Two Day Hoi Ann Itinerary

I'm coffee sensitive so I avoid coffee unless it's for when I really need the energy, but having seen egg coffee I had to try it.

My review: pretty thicc, yet very creamy. It's like drinking a coffee flavored custard. I couldn't tell if I liked it, but I loved the ritual of heading to an bohemian decorated coffee shop to sit and plan the day.

There are quite a lot to choose from, so I'd recommend sampling a new one each morning to see which one you like best.

The Chùa Cầu bridge - nothing too remarkable but it was decorated with some beautiful lanterns. Felt like we were stepping to a new city from here.

There are several preserved templates and historic sites in the city, and it's worth visiting one or two to get a sense of the people/nobles that used to live here.

When we entered near the Chùa Cầu bridge, there was an organization that had a map to the key historical sites to visit, along with a pass (I think it was called a Hoi An Old Town Ticket for ~$5.50) for visiting several sites.

Of the sites we did visit:

• The Old House of Phung Hung: The old house of a chief and military leader. It's a very well preserved house that detailed some of the history of the house and the family that lived there
• Đình Cẩm Phô: Beautiful heritage building with several shrines in an outdoor setting.

After those two, we decided to tap out and spend the rest of the day shopping/drinking. Considering that, if you're not very engaged in history, it may be worth grabbing a map and visiting each site individually.

There are tons of vendors selling everything from clothes to food to souvenirs. It's a great place to pick up some souvenirs.

Madam Khanh's Banh Mi shop most popular sandwich shop in Hội An, but to tell you the truth we can't give you an honest review because we didn't go.

When we went, the line was painfully long, and in our opinion it's pretty hard to fuck up a banh mi. Instead, we ended up getting bánh bèo cô from a different restaurant (more on that in the next section).

Weirdly enough, I'm a bigger fan of Bánh bèo cô (pronounced buhn-bey-oh-say-oh spoken very quickly) compared to banh mi's, but it's probably because I've been spoiled with banh mi's having grown up in San Jose, California (largest vietnamese population outside of Vietnam).

Bánh bèo cô is another popular vietnamese street dish that looks like a rice cake with meat, scallion and dipping sauce on it. It's a very tasty and saucy snack.

Since we couldn't get into Madam Kanh's (we refused to wait), Jen navigated us to this restaurant that more closely resembled a patio with an house kitchen where we served some delicious bánh bèo cô.

I don't think I've ever eaten so many servings in one go (I ordered 12 for myself) since it's always felt more like a snack to share, but hey! When in vietnam ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

Another great activity that Jen booked for us was a lantern making shop.

When you take the class, you'll meet at the shop and will be provided with the lantern base. You'll then select from a range of different cloth designs to decorate your lantern with.

I made my lantern with a half day/half night pattern by using two different cloth designs, while Jen used a single cloth design across the whole lantern.

It's a great souvenir that will remind us of our time in Hoi An, though admittedly we've yet to actually hang it up in our apartments.

When night falls, the city transitions into something out of a fairy tale as it gets illuminated by lanterns.

One of the most popular wholesome activities to do at night is to take a lantern boat ride. If you walk along the riverside, you'll find a few groups of very organized boat ride operators that will take you on a 30 minute loop along the river. It's a very cliche experience, but nevertheless worth doing as a romantic gesture.

My biggest gripe is that they won't let you take off the stupid looking life jackets, but we were lucky to snap a pic right before we got off the boat.

We biked past this shop and noticed it had a huge line, so we decided to come back later in the day when there was less of a line.

They sell Mót which, to be honest, I can't even tell you what it is. I know that it tasted very refreshing and that it was a great way to cool down in the hot weather.

To learn more about this drink, visit here.

One thing I wished we'd known before visiting Hội An is their notoriety for custom tailoring. There are hundreds of custom tailors in Hội An, and it's a great place to get a custom suit or dress made for a fraction of the price you would have paid in the US.

The hardest part about picking a tailor shop when you have so many options is knowing which one is good. I strongly suspect that they send the requests to the same 3-4 local factories that everyone else is using, so it's likely more about how you feel about the service that you receive from the shop (quality control, price, customer service, etc).

We listed Ba Ri Tailor since it was the first shop we walked into and out with a suit, and it seems that they're still doing well 2 years later (suit's also still held up).

Our recommendation for tailor shopping would be:

1. Know what you want beforehand: The tailors are very skillful, and I feel that they can make anything you want. Their catalogues are often just pinterest boards of other suits/dresses on the web, and from what we received, they're able to replicate it pretty well.
2. Negotiate: The prices are negotiable, and you can often get a better deal if you're buying multiple items. Bargaining's part of the fun so we won't list the prices we paid - experiment and see what you can get!
3. Try out different shops: Some shops are cheaper than others, but you really won't know if it's worth it until a few months pass. One of the shops we tried had a great price, but the quality control was lacking since some of the threading on Jen's leather jacket had started to come apart months after purchasing.

There are tons of night markets that you'll see in Vietnam, but there is something about walking along a lantern illuminated riverside market that feels so dreamy.

We spent about an hour going between the markets and shops/bars nearby, so it's a good way to spend the rest of your night before heading to bed.

Jen did a ton of research into daytrips out of Hội An and found that people did one of two things: a coconut boat ride or a cooking class.

She found a tour that did both, and it ended up being the highlight of the trip.

Our tour guide (Hon) picked us up from our hotel and took us to a local market to buy ingredients for our cooking class. She explained what to look for in terms of freshness, and how to decide what the best ingredients were. To be honest I wish I took more notes because by the time I wrote this, I forgot everything she taught 😅.

After going through the market, she drove us to the starting point for the coconut boat tour while explaining the history of the area, and that it used to be a fishing town but has since transitioned into a town that survives on tourism. It was great to hear the nuances of the town's changing history and the local perspective.

I went into the coconut boat ride with zero expectations or knowledge, and man was I surprised. I didn't realize how fucking crazy the tour operators could be with spinning their bots. I damn near went overboard after being put on what I can only describe as a centrifugal teacup. I was a dizzy mess, but I got some great footage to go along with it.

Our boat tour guide (sorry, totally forgot your name!) was equally pleasent. Though his english wasn't as good, Jen was able to translate a lot of what he said and explained how the locals used to fish in the area. He was also kind of an eccentric person who* loved to play around and make noises and jokes, so he made it a fun time.

Finally, at the end of the coconut boat ride, we would be dropped off at Hon's family house where she taught us how to prepare a meal that we would then eat together as a group. It was a wholesome experience to be invited to her family home and share a meal with the tour guide operators. Truly felt like an authentic experience vs just another tour.