Hoi An Itinerary: A 5-Day Sample Plan and How to Build Your Trip

Quick answer: Five days in Hoi An: the lantern-lit Ancient Town, cycling to An Bang beach via the Tra Que herb village, My Son’s Cham ruins at sunrise, a market-to-boat cooking class with basket boats, and tailor fittings before a final lantern-lit river night.

Day 1 — Ancient Town & Lanterns

Spend day one inside the UNESCO-listed Ancient Town. The heritage ticket (about 120,000 VND / $5) funds the old quarter and admits you to five sights — spend the stubs on the Japanese Covered Bridge, a merchant shophouse like Tan Ky, and the Fujian assembly hall with its coiled incense. The streets are car-free and honey-colored; by 6pm the silk lanterns switch on and the whole town glows. Eat the two dishes that exist only here: cao lau noodles (legend says the water must come from a specific ancient well) and crispy white-rose dumplings. Skip the boat touts tonight — you’ll do the river properly later in the trip.

Day 2 — Beach & the Herb Village

Rent a bicycle (hotels often lend them free, or about 30,000–50,000 VND) and pedal the flat 20 minutes through rice paddies to An Bang Beach — loungers in front of the beach bars come free-ish with a drink order. Long swim, longer lunch of grilled seafood. On the ride home, stop at Tra Que herb village, where families have grown mint and rau ram in seaweed-fed plots for generations; wander the rows or join a short farming session. Evening back in town: a bia hoi (fresh draft beer for pocket change) by the river and banh mi from one of Hoi An’s famous stands — arguably Vietnam’s best sandwich town.

Day 3 — My Son at Sunrise

Set the alarm for My Son Sanctuary, the ruined Cham temple complex an hour inland (entry about 150,000 VND / $6; sunrise tours roughly $10–20). Going at dawn beats both the tour buses and the heat, and the brick towers — built between the 4th and 13th centuries and scarred by wartime bombing — rise out of jungle mist like a smaller, wilder Angkor. Most tours return by boat or bus before noon. Sleep off the early start, then spend the late afternoon in a cafe overlooking the Thu Bon river; when the heat breaks, climb to a rooftop for golden hour over the tiled roofs of the old town.

Day 4 — Cooking Class & Basket Boats

Morning cooking class, Hoi An-style (roughly $25–35): the good ones start at the central market for ingredients, then boat you down the river to a garden kitchen where you master cao lau, banh xeo crepes and spring rolls. Many finish with the day’s comic highlight — a spin in a round bamboo basket boat through the water-coconut palms of Cam Thanh village (also bookable alone for about $10). Back in town, reward yourself with Hoi An’s café specialty, a coconut coffee, and browse the night market on the An Hoi side for lanterns — fold-flat ones survive the flight home best.

Day 5 — Tailors & Last Lanterns

Hoi An is Vietnam’s tailoring capital — if you want a made-to-measure suit, dress or coat, start at a reputable house on day one or two and use today for the final fitting; expect roughly $80–200 for a suit depending on fabric, and insist on that second fitting. Non-shoppers: hunt the town’s best banh mi (the famous stands sell out by evening), visit the small but moving Museum of Folk Culture, or take a lazy sampan ride at dusk when the river fills with candle-lit paper lanterns — buy one, make a wish, and let the current take it. It’s touristy. It’s also genuinely lovely. Fly out of Da Nang, 45 minutes up the coast.