Things to do in Hoi An
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Hoi An Old Town
Now a Unesco World Heritage site, Hoi An Old Town is governed by preservation laws that are well up to speed. Several buildings of historical and cultural significance are open for public viewing, a number of streets in the centre of town are off-limits to cars, and building alterations and height restrictions are well enforced. If only Hanoi would follow suit in its historic Old Quarter.
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Cargo Club
If you’re craving a hearty Western meal, come here for a full spread of international cuisine. The freshly baked patisserie and boulangerie selections are ‘to die for’, in the words of a Hoi An expat. It’s a great place for people-watching at any time of the day, and from the upstairs balcony there are lovely views of the river. After dark the place morphs into a groovy bar.
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Lotus Jewellery
If you’re interested in jewellery beyond the bits and bobs sold in souvenir shops, try Lotus Jewellery, which has very affordable and attractive pieces from all over Asia.
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Mermaid Restaurant
One of the original Hoi An eateries (since 1991), this place is still going strong with its menu of Hoi An specialities and family recipes. Try the fried spring rolls and the excellent ‘white rose’.
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Red Bridge Cooking School
Red Bridge Cooking School offers the most full-blown experience – going to class involves a relaxing 4km cruise down the river. There are half-day (US$23) and full-day (US$39) courses, both of which include market visits. The half-day class focuses on local specialities, with rice paper–making and food decoration tips thrown in for good measure. The full-day class takes on a more ambitious menu, including making pho (rice-noodle soup). Students are given recipe print-outs to take home and, as an added sweetener, there is a 20m swimming pool for their use.
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Before & Now
An energetic bar that’s good for its pop-rock-funk playlist, Milan-trained chef and buzzing crowd. If you run out of conversation topics, contemplate the ramifications of Bono-as-Superman, as depicted on one of local artist Tran Trung Linh’s pop-art portraits on the walls (the eclectic mix includes Lenin, Mao, Che, Marilyn and Gandhi).
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Café 43
Tucked away in a residential lane, this casual eatery continues to get rave reviews for good food at good prices. The fact that it’s run by a very friendly family doesn’t hurt.
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Cham Island Diving Center
You can book dives at Cu Lao Cham Marine Park with Cham Island Diving Center. It has also opened Dive Bar and Restaurant at the same address as its office.
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Shree Ganesh Indian Restaurant
Formerly known as Omar Khayyam’s, this is the place for authentic Indian food. Fill up on your masala dishes and curries, with lots of vegetarian choices too.
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Hoi An Cloth Market
Pop into the Hoi An Cloth Market for a selection of local fabrics.
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Reaching Out
Reaching Out is a very worthwhile fair-trade gift shop started by a Vietnamese couple, one of whom is disabled. The shop employs disabled artisans, and proceeds are ploughed back into the business to train and employ the disabled all over Vietnam.
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Brothers Café
Looking like a film set, in one of the finest French-colonial buildings in town, the attention to designer detail is perfect. It is properly pricey by Hoi An standards, so many just drop by for a drink in the gorgeous riverside garden.
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Good Morning Vietnam
Yes, it’s a chain, but a good one. With Italian owners and chefs running the show, this place serves everything you’d expect of a good trattoria: tip-top pizzas and pastas, and good coffee and wine to round off the meal.
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Treat’s Café
The backpacker bar of old Hoi An, this place is regularly full to bursting, particularly during its generous 4pm to 9pm happy hour.
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Yaly
Hoi An is bustling with tailors; get something made up to order here.
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Quan Cong Temple
Founded in 1653, Quan Cong Temple is dedicated to Quan Cong - a highly esteemed Chinese general who is worshipped as a symbol of loyalty, sincerity, integrity and justice. His partially gilt statue, made of papier-mâché on a wooden frame, is in the central altar at the back of the sanctuary. On the left is a statue of General Chau Xuong, one of Quan Cong's guardians, striking a tough-guy pose.
On the right is the rather camp and plump administrative mandarin Quan Binh. The life-size white horse recalls a mount ridden by Quan Cong, until he was given a red horse of extraordinary endurance, representations of which are common in Chinese pagodas.
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Art Galleries
The presence of numerous tourists has turned the fake-antique business into a major growth industry for Hoi An. Theoretically you could find something here that is really old, but it's hard to believe that all the genuine stuff wasn't scooped up long ago. Proceed with scepticism. On the other hand, there is some really elegant artwork around, even if it was turned out only yesterday.
Paintings are generally of the mass-produced kind, but are still hand-painted; for a few US dollars you can't complain. A row of Art Galleries, inside the gorgeous old buildings just across from the Japanese Covered Bridge, are great to browse through.
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Temple
Built into the northern side of the Japanese Covered Bridge is a small temple. According to legend, there once lived an enormous monster called Cu which had its head in India, its tail in Japan and its body in Vietnam. Whenever the monster moved, terrible disasters befell Vietnam. This bridge was built on the monster’s weakest point and killed it, but the people of Hoi An took pity and built this temple to pray for its soul. The writing over the temple door is the name given to the bridge in 1719: Lai Vien Kieu (Bridge for Passers-by from Afar). However it never quite caught on.
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Phuoc Lam Pagoda
This pagoda was founded in the mid-17th century. The head monk at the end of that century was An Thiem, a Vietnamese prodigy who became a monk at the age of eight. When he was 18, the king drafted An Thiem’s brothers into his army to put down a rebellion. An Thiem volunteered to take the places of the other men in his family and eventually rose to the rank of general. After the war he returned to monkhood, but felt guilty about the many people he had slain. To atone for his sins, he volunteered to clean the Hoi An market for 20 years, then joined this pagoda as its head monk.
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Casa Verde
It’s not just another cosy Mediterranean restaurant transplanted to the Hoi An riverside – the chef-owner created memorable meals when he was at the Victoria Hoi An Resort and the results here are bellissimo. Take your pick of European and Vietnamese classics, given that extra dash of flair. The chef grows his own herbs and makes all the ice cream. It’s pricey by Hoi An standards, but still a bargain for the quality of food you get.
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Diep Dong Nguyen House
Built for a Chinese merchant in the late 19th century is Diep Dong Nguyen House. The front room on the ground floor was once a dispensary for thuoc bac (Chinese medicine); the medicines were stored in the glass-enclosed cases lining the walls. The owner's private collection of antiques - which includes photographs, porcelain and furniture - is on display upstairs. Two of the chairs were once lent by the family to Emperor Bao Dai.
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Museum of Trading Ceramics
Museum of Trading Ceramics occupies a simply restored house made of dark wood. The artefacts are from all over Asia, with oddments from as far afield as Egypt. While this reveals that Hoi An had some rather impressive trading links, frankly it would take an expert eye to appreciate the display. However the small exhibition on the restoration of Hoi An’s old houses provides a useful crash course in Old Town architecture.
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Lighthouse Café & Restaurant
Run by a Dutch man and his Vietnamese wife, this cosy restaurant on Cam Nam Island has good Vietnamese food and great views – plus there’s a mean Dutch apple cake for dessert. Walk over Cam Nam Bridge to get here, or catch the free boat (marked ‘Hai Dang’) from the waterfront in front of Ð Bach Dang. The restaurant is small, so reservations are required after 7pm; the balcony tables are good for couples.
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