Hoi An Travel Guide: What you NEED to know
Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] So this is our traveler day again. We are off to We are. We are. And um while normally we would be very excited, we’re really sad to leave tonight. We are very sad to leave today. We love to come back. Love Daang. But hopefully we will love where the Sue urbans. So we caught a car from Daang down to Hoan. And the car, we actually had it provided for us by the hotel where we’re staying, Ancient Haven. And it came to a price of £320,000 dong. Uh I will convert that on screen into US into UK. Uh but not too much basically about £9. So very effective to come down here and a really nice easy trip. Daang has the airport as well. So if you’re going to be flying in, most people would fly into Daang and travel down to here, start the journey into Da Nang. Obviously, you can come straight up to Hoyang. Many people do that just by coach, especially if you’re traveling from down south, such as Natang. So we’re staying in a lovely hotel in Hoyan called the Ancient Haven. And it’s been lovely, hasn’t it? It’s been absolutely It’s been glorious. Yeah. How much does it cost per night? It was £1250 I think in UK pounds per night which is great. It’s got a lovely little pool. We’ve got breakfast included in that as well and breakfast is made to order. You choose your what you want in the evening and you get that in the morning. So we’ve been like having omelette every day but there’s an array of fruits and things out as well and that you can help yourself to. Absolutely. Yeah. Just awesome. We looked around uh quite a few different hotels. We found prices uh ranging from about £4 per night um obviously all the way up to £4500 per night. This hotel had everything that we needed for our stay in Hoyan. If you need to know where it is or want to know any more about it, drop us some information down in the comments and we’ll just let you know. Yeah, and it’s great where it’s located as well. We are literally a 5minute walk to the old town and but you’re far enough away to to get away from the busyiness and the noise as well. But yeah, it’s perfect location. Yeah, something that we really wanted to be and that we’ve learned on our travels so far is location. It is really really important especially for us. We wanted to be able to walk into town as H just said, making it nice and simple and that 5 minutes just straight into town with obviously all of the restaurants just right around you and everything that you can possibly need being on your doorstep. And that for us is a real big one. We also wanted to be near the river as well. And we have a slight view of the river which is beautiful. Uh literally we’re one street just back from the river. So shall we talk about what everyone comes to Hoyan for which is the lantern boats? Absolutely. Yeah. So we have done the lantern boats and it is a very touristy thing to do but it is 100% worth it. There’s something really magical about it isn’t there and seeing the boats and the lights and oh it’s just yeah it’s amazing. It’s a mustd do but do be careful. There is definitely people that will try and con you out there. We paid for ours, which was a motorized one that lasted about 20 minutes. We paid for ours 150,000 dong each. And again, I’ll put the prices up on screen what that is in pounds in US. And it was very, very good. Uh very happy with it. We did just meet somebody random in the street. My type of thing though, isn’t it? Yeah. Phil would always do that. And I was like, “Please, let’s not get scammed over this.” And I mean, we were lucky. We paid the gentleman on the street. We thought then we might have to pay the boat driver as well, but we didn’t. But we did, obviously. We left him a tip. One of the things that you do obviously get to do when you go out on the uh on the boat is release a lantern and to say a prayer, make a wish. Uh the lantern is a little bit of cardboard. It’s almost like a happy meal box. Inside there’s another little bit of cardboard that’s just been cut off and a tiny little candle like a cake candle that’s obviously lit, popped in and then at a later date that’ll be cleaned up in the river further downream. Uh but just again just a lovely thing to go and do a definite must as it’s just beautiful magical moments not to forget. There is though in case you’re worried about getting scammed or anything like that is at the start of the river places and there like ticket office sort of almost um which are probably the more official. I think you can book it as well on like get your guide and things like that but I think it’s more expensive through those rather than booking it direct at the river. Yeah, absolutely. And there is a uh another boat ride which is uh as you’re looking it’s basically just over to the west. So, we were slightly east where we did ours, which was the motorized ones slightly over to the west, but you’ll get the non-motorized boat, and they are cheaper. They’re 170,000 for two people. Again, uh look absolutely fantastic. If anything, I probably say that’s better, but we do understand you get a little bit less time when you do them. So, sort of 10 minutes maybe uh when going out and doing them. But that did look even nicer, didn’t it? Yeah, it did. It did. But they’re all a really nice experience. So, next thing we got up to was uh bike rides. One of the things that hotels do over here, or most of them, they have free bikes for you. Uh we’ve got a lovely hotel which provides bikes. Uh the bikes weren’t maybe of the most the top quality, shall we say, but they did the job. They absolutely did the job. You can also rent bikes as well. So, if your hotel hasn’t got them, there’s plenty of places to rent them if you if you want to do that. First mission was to go to the bank to go and get some money out. Something in Daang that they have is you can use credit cards almost everywhere. You can scan your phone, no issues at all. Um, however, Hoyan, the complete opposite, pretty much everywhere that we have been needs cash. One thing that we didn’t realize though is banks, there’s not too many of them in Hoyan and they will only let you get 2 million dog out. Whereas, if you’re in Daang, for example, you can get 5 million out in one transaction. So you may have to do multiple transactions in order to get out the amount that you uh that you may require. Following that, we then cycled through uh the rice field. And the way that we got around was by using Google Maps, but we put it on walking mode. And uh while Google Maps does have a cycle mode, it does also have a scooter mode that you can use. Um sometimes they work for me and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they come on, sometimes I don’t. I if anybody knows why, please let me know in the comments. But unfortunately, they wouldn’t come on this time for me. So, we just went straight into walking mode, but walking mode was perfect because it takes you down the back alleys and not on the main roads. You got to be a little bit careful on some of the main roads. It is really busy in Hoyan. That’s with most places throughout Vietnam. But once we got out of the city, oh my god, it’s amazing. The rice fields to have that so close to the city, to have that tranquility was just absolutely beautiful. And riding the bikes through there was amazing. I will say though, we did go like peak afternoon, didn’t we? And it was hot. Hoan is so hot and humid. It is unbelievable. So, if you are going to go, be sensible, not like us, and go first thing in the morning or later in the evening or take plenty of water with you. Yeah, I would say if you’re going to come to a bike ride, it’s definitely delightful. Get out there, get that energy. Are you walking? [Music] [Music] bit. I think so, wasn’t it? Yeah. So, on our bike trip, we ended up cycling through the rice fields, which were absolutely incredible and had beautifully paved roads, making it really easy, and there’s miles and miles and miles of. We found a cafe in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the rice fields. It was so lovely. And we sat out overlooking the rice fields. You could have sat there all day and just chilled. It was such a nice vibe in there. About what you’ve been through. So we have just biked from center ancient town basically out into the rice fields which is awesome. But it’s very hot. Oh, but it is probably coming up to midday now. But we’ve just stumbled across this beautiful path sat overlooking the rice fields. Can it get any better? No. Epic bike ride. Not very far so far. Probably done about six, sevenk. We came a long way around. We had to go to the bank. Also, we tried to go many um well, I say many two more calves before here. Um one was a working calf and weren’t allowed in unless you remember. Uh and uh another one had nobody there. Um, so we’ve now found ourselves at this beautiful cafe in the middle of nowhere. Um, yeah, ended up being a good bright word. If you want to know what cafe is, just let me know. I’ll send it to you. What? What is it? What’s it called? It’s a passion dream. Strawberry, banana, yogurt, and passion fruit. Wow, that looks gorgeous. Yeah, it was lovely. It was absolutely beautiful. And again, if you want to take the bikes to the beach, it is not very far. The ride that we did was about 12 km. However, if you just wanted to ride to the beach, uh you’re probably looking at about 6 to 7 km maximum to get there. So, it really isn’t a long bike ride. And we understand the beach is absolutely beautiful over Hoyan just down there with some beautiful, stunning hotels down there. Just remember on the ride back, okay, or wherever you are, it is very busy, so do be careful. As always, everybody honks their horns a thousand times, so you’ll know they’re there. Yeah. Let’s talk about Hoyan and the old town. It is stunningly beautiful. I think the biggest reason it is so beautiful is it’s old. It feels oldie. They’ve colored everything in kind of yellows, haven’t they? Yeah. All the buildings, even the Starbucks and the Highlands Coffee are covered in this yellow. And there it’s it’s throughout. And then you’ve got the pop of color with all of the lanterns everywhere, haven’t you? The lanterns just Oh, it’s beautiful. It really is beautiful. It really is. But during the daytime, you pretty much got it to yourself. So, wake up in the morning and it’s going to be all yours. Go in the afternoon in the midday sun if you dare. Yeah. And it’ll be all yours. However, come 5 6:00 there are going to be so many people. How busy is it? So, so busy. It is quite overwhelming. I do think though we’ve so we’re July coming into August that we’ve visited and a lot of the Vietnamese are on holiday and this is one of the holiday spots. So, we have hit it probably at peak as well. But yeah, it is very busy. What about weather at the moment? Weather is so hot. It is unbelievably hot, isn’t it? But 47°, but then you add the humidity on top and it takes it up to like 44 degrees. So, just be prepared for that. Probably pack a few extra t-shirts cuz of the sweat. We’ve been going through two a day, haven’t we? Yeah, it is. It is really really hot. Even even in the evening, you can still feel that humidity. But Oldtown is is lovely. And shopping. Let’s talk about the shopping in Oldtown. It is amazing. Anything you could possibly want. tailor made clothes, tailor made Birkenstocks for like £20. Unfortunately, we can’t fit anything in our case. So, I couldn’t go in and get a load of dresses made. But if you come with an empty case, which I would recommend you doing, then yeah, you can go for it. It’s incredible. Yeah, we met a couple and uh they literally came with just a couple of t-shirts, a couple of pairs of shorts, came here and filled an entire suitcase just full of clothes to take back to Australia with them. So yeah, your choice there depending on what you wish to do, but obviously some of the best tailor that there are. Certainly in Vietnam, maybe in the world, who knows? So sites to see throughout Hoyan are plentiful. You know, so many other videos would have been made about sites to see. So yeah, please go and check some of them out. But the ones that we’ve really enjoyed have been taking the boats, uh, seeing the bridge, seeing the rice fields and and also the Japanese bridge, which is in Oldtown itself. You walk over it probably daily if you’re going into Oldtown a lot. And that’s beautiful with the temple and everything there. So, it’s definitely worth seeing. One thing that we do or have heard is that they charge you to get into Oldtown. And uh, we’re not too sure of the cost. which we think is about 150,000, but that gets you into five different sites. We have not needed it. We have gone across the bridge. We’ve gone to everywhere that we’ve wanted. Everything seems like it’s free. I apologize if I’m wrong with that. We’re not really too sure. We haven’t been asked to pay. So, we’ve just got on with things. Also, in the old town, there’s loads of places to eat it everywhere, left, right, and center. But I would say the prices there are a lot more expensive than just outside of Oldtown. It is touristy, so it’s going to be. But yeah, just be careful on how much you are spending on food when you can get just as good quality outside of Oldtown. So just outside Oldtown for example, literally uh behind our hotel, which is 50 m away, just by the river, there’s beautiful place to eat. Uh last night we had a lovely meal. Cost us 250,000 dong. Uh but going into Oldtown itself, uh again, we had a lovely meal. Uh but it was nearer 480,000 for roughly the same thing. In fact, we actually got a bigger portion for the 250,000 and couldn’t even finish it. So yeah, it just shows you the difference on depending where you are. So if you don’t mind walking, you know, a few extra places just to get out of um Oldtown itself. But again, that’s your choice on what you wish to spend. There’s food wise, there’s food everywhere and there’s so much to try. Like Vietnam food um I think across all of them have their own specialities. Hoyan has the white rose dumplings which we haven’t actually tried but they look incredible. There’s food on every corner. There’s coffee on every corner. So make sure you dive in and try it. We also tried some incredible seafood that was on the in Oldtown just there on a little street store. uh had some octopus and very very tasty indeed. We are just wandering the streets of Hoan and we’ve just come across this octopus. So, we’re going to get some to try. Does look really good. Now, next we should tell you about the Cham Island tour. This one was a little bit strange. We booked through the hotel and there’s different ones. I think they’re all the same. You’re going to get the same tour pretty much whichever one you do. There only really seemed to be uh one single snorkel uh which we preferred to snorkel so we wanted to snorkel more but there wasn’t one that we could find anywhere not on Cluke or get your guide or anything where you could go snorkeling more. We’re actually probably pleased that we didn’t after seeing the actual tour itself. Do you want to start how the tour started? So we thought as well this tour we’d booked just to do the snorkeling and the beach. We didn’t want to do a tour around Cham Island anyway. We got to the port. It was a very very busy which was apparent. Got onto our boat. Got taken to the tram island, didn’t we? And um ended up doing this tour which really wasn’t that fun. We’re not really those sort of people that wants to do tours. It wasn’t a good tour anyway. It was hot as well. It was hot. There was nothing really to see. They wanted to show us a well. They told us it was a well that, you know, you got this amazing water from. They rubbed our hands in this water and honestly it smelted like putrid water. It was very odd. Um anyway then back on the boat and then we thought great off snorkeling. Um but all the boats they use are the same. So this why I feel that the trips that you brought would all be the same. It’s the tiny little speed boat with you all rammed on. So there’s not much room to get changed into like the bits that you need to all jump off the boat into the water. Anyway, we jumped off the boat into the water, but you’re surrounded by another 20 plus boats and obviously they 20 more more like 40 50. There is I there’s just so many boats and they’re pulling in and out of this snorkeling area and the snorkeling area. You’ve got a 10 m width. They don’t want you to go past away from your boat in case they have to call you in. You’ve got propeller blades running around you. You’ve got ropes everywhere. You’ve got the rocks which means you can’t sur them. There’s basically nowhere to swim with hundreds of people in the water. It was terrible. Yeah. The worst snorkeling trip we’ve ever done. Definitely would not recommend it. But the only thing that really pulled it back is then we got back on board and they take you over to the beach and they served us lunch. And to be fair, they served us a feast. There was everything on there. It was like on the table and you sat with certain people and and you just help yourself. But there was prawns, noodles, veg, fish, beautiful. It was really nice. So, we feel that that brought it back a bit. And then we had like an hour and 20 minutes on the beach. And the beach was really, really pretty. And you could walk up and find a secluded spot, couldn’t you? You could. Yeah. Again, it was very hot and unfortunately there’s no shade. Um, unless you’re back by the restaurants kind of thing. So, if you actually want to be on the beach, Yeah. There is nowhere to find shade. Uh, but it was a stunning beach. really really lovely as you’ll see. And um that particular beach, yeah, I’d love to have just gone there for a couple of hours and really maybe just snorkeled somewhere around there. Uh but anyway, it is what it is. Would I recommend the trip? No, I wouldn’t. The cost of the trip is 700,000 each is what it cost us. It probably is. I can understand why it’s that amount and that probably is the right amount. It just wasn’t our kind of trip at all. But we’re glad we did it cuz we wanted to go to Cham Island and we wouldn’t have known if we hadn’t seen it. But I still think though whoever we booked through, if we’d booked online, the trips would have been by there was no different boats out there. So they would have all been the same boats, similar sort of setup. So it was and everything was actually slight again slightly more expensive on get your guide, trip advisor, etc. Uh we’re pretty good anal when it comes to like checking prices and trying to find the best price possible. So, we checked everywhere, didn’t we? And we just Yeah, that worked out to be the most cost effective price. And like I say, they’re all going to be the same thing anyway. But we did have a really good boat trip. This is probably our highlight. Incredible. The highlight of the in Hoyen. Yeah. So, we went to a restaurant one night. This was in the old town. Um, as we were leaving, Phil spoke to I think the owner, the manager. His English was really good, really nice guy. And gave Phil his card um for like boat tours. He does a few of them. And they had the famous basket boat coconut tour on there, which we wanted to do. It’s iconic for Hoyan. Um but this was a little bit extra, wasn’t it? It was. It was 300,000 each, but he said you were going to get at least 2 hours and be out for the sunset, which he said that’s more than you’ll get with anybody else. And uh we as I normally do Google reviews, check him out and it came up and he was a full five stars which again you rarely see. So I said, “Yep, let’s do this one.” And it was it was amazing from start to finish. We were on board with there was another couple with us. Um and we got on, there was beers, water on board as well, which was a lovely little touch. We sailed down the river for quite a while, which was lovely to then be picked up in the basket boat. So, we had to transfer from the boat to the basket boat on the river, which was quite exciting. And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen any of the clips of the basket boat. Um, but it always looks chaotic. It is a very touristy thing to do, but ours wasn’t. There was no one else apart from us and this other couple doing the basket boats. It really wasn’t. It was just It was just us. It was amazing. I cannot praise it enough. Like, you should be rowing, not excuse me, ma’am. Do you want me to row for you? You want me to? Wow. Wow. Wow. Let’s go. Let’s go. I’m like a little pacifying princess. Normally this is crowded for the tour. Have you seen how busy this normally like is I think we’ve booked with the right people. And again, leave details in comments if you want to know who it was booked with. But it was absolutely just the best thing that we have done. And our little lady in the basket, she was hilarious. What was she singing? What’s the song? gang man style, but she only knew one line to it, so she kept doing it. We did some crab with her, not successfully. She crabs making flowers. Oh, we’re catching crabs. I mean, how do we know? Are we meant to have it at the bottom, the middle, or the top? No. Where the crab is. [Music] So, they’ve just caught a crab and they lost it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have. You’ve got it. Yeah. I don’t want to pull too hard. No. A See, she’s going to get it for you again. [Music] You heard it though. You have to be gentle though. [Music] I see. So they’re actually by the trees. Yeah. Doesn’t want to leave the tree. It’s a hard one. Oh. practice. Welcome. [Applause] inside. [Applause] Oh, that’s beautiful. Oh, hang on my fish. Can’t see straight. No. Was it Was it as enjoyable as it looked? What? No. No. Spin. No. Was it as bad as what it looked like? No. It’s actually fun. It was fun. It was fun. It was fun. I’ll video you. Send it to you. No, he’s fine. Oh, no. It was fun. It was actually rap. H [Music] So Phil was trying to actually row the basket on his own and there’s definitely a knack to it. The woman’s like, “No, I’m getting back involved.” There is there is a real real Look, but he’s more at the front. He’s done it. Haha. Haha. Haha. H. No, no, no, no, no. Going forward. Nice even stroke. Yeah. A He’s actually got a breeze going here. Wa. Look, I’ve got a grasshopper now as well. didn’t even get close to the boat, but it was just great fun, wasn’t it? It was. It was just Yeah, a really good experience and we going to be awful. We loads of crowds. There wasn’t anyone out there. So, yeah, we really really enjoyed it. And then we got back on the big boat. Um, and he sailed us back there and we caught the sunset. Wasn’t very good that night. It was quite close, but it was Yeah, it was beautiful to see. And actually included in this as well, we got to put another lantern which we didn’t realize. No. So, actually, if you were going to do it, I would do this particular tour. And that gives you kind of both your lantern by your powered motorboat and also your basket boat. And then the extra 100,000 and I would go and do the little rowboat just down to the west of Oldtown. That would be the way if I could could redo things. Definitely 100% recommend that. It was just that that will be standout from Hoyam. It’ll be stand out for all time. Yeah. One of Yeah. Absolutely brilliant. Love that. So, we want to go on to go and answer I suppose now the big question that we’ve stayed for 7 days in Hoyan and is that too long and if so, how long do we think that you should really stay here? Your opinion first? A week is too long. I suppose um you could definitely shorten it down. Yeah, a week is just way too long here. It doesn’t need to be. And I think I think 4 days would be the absolute ideal to get everything that you needed to without rushing at a slower pace. I mean, but you could do it in 24 hours. You could be staying in Daang and just come up for the night and do two dates and and go again. Um yeah, you really you really could. It is it is something that you can do nice and quickly. Yeah. One two days, you know, if you wanted to rush job this place. Um, absolutely fine. Uh, yeah. But we came for a week because we’re doing everything nice and slow. Um, anyway, shall we introduce like a little bit about us and who we are and what we’re doing? Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So, I’m Phil. I’m H. And we are together. We are traveling Southeast Asia uh for the a year uh to experience as much as we possibly can. Um we decided that life was too short after I lost bikes with my parents and we decided that we should do something that we will probably never be able to do again. and um we thought we’d share a little bit of our journey and it means that we can record it as well for ourselves um to watch back when look back on it. So yeah, if you’d like to give us a follow. If you’ve got any questions, we’ll happily answer them. Just pop them in the comments. [Music] Thank you for watching the video and if you got anything that you need to know about Hoan, we might be able to help. Have a nice day. Bye.
Planning a trip to Hoi An, Vietnam?
This comprehensive travel guide has everything you need to know for an unforgettable adventure in 2025! From the magical lantern-lit boat rides to exploring the ancient town, we cover all the must-do activities, the best local food, and essential tips to make the most of your visit.
In this video, we’ll take you on a journey through the charming streets of Hoi An, sharing our personal experiences and recommendations. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a seasoned traveler, you’ll find valuable insights to help you plan the perfect trip.
Time stamped HIGHLIGHTS:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=0s) – Intro to
Hoi An’s Beauty(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=43s) –
Magical Lantern Boat Ride(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=75s) –
Getting Around: Transportation Tips(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=84s) –
Where to Stay: Accommodation Guide(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=139s) –
Scenic Bike Ride Through Rice Fields(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=180s) –
Exploring the Ancient Town(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=205s) –
Cham Island Tour: Is It Worth It?(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfck2eL-BC0&t=557s) – Best Time to Visit & Weather
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Harriet and Phil’s Travel Diary: Exploring Southeast Asia
We embarked on an unforgettable journey through Southeast Asia on 27th February 2025 for 12 months. Looking to explore its vibrant cultures, breathtaking landscapes, and rich history. This travel diary captures the essence of our adventures across multiple countries, blending personal experiences with practical travel insights.
Overview of Our Journey
Our itinerary is to take us through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in no particular order. We will be looking to embrace a mix of bustling cities, serene temples, lush landscapes, and idyllic beaches. Our approach being no structured plans with spontaneous detours to hidden gems.
The video travel diary is not just a chronicle of destinations but a celebration of cultural immersion and personal growth through travel. With our journey, hopefully we can inspire others to explore Southeast Asia with an open heart and adventurous spirit.
https://www.tourismthailand.org/home
https://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/en
https://trust.stb.gov.sg/site/content/tagaem/landing-page.html
https://etravel.gov.ph/
https://www.motac.gov.my/en/
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