Lured Into the Charms of Hoi An

If Hue was a stopover, Hoi An was the place I could have spent a week. I’d heard so many great things from my fellow travelers about the historic town in middle Vietnam, but I still wasn’t sure if it would seem too Disney-esque for my liking.

But my concerns were unfounded. Hoi An is as iconically Vietnamese as you’d expect, with the signature architecture and red lanterns, but is charming enough to make you want to stay longer than a few days.

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Most people visit this town for the famous tailors, who can make you any item of clothing you’d like. But as with other hyped destinations, you’ll find a lot of mediocre tailors who get very pushy. We found this out a few times, starting with the moment we hopped off the bus from Hue.

“You need clothes? Looking for tailor?” they shouted as we tried to get our bearings with our backpacks in tow. Every time we walked down the street from our hotel, we were harassed about getting clothes made. It wasn’t any better in town, where I tried on a dress to see how it fit and was told I had to buy now and that I couldn’t come back later. I don’t react well to aggression.

This turned me off from most tailors and I knew I didn’t need more clothes, anyways. Sammi, on the other hand, had done her research and found a small tailor shop run by a woman and her daughter named Khoi Custom Tailor. She ended up getting a pair of black pants and jeans made and the process was much better.

She went in for fittings and wasn’t afraid to tell her when something didn’t fit right. She also brought in pictures, which helped as well. I, on the other hand, found myself a lovely lady to make me two pairs of custom leather shoes, pictured above, for $35 USD. My sandals had recently broken and she was able to make a pair to fit my wonky feet. She’s located at 69 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street if you want to go see her!

While we waited for our custom creations, we borrowed bikes from our hotel and pedaled towards the beach. Once we were told we had to pay to park our bikes, we went back to the hotel, as we knew we’d be spending the next few days in Nha Trang and Mui Ne on the beach.

We also went to the Herb Village for a nice lunch and exploration. Most hotels and guesthouses have bikes for rent, usually for free, but there are plenty of shops that also rent them out.

And while I heard about the specialties of Hue, I wasn’t overly impressed and found that Hoi An had much better food. We didn’t have a bad meal our entire stay and went to one restaurant more than once. We stopped for bahn mi at Bahn Mi Phuong, which came recommended by Anthony Bourdain as the best he’d ever had.

I liked it, as it was spicier than the other sandwiches I’d had, but it had so many ingredients it was hard to know what you were tasting. Morning Glory Restaurant in the Old Quarter came highly recommended as well for its traditional Vietnamese fare and cooking classes. It was a bit pricier than what we’d been used to, but I had a delicious crab dumpling soup that I would happily eat again.

On the day we pedaled out to the Herb Village, we had a quiet lunch overlooking the fields at the Water Wheel Restaurant, which also has its own cooking classes. As this was the low season, we were the only customers, but were well attended.

I had a huge papaya salad with seafood, while Sammi had a beef hotpot. Our hotel was located a 15 minute walk from town, so we ended up eating near there a few times at Tin Tin, where the “fresh beer” was cheap and the chicken rice was delicious.

Also down the street is Hoai Linh, a place run by a young local with the best fried wontons topped with vegetables and mango. On our last night in town, we went to The Chef, a restaurant at the top level of a store that overlooks Hoi An. We watched the sun go down and I enjoyed a margarita and cau lao, thick noodles with chicken and vegetables.

Hoi An is well worth a stop on your way through Vietnam, if not just to see the old city and eat as much of the food as you can. Just remember to plan ahead if you want items tailored, as it can be rather overwhelming once you get there.

Have you visited charming Hoi An?