Hoi An Vietnam, the city of lanterns

We arrived in Vietnam for the month and our first “home” was in Hoi An! We spent almost 2.5 weeks in this beautiful city and it was the perfect stop for our family. Hoi An is also known as the ‘city of lanterns” because the whole city lights up at night & it was one of our most favorite things to experience!

When we first arrive in a new city, we try to always book some kind of tour. We primarily use Airbnb Experiences but there are many great tour websites to search through! In Hoi An we booked a tour with our now friend Harry. He does a “Hidden Gems of Hoi An” Tour where he takes you on the back roads of the city to meet some of the markers and farmers who make the ingredients that are used in the local dishes. He then brought us to a local market where we got to try some local favorites and ended with a delicious Cao Lo lunch (the Bahn Mi place was closed, but we stopped by at a later date!) We enjoyed our time with Harry so much and highly recommend him. You can book his tour here.

Through our research online we had read about the Lantern Festival that happens in Hoi An once a month based on the Chinese calendar, so we were anticipating experiencing the city on that day when Harry and our Airbnb host assured us that now, primarily due to tourism, the lantern festival experience happens every night. So take note if you plan to visit - you can experience the magic if you just stay until the sun goes down!

You can pay few dollars to take a short boat ride where you are also able to light a candle and let it float in the water. The girls loved this part! The whole city is lit by lanterns big & small and the streets were filled with people eating outside, locals playing music and lots of tourists snapping pictures with the lanterns (including us!).

During the say Hoi An is much more laid back and we enjoyed wandering the streets on foot or by bike, eating at local restaurants and drinking lots and lots of coffee.

Hoi An is a must when you are planning your visit to Hoi An and I know that you will enjoy it as much as we did!