Hoi An is now one of my favourite places!
We spent 4 nights at the Silk Marina hotel, just a 5 minute walk away from the ancient town centre so the location was ideal. This hotel room and the pool was fabulous! An Bang beach is also just 4km away we stopped there for an afternoon, white sand and warm sea!
On our first morning we had a local guide walk us around the town. He showed us the sights and gave us lots of useful information. We visited temples, markets, traditional houses and learnt about the architecture. The town is only small and can be walked around in an hour and a half.
Another tour we did in Hoi An was with a company call Heaven and Earth whom I came across via Tripadvisor. We hired bikes and went on a 10km bike ride over 2 of the Islands just off of Hoi An. This was a great chance to see how real Vietnamese people live. We visited people in their homes, schools and villages. Different villages were home to different crafts. We met a 93 year old woman who makes bamboo mats which is what the Vietnamese sleep on. The lady is now practically blind but still manages to make 2 mats a day (takes around 8 hours). Faye’s favourite part of our bike tour was meeting Mrs Phong, whose nickname was ‘Sexy Lady’. She was a 66-year old who specialised in making basket boats!
One of the top things to do in Hoi An is to visit a tailors and have some clothing made. Like spa’s in Ho Chi Minh there are tailors on every corner in Hoi An. You can do a lot of research into them if you are after something specific and like with anything the more you pay the better the quality. We went more for the experience which Faye LOVED! We used ‘45’ a tailors in the cloth market, we came across this one from being in another shop haggling for a bag. The lady asked what else were we going to do in Hoi An and I said we’d like to go to a tailors and she then said her sister ran one (conveniently!) so she walked us over there. We sat down and looked through loads of photos and catalogues of different clothes to pick the style we wanted, then we went to look at fabrics and pick out our choices. After this came the haggling to get the best price. Faye had picked a two-piece shorts and crop outfit and I picked a jumpsuit. We paid £50 and we’re told to come back 4 hours later to try on. When we came back it was a case of trying our new clothes on in a hot sweaty market behind a piece of cloth for a changing room. Luckily for us both outfits fitted perfectly, first time so no need for alterations! We were thrilled with our items and how well it all fitted!
The most magical part of Hoi An and probably why most people love it is the atmosphere at dusk. Wooden boats go up and down the river and there are thousands of lanterns which are gorgeous! All the restaurants along the river have rooftop seating so you can sit out and watch the world go by.
White Rose and Cao Lao noodles two specialties of Hoi An and I couldn’t get enough of them! Plus eating the local food costs pennies!
Hoi An has it all for a holiday in my opinion. Beautiful hotels, beaches, culture and food, there is so much to see and do. 5 days just wasn’t enough for us!
OUR TRAVEL DIARY 