Hoi An Travel Blogs

Shopping in Hoi An – What to Buy in Vietnam’s City of Lanterns

Hoi An was never made for shopping, but it certainly feels like it is now. The UNESCO World Heritage site lying in the middle of Vietnam was built on a history of trading, born of its advantageous position along the maritime Silk Road. The walls of Hoi An are dripping with history (and a ridiculous amount of rainwater in the wet season) and a building can barely be entered without stepping into a world of a hundred different stories, through maritime, personal and now, retail ventures.The incredible modern shopping scene of Hoi An grew out of the wealth accrued by traders, who plunged their money into the finer things in life, such as tailored clothes, art, and jewelry. The fruits of these ventures are seen today in Hoi An, sitting underneath swinging lanterns and blue skies, waiting for the discerning traveler to find a bargain within their walls. Shopping in Hoi An is now an unmissable experience in Vietnam, one that has garnered worldwide acclaim. Here at Incredible Asia Journeys, we have picked eight of the most fantastic and unique products to take home for yourself or gift to anyone unlucky enough not to be able to make it to this gorgeous and historic town.Hoi An SilkTailored ClothesWe’ll start with the obvious here. Despite a history built on maritime trade, Hoi An nowadays is more popular for the tailors that claim to be able to produce any item of clothing you want. The incredibly low prices ensure a steady flow of business from tourists who want to stock up on their 8th or 9th suit before returning home, where they can expect to pay up to tenfold for a very similar item. Most of the town’s tailors are far from the common Asian idea of cheap knock-offs, using a great deal of skill taught over generations that has formed the backbone of Hoi An’s shopping scene.Though suits are a very popular item for backpackers on a gap year before their accountancy internship starts up, really anything that you can think of can be made by Hoi An’s artisan tailors. Simply show them a picture, wait patiently while every corner of your being is measured, select your material and color and sit back for one or two days while the magicians do their thing. If you use a reputable tailor, you can expect a near-perfect replica for a fraction of the price.Tuong Silk TailorWhere to shop in Hoi An for tailored clothes? Where not to shop should be the question. The staggering amount of choice of tailored clothes shops in Hoi An can overshadow the beauty of the town, as competition for customers is fierce and sometimes verbally intimidating. Picking one of the respected tailors might give you a slightly higher price tag, but the increase in quality and the attentive but relaxed service you will receive is worth the price. Head to Tuong Tailor (67 Tran Hung Dao, +84 235 3863 573) or B’Lan Silk (23 Tran Phu Street, +84 510 386 1866) for reasonable prices and a complete absence of pushy service.Ethnic Minority ProductsFor the most wholesome of Hoi An shopping experiences, head to some of the shops specializing in selling ethnic minority clothing and products that usually don’t make it to mainstream society. It seems a waste to confine the beautiful colors and geometric patterns of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic minorities’ clothing to the rural enclaves in which they were lovingly and arduously stitched. Hoi An is branching out into new avenues, and now tourists can buy clothing that will certainly set them apart from the crowd.The vivid colors of the various H’mong tribes who reside in the north of the country are well represented here. The rainbow of colorful, patterned dresses and headscarves feature in the photos of so many travelers to Sapa, and they now have a market in Hoi An thanks to shops like.Village Craft Planet in Hoi AnWhere to shop in Hoi An for ethnic minority products? As mentioned above, VillageCraft Planet (59 Phan Boi Chau, +84 909 696 578) is a fantastic service that puts respect and fair trade at the forefront of their business philosophy. They sell everything from clothes and shoes to furnishings and jewelry, all at a reasonable price that goes a surprisingly long way to helping hill tribes around the country with low incomes.Tuong MasksIt’s hard to think of a better place to buy one of Vietnam’s most culture-soaked products than in its capital of culture. The history of Tuong masks stretches back over 1000 years and its origins, like many other forms of traditional entertainment like water puppetry, are found in the rice fields. After a successful harvest, villagers would don elaborate and colorful masks (or sit still for upwards of 8 hours while a professional painstakingly painted one onto their face) and entertain the villagers with singing and scandalous storylines, known as Tuong Opera.Of course, Tuong is a very rare form of art in today’s modern world, but Hoi An’s shopping scene has a small corner devoted to keeping the tradition alive. Though delicate and requiring a lot of care in getting home, these brazen and bold masks make a wonderful gift or a fantastic way to scare your kids into doing their homework.Tuong MasksWhere to shop in Hoi An for Tuong masks? The fantastic staff at The Timing Masks Workshop (66 Bach Dang, +84 235 3959 159) are warm, patient and passionate when taking you through the history of some of the huge array of masks on offer. The owner, Phong Bui, offers workshops that are a great way for kids and adults to learn of a charming piece of Vietnamese history.ArtIt is a mix of Hoi An’s beautifully evocative streets and its history of wealthy residents and art patrons that make it the best place to find fantastic art throughout the country. The classical, finely-painted Vietnamese scenes sit alongside more contemporary offerings in the galleries and art shops of Hoi An, meaning you will be spoiled for choice amidst centuries of artistic culture. Smaller pieces are obviously easier to transport home, so small ink-paintings on traditional do paper are among some of the more popular things to buy in Hoi An.Art Gallery in Hoi AnWhere to shop in Hoi An for art? Given the wealth of choice on offer, there is certainly not one specific place to satisfy your artistic sensibilities. Check out Gallery Dung (93B Phan Chau Trinh) for incredibly intricate ink paintings and postcards for cheap, while 155 Art Gallery (155 Tran Phu Street) provides those idyllic Hoi An motifs of palm trees, bicycles, and ancient house life. Phu Tam Photography (99 Nguyen Thai Hoc) is a great place to buy stunning photos by an internationally acclaimed artist, while Art House Vietnam Gallery (692 Hai Ba Trung) is the mecca for Vietnam’s contemporary artists, who sell their experimental pieces within its walls.LanternsIt shouldn’t take you more than one try to guess how Hoi An earned its moniker of the ‘City of Lanterns’. Any riverside stroll at night will be accompanied by the beautiful, calming light of hundreds of lanterns that has been present in Hoi An for centuries, lighting the late-night activities of tradesmen and sailors to the port town. Most tourists become rightfully enraptured by the lanterns and decide to buy several to take home and, if not for restricted luggage space and the delicate manner of the lanterns, they would probably bleed Hoi An dry, such is the love for one of Vietnam’s most beautiful decorations.Lantern Shop in Hoi AnWhere to shop in Hoi An for lanterns?You can resist the urge to steal the lanterns hanging outside of shops; buying lanterns in Hoi An is very easy and very affordable. The shops aren’t hard to spot either, just look out for the collective blinding glow of hundreds of lanterns hanging in one small area. Places like Dé Lantana Silk Lantern & Lamp (35 Ly Thai To, +84 510 6288 789) offer a range beyond your imagination, with plain lanterns sitting alongside incredibly extravagant ones, all for a price that won’t break the bank.Leather ProductsNot far from the world of personally tailored clothing is one of similar depth – leather. A walk down the streets of Hoi An is sure to be one flanked by leather bags hanging outside of doors, enticing potential tourists in with their sleek, smart look that will accompany your new suit most delightfully. Aside from the typical bags, shopping around Hoi An a bit will reveal a whole world of other products such as shoes, notebooks, belts and watch straps. Quality varies wildly between a lot of these shops as a void in supply has harbored the standard cheap products tended by overly-pushy staff. Many of them will be all-too-quick to pull out their lighters and torch their products in a bid to show you that the leather is real. Though it might be, the handiwork might be shoddy and the quality of the leather might just be one tiny step above flammable.Leather productsWhere to shop in Hoi An for leather products?Friendly Shoe Shop (18 Tran Phu, +84 935 211 382) have certainly done their research into what tourists want, as their big pull is the unassertive service that you’ll receive while perusing the shoes here. Along with this is their genuine top quality, one that is matched quite comfortably by Tu-Chi Leather Shop (24 Duong Phan Boi Chau, +84 905 216 515), who have a wider range of leather goods available.Kim Bong Wooden ArtOn the island of Cam Kim in Hoi An, you will find a village with a strong woodworking heritage, where wooden figurines, statues and furniture pile up in houses, awaiting shipment around the center of Vietnam. Kim Bong is the name of the village and it’s accessible on several day tours from Hoi An. The artisans of Kim Bong are experienced in the art of shell inlay, used to create incredible scenes with an iridescent beauty on wooden platforms. Once shells are selected, they are cut into various shapes and glued into fitted holes in a circular piece of wood before being polished. The result is a stunning piece of art, full of Vietnamese motifs and made of nothing but natural materials.Kim Bong wood art in Hoi AnWhere to shop in Hoi An for Kim Bong wooden art?Heading straight to the source is really the best thing you can do here for the most authentic product. While there are bound to be several knock-offs, the craftsmanship that goes into a piece of wooden art from Kim Bong is monumental and should be fairly easy to recognize at first glance. A stroll or cycle around Kim Bong will open up the world of shell inlay for you.JewelryOstentatious jewelry historically lay at the heart of the good life for Vietnam’s richest merchants in Hoi An. Huge incomes from successful trading were transferred into items of gold, diamond, and pearl, worn enthusiastically by the elite to display their wealth. Things are different now, of course, and Hoi An’s many jewelers are open to the general public, offering quality items for cheaper than you may find them elsewhere. Following the modern traditions of Hoi An, shopping for jewelry is a tailored experience. Simply show your picture to the goldsmith and await the results.Lotus Jewelry ShopWhere to shop in Hoi An for Jewellery?This is one of the highest-risk ventures in Hoi An because of how hard it is for the untrained eye to tell the quality of precious metals. There are many trustworthy shops, however, if you know where to look. Try Bien Bac Jewellery Shop (55 Hoang Dieu Street, +84 5103 862 353) or Bac Viet Quality Jewelry (10 Pham Hong Thai Street, +84 905 550 062) for pendants, necklaces, rings, bracelets and beyond that can be tailored to your specifications at a fraction of the international price.

10 Best Things to do in Hoi An

There’s a stigma around one of Vietnam’s premier tourist attractions, one that designates the humble village of Hoi An as nothing more than a tourist trap. In reality, though the numbers of tourists in Hoi An are huge in amount (1.5 million in 2022), their presence is never overwhelming and the true cultural beauty of Hoi An speaks louder than its critics. Hoi An’s position on the East coast of Vietnam is one that has brought it both mercantile prosperity and the constant threat, and occasional execution, of colonisation from Japan, China, France, Portugal and The Netherlands. Such occupations, along with modern tourism, have bestowed Hoi An with an international flavour through its temples, bridges, old trade houses, food and nightlife. The possibilities for exploration of this ancient trade town are massive and it would not be unreasonable to allot about a week to see everything of worth. At Incredible Asia Journeys, we have condensed the considerable list of Hoi An’s top attractions to a more manageable number. So, here are our 10 best things to do in Hoi An. Hoi An Ancient Tower at night 10 Best things to do in Hoian 1. Invest in an Old Town Pass In a bid to fight off disrepair of ancient buildings that are regularly hit by tropical cyclones, monsoons, floods and even lightning, Hoi An’s governing body introduced the Old Town Pass, a small fee that tourists pay to visit the oldest section of this ancient town with its many, many historical and cultural sites. At just 120,000 VND ($5.25 USD), foreign tourists can explore 5 of the 22 listed attractions available, while domestic tourists pay 80,000 VND ($3.50 USD) for 3 attractions. While this means that a lot of Hoi An’s attractions will go undiscovered, you can prioritize your trip to visit one of each of the 5 categories to get a good feel for Hoi An and its multicultural history. Japanese Covered Bridge in Hoi An - One of the top things to do in Hoi An has always been to visit the Japanese Covered Bridge, a small, attractive 16th-century construction by the occupants of the time. The bridge has been renovated numerous times and now belongs to an attraction category all of its own. - As far as old family houses go, the 200-year-old house of Tan Ky is certainly one of Hoi An’s best, with a typically beautiful interior and exterior along with evidence of a long history of trading and devastating flooding available to view within. - Phuc Kien was built in 1757 and is the oldest assembly hall in Hoi An. This was a place of business for the traders of Hoi An and the incredibly ornate buildings and courtyards of Phuc Kien demonstrate the affluence of people in this line of work. - For museums, you can’t go wrong with the Museum of Trade Ceramics, which takes visitors through some of Hoi An’s earliest exports and the journeys such products embarked on around Asia and the Middle-East. - The Handicraft Workshop is an interesting look at the history and current practice of Vietnamese crafts such as toys, porcelain and jewellery. You can see the artisans working so you can be sure of their products’ authenticity. 2. Get on your Bike While the Old Town Pass is good for learning of the history of the town, for learning of the current culture and lifestyle of Hoi An’s residents, the best thing to do is rent a bicycle and take to the countryside roads. Many day trips from Hoi An can be done on a bicycle and these are a great way to the all-too-often unexplored surroundings. It’s easy to get enraptured by the magic of central Hoi An, but the town is fringed by beautiful countryside, rugged marshland and those highly sought-after golden views of far-stretching rice paddies. You can try a tour such as Heaven and Earth, which has great excursions to tiny craft workshops that otherwise would have remained a mystery. If group tours aren’t your thing, then you can rent a bicycle in a very cheap and very trusting way from random vendors in central Hoi An. Biking in Hoi An 3. Get Lazy at the Beach Consistently making travellers’ lists of the top reasons to visit Hoi An are its delightful beaches that are pressed against the East Vietnam Sea. Cua Dai and An Bang beaches are the two big names in this category and as a result, both draw big crowds of domestic and foreign tourists to find tranquillity from the bustling town on the palm tree-lined white sand. Unfortunately, they don’t always find it, as these beaches can get just as crowded as the streets in the town on a nice day.  If the Hoi An Weather is playing ball, you should head instead to the aptly named ‘Hidden Beach’, a small section of sandy coastline to the north-west of Cua Dai. Here, the Lam family runs a restaurant and bar, and buying something to eat or drink from them helps the family stave off the approach of big hotels looking to commercialise one of Hoi An’s best-kept secrets. Cua Dai Beach 4. Loosen those Purse Strings The vivacity of trade that ran through the veins of Hoi An in its past is still alive today, albeit contained on land now. It’s no secret that Hoi An is a shopaholic’s dream; the tailors here are among the best in the world and the wealth of options when it comes to personalised clothing is staggering. The competition for business in Hoi An, especially during its quieter season, can spell great deals for tourists with a knack for bargaining. As a major port of call on the famous Silk Road, the tailors of Hoi An have had centuries to perfect their craft, and if you can find a reputable business such as A Dong Silk, then a quality product at an astoundingly low price is definitely within your reach. A Dong Silk Tailors 5. Savour the Local Delicacies Of the Vietnamese cuisine famous throughout the world, not much has originated in Hoi An. However, its current position as an international destination has meant that many Vietnamese and universal classics have been borrowed from around the country and abroad, finding a new life and new flavour here. This is the case with dishes like phở, bánh mì, and wonton noodles, reflecting the melded influences of Vietnamese, French and Chinese in its make-up.  Popular dishes coming from Hoi An don’t enjoy the same international acclaim, but they are decidedly tasty, which is really the main thing. A trip to Hoi An can’t be complete without a meal of Cao Lau, a delicious but incredibly laborious dish that requires water from a certain well and vegetables from a certain farm outside the town. A plate of wonderful bánh bao bánh vạc (or ‘white rose’) would go well afterwards; these dumplings have secretive interiors that no chef is willing to reveal exactly. This can be finished off with a bowl of xí mà, a viscous, black dessert with the appearance of tar but the flavour of sweet pennywort. Cao Lau in Hoi An 6. Revel in the Buzz of the Town at Night Once the sun has settled behind the Thu Bon River, the ornately colorful lanterns hanging above the streets turn on and Hoi An’s fantastic nightlife begins. Of course, the bars and nightclubs of Hoi An are fairly recent inventions built to reap the rewards of the backpacker market. You won’t find a deeply cultural experience at any of the local bars in Hoi An, but you’ll find a fervent, international crowd in good spirits. Most bars have a home on An Hoi island, directly next to the Thu Bon River as well as the heart of Hoi An’s backpacker hostels. Here you can find the famous Tiger Tiger Bar, as well as the copyright-disregarding Mr. Bean Bar and Moe’s Tavern. More upmarket bars are available in the form of White Marble, a quiet, sophisticated offering worthy of the overall aura of Hoi An, as well as Q Bar, a stylish cocktail bar with international appeal. Thu Bon River at night Check our best tours to discover Hoi An  7. Wind down with a Coffee amongst the Hubbub  Amid the frenetic whirlwind of tourism and trade, Hoi An can sometimes feel like a bit much to take in. With so much to do, most tourists see the UNESCO World Heritage site at breakneck speed, trying to cram a week’s worth of activities into 3 days. Despite its simplicity, one of the best things to in Hoi An is purely to sit down at a café and take it all in; the ladies walking with two baskets of merchandise resting via a plank of wood on their shoulders, the gentle swaying of floating lanterns between bright yellow shop fronts, the chaos of the marketplace as vendors joke with curious foreigners. A Vietnamese coffee is a perfect accompaniment for these sights and there is no shortage of places where you can get one amongst the ancient streets of this town, vibrant and extroverted in both appearance and attitude. Enjoy coffee in Hoi An 8. Bring in the new Lunar Month with Floating Lanterns Once a month in this increasingly international destination tradition takes over and the ancient practice of sending floating paper lanterns down the Thu Bon River becomes a ubiquitous sight along its banks. In actuality, the floating lanterns operate almost entirely in the realms of tourism, with locals preferring the traditional methods of ancestral worship through burning incense and making offers at the family alter. Nevertheless, the burning flames flickering inside paper lotuses is a magical sight, and one not to be missed when the Floating Lantern Festival comes to Hoi An on the night of every full moon throughout the year. This is one of the top things to do if you are visiting Hoi An with kids, as the enchanted scene is magnified tenfold in their eyes. Floating Lanterns Festival 9. Snorkel near Unblemished Beaches on the Cham Islands Matching the beauty of the mainland countryside, the Cham Islands are a picture of paradise. 18kms offshore, the Cham Islands are accessible via two ferry services; one sardine-like experience leaving at 8.30 am with the locals (100,000 VND, $4.50 USD) or the more spacious express boat leaving from Cua Dai Beach (220,000 VND, $10 USD). The two big draws of the islands are their collection of 4 beaches on Hon Lao Island, as well as the stunning marine park with clear waters and the opportunity to try diving and snorkeling. Cu Lao Cham (Cham Islands) The vast majority of people book day trips to the Cham Islands through tour companies and hotels in Hoi An, leaving little in the way of options for independent travellers. However, while getting around the islands is rather difficult, you can find homestays not far from the pier, such as Hammock Homestay, which feels like havens of serenity once the day-trippers have gotten the last ferry back to the mainland. For the picture-perfect scene of the sunset over the hidden beach of Bai Xep, staying overnight on the island is the only option, but one that is completely worth your time and effort. 10. Visit Vietnam Golden Bridge – Ba Na Hills Last but not least, one of the most famous tourist attractions in Da Nang – Hoi An is definitely the Ba Na Hills with the famous Golden Bridge - a magical, beautiful tourist destination. This is in the top list of things to do during your Vietnam Holiday Package.  This bridge has a unique architecture formed by 2 giant hands holding the bridge. Travelers from all around the world has come just to witness this incredible attraction. During your one day tour to Golden Bridge , you will visit a lot more attractions such as Debay Wine Cellar, Le Jardin D’Amour Flower Garden, French village and Fantasy Park. Vietnam Golden Bridge