Walk Hoi An’s old town and eat cao lau

What the experience is

Hoi An was a trading port from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, and more than a thousand of its old houses survive on a few streets beside the Thu Bon river. The old town is small enough to cross in fifteen minutes, and its streets are closed to motorised vehicles for much of the day. The experience is a slow day inside it, with breaks for food and for the tailor.

A route

Begin early, before the heat and the tour groups, at the Japanese covered bridge, a wooden bridge built at the start of the seventeenth century. Walk east along the main street. Go into one of the merchant houses, where a shop at the front leads through a courtyard to a warehouse on the river, and into one of the Chinese assembly halls, built by traders from the same province as places to meet and worship.

Before lunch, visit a tailor. Hoi An is known for clothes made to measure in a day or two. Order on the first morning of a stay and return for a fitting the next day: the second fitting is what makes the difference.

Lunch is cao lau. The noodles are thick and chewy, made from rice soaked in lye water, and are served with sliced pork, greens, herbs, crisp fried squares of dough and a spoonful of broth. Tradition says the water must come from one old well in the town. The dish is rarely found elsewhere.

Return at dusk, when silk lanterns are lit along the streets and the river.

When to go

February to May is the most comfortable period. Summer is hot, and in the autumn rains the river often floods the lower streets. Early morning and evening are the best hours in any month.

Good to know

The streets of the old town can be walked freely, but a ticket is required to enter the monuments (houses, assembly halls and museums); it admits the holder to a choice of them. Dress modestly for the assembly halls, which are places of worship. Tailors vary in quality; a hotel’s recommendation is worth having, and a rushed order rarely fits well.

Why OKYTO recommends it

Hoi An is busy, and it is still one of the few old towns in Southeast Asia that survives whole, street after street. Seen early and late, with the middle of the day spent at the beach, it keeps its charm. Our guide to Hoi An gives the history. Four Seasons The Nam Hai is fifteen minutes away, and the page on Hue and Hoi An places the town in a longer journey.