3 Days in Hoi An: Detailed Itinerary for First-Timers (2026)

Three days in Hoi An gives you enough time to explore and enjoy the Old Town, visit the awesome rice fields outside of town, check out Hoi An’s beaches, and still have time for a day trip to My Son Sanctuary or Ba Na Hills (or Da Nang as an alternative).

As part of your planning, read my guide to the best time to visit Hoi An. For more activity ideas, see my guide on things to do in Hoi An. If you fly into Da Nang International Airport, you’ll need to know how to get to Hoi An.

If you have any questions about planning a Hoi An itinerary, ask in my free Hoi An and Da Nang travel planning group on Facebook.

Hoi An 3-Day Itinerary Summary

• Three days is a great amount of time to spend in Hoi An
• Where to stay: Hoi An Old Town
• Day 1: Explore the Old Town
• Day 2: Visit the rice fields and beaches
• Day 3: Day trip to My Son Sanctuary or Ba Na Hills
• At Night: Hoi An Memories Show and/or Lune Show
• Tours: I’ve recommended several activities that can fit in with any of your three days in Hoi An

Where to Stay in Hoi An for Three Days

You’ll want to make the most of your three days in Hoi An, so staying in (or near) the action would be best. I recommend basing yourself in or around the Old Town area. It is very walkable, and you’ll be able to step outside your hotel and begin exploring right away.

Besides the La Charm Hoi An above, another great pick in Old Town is the Laluna Hoi An Riverside (see on Agoda / Booking).

The Allegro Hoi An (see on Agoda / Booking) is a 5-star boutique choice right outside Old Town. The Hoian Central (see on Agoda / Booking) is a budget hotel on the eastern edge of Old Town. All of these are great locations in Old Town.

I have a separate (and very detailed) guide covering where to stay in Hoi An. I also have another guide specifically for great hotels in Hoi An.

The An Bang Beach area is a popular place to stay, too, but it’s less convenient than staying directly in Old Town. There also isn’t much to see on foot other than the beach itself. A good choice is the Linh Seaside Villa (see on Agoda / Booking). The CHiEM HoiAn (see on Agoda / Booking) is another good choice.

Keep in mind that Hoi An’s beaches and the Old Town are not within reasonable walking distance from one another (see the route here, which shows one of the possible routes between An Bang Beach and Hoi An Old Town).

You’ll need to use the Grab app to hire a taxi or moto-taxi, ride bicycles, or rent your own scooter. Some hotels provide chauffeur services on electric carts for guests to/from the Old Town area and beaches.

An Introductory Note on Old Town

The Old Town in Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and with that designation comes a high level of tourism. I’ve heard from many travelers who’ve visited the Old Town briefly and left feeling that Hoi An (as a whole) was too touristy or fake.

If you find yourself feeling similarly while visiting, you’ll acquire a much more wholesome perspective of Hoi An if you explore beyond the Old Town. There are authentic experiences to be had in Hoi An and a lot of genuine, lovely locals.

I personally like the Old Town area just the way it is. But as someone who’s visited dozens of times, and also lived in town for a while, I’m able to enjoy it for what it is — a popular place for travelers, with cool-looking architecture, small streets, and river views — and really just one small part of Hoi An.

Day 1: Old Town

I would allocate the first day of your 3-day Hoi An itinerary to exploring the Old Town and its adjacent areas. The official Old Town area is a specific and smaller part of the overall town. At 3 PM every day, this small area becomes pedestrian-only until nighttime.

If you stay at one of my recommended Old Town hotels above, you’ll be able to step outside and immediately begin wandering the town on foot. Some hotels offer free bicycles to guests, which is also a very popular way to get around Hoi An.

Before I mention food and specific places to eat, let me say there are tons and tons of great eateries and cafes in Hoi An. Really, a lot. No matter your preferred cuisine, it’s here. Here’s my guide on great places to eat in Hoi An, which barely scratches the surface of what’s available.

If you start your day with breakfast in your hotel, great. But if not, I recommend Little HaNoi Egg Coffee on Phan Boi Chau Street. This is in the official Old Town area, and you can walk here easily.

Little HaNoi currently has six locations in Vietnam: four in Ho Chi Minh City, one in Da Nang, and this one in Hoi An. I’ve been to all of their locations many times (here’s my review article). Their egg coffee is excellent, and they have a good selection of breakfast and brunch items.

The menu at all locations is the same.

After breakfast, you’ll want to wander inside the Old Town on Tran Phu Street, Nguyen Thai Hoc, and Bach Dang Street along the Thu Bon River.

The entire area is very pedestrian-friendly. The Hoi An Market is inside Old Town, and just east of it is another busy streetside market. There is a lot of activity in this immediate area — a lot of tourists, scooters, bicycles, and all sorts of local vendors.

In the Old Town, this place serves an interesting iced herbal tea — definitely worth trying once. You can grab it and drink it while walking around. It is usually touristy, but again, so are most places in this immediate area.

The Japanese Covered Bridge, which is over 400 years old (and has been restored several times), is one of the more famous landmarks in Hoi An.

There are a few small bridges over the Thu Bon River that you can walk over to explore. One of the more central, smaller bridges leads to An Hoi Island, home of the Hoi An Night Market, as well as tons of coffee shops, homestays, boutique hotels, and places to eat. There are also some great views along the river.

The Lantana Boutique Hotel (see on Agoda / Booking) is a nice choice here.

I often get coffee at this small coffee shop on An Hoi Island in front of the river. There are lots of other choices nearby.

Another bridge, further east, leads you onto Cam Nam Island. This also has a lot of homestays, villas, coffee shops, and places to eat, though not as densely packed as An Hoi Island.

There’s a nice 5-star hotel situated along the river here, the Moire Hoi An (see on Agoda / Booking). This hotel has an outdoor pool overlooking the Thu Bon River.

I frequent another small coffee shop on the river here, too: PaPa’s Coffee. It’s run by a very nice family. I often get lunch at this place nearby, Su Deli Restaurant & Coffee, which serves affordable food and has great smoothies. I’ve been known to eat chicken and rice and have two smoothies at once.

Claypot Hoi An is a great Vietnamese restaurant for lunch or dinner. This is north of the Old Town area. You can walk here in about 20 minutes or take a very short Grab taxi ride. This would be a great place to try some of Hoi An’s famous local food, cao lau.

For a quick banh mi, this is a popular place in the Old Town. So is this one. If you want to try Vietnamese noodles, like mi quang, check out this place in Old Town.

Chau Kitchen is a good restaurant inside Old Town. Lanterns Cafe is another good place that I’ve eaten at several times. Way too many restaurants in Hoi An to recommend!

In the evening, Hoi An starts getting very busy. Some of the streets and the river are lit with lanterns. Here’s a video I filmed at night in Hoi An Old Town. This was after seeing the Hoi An Memories Show, then walking around Old Town for a bit.

During any of your three days in Hoi An, you can incorporate a local class. I would personally do something that’s either a Vietnamese specialty, like coffee, or a local tradition, like lanterns.

The following two classes have multiple daily timeslots. This is a Vietnamese coffee-making class, and this is a lantern-making class. You’ll notice multi-colored lanterns displayed all over Hoi An. You can read more about Hoi An’s lanterns here.

There’s a lot to see in Old Town, so this is where you should spend your first day (and bits of days two and three as well).

Day 2: Rice Fields and Beaches

After spending the first day inside and around the Old Town, you should now widen your area of exploration. As I’ve mentioned, there’s a lot more to Hoi An than the Old Town. Keep in mind that if you stay in the Old Town as I suggested, you’ll have plenty of time to continue exploring here, too.

I filmed this video on Hai Ba Trung Street (one of the many roads leading through just one of Hoi An’s rice fields).

The rice fields outside of Hoi An are some of my favorite things about the area. I’ve visited them just as much as I’ve visited the Old Town, but I’ve not yet grown tired of admiring them. They’re just as awesome to me now as they were in 2018 when I first saw them.

Booking a bicycling tour of Hoi An or in the rice fields would be a great activity. Look at Heaven & Earth Bicycle Tours or SUNRISE TOUR.

I highly recommend having a meal and/or coffee at one of the many cafes or restaurants in the rice fields. I would even consider having breakfast at one, then lunch or an early dinner (to enjoy the rice fields at sunset!) at another.

I’m a frequent visitor to NGHE Rice Paddy Cafe. It’s in the middle of the rice fields north of Old Town. This is another nearby cafe. And Le Locust Cafe is another good choice in this area.

There are rice fields north, east, and south of Old Town. Old Rice Field is a great little coffee shop in the eastern rice fields.

You can visit the rice fields by themselves, as a stop on your way to one of the cafes or restaurants, or while heading to Hoi An’s beaches — or all of the above!

An Bang Beach is the most popular and well-set-up beach in Hoi An. There are areas roped off for swimming, beachside restaurants, and lounge chairs available for rent. These should cost around 50.000 VND. Some local vendors/restaurants offer free loungers if you buy a drink or food from them. Garden Sea is one of those places.

There are several great places to grab lunch or dinner at An Bang Beach. Look at Green Avocado, Nam Gia Seafood, and La Riva for Italian. There’s also Mom’s Restaurant and the Purple Lantern Restaurant.

Down the coast a little bit is Tan Thanh Beach. This is a much quieter beach (and less organized).

Next down the coast is Cua Dai Beach, which is also less organized than An Bang Beach and generally less crowded. Loungers here should still cost around 50.000 VND, but I’ve heard of people being charged 100.000 VND. As with An Bang Beach, there are places to eat or buy a drink, which will let you use the loungers for free.

Here’s a good beachside seafood restaurant at Cua Dai.

But I have to say, if you’re after a beach vacation, My Khe Beach in Da Nang is a much better experience than Hoi An’s beaches. I’ve covered all of Da Nang’s beaches here. And this is my complete Da Nang travel guide.

If you aren’t interested in spending much time at Hoi An’s beaches, here is a market tour, a basket boat ride, and a cooking class in one. This one is 4 hours long and has timeslots in the morning or early afternoon.

Day 3: My Son Sanctuary

For your third day in Hoi An, I’d take the morning and do a day trip to My Son Sanctuary, one of Vietnam’s nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Here is My Son Sanctuary’s location. It’s around one hour outside of Hoi An. Plan to spend around two hours visiting the sanctuary.

There are a few different ways to get here.

The easiest way is to join one of the popular My Son Sanctuary tours that depart from Hoi An. I recommend this early morning tour. You’ll beat most of the crowds and the heat.

A second way to get there is to use the Grab app to book a taxi. I’m doing some test bookings in the app now, and you can expect to spend around 500.000 to 700.000 VND each way. If you do this, don’t worry about not finding a ride for the return trip — the sanctuary is a popular tourist spot, and there are always taxis around.

For a third way, if you’re renting a scooter, you can make the trip yourself. I’ve done this ride on my scooter from Hoi An, and it’s not necessarily a trip only for advanced riders, but it’s not really for beginners, either. If you’re comfortable riding a scooter, you can safely make the trip.

Back in Hoi An by the afternoon, you might prefer spending your last block of time in Old Town. If you stay locally, as I suggested, you’ll likely have stumbled upon or learned of other areas in town you want to check out. You could also use this block of time for one of the classes/workshops I mentioned in Day 1.

If you wanted to skip My Son Sanctuary for a different day trip, you could visit Ba Na Hills (where the Golden Bridge and cable cars are). Here is the Ba Na Hills location.

Otherwise, you could head north to Da Nang and visit the Marble Mountains in the morning. You could then go see Lady Buddha (and the monkeys) on the Son Tra Peninsula afterward. There’s also the Dragon Bridge fire show at night. I purposely didn’t include these items in the main itinerary to keep it focused on Hoi An. But these are two great activities, too.

In the evening, check out the Hoi An Memories Show, which is located on Memories Land.

Seeing the Hoi An Memories Show would be a great way to end your time in Hoi An. I recently saw the show two nights in a row. Here is the official website.

I also saw the Lune Production Teh Dar show, which was also excellent. This is more expensive, indoors, and in a smaller theatre. I recommend both shows. The Lune show happens here on An Hoi Island.

Here’s a video I filmed during the Hoi An Memories Show. There are three tiers of seating: ECO, HIGH, and VIP. I filmed this from the HIGH section. Enjoy your trip to Hoi An — I love it here.