My husband and I are travelling to Vietnam and are spending five nights in Hoi An in mid March. I'm having a bit of trouble ascertaining if we should stay in old town or the beach. I have been reading people saying it is too cold and windy to swim. Is there much to do at the beach? Any advice on which location?
Hoi an - Stay in Old Town or The Beach
voteoften on 05/03/2016 - 23:26
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Yes, I agree, but my husband likes water views. He is already indulging me by agreeing to take the overnight train from Saigon to Da Nang. It sounds boring, especially as the weather will likely be mixed.
Can anyone give me additional reason to stay in town? I'm worried it'll be a thing where he hasn't experienced staying at the beach and will be feeling as if he missed out. Do you get hassled at the beach, etc
We caught the sleeper train from Saigon to Nha trang, a real beach resort town, then on to da nang for Hoi Ann.
The trains were a great part of our holiday, for the ability to see some scenery, the excitement of a sleeper train for my kids, and the chance to mix with some locals.
Nha Trang was kind of the Gold Coast of Vietnam. Not bad, but kind of down market slick, good times, party town. We enjoyed the beach and went to the water park,which was excellent.
I liked Hoi Ann a lot more.
It would likely be possible to get a river view in the middle of Hoi Ann which would be amazing at night with the lanterns. Perhaps that water view would suit?I've been to Nha Trang and know what you are saying. We are catching the 10pm sleeper which gets in Da Nang at 2pm. I love the overnight trains and the Bangkok to Chang Mai is a great favourite. I've booked at the Hoi An Marina Resort which is apparently a two minute walk to the Japanese bridge. http://www.hoianmarina.com/ This will be his first time in Vietnam and the hotel where we will stay the longest. I just think that old town is so lovely but don't want him to be disappointed. Thanks for your input.
For those who have not taken trains, the best resource ever would have to be The man in Seat 61. I never would have started taking trains without the wealth of knowledge available on that website. You know exactly what to expect, except on the Thai trains, the toilets can get quite a workout and there can be an overwhelming amount of liquid sloshing around on the floor. Footwear decisions are important.
Hoi An, not Hoi Ann :)
There are some really cute places by the beach that were booked out… I'd do both if you can.
This will be a rant, but out of all the cities I went to in vietnam; Hoi An was probably the worst. Sure the bridge is nice, the night scenery is nice and its ancient houses is nice; but other than that- its just so damn touristy. The food is the same, literally cao lao or mi quan. Most of the locals there will charge you absorbent prices from "entrance tickets" to food to the tailors. It seems like one of those places were tourists flock to just because of the advertisements. If i was to do vietnam again, I would only spend 1 night in Hoi An and go back to Da Nang and spend more time in the capital cities. In my case, I spent 4 nights where the first night was new and exciting. 2nd day I went bicycling all over Hoi An, from the beach to old town to the next island to the south. Having run out of the things to do, we decided to rent motorcycles and went even further but couldn't find much else to do. On the 4th, we were considering how long it would our little scooters to get us back to Da Nang.
p.s. I dared to order Pho Bo at a local shop and they literally opened a pack of instant pho.
I would stay in the old town. The beach is a bike ride away, but the old town is where all the action is. There's nothing much at the beach except the beach, so you're better off staying near the centre. You should be able to find a hotel with views of the river.
My family and I (2 adults + 3 kids) stayed at the Anantara Resort in Hoi An last year. It's within walking distance to the old town. Lovely hotel, perfect location, great pool, lovely food, great services. Slightly more expensive then other hotels, but worth every cent…highly recommended.
Also highly recommended is the 'Heaven & Earth Bicycle Tours' http://www.vietnam-bicycle.com/
Hoi An is a lovely place…enjoy!Thanks all. We are going to stay in old town.
Anyone got any unique recommendations for Saigon?
Thanks that's a great link. I'm actually looking for accomodation though. I should have been more clear.
Stay in Old Town. I liked being able to get up and be in the hussle and bussle. I stayed at Long Life River View hotel which is very close to all the eateries and near the Japanese bridge. The hotel was ok, a little run down but it was reasonably priced.
Also of note you'll see people selling 'entry tickets' into old town. This is not quite a scam but not legit either. Entry to old town is free. What they are selling is entry into some tourist spots (temple, museum etc). Buy it if you want but don't feel compelled to buy them either.
Just out if curiosity, how much are these tickets? I was on a "on your own" tour of Hoi An from a cruise ship and they gave us some tickets that were punched, I think at the Japanese bridge. I was wondering if when we stayed there we would have to pay every time we crossed the river.
No idea how much. I never cared to ask lol.
They'll occasionally say "Hey you have to pay entry fee" to you. When they did this I've very loudly (but in a cheeky manner) say "You know I don't have to" and you'd watch all the westerners about to pull out their wallets put them back in and keep walking.
You would have had your ticket punched at the Japanese bridge to go into that museum that's in the middle. The only thing I wanted to see which required a ticket was the Temple (I looked amazing from the outside). But IIRC they wanted like 200,000dong entry. Seemed a bit too rich to have a gander at a temple so I never went in.
OK thanks for that. I thought I was going to have to pay every time I crossed, like the suspended bridge in Luang Prabang.
I've been to VN twice, both for a month, in 2015 and 2013. Looks like this is brand new, and only started in April last year or so.
120,000d for a ticket. This ticket used to be purchased by tourists, and used to grant entrance into various different old houses, and temples etc. I believe it's the same as before, however they now require you purchase this to enter old town! Not really a deal breaker though, it's only like $8, and I would purchase it anyway to check out the sites.Wade
Can you go back and forth for a few days without a new ticket? I was there in Oct 2015.
Yes, officially it's for 10 days I believe.
Thanks that is what I have confirmed elsewhere.
Maybe, I was there January 2015. Back then they would tell you it was required, but it really wasn't.
Found a story - http://tuoitrenews.vn/lifestyle/19200/foreigners-outraged-by…
Seems officially yes you should buy a ticket. But no one will stop you from walking in without one.
Also don't bother with the Pottery Village. What a waste of time that place was. Basically a ghost town with a few pottery shops and lots of beggers.
Somehow, the wife who has only just got her first passport at 43, has somehow got the intention of going to vietnam for her first trip overseas.
I was stunned. I've always wanted to go, and didn't think she would be keen.How long do you think would be a decent time to go and experience Vietnam ?
First time for me, (travelled quite alot when I was younger) first time overseas for her.
Depends on what you want to do. I'd probably suggest starting a more westerner friendly destination like Singapore so that it's not so much of a culture shock when you get to Vietnam.
I spent 3 weeks in Vietnam and that was barely enough time to see it what we saw. We managed Hanoi (4 days), Ha Long Bay (2 days), Hue (1 day), Hoi An (4 days), Nha Trang (5 days) and Saigon (5 days). I didn't get to see Sapa, so that'll have to be in a future trip.
If I did it all again, I'd swap out Nha Trang (the place was a hole) with Sapa for 2 days and add a couple more days to Hanoi.
My suggestion is pull out a map and look at the country. Work out where you want to start, where you want to end up and how long your holiday will be. Then start sorting out how long for each location.
Thanks for the info.
Appreciate anything further you can add
Don't spend too much on hotels. I stayed at $30 a night hotels through to 5 star big chain resorts.
The $30 a night rooms were amazing for the price which were equivalent of 3 - 4 stars. Marble foyers, clean rooms, comfortable beds. They were just generally small rooms because of property is very thin there. But considering I was only there to sleep I didn't mind.
@SirFlibbled:
That sounds pretty good.
I agree, clean safe rooms to sleep in, I'm usually up and out and about…..back for shower and out again.
Is that a pretty good budget to look at?@albanyson: For 3 weeks, including tailoring in Hoi An, airfare, hotels, food etc I think I spent about $4.5K.
Old town is lovely. I wouldn't stay at the beach, even though it is cheaper and isn't that far (2km?).
A lot of the charm of Hoi Ann is just being able to walk everywhere with none of the traffic issues elsewhere in Vietnam.
Perhaps if I was staying for a month I might split my time with a week or so at the beach, but not for a short trip.
Now you have me wanting to go back to Hoi Ann :-(