Hoian Walking Tours Night Market, Colourful Lanterns, Boat Ride

HU-I, THE KLOOK-PROVIDED HOI AN, VIETNAM GUIDE: Thank God in His Name of Jesus, Amen! Hu-i (pictured with us here, on the left) is one tour guide who belongs to the stable of Klook, a tour provider across the globe. In our past travels abroad, my wife had been tapping Klook for transportation arrangements and, in the case of our Vietnam 2026 visit, for tour guides. In our tour of Hoi An on 14 September 2026, Hu-i was the Klook-appointed guide. He is gentle, unassuming, and, most importantly, totally knowledgeable of Hoi An, giving us valuable information on its history, its people, the important and interesting spots for a must-visit adventure and memorable photo opportunities. Hu-i first brought us to the Cong Caphe coffee and local delicacy-shop, located near the entrance of the town. It is a heavily-patronized coffee shop, a favorite among first time and returning tourists, foreigners and locals alike. Then, he brought us to the Japanese Bridge at the center of the town, and then to the town’s night market along the banks of the Hoi An river, pointing out to us specialty eateries, lodging houses, and many shops offering locally-produced souvenir items. My wife and our daughter bought textiles and ready made Vietnamese female dresses at a big shop pointed out by Hu-i. At the end of the tour, Hu-i sent us aboard bancas where we were to light (as we lighted later on) little boxes with lighted candles which we laid to float on the river. My family and I will certainly recommend Hu-i to anyone wanting a comprehensive narrative about Hoi An and its attractions. Salamat Panginoong Jesus, Amen! Klook

I absolutely adored this spot—it’s a total must-see! The abundance of shops gives it a charming, old-world town vibe. The lantern boat ride was a highlight, particularly with the stunning views after dark.

I recommend Hoi An at least one night to enjoy its fantastic environment. The lantern is very good, and the boat is worth to ride. The food is delicious. Little reminder, if you ant to use grab to back to hotel, choose easy to identify place. We always choose King Spa near the road. Also there is quite hot, sometimes enjoy the coffee shop there.

HoiAn, the old capital is marvelous during the day is so beautiful and serene and by night, just love it. The food tour was an unforgettable experience. We enjoyed Cao Lau noodles with tender pork, and a crisp banh mi ha packed with pork slices, fresh herbs, what a taste and damn cheap here. The night market was alive with vibrant colors of lanterns glowed bright and creating a mesmerizing environment. in the gentle evening breeze our shopping was filled with joy and we bought a few lanterns. After exploring, I enjoyed a strong black coffee and my wife enjoyed a refreshing mocktail by the river enjoying the beauty of the night. Sitting under the lantern-lit sky, sipping my drinks while watching boats glide past glowing lanterns was serene and magical—a moment of peace and fulfillment. The highlight was the lantern boat ride, images of hundreds of glowing lanterns on the water from the passing boats make us feel like a journey of lifetime. Anyone visiting HoiAn must take the food tour, stroll around the narrow streets and the river bank, visit the night market and undertake the lantern boat. Just Do IT...

Hoi An, a wonderfully peaceful escape! My second, longer visit for 5 days. Direct flights from Ahmedabad to Da Nang make it easy, with Hoi An just 30 mins away. Staying near the ancient village means everything's walkable, perfect for exploring the lantern-lit streets, historic architecture, and charming riverside. Even found an Indian restaurant.💦🌷

4 stars - it is a nice view when sitting on the boat. We saw many families are talking pictures with putting the lanterns on the river. The staff is very nice who keeps talking pictures for us.

Hoi A was very interesting. We went on a TripADeal tour. Our tour guide was Huy, he was great. Very informative and funny as well. He looked after us really well!

My family and I went to the center district of Hoi Ancient Town for shopping and enjoyed the city night. We got on a small boat floating along the river for thirty minutes at night. Hoi An ancient is absolutely beautiful. There are so many gift shops, restaurants, night clubs, street foods, massage therapy places, and clothing stores. We had an amazing time walking around Hoi An ancient at night. We took some pictures for memories.

Just travelled to Hoi A with Trip a Dealto Hoi An and Hue. Mot aka Tom was our guide. He went out of his way to make the tour interesting and comfortable. I especially enjoyed the cycling tour outside Hue through the village visiting artists and old home and more it was great fun!

Such a beautiful town with loads of character. Wonderful cafes and friendly people. So much history and wonderful markets

Hoi An has the potential to be a gem. Quaint, picturesque and photogenic. If it was not completely overrun by tourists! I was shocked how incredibly packed this place was! Hundreds of vendors, dozens of boats, saw hardly any of the famous lanterns on the river, instead thousands and thousands of tourists. A cute little place, spoiled by over tourism.

So glad we booked at the Ancient Town so we were able to capture the beautiful scenery from sunrise to sundown. Beautiful pictures at different time of the day . Hoi An is one place that we can go all the time

You can’t walk around or look at anything in peace. The salespeople are extremely pushy and almost force you to buy anything. Bars, clothes, boat tours… and they demand ridiculously high prices. You barely have any real contact with locals. The quality of the cafés and restaurants is far below average compared to the rest of Vietnam. 95% of the reviews on Google are fake, even the ones for the accommodations. Probably a day Trip is enough

+ Exotic + Boat lanterns after sunset + Access from/to Da Nang - Far too many tourists - Aggressive sellers - Pointless boat tour - Many low quality stores and a few serious ones

Hoi An has to be my fav place in the Vietnam. It’s a small quaint town famous for the lantern boat rides and trust me it is magical. The town becomes so magical around the night time around the lake filled with lantern boats. Many people release candles in the lakes and make wishes. The boat ride cost us 150k VND for 2 people.

We loved the colourful lanterns, night lights & serene boat ride down the river! The town comes alive at night & definitely worth visiting this quaint town.

Excellent way to see and do best things in Hoi An.Lanterns were plentiful and reasonably priced, river cruise at night was special, placed a candle in the river for good wishes with happy boat driver who sang as well. Enjoyed the markets and bargained for many food items, fun.

My family and I went to the center district of Hoi Ancient Town for shopping and enjoyed the city night. We got on a small boat floating along the river for thirty minutes at night. Hoi An ancient is absolutely beautiful. There are so many gift shops, restaurants, night clubs, street foods, massage therapy places, and clothing stores. We had an amazing time walking around Hoi An ancient at night. We took some pictures for memories. I also rode on a Xi Lo bike for a city tour.

Remarkable experience. A very ‘Instagrammable’ place. The ancient quality of this UNESCO old city makes up for a rather over-touristed character. Photos do come out remarkable though because of the city’s color palette. The are lots of fun and unique shops. Definitely be prepared to bargain. Don’t pay full price. I didn’t think I’d like the night-boat lantern tour, but I did. I didn’t think I’d go shopping, but I needed spending half my time doing so, lol. The boat ride was maybe 30 minutes for a cheap $150k VND. I’d do it again. Loads of people at night for sure. If you want a more relaxed experience, go in the morning. I don’t understand why they have entry tickets into the city…nobody gets them. And people can enter through so many locations anyway. The local police will stop you if you try to drive or ride moped into the main areas at night because it’s meant for foot traffic. Take a Grab, ride a bicycle, or walk. It’s fine. And bring water…it’s hot and humid. A great experience with great food.

Lovely tour guide, and great experience. Lantern boat ride was beautiful and the food was good. Thank you for a nice night

Worth the trip, lovely night, vibrant atmosphere, colourful scene, great food, lovely people, boat ride was also great

This is a well maintained old town which makes for half a day of wandering around, looking at touristy things and a couple of interesting 'museums'. It was quite hot, noisy and busy busy busy! We stopped a couple of times for a cool drink and Vietnamese coffee at the many eateries along the way.

Such an extraordinarily beautiful place to visit. The people are wonderful, the local food exciting and always fresh and tasty and the markets, beaches and colourful lanterns are breath-taking. We felt extremely safe wandering around, even late at night. and it was so cheap. We enjoyed every moment of our stay and are heading back next year.

A small town with little things that can bring joy. This town has two phases, one that is full of shopping and exploring the town on a bicycle, and the other one is in the evening when the roads are filled with lanterns and people walking as bikes and any other transport is prohibited. Our food experience was good as you get variety here as compared to other parts of Vietnam. Try to find accommodation near the bridge.

Beautiful old town centre . Full of charm and interesting shops . Plenty of original paintings , leather gear , lanterns , restaurants, tea shops etc . Place really comes to life about dark when the Lanterns come on and the restaurants are wanting your attention.

This is a must see. I don’t know of any place in the world like it. The colour, smell and variety of things to see and do is amazing.

We visited here as part of our Honeymoon last year and even though my husband had already visited Hoi An, the beauty and awe of the place wasn’t lost on him even a second time around. The lantern festival was in full swing when we were there in June and I well recommend seeing this technicolour spectacle amid the historical waterways of Hoi An. Despite the very busy time we went during this festival period, it is well worth seeing in all it’s glory and the food cannot be faulted in any of the numerous places we tried for lunch and dinner. The restaurants will cater for western tastes, but you will also be rewarded with tasty renditions of local Vietnamese food which you won’t see back home. Well worth a visit even if you’re passing through as part of a tour of the country. I love historical places, where the history has been protected, but not commercialised to the point where it’s lost it’s soul! I can safely say that having visited a number of places in Vietnam, there are some which are absent of that soul- but Hoi An is assuredly not one of them.

Drivers were at Danang airport holding our name card up on arrival. Friendly service immediately and bags taken to van. Concierge from tour desk spoke very good English although the bus driver spoke very little.

Very romantic tour - very charming with lanterns, great food

I was in Hoi An in May and I found it truly fascinating. In the evening, with all the lanterns lit, the atmosphere is beautiful. It is absolutely worth a visit.

Hoi An is a wonderful place. I recommend it 100% if you are going to visit Vietnam. The ideal thing is to go after lunch and stay until night, if you are not staying in the area. We went for the day, because we were staying in Da Nang, which is approximately 1 hour away by car. It is convenient to take a Grab. Shopping there is very cheap and varied, so go prepared to shop and eat very well. I recommend the little boat ride, especially at sunset, when the lights turn on and everything illuminates with colors. It is truly beautiful. There are many boats, and it is very affordable.

Very nice to do at night, boat ride, lots of shops, restaurants, and especially lots of people, but it's worth it

I am very happy to have been able to spend a whole day in the old town of Hoi An I was looking for decorating ideas and I filled my suitcase, custom made lanterns with a choice of shape and fabrics in one of the first stores upon arrival, the seller is very friendly and offers you a whole assortment of fabrics and shapes to make you the one you choose. Handmade cushions in cashmere shops, paintings by the artist Huy. Of course it's very touristy and many shops are alike but you have to look and know what you want. The market is also to go through so yes the traders will offer you their article but it is up to you to see if it interests you or not! The decor is very nice and you can at your leisure stop for a drink or a meal.

We spent three days in Hoi An and we were constantly delighted to get lost in the streets of the old town in the evening with all the lampoons that make this place a magical place!!!

Led by the young and good guide Huan we discovered with great participation Hoi An. We had Vietnamese coffee at the bar, then we saw the Japanese bridge, the houses in the details, the Pagoda, the silk mill where they showed us the production of silk from the worm to the fabric. It was wonderful to go around in a gondola depositing the lantern of desire to be magically realized. It was like being in fairytale land.

Hoi an has become an extremely (too) touristic city where restaurants succeed the restaurants and shops of Street food... You can still do it by taking a global ticket that allows you to visit various houses and temples accessible only thanks to this pass. The parade of boats lit with lampions is worth a visit in the evening, but the rental of one of the boats not necessarily essential. The night market is also full of warm-ups where you can eat very simply on the edge of the counter... But if you don’t plan to stop, pass your way because you are called upon at any end of the field!

It far exceeded our expectations!! Unmissable! Our guide Tan and the driver excellent!!!! Exciting experience

Magnificent architectural ensemble made up of houses of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and even French origin. Some very interesting temples and old houses to visit, especially accompanied by a good guide as was the case. In the evening, the thousands of multicolored lanterns that dot the streets create a unique visual atmosphere, just like the boats on the river. The fact remains that in the evening there are a crazy crowd, mainly Vietnamese (it must be said that the end of April/beginning of May was a national holiday), that it is complicated to take even the slightest photo (you have to be very patient!) , and that the lighting - sometimes quite aggressive - of the businesses of all kinds which have invaded the slightest doorstep is considerably detrimental visually. Almost better to walk there during the day, late in the afternoon, even if there isn't the magic of the lanterns. Especially since there are fewer people. The ideal, which we unfortunately did not do, would probably also be to come and walk there early in the morning when the shops are still closed.

Very nice and authentic, an open-air museum, a beautiful beach 10 km away Very affordable prices, fantastic massages, very safe place with nice cafes, and always very nice Vietnamese people

Hoi An nocturnal is just magical with its lanterns as in other times. It really is a unique, poetic and at the same time quite joyful place.

Tôi đến Hội An rất nhiều lần. Tuy nhiên vẫn 1 cảm nhận đó là cái đẹp lung linh với nhiều sắc màu từ những chiếc đèn lồng. Ngồi trên chiếc ghe dọc theo dòng sông Hoài thơ mộng, thả những chiếc hoa đăng thật tuyệt vời. Dọc theo chợ đêm với nhiều món đồ lư niệm bắt mặt cùng với ẩm thực đường phố đến những món ăn đạm chất Hội An: cao lầu, bánh bao bánh vạc, bánh hoa hồng trắng, ... Vẫn yêu Hội An như lần đầu đến...

thuê xe du lịch nhiều chỗ,với việc này thì mình cần việc tìm đợn vị thuê xe du lịch uy tín chuyên nghiệp đảm bảo an toàn cho quý khách yên tâm lựa chọn . vì chính đây là nơi bạn lựa chọn cho mình trên hành trình du lịch.