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 Da Nang as an alternative).
As part of your planning, read my guide to the best time to visit 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 me in my Da Nang and Hoi An travel planning group, where I’ll personally answer them.
Hoi An 3-Day Itinerary Summary
- Three days is a great amount of time to spend in Hoi An
- Where: Stay in or around the Old Town
- Day 1: Explore the Old Town
- Day 2: Visit the rice fields and beaches
- Day 3: Day trip to My Son Sanctuary
- Tours: I’ve recommended several classes and activities that can be mix/matched 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 have a separate (and detailed) guide covering where to stay in Hoi An.
I recommend basing yourself in or around the Old Town area. It has village vibes, is very walkable, and you’ll be able to step outside your hotel and begin exploring right away. There are a lot of nice boutique hotels in Hoi An.
The Allegro Hoi An (Agoda / Booking) is a nice choice right outside Old Town. The Little Hoi An (Agoda / Booking) is on the Thu Bon River, right across from Old Town. This is a cool area to stay. The Hoian Central (Agoda / Booking) is a budget hotel on the eastern edge of Old Town.
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. But, a lot of people I’ve met like staying here. A good choice is the AIRA Boutique (Agoda / Booking). The CHiEM HoiAn (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).
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 read a lot of reviews and comments from 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, 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 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 (or another nearby choice), 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 popular way to get around town.
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.
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 five locations in Vietnam: four in Ho Chi Minh City 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.
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. It is a bit 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. The bridge is here, at a crossroads of Tran Phu and Bach Dang streets.
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.
I 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 hotel situated along the river here, the Moire Hoi An (Agoda / Booking).
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.
Claypot 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.
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 is another good place that I’ve eaten at several times. Way too many restaurants to recommend!
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 prominently 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 like I suggested, you’ll have plenty of time to continue exploring here, too.
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. Here’s a delicious nearby restaurant. This is another nearby cafe, and this one has more outdoor vibes.
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. There are local vendors/restaurants that offer free loungers if you buy a drink or food from them.
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.
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 Da Nang’s beaches here.
If you aren’t interested in spending much time at Hoi An’s beaches, I can recommend some alternative activities.
This is a basket boat ride in the coconut forest. This tour departs in the morning, so you can visit the rice fields afterward. Here is a market tour, basket boat ride, and cooking class. This one is 4 hours long and has timeslots in the morning or early afternoon.
For something to do at night, this is a short boat ride in the river, where you’ll release a lantern.
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 eight 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.
Grab also has a round-trip booking option, which is 20% cheaper than booking individual trips. This includes a total trip time of four hours: the transfer both ways, plus the driver waiting. Looking at this option now, I see that it costs around 800.000 VND if you depart from Old Town Hoi An.
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 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. I purposely didn’t include these items in the main itinerary because I wanted 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. This would be a great way to end your time in Hoi An.
