# Hoi An Ancient Town

> Hoi An Ancient Town is a 15th–19th-century trading port on the Thu Bon River and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The streets never close; houses, assembly halls and museums need an Old Town ticket — 80,000 or 120,000 VND — and open roughly 8:00–17:00. Give it half a day plus one lantern-lit evening.

Web page: https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/hoi-an-old-town

- City: [Hoi An](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an), Vietnam
- YesGo score: 34/100 (Yes, if nearby)
- Time on site: 3 h
- Opening hours: Streets 24/7; ticketed sites 8:00–17:00; car- and motorbike-free 9:00–21:30 in summer, 9:00–21:00 in winter
- With kids: Fine with kids
- Old Town ticket: Two types for everyone: 80,000 and 120,000 VND
- Children: Free under 16
- What’s included: 80,000: Japanese Bridge or Quan Cong Temple plus 2 sites; 120,000: bridge or temple, 1 museum plus 3 sites; one coupon torn off at each
- Validity: Up to 3 days; keep the stub — it gets you in and out of the Old Town zone
- Site hours: 8:00–17:00 per Da Nang’s tourism board; some houses and halls stay open later
- Vehicle-free hours: Old Town 9:00–21:30 in summer, 9:00–21:00 in winter; Phan Chau Trinh Street from 17:30
- Ticket booths: At the entrances to the zone; the easiest are by the Japanese Bridge and the bridge to An Hoi islet
- Payment: Cash in dong at the booths; cards work in bigger hotels and restaurants, not at ticket windows
- Coordinates: 15.87714, 108.32863
- Facts checked: 05.11.2026

## Key facts

- **80,000 / 120,000 VND** — the two Old Town ticket types, open to everyone: 3 sites, or 5 including a museum; free under 16 (source: Hoi An World Cultural Heritage Conservation Center, notice No. 125; Da Nang Department of Tourism (danangfantasticity.com))
- **Up to 3 days** — how long one ticket lasts, so a morning and an evening fit into a single purchase (source: Da Nang Department of Tourism (danangfantasticity.com); nashaplaneta.net)
- **9:00–21:30** — summer hours when cars and motorbikes are kept out of the Old Town streets (until 21:00 in winter) (source: Da Nang Department of Tourism; Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation)
- **1999** — the year Hoi An Ancient Town was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (source: English Wikipedia; Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation)
- **15th–19th c.** — the centuries when Japanese, Chinese and European merchants traded through the port (source: English Wikipedia; CAND)
- **1,000+** — old houses, temples, assembly halls and other listed monuments inside the protected zone (source: English Wikipedia; CAND)
- **14th lunar day** — of every month: Old Town Night, with lanterns, folk songs and street games (source: Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation; vietnamnet.vn)
- **4 museums** — History and Culture, Folk Culture, Sa Huynh Culture and Trade Ceramics (source: Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation)
- **2024** — the year the Japanese Bridge reopened after almost two years of restoration (source: vietnamnet.vn; vietnamtourism.vn)
- **≈ 30 km** — from Da Nang airport, 40–50 minutes by car; Hoi An has no airport or train station (source: junglebosstours.com; nashaplaneta.net)

> **Is Hoi An Ancient Town free to walk?** Walking the streets costs nothing in principle, but there are ticket booths and checks at the entrances to the zone, and they run into the evening, long after the houses close at about 17:00. If you’re asked, you buy the ticket. Since it lasts up to three days, buy it on your first evening and spend the coupons on houses and museums the next morning.

## How much is the Hoi An Ancient Town ticket?

There are two ticket types, both open to every visitor. **80,000 VND** covers the Japanese Bridge or Quan Cong Temple plus two more sites; **120,000 VND** covers the bridge or temple, one museum and three more sites. Under-16s go free, and groups of eight or more get a guide at no extra cost. That is how the Hoi An heritage conservation centre's notice puts it; Da Nang's tourism price table labels the same amounts as Vietnamese and foreigner prices, so check at the booth.

It’s a stub with tear-off coupons. Officially it covers **either the Japanese Bridge or Quan Cong Temple**, **Hoi An’s museums** and **three more sites of your choice** — old merchant houses like [Tan Ky House](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/tan-ky-old-house), Chinese assembly halls like the [Fujian Assembly Hall](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/fujian-assembly-hall), family chapels or the Minh Huong communal house. Staff tear off one coupon at each door.

The ticket is valid for **up to three days**, and you should keep the stub for all of them: it’s what gets you in and out of the zone. Booths sit at the entrances — travel guides count around ten — and take **cash in dong**. Foreign Visa and Mastercard work in larger hotels and restaurants, but street food, markets and ticket windows are cash only. Grab rides can be paid in cash or with a linked foreign card.

## Hoi An Ancient Town opening hours

The streets are open **24 hours**. Ticketed sites — houses, halls and museums — open **8:00–17:00** according to Da Nang’s tourism board, though a few keep longer hours and travel guides list the Japanese Bridge as open into the evening. Mornings before 10:00 are the quietest; day-trip coaches from Da Nang arrive towards lunchtime.

The Old Town is a **pedestrian zone**: cars and motorbikes are kept out from 9:00 to 21:30 in summer and 9:00 to 21:00 in winter. Phan Chau Trinh Street on the northern edge joins the walking area in the evening, from 17:30. Taxis and Grab drop you at the edge, on Tran Hung Dao or Phan Chau Trinh.

## What is Hoi An Ancient Town?

The Ancient Town is the historic core of Hoi An: a few blocks between Phan Chau Trinh Street and the river. From the 15th to the 19th century this was a busy port for Japanese, Chinese and European ships. Then the river silted up, trade moved to Da Nang, and the town was largely left as it was — which is why it survived.

Today the protected zone holds **more than a thousand** old buildings: two-storey timber merchant houses with ochre walls and tiled roofs, **assembly halls** built by Chinese communities, family chapels, pagodas and French-era shophouses. UNESCO listed the town in 1999.

It’s a living neighbourhood rather than an open-air museum. Ground floors are tailors, cafés and souvenir shops, families still live upstairs, and the best thing to do is simply walk: yellow facades, bougainvillea and silk lanterns strung overhead. Since 2025 Hoi An has been administratively part of Da Nang city, but on the ground it’s still its own small town.

## What to see in Hoi An Ancient Town

- **[Japanese Covered Bridge](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/japanese-covered-bridge)** (Chùa Cầu) — the roofed bridge with a tiny temple inside, Hoi An’s emblem, around four centuries old. It reopened in 2024 after almost two years of restoration. Crossing it uses one coupon.
- **Tan Ky House** — a merchant house on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street that mixes Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese details; a good first look at how traders lived.
- **Fujian Assembly Hall** — the most ornate of the Chinese halls on Tran Phu Street, with a big gate, mosaic dragons and incense-filled courtyards.
- **[Quan Cong Temple](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/quan-cong-temple)** — the temple of the general Guan Yu opposite the market; the ticket’s alternative to the Japanese Bridge.
- **The museums** — History and Culture, Folk Culture, Sa Huynh Culture and Trade Ceramics. Each is small, 15–30 minutes; Trade Ceramics best explains why ships came here at all.
- **Bach Dang riverside and the Hoai River** — fishing boats by day, lanterns on the water at night. This is where you take a boat and set a paper lantern afloat.
- **[Hoi An Central Market](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/hoi-an-central-market)** — the eastern edge of the zone: fish and greens in the morning, food stalls and fabric later on.

## When is the Hoi An lantern festival?

Every evening is a lantern evening to some degree: silk lanterns light every street, vendors sell paper lanterns by the river, boats take people out on the water, and across the bridge the [night market](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/hoi-an-night-market) on An Hoi islet opens. That’s what people mean by the “lantern quarter” — there’s no separate district, it’s these same streets and the riverbank.

Once a month, on the **14th day of the lunar calendar**, the eve of the full moon, the town holds Old Town Night, with folk singing, bài chòi card games and street music. According to travel guides, the regular street lighting goes off at around 18:00 that night and the quarter runs on lanterns alone. Check a lunar calendar for the date in your month.

Normal evenings are busy too, especially 19:00–21:00. For photos without the crush, come at dusk, around 18:00, when the lanterns are already on and the tour groups are at dinner.

## How to get to Hoi An Ancient Town from Da Nang

1. **From Da Nang Airport (DAD)** — about 30 km, 40–50 minutes by taxi or Grab. Unofficially a Grab car costs 250,000–400,000 VND; drivers touting at arrivals ask more, so book in the app. Many Hoi An hotels and transfer firms also run shared shuttles.
2. **From central Da Nang or My Khe Beach** — the same coast road past the Marble Mountains, 40–50 minutes by car. A public bus also runs to Hoi An bus station, about 1 km north of the Old Town; guides disagree on its number and fare, so check locally.
3. **Get dropped at the edge** — on Tran Hung Dao or Phan Chau Trinh Street. Cars aren’t allowed into the zone from 9:00 until the evening; from there it’s 5–10 minutes on foot.
4. **Buy your ticket at the nearest booth** and head to the Japanese Covered Bridge: starting there and walking east along Tran Phu Street is the easiest route.
5. **From hotels around Hoi An or An Bang Beach** — 10–15 minutes by Grab; from the beach by bicycle about 20–25 minutes (5 km).

## How long to spend, and is it worth it?

Allow **about 3 hours** for the Ancient Town itself: the three main streets, three to five ticketed sites and a drink by the river. The best plan is to be at the first houses when they open, see the halls before the heat, rest in the afternoon and come back for the lanterns around 18:00. The ticket lasts up to three days, so splitting the visit costs nothing extra.

It’s worth it: this is the most complete old quarter in Vietnam, and it’s genuinely beautiful after dark. The honest downside: at midday in high season Tran Phu is packed, many ground floors are souvenir shops and tailors, and the houses are small and fairly alike inside. On a single day trip from Da Nang, don’t spend all five coupons on houses — save energy for the evening.

## Morning or evening in the Old Town?

|  | Morning | Evening |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ticketed sites | Open from 8:00 | Closed after 17:00 |
| Traffic | Motorbikes until 9:00 | Vehicle-free until 21:30 in summer, 21:00 in winter |
| Light | Soft daylight, no lanterns | Lanterns over the streets and on the river |
| Crowds | Light | Heavy, especially 19:00–21:00 |
| Ticket | Needed for houses and museums | May be checked at the zone entrances |

Site hours from Da Nang’s tourism board price table; vehicle-free hours from the same portal and the Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation. One ticket covers both if you split the visit.

> **Rainy season** Central Vietnam’s rains fall roughly September to December; February to April is the most comfortable time. After heavy autumn rain the river can rise and the riverside streets sometimes flood for a day or two — boats stop and parts of the waterfront close. Watch the forecast and keep a spare day.

## Before you go

Tick off what’s ready — your ticks are saved in this browser.

- [ ] Cash in small dong notes for the ticket
- [ ] Five coupons planned: bridge or Quan Cong, a museum, three sites
- [ ] Shoulders and knees covered for temples and assembly halls
- [ ] Grab pickup set on Tran Hung Dao or Phan Chau Trinh
- [ ] Water and a hat — the streets get hot by midday
- [ ] Lunar date checked, in case you land on Old Town Night

## Hoi An’s history

Historic places in Hoi An rated by YesGo.

- [Hoi An Central Market](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/hoi-an-central-market) — YesGo score 44/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · Free entry
- [Japanese Covered Bridge](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/japanese-covered-bridge) — YesGo score 40/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · Old Town ticket: 80,000–120,000 VND
- [Fujian Assembly Hall](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/fujian-assembly-hall) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Old Town ticket, 80,000–120,000 VND
- [Tan Ky Old House](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/tan-ky-old-house) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · One Old Town ticket coupon
- [Quan Cong Temple](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/quan-cong-temple) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · Old Town ticket, 80,000–120,000 VND
- [Hoi An Ancient Town](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/hoi-an-old-town) — YesGo score 34/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 3 h · 80,000–120,000 VND; streets free
- [My Son Sanctuary](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/my-son-sanctuary) — YesGo score 26/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h 30 min · 150,000 VND

## The Old Town in a day: temple, halls, house, bridge, night market

Quan Cong Temple by the market and the Fujian hall in the morning, then Tan Ky House and the Japanese Bridge, and the night market on An Hoi in the evening. Add them to your route — YesGo fits in the timing and walks.

1. [Quan Cong Temple](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/quan-cong-temple) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · Old Town ticket, 80,000–120,000 VND
2. [Fujian Assembly Hall](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/fujian-assembly-hall) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Old Town ticket, 80,000–120,000 VND
3. [Tan Ky Old House](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/tan-ky-old-house) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · One Old Town ticket coupon
4. [Japanese Covered Bridge](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/japanese-covered-bridge) — YesGo score 40/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · Old Town ticket: 80,000–120,000 VND
5. [Hoi An Night Market](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/hoi-an-night-market) — YesGo score 44/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free entry

## Don’t confuse

Hoi An isn’t Hanoi — the capital is in the north, a flight away. And [My Son Sanctuary](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/hoi-an/my-son-sanctuary) is a separate site of Cham ruins in the hills, about an hour’s drive inland; the Old Town ticket doesn’t cover it.

## Tips

- Buy the ticket on your first evening — it lasts up to three days, so the house and museum coupons are ready for the next morning.
- The Japanese Bridge and Quan Cong Temple share one coupon slot: to see both you need a second ticket.
- 8:00–10:00 is the calmest window, before the Da Nang day-trippers arrive.
- Cover shoulders and knees for assembly halls and temples.
- Find lantern boats along Bach Dang Street and agree the price before you board.
- Set Grab pickups on Tran Hung Dao or Phan Chau Trinh — cars can’t enter the zone for most of the day.

## Questions

### How much is the Hoi An Ancient Town entrance fee?

80,000 VND for three sites (the Japanese Bridge or Quan Cong Temple plus two more) or 120,000 VND for five including a museum. Under-16s are free.

### Do you need a ticket to walk around Hoi An Old Town?

The streets are open around the clock, but booths at the zone entrances can ask you to buy one, including in the evening. Keep the stub for your whole stay.

### What does the Hoi An ticket include?

The Japanese Bridge or Quan Cong Temple, Hoi An’s museums and three more sites of your choice, such as old houses, assembly halls and family chapels.

### How long is the Hoi An Old Town ticket valid?

Up to three days from purchase, according to Da Nang’s tourism portal. Some guides say one day; the official figure is three.

### What are Hoi An Ancient Town’s opening hours?

Streets are open 24/7. Ticketed sites open 8:00–17:00, and the zone is closed to vehicles 9:00–21:30 in summer and 9:00–21:00 in winter.

### When is the Hoi An full moon lantern festival?

On the 14th day of every lunar month. Travel guides say street lights go off around 18:00 and the town is lit by lanterns only.

### How do I get from Da Nang to Hoi An Ancient Town?

By taxi or Grab in 40–50 minutes — unofficially 250,000–400,000 VND from the airport — or by shared shuttle. Drivers drop you on Tran Hung Dao or Phan Chau Trinh.

### How long do you need in Hoi An Ancient Town?

About 3 hours for the streets and a few sites, plus an evening for the lanterns. Splitting it into a morning and an evening works best.

### Is Hoi An Ancient Town worth visiting?

Yes — it’s Vietnam’s best-preserved old quarter and lovely at night. Midday in high season is crowded, so go early and come back after dark.

## How we checked

The two ticket types (80,000 and 120,000 VND), their contents, three-day validity and free entry under 16 come from notice No. 125 of the Hoi An World Cultural Heritage Conservation Center; Da Nang's tourism price table labels the same amounts as Vietnamese and foreigner prices with height-based child rates, and we follow the notice. The 8:00–17:00 site hours come from the Da Nang price table. Ticket contents, the three-day validity and the vehicle-free hours come from the same portal’s ticket article and the Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Conflicts: guides say under-15s are free, and guides give validity anywhere from one day to three; we use the official figures. Sources count 8, 11 or 13 ticket booths, so we say about ten. Neither source defines which months count as summer and winter. The roughly 18:00 lights-off time on the 14th lunar day comes from travel guides only. Bus numbers and fares from Da Nang disagree between sources, so we leave them out; Grab fares are unofficial. The rainy-season flooding note is general seasonal advice.

## Sources

- Da Nang Department of Tourism (danangfantasticity.com): attraction price table, Hoi An Old Town ticket article
- Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation (hoianworldheritage.org.vn): ticket contents, walking-zone hours, museums, Old Town Night
- English Wikipedia: Hội An Old Town; Wikidata Q5965459
- CAND (People’s Public Security newspaper), English edition: ticket booths and the protected zone
- vietnamnet.vn and vietnamtourism.vn: Japanese Bridge reopening; full-moon nights
- nashaplaneta.net and vietnamvacation.com.vn: booths, payment, list of ticketed sites
- junglebosstours.com and nomadotravel.app: getting there from Da Nang, Grab fares

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