Traveler’s Restorative Class which was great after lugging around a heavy backpack and sleeping on rock hard beds. I enjoyed the peace it brought me, even though the busy Hoi An streets were just below.
Ah Bang Beach
We stayed at a lovely home stay called the Sea Snail Home stay, which was nearby the ocean and Marley and I spent every morning in the waves and came back for Vietnamese coffee and to wake a sleepy Tom. The hosts were beyond helpful and they always had information or a pedal bike when you needed it. I would recommend this place in a heartbeat to anyone staying in Hoi An. We stayed in a two bed with the 3 of us, and it was the perfect size for 3 people to live in for 5 days and comfortably spread out.
The best part about it was it’s proximity to the beach and our ability to jump in the waves within a few minutes of leaving the house. The Ah Bang beach right by the Salt Beach Pub was so nice to grab a chair and a iced coffee and spend the day soaking up the sun.
Even when the typhoon weather started, we spent our last morning in the waves and rain just jumping around and being knocked over. This is definitely not my recommendation to go in the ocean while it’s storming outside, I only went in while I was with a couple people and we only went 5 feet into the waves.
The beach itself spans quite a ways down the northern part of Hoi An, and there are many places to sit and grab a couple shaded loungers.
Old Town
Of course this is one of my favourites. I was there during the lantern festival which although ultra touristy, it also quite cool to see all of the lanterns in the water and all the boats out setting the lanterns in with a wish for good luck.
When you enter Old Town, you should purchase an entrance ticket. The money collected goes to the upkeep of the city and it pays for entrance to get into all of the temples as well. Keep your ticket with you and you have what you need for the entire trip.
The Old Town is filled with restaurants and shops with clothing, gifts, lanterns, raw food items and of course more than your fill of tailors. They have everything you need to hang out for a few days and get acquainted with the area. I spent next to two weeks here and I could tell you my favorite cafes and restaurants quite easily and how to navigate to them from the Japanese Covered Bridge.
Rosie’s Cafe
I found this place on a blog and I am so glad I did. We went here for the first morning for breakfast and I fell in love. Normally I’m all for the local flavors and staying authentic, but I was ready for fresh food, a smoothie bowl and a comforting atmosphere. Rosie’s is all that and more. I walked in an instantly felt this sense of calm and belonging. And yeah, you’ll all say that it’s the western culture and feel that make it feel that way, but Rosie’s manages to capture authenticity, a beach side cafe vibe and become the perfect place for a digital nomad or passerby to have breakfast or work.
I loved this place and I won’t lie, was there almost once a day while I stayed in Hoi An. It became the place I dragged Tom and Marley to each day to have a coffee which turned into having brunch or spending the afternoon writing and drinking one of their amazing smoothies.
I recommend this place for anyone that is looking for healthy, vegan and has gluten free options. I felt relatively safe in their options for food and I was never disappointed in their food or price points.
The bests we found in Hoi An:
BEACH: AH BANG
BAHN MI: NU EATERY
BREAKFAST: ROSIE’S
COFFEE: MIA COFFEE
CURRY: GANESH
HOSTEL: I’M IMPARTIAL, BUT I DID LOVE OURS, TRIBEE BANA.
HOMESTAY: SEA SNAILS HOME STAY
TOURISTY CLOTHING: MAY AU PHUC (NEXT TO, BUT NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH TU NA CLOTHES SHOP)
TAILOR: SUNNY TAILOR FOR A FULL SUIT OR GA GA TAILOR WHICH MADE MY PLAYSUIT
Let me know if you have any questions about Hoi An in the comments below.
Love,
- E