Hoi An & Da Nang: 20 routes

Lantern-lit lanes, Cham towers in the jungle, a mountain pass above the sea and an imperial city upriver: twenty slow routes through central Vietnam.

I came to Hoi An for three nights and stayed almost three weeks. It happens to a lot of people. The old town is small enough to learn by heart, yet every morning it looked a little different: mist on the Thu Bon River, a woman sweeping yellow leaves outside a Chinese assembly hall, a bicycle loaded with herbs from a village I hadn’t found yet. Da Nang, half an hour up the coast, turned out to be its opposite: wide beaches, a modern river front and mountains rising straight out of the city.

These routes cover both towns and the country around them, from the Cham sanctuary at My Son to the Hai Van Pass and the old imperial capital of Hue. Tickets, opening hours and boat rules change, and the autumn rains can flood whole streets, so treat my notes as a starting point and ask locally before you set off.

Practical tips first

Hoi An old town: bridges, halls and merchant houses

Hoi An old town1 dayEasy

A morning wandering the mustard-yellow lanes of a 16th-century trading port, where a Japanese bridge, Chinese assembly halls and wooden merchant houses still stand side by side.

Lantern night on the Thu Bon River

Hoi An old townone eveningEasy

When the heat breaks and the silk lanterns come on, Hoi An becomes the town on every postcard: candles drifting on the river, boats with paper lamps and lanes glowing red and gold.

Cao lau, white roses and banh mi: a Hoi An food walk

Hoi An old townhalf a day, spread over a dayEasy

A slow day of eating through the dishes that exist only in Hoi An, from chewy cao lau noodles to rice-paper dumplings shaped like roses.

A rainy day in Hoi An: museums, workshops and tea

Hoi An old town1 dayEasy

When the monsoon sets in, Hoi An slows down even more: small museums, lantern and tailoring workshops, and long afternoons with tea while rain drums on the roof tiles.

Tra Que: cycling to the herb village

Hoi An countryside & coasthalf a dayEasy

A gentle ride across rice fields to a farming village whose fragrant herbs end up in every bowl of cao lau and mi Quang in town.

Cam Thanh: basket boats in the coconut palms

Hoi An countryside & coasthalf a dayEasy

Paddle a round bamboo basket boat through the water-coconut channels east of Hoi An, where fishermen once hid, crabs scuttle in the mud and the palms close overhead.

An Bang beach: sea, sand and slow afternoons

Hoi An countryside & coasthalf a day to 1 dayEasy

Hoi An’s beach: a long sweep of pale sand, basket boats, fishermen at dawn and lazy afternoons under a palm umbrella with a plate of grilled clams.

Thanh Ha pottery and Kim Bong carpenters

Hoi An countryside & coasthalf a dayEasy

Two craft villages on the edges of Hoi An, one shaping river clay into pots and the other carving wood for houses and boats, both easy to reach by bicycle.

Cu Lao Cham: snorkelling the Cham Islands

Islands1 day or an overnightEasy

A cluster of green islands off Hoi An, with clear water, coral gardens, a fishing village and a protected marine park where plastic bags are banned.

Ly Son: a volcanic island of garlic and cliffs

Islands2–3 daysModerate

An overnight adventure to a little volcanic island off Quang Ngai, with crater views, cliffs of black rock, emerald coves and fields of garlic grown in coral sand.

Son Tra: Lady Buddha, langurs and the chessboard peak

Da Nang1 dayModerate

A forested mountain on the edge of Da Nang, with a giant white Buddha above the bay, rare monkeys in the trees and a winding road to a summit with views of the whole coast.

Marble Mountains: caves, pagodas and five elements

Da Nanghalf a dayModerate

Five limestone and marble hills rising from flat coastal land, threaded with caves, shrines, staircases and viewpoints, halfway between Da Nang and Hoi An.

Da Nang on a rainy day: Cham sculpture and the Han market

Da Nang1 dayEasy

The world’s finest collection of Cham sculpture, a pink cathedral and a chaotic covered market, all within a short walk along the Han River.

Da Nang after dark: Dragon Bridge and the river

Da Nangone eveningEasy

An evening of neon on the Han River, a dragon-shaped bridge that breathes fire and water on weekend nights, and a seafood dinner by the sea.

The Hai Van Pass: clouds, sea and a ruined gate

Hills & passeshalf a day to 1 dayModerate

A legendary mountain road between Da Nang and Hue, climbing through forest to a gate where the clouds meet the sea and dropping to a lagoon of oyster farms.

Ba Na Hills and the Golden Bridge

Hills & passes1 dayEasy

A cool hilltop resort above the clouds, reached by one of the longest cable cars in the world, with a golden footbridge held up by two giant stone hands.

My Son: Cham towers in the jungle

Hills & passeshalf a dayEasy

The red-brick temples of a lost kingdom in a green valley under a sacred mountain, best seen at dawn before the heat and the tour buses.

Bach Ma: misty summit and waterfalls

Hue1–2 daysModerate

A cloud-wrapped mountain between Hue and Da Nang, with old French villa ruins, a summit lookout and a 300-metre waterfall that tumbles through rhododendrons.

Hue: the Imperial City and the Perfume River

Hue1–2 daysEasy

The walled capital of Vietnam’s last dynasty, with moats, palaces, gates and gardens on the banks of a slow river, two or three hours north of Hoi An.

Hue: royal tombs and Thien Mu pagoda

Hue1 dayEasy

A day upriver from Hue, visiting a pagoda on a hill, and the tombs of emperors set among lakes, pine forests and frangipani trees.

Prices, opening hours and rules change. Treat these notes as a starting point and check current information before you go.