Things to do
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Hội An Ancient Town
A river port that silted up and lost its trade to Da Nang, Hội An was left with its wooden shophouses, Chinese assembly halls and tiled roofs standing. UNESCO listed the quarter in 1999. One heritage ticket admits a holder to five of about twenty houses, halls and museums. Motor traffic is barred from the lanes in the middle of the day and again each evening.
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An Bang Beach
Hội An's swimming beach sits a short cycle ride northeast of the old town, and took over that role once erosion stripped the sand from Cửa Đại. A line of low bars and seafood places rents loungers under the casuarinas. From October the northeast monsoon brings a heavy shore break and a strong undertow, and much of the strip shuts until spring.
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Cua Dai Beach
Dams upriver, sand mining and a typhoon in 2014 took most of what was once Hội An's main beach, and rows of giant sandbags still stand where the sand used to be. Submerged breakwaters and pumped sand have brought part of the strand back, and work continues along the shore. Boats for the Chàm Islands leave from the pier at the river mouth nearby.
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Fujian Assembly Hall
Merchants from Fujian raised this hall on Trần Phú street in 1690 as their community's meeting place, then gave the main altar to Thiên Hậu, the goddess who was believed to bring sailors home. The heritage ticket covers entry. Coils of incense hang from the roof beams with paper wishes tied beneath them, and a rear shrine to twelve midwives draws couples hoping for a child.
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Hội An Central Market
Fish comes off the boats at the river end of the market before six, and the produce aisles are at their loudest well before most visitors are awake. Inside, a covered food hall serves cao lầu, the thick pork noodle dish local to the town, and mì Quảng. Fabric stalls along one side supply the tailors. Trade slows after mid-morning and the heat inside builds.
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Japanese Covered Bridge
Japanese merchants roofed this short crossing at the western end of the old town and attached a small shrine to its northern side, which is why it is called the pagoda bridge. Stone monkeys guard one entrance and dogs the other, for the zodiac years construction began and ended. A restoration finished in 2024 left the timber and tile looking new, and the result divided Vietnamese opinion.
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My Son Sanctuary
Cham kings built and rebuilt brick towers to Shiva in this valley for nine centuries, until the court moved south and the jungle closed over it. A week of American bombing in 1969 flattened the central group, and clearance of unexploded ordnance still limits where visitors may walk. The site lies about an hour west of Hội An and opens at dawn. By ten the valley is airless and the tour coaches have arrived.
