Hoi An Tourist Traps

The town of Hoi An is surely quaint and it has nice hotels and good food, but it is not a great destination. It is full of little shops that are there to get your money. There must be 100 clothing shops in this town. While it advertises itself as close to the beaches, in reality it is 7 or 8 Km from the beach. it's no wonder most tourists wander off after 2 days in town!

Unique Suggestions: Stay at a hotel near the beach, or go to Na Trang where the hotels are near the beach. You could also take some tours to local sites.

Fun Alternatives: Just relax for a couple days. Go down to the river at night and enjoy the good food and cold beer. If you want to go to the beach, take a motor bike. The sun is so intense that you won't stay there too long anyway.

We had our worst meal in Vietnam here. We had decided to splurge on a seafood at this upscale place as we were finally near the coast. But were very disappointed in the garlic shrimp that was more garlic than shrimp. At 50,000 dong (over three dollars) per meal, it was very over-priced by local standards and quite small. The service was less than friendly as well.

Fun Alternatives: Stay away from Van Loc Restaurant on 27 Tran Phuc.

Hoi An beach looks very inviting with its lovely white sand and its warm blue sea. But when we visited it was full of people peddlars. We spent 3 hours on the beach and the WHOLE time we were being asked to buy something. These peddlars wont take no for an answer. If your expecting a quiet laze in the sun you wont get it here.

Unique Suggestions: The only time they left us alone was when we were in the sea. So perhaps you could spend your whole time in the sea or just paddling or sitting in the surf.

Fun Alternatives: Your hotel pool.

To get inside many of the temples and hand carved buildings in Hoi An you have to purchase a pass. You can buy them singly or as a batch of three. But honestly, the buildings and temples can be viewed from the street without having to pay. Sure this is tight but when you are on a budget any saving helps.

The standard way of seeing Hoi An's sights involves buying a 5-sight tour ticket 50,000D at the entry to the old town. This ticket allows you to enter four places, picking one place from each of the four groups:
1 from 3 museums, 1 from 3 assembly halls, 1 from 4 traditional houses, The Japanese Bridge or Quan Cong's temple and one extra sight you may choose. It's not a very practical system, but this is how it works and there isn't much you can do.

Unique Suggestions: Try to visit more than one place from each group: show the used ticket and pay an extra 10,000D.

For some a must see, for me after seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia just a pain running between "stones" covered by grass in the heat of the noon. Entry 50.000 Dong, Trips can be booked in the hotels or at the travel agencies.

Unique Suggestions: Cover you head, drink a lot of water and take somebody with you to share the pain and have a little bit mor fun. Or give Ganja a chance.

Fun Alternatives: Angkor Wat as the ultimative temple compelx.