Hoi An: a tailor's first fitting, An Bang at four, lanterns after dark

Hoi An

1. 7:30 am1

   Banh mi at Banh Mi Phuong, 2B Phan Chu TrinhHoi An

   Opens at 06:30 and the queue is out of the door by 09:00; at 07:30 it is two minutes. The one to order is the pate and cold cuts with everything, and the sauce is the reason. Madam Khanh, two streets away on Tran Cao Van, is the calmer alternative with an equally good claim.

   9 min walk · 650 m
2. 8:30 am2

   Ancient Town ticket, Japanese Bridge and Tan Ky houseHoi An

   120,000 VND buys a booklet of five coupons good for five of twenty-two heritage sites; the bridge takes one, Tan Ky merchant house takes another. Ticket checkers work the street entrances between roughly 09:00 and 16:00 and are relaxed outside those hours. Tan Ky is the best-value coupon: the family still lives there and the flood marks are on the pillar by the courtyard.

   11 min walk · 850 m
3. 10 am3

   Measuring and fabric at Yaly Couture, 47 Nguyen Thai HocHoi An

   The whole trick is doing this on your FIRST morning in town: measured before noon, first fitting the same evening, second fitting next morning, collect that afternoon. A day less and you get one fitting, which is how people end up with a suit that does not fit. A two-piece in a real wool from the upstairs bolts is 2,400,000-3,500,000 VND; the cheap 800,000 suits are polyester and hang like it. Bring a photograph of what you want and shoes you will actually wear with it, for the hem.

   6 min walk · 500 m
4. 11:30 am4

   Cao lau at Ba Be in the central marketHoi An

   Cao lau exists in Hoi An and effectively nowhere else because the noodles are made with lye water from the Ba Le well and ash from Cham Island. Thick, chewy, almost no broth. Order white rose dumplings alongside — every restaurant in town buys them from the same one family.

   5 min walk · 400 m
5. 1:45 pm5

   Bicycle out to An BangHoi An

   Four flat kilometres straight up Hai Ba Trung and most hotels lend bikes free. Park in the paid lot at the beach entrance (10,000-20,000 VND) rather than against a cafe fence.

   8 min by train or taxi · 4.0 km
6. 2:15 pm6

   An Bang Beach afternoonHoi An

   Sunbeds are free if you eat or drink at the place that owns them; Soul Kitchen at the north end and Sound of Silence a little further on are the two worth walking to. Cua Dai, the closer beach, has largely been eaten by erosion and sandbags — An Bang is the one with sand left. Undertow is real from October to December.

   8 min by train or taxi · 3.6 km
7. 6:45 pm7

   Lantern boat from the Bach Dang stepsHoi An

   The posted 2026 rate is 170,000 VND for one to three people and 220,000 for four to five, for a twenty-minute row with paper lanterns to float. Agree the price and the number of lanterns before you step in, because the boat-side quote doubles after dark. On the 14th night of the lunar month the town cuts its electric lights for the lantern festival and the river is worth being on; every other night, going out before the crowd at 18:45 beats waiting for full dark.

   11 min walk · 850 m
8. 7:45 pm8

   Dinner at Morning Glory, 106 Nguyen Thai HocHoi An

   Book a table, or expect an hour on the pavement. It is a street-food kitchen run properly rather than a fancy restaurant: the clay-pot fish, the banh xeo folded at the table, and the pork with betel leaf. Ask for the upstairs balcony over the lantern street.