Hoi An is about 30 to 40 minutes south of Da Nang. Many travelers combine the two cities on a trip to central Vietnam, sometimes adding Hue to the north.
To get to Hoi An, you’ll need to fly into Da Nang International Airport (DAD) and then take a Grab taxi or book an airport transfer. There are also public buses, but I avoid them because using the Grab app is easy and convenient.
Getting around Hoi An is pretty straightforward. Walking and bicycling are easy in the Old Town area. The Grab app is great, too, especially for trips up to Da Nang or the My Son Sanctuary. You can also rent a scooter for the most freedom. I cover all of these options below.
If you’re in trip-planning mode, learn the best time to visit Da Nang (which also applies to Hoi An). Check out my common Vietnam travel FAQs guide, the visa requirements, and learn how to get your SIM card.
Related getting around guides:
• How to Get Around Da Nang for First-Time Visitors
• How to Get Around Ho Chi Minh City for First-Time Visitors
Walking Around Hoi An
Hoi An Ancient Town (Old Town) is one of eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Vietnam. If you’re planning a visit to Hoi An, I assume you’ll want to see the Old Town. This entire area is walkable.
If you’re interested in wandering around Old Town for a couple of days, then staying at a boutique hotel in the area like the Hoian Central Hotel will enable you to walk everywhere. Other good choices are the Lion King Hotel or the Allegro Hoi An. In the late afternoons, much of the Old Town area is closed to pedestrian traffic only.
If you want to visit An Bang Beach, Cua Dai Beach, or the rice fields from Old Town, you’ll want to use the Grab app or rent a bicycle (or scooter). Many hotels offer free bicycles to guests. But if you get stuck with a rusty clunker or want something nicer, renting from a nearby shop is easy and cheap. I’ve made some recommendations below.
The Grab App
When giving advice to first-timers traveling to Vietnam, the first thing I always tell them is to download the Grab app—it’s the Uber of Vietnam. You can see my other recommended travel apps here.
Within the app, you can book scooter taxis (GrabBike), car taxis (GrabTaxi), private car services (GrabCar), food delivery (GrabFood), order groceries, and more. You can read my guide on how to use the Grab app.
You don’t need to input or use your credit or debit card in the Grab app. You can select Cash and pay after getting a taxi ride or for food delivery.
Booking a GrabBike (Scooter Taxi)
A scooter taxi (“xe om” in Vietnamese) through the Grab app is one of the more popular ways to get around Hoi An—unless you rent your own scooter. More on that further down.
In other Vietnamese cities, like Ho Chi Minh City, Grab is far and away the most popular way to get around. But in Hoi An, walking or riding bicycles is very common, especially in the Old Town area.
GrabBike drivers provide helmets. Once aboard, if you’re unsure where to put your hands because you don’t want to hold onto your driver’s belly, reach behind and use the seat’s rear structure as handles. Then, hold on!
You can pay with cash or put your credit/debit card in the Grab app and go cashless. This is what I do. Tips for the driver are not necessary. But adding a couple more bucks is easy in the app if you want to tip.
As you can see from my screenshots above, a GrabBike taxi ride from Hoi An Old Town to An Bang Beach (a popular trip) will cost 28.000 VND. This is a “longer” trip, so trips within Old Town will be even less.
Booking a GrabCar or GrabTaxi
In addition to offering scooter taxis, Grab offers the option to order a private car (GrabCar) or a taxi (GrabTaxi). I use this when flying into Da Nang International Airport (DAD) and needing to get into the city or down to Hoi An. Otherwise, you’ll be bombarded by random drivers offering you their services when you exit the arrivals area.
You can see from my above screenshots that a trip from the Da Nang Airport to Old Town can cost over 300.000 VND. You can also book an airport transfer ahead of time through Klook. This is a good way of getting from Da Nang to Hoi An if you want to make your plans ahead of time.
Currently, Grab offers GrabCar, GrabCar Plus, and GrabCar 7. GrabTaxi is another option inside the app, too. This will book a regular taxi through the app but will tell you the price ahead of time. Many taxi drivers also work for Grab.
The Grab app also offers the ability to hire a driver by the hour for both moto-taxis and cars. This is useful if you want to see a few tourist attractions or parts of the city and don’t want to order rides after each one.
Vehicle models in Vietnam are a bit different from those in other countries, so with GrabCar, don’t be surprised if something the size of a Toyota Yaris shows up. GrabCar Plus will be a bit bigger—something mid-size like a Toyota Camry. And with GrabCar 7, it’s always been some type of SUV whenever I’ve used it—something like a Toyota Fortuner.
If you plan on visiting some attractions in Hoi An or Da Nang, see my guides on the Marble Mountains, Lady Buddha, and the My Son Sanctuary. You can use Grab to reach all of these sites.
Renting Bicycles
Other than being very walkable, most of Hoi An is bikeable, too. You can ride from your hotel in and around the small streets of Old Town. A popular trip is riding from Old Town to the beach (An Bang or Cua Dai) through the rice fields, which can take 20 to 30 minutes—longer if you take your time.
The bikes are usually slow-cruiser types, and you’ll want to take your time to admire the rice fields between Old Town and the beach. You can also ride out to different rice fields on a separate trip. In the photo below, I’m in the Cam Thanh Rice Fields.
Many hotels have free bikes for guests or rent them out. I know the Hoian Central Hotel and the La Siesta Hoi An have free bikes. The quality of bike rentals will vary from hotel to hotel. However, the hotel’s staff can arrange bicycle or scooter rentals for you, too. Ask the front desk.
For bike rentals from shops in town, prices will vary from around 100.000 VND to 300.000 VND per day, depending on how long you plan to rent (a few hours, half day, or full day) and the model of the bike.
Anh Khoa in Old Town rents bicycles and scooters. Here is their website. You can contact them on WhatsApp or their Facebook Page. Also, try Bee Bike. Here is Bee Bike’s website.
For bike tours around Hoi An, check out Heaven & Earth Bicycle Tours on An Hoi Island. Here is their website. Many tour companies rent out bikes, too. So, ask both bike rental and bike tour companies.
Renting a Scooter
Riding a scooter has long been my favorite way to get around in Vietnam. I’ve spent hundreds of hours exploring Hoi An and nearby Da Nang on a scooter. If you’re comfortable riding, you’ll be able to cover a lot more ground and see a lot more on a shorter trip to Hoi An or Da Nang.
You’ll be able to visit the beaches, the rice fields, My Son Sanctuary, and ride up to Da Nang to the Marble Mountains and Lady Buddha on the Son Tra Peninsula. You can do all this using the Grab app, too, but you’ll have more freedom on a scooter.
Technically, you need a motorcycle license to ride a scooter over 50cc in Vietnam. This can be either the A1 or A2 license. However, a 50cc bike, like the Honda Cub, will be pretty dinky for larger folks. Most rental places will ask if you have a license but still end up renting a scooter to you without one. You’ll have to assess the risks of getting into an accident or not and if your travel/health insurance will cover you if you drive unlicensed.
Renting a scooter for a day can cost anywhere from 100.000 to 300.000 VND, give or take, depending on the bike. A good starter bike is a Honda Air Blade 125cc. There are smaller bikes with 50cc and 110cc, too. If you’re on the taller side, you’ll want something with more legroom, like a Honda PCX.
You get better rates if you rent monthly. I paid 2.6 million VND per month to rent my 2022 Yamaha NVX 155, pictured above. Renting in Hoi An or Da Nang is cheaper than renting in Ho Chi Minh City.
If you want to rent a scooter in Hoi An, check out Anh Khoa in Old Town (I mentioned them above in the bicycle section) or Hoi An Bike Rental. Here is their website. There are a lot of other rental companies around Hoi An, but I’d start with these.
