Hội An is recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO. The city used to be a major trading port in Vietnam during the 16th century. The unique aspect of Hội An is all the well-preserved town houses, and temples. There is no direct flight to Hội An so you would have to fly to Đà Nẵng and then take a car to Hội An. Hội An is about 60 km from Đà Nẵng. We found out that our hotel had a car service that took us from Đà Nẵng airport to Hội An for a small slump sum. Most of the time it is a good idea to call and ask if your hotel provide that kinda of service since you get your own driver and car for a small amount of money. We only stayed in Hội An for a few days but most of the time there were a spritz of rain (this is in September). This is the things you could do there:
1. Stay in a 200 year old hotel in the middle of Hội An:
The hotel is called Vĩng Hưng Heritage hotel. This hotel only has 12 bedrooms. It was neat to stay there since we were right in the middle of Hội An AND we got to stay in a 200 year old hotel (how cool is that!!!). Don’t worry, even though the hotel is 200 years old, they do have air conditioner in each room
I really enjoyed staying at the hotel. It has a unique character that’s hard to find in other hotels. It also was in a great location…we didn’t have to use type of transportation while we were there. All the things we wanted to see was right outside the hotel.
How to get there: 143 Tran Phu St., Hoi An, Vietnam.
Also, a small tip… I used Agoda.com to book my hotel. I like it since I think it’s safe and so give you good deals.
2. Get tickets to go in the houses and temples:
To get into the temples, and century-old houses around the city, you need to get tickets that are sold in shops around the town. If you can’t find them or don’t want to find them, ask your hotel, they will point out a place or simply get them for you. We only had a few days to spend in Hội An so we didn’t need to go anywhere far, all we did was walking around town and visits the temples and houses. If I remember correctly, you get a map with the tickets that show you where you can go. If you don’t get a map, you can just walk around the town and there will be signs on places that tells you if you can go in with the tickets. The town is pretty small so walking around there shouldn’t be a problem. Remember to have the name of your hotel so in case you get lost, you can just ask the locals. The Japanese Covered bridge is a symbol of Hội An. It is located a block from Vĩng Hưng hotel. The tickets will allow you to get into the small temple locate inside the bridge.
While we were there, it was also Trung Thu, the festival for kids. There were group of kids running around with drums and dancing in lion costumes.
3. Eat Cao Lầu:
Cao Lầu is a traditional dish that is unique to Hội An. The dish contain Cao Lầu noodles, pork, some kind of sauce (sorry…can’t be more specific than that…I’m not sure what’s in it), pork, mixed greens. It’s a delicious dish that’s worth trying!
Our trip to Hội An was very short (we stayed there for two nights) but I thought that was an appropriate amount of time. Hội An is definitely different from a lot of places in Vietnam because the town is so well-preserved.
Happy Eating! -Trang-
