Where to Stay in Hoi An (Hội An): Old Town, Villages or Beach

For a first visit, stay in or right next to the old town: you can walk to the river at night and see the streets early, before the crowds. Pick the villages for quiet, An Bang (An Bàng) for the beach, and Da Nang (Đà Nẵng) if Hoi An is a day trip or you have an early flight.

Written by Tụi mình mê biểnPublished October 23, 2026Updated October 23, 2026

Hoi An Ancient Town from above at dusk, the Hoai River running between lit-up tiled roofs on both banks and branches of the Thu Bon River in the distance, April 2024 — Hoi An Ancient Town and the Hoai River (sông Hoài) from above at dusk, with branches of the Thu Bon River (sông Thu Bồn) in the distance, April 2024.

Hoi An is smaller than it looks on a booking site. From the Japanese Covered Bridge (Chùa Cầu) it is roughly a 15-minute bike ride to the vegetable gardens of Tra Que (Trà Quế), and a little farther to An Bang Beach. What really separates the areas is where you wake up, on a street of old shophouses, in a village garden or by the sea, and how you get back at night.

Best area to stay in Hoi An: the options at a glance #

Area	Best for	Keep in mind
Inside the old town	First visits of two or three nights, evening walks, early mornings	No cars or motorbikes in pedestrian hours; music bars can be noisy; riverside houses flood easily
Just outside the old town (10-15 minutes' walk)	Families with young kids, older travelers, heavy luggage	Ask whether the street floods in heavy rain
Villages: Cam Thanh (Cẩm Thanh), Cam Chau (Cẩm Châu), Tra Que	Quiet stays of three nights or more, cycling	Transport needed at night; riverside villages can be cut off in big floods
An Bang Beach	Mornings in the sea, evenings in town	Eroded after the late-2025 storms; swim only where lifeguards are on duty
Cua Dai Beach	Resort stays with a pool, few trips into town	Eroded, with a sand project due to finish in 2026; ask whether you can swim
Da Nang, with a day trip	A day trip to Hoi An; the night before an early flight	Just over 30 km; last bus back at 6:30pm

Staying in or near the Ancient Town #

Staying inside or next to the old town means there is no ride to arrange after an evening among the lanterns, especially on Old Town Night, held on the 14th day of each lunar month. An old town ticket is valid for up to three days; keep the ticket stub for use during that period.

According to the Da Nang tourism portal (March 2026), the core of the Ancient Town is open only to pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles from 9am to 9:30pm in summer and until 9pm in winter. Taxis stop at the edge of the zone, so when you book, ask where a car can drop you and whether someone can help with your bags. Rooms near the night market or riverside bars with live music can be noisy until late; light sleepers should ask whether the room faces the street or a back lane.

A row of yellow-walled, tile-roofed houses on the riverbank in the southwest of Hoi An Ancient Town, reflected in still water, seen from Hong Lanh Bridge, January 2020 — Riverside houses in the southwest of Hoi An Ancient Town, seen from Hong Lanh (Hồng Lãnh) Bridge, January 2020.

Riverside houses flood easily: in the floods of late 2025, the An Hoi (An Hội) quarter across the Hoai River and riverside streets such as Bach Dang (Bạch Đằng) and Nguyen Phuc Chu (Nguyễn Phúc Chu) went under. From September to December, we suggest a room above the ground floor, a few blocks back from the river.

A base just outside the core, 10 to 15 minutes' walk away, is still close enough for a lantern-lit evening, and a car can pull up at the door, which suits families with small children, grandparents and anyone with a lot of luggage. Some low-lying streets still flood in a downpour, as Tran Hung Dao (Trần Hưng Đạo) up to the Hai Ba Trung (Hai Bà Trưng) junction did on September 12, 2026.

The villages: Cam Thanh, Cam Chau and Tra Que #

Tra Que lies about 3 km north of the old town on the road to An Bang; Cam Thanh, with the Bay Mau (Bảy Mẫu) water-coconut forest, is about 4 km to the east; Cam Chau sits between the old town and Cua Dai Beach. Most places to stay are homestays and garden villas, many run by local families who also offer cooking classes or basket-boat rides.

The reason to stay out here is the mornings. You can cycle through the fields of Cam Kim (Cẩm Kim) and Tra Que, follow the narrow brick paths between the vegetable beds, or reach the coconut forest before the crowds: the Hoi An Dong (Hội An Đông) ward authorities put visitor numbers there at 5,000-6,000 a day (September 2026).

Rows of spring onions and herbs in the Tra Que vegetable village, Hoi An, with houses and trees behind under a cloudy sky, July 2018 — Beds of spring onions and herbs in the Tra Que vegetable village, July 2018.

The trade-off is the evenings: cycling 3-5 km back after dinner in town takes roughly 15-25 minutes, partly on quiet, unlit stretches, so bring a bike light or ask your host to call a taxi they trust.

In flood season, riverside villages can be cut off for days, as the Thanh Ha (Thanh Hà) pottery village was in late October 2025. If you book a village stay between September and December, ask your host how high the water reached in 2025 and where guests go when it floods.

An Bang or Cua Dai: staying by the beach #

By map, An Bang (at the end of Hai Ba Trung Street) and Cua Dai are each about 5 km from the Japanese Covered Bridge, roughly 10 to 15 minutes by car. On summer days An Bang fills up, with many visitors coming straight from the old town for a swim.

Before booking by the sea, know that Hoi An's coast is eroding. After the late-2025 storms, nearly 8 km of shoreline between Cua Dai and An Bang was cut back, in places into sand cliffs right behind rows of restaurants, and many stretches had signs banning swimming. A breakwater and sand-pumping project in Hoi An Dong ward is due to finish in 2026, and the main works on a 1,950 m emergency seawall in the Hoi An Dong and Hoi An Tay (Hội An Tây) wards were completed on September 30, 2026, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

So the beach in front of each property can look very different: sand on one stretch, a rock seawall, sandbags or a building site on another. Before booking, ask for recent photos of the nearest beach and whether it is open for swimming with lifeguards; from October to early the following year, choose a place with a pool so your stay does not depend on the sea.

A round basket boat on wet sand at An Bang Beach, Hoi An, with clouds reflected on the shore, a few distant figures and mountains on the horizon, June 2017 — A basket boat on An Bang Beach, archive photo from June 2017, before the late-2025 erosion.

Hoi An Old Town or An Bang Beach? For two or three days, we would stay in the old town: the beach is an easy half-day trip, while the evenings and early mornings in town are hard to make up from farther out.

Staying in Hoi An vs Da Nang #

Hoi An is just over 30 km from central Da Nang, under an hour by car. Bus route 2 runs between Da Nang Central Bus Station and Hoi An, entering town along Ly Thuong Kiet (Lý Thường Kiệt) Street, every 15 to 30 minutes, for up to VND30,000 (August 2026). On the DanangBus timetable in use since August 28, 2026, the last bus back leaves Hoi An at 6:30pm, just as the lanterns start to come on.

Basing yourself in Da Nang works if Hoi An is a single day on a beach holiday at My Khe (Mỹ Khê); if you stay into the evening, book a taxi or ride-hailing car for the return. For an Old Town Night, or more than one visit, a night or two in Hoi An saves hours in the car.

Flood season and booking #

Heavy rain typically begins in October, and the Hoai River can rise quickly when it pours upstream: in late October 2025, the old town was under 1-2 m of water and one riverside resort evacuated all its guests. If you travel in this season, ask the property about its evacuation plan during floods and whether there is a backup generator, and choose a rate you can cancel or change.

Addresses on booking sites may use the ward names in force since July 1, 2025: the old town is in Hoi An Ward (phường Hội An); Cam Chau, Cam Thanh and Cua Dai in Hoi An Dong; An Bang, Tra Que and Thanh Ha in Hoi An Tay, all within Da Nang City. Check the pin on the map rather than relying on the ward name. For a homestay or villa booked through social media, check who receives the deposit and the cancellation terms before you pay.

Where to stay in Hoi An: common questions #

How many nights do you need in Hoi An?

Two nights suit a first visit: one evening in the old town, one early-morning walk and half a day in the villages or at the beach. With three or four nights, we suggest starting in the old town, then moving to a village or the beach.

Can I cycle into the old town from a village stay?

Yes. During pedestrian hours, the core of the Ancient Town stays open to non-motorized vehicles such as bicycles, while motorbikes and cars park outside. When the streets are crowded, get off and walk your bike.

Where should I stay the night before an early flight from Da Nang?

For a dawn departure, spending the last night in Da Nang saves a drive of about 28 km to the airport in the dark. If you stay in Hoi An, book your ride the day before and confirm the time and pick-up point.

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