36 Hours in Hoi An, Vietnam: Things to Do and See

Start the morning at Café Slow, open since 2023 in Tra Que Vegetable Village, where alleys are named after herbs and plants. The cafe, in a rustic wooden building, has veranda seating overlooking the vegetable patches — ideal for sipping an Americano (45,000 dong) while listening to birdsong. Next, head to An Nhan, a cafe and cultural space inside a nha san (wooden stilt house), transported from Nghe An province. Upstairs, find handicrafts including wooden sculptures, brocade fabrics and pottery made by artisans from Vietnam’s ethnic minority groups. Downstairs, enjoy a fresh mango smoothie (60,000 dong) on ornate furniture, as the wind stirs palm fronds in the verdant garden.

Travel past coconut trees, waterways and buffalo cooling themselves in the mud until you reach tok., down a quiet alley. What began as a pop-up restaurant — tok. stands for ‘take over kitchen’ — is now a sophisticated eatery that blends Vietnamese ingredients with modern European cuisine. The stylish, open-plan dining space extends to outdoor tables and daybeds facing a sea of gently undulating rice paddies, a serene spot to try dishes like grilled aubergine with minced beef, chickpeas and toasted sesame seeds (190,000 dong) or torched snapper with apple, pomelo and hibiscus slaw (340,000 dong).

Back in the Old Town, Le Dac Tu spends hours painting on the streets each day, creating impressionistic watercolors: delicate lines sketch wires, bicycles and rooftops, while soft brushstrokes capture the amber walls of old shophouses. At Tu Hoian, his small gallery, buy postcards for 50,000 dong or larger originals from about 1.2 million dong. For a different craft entirely, visit the Daisu Silk workshop (free) to see silk being woven on traditional wooden looms. Alternatively, stay out of the Old Town a bit longer to visit Xuong Tai Sinh, or “Rebirth Workshop”. The gallery’s rusting corrugated iron walls, circular windows and a roof opening that lets rainwater nourish a tree mirror Nguyen Quoc Dan’s eccentric, environmentally conscious works: salvaged-metal sculptures and eerie human figures formed from melted plastic waste (donations welcome; contact in advance).

After days of exploring, pause for a Vietnamese tea ceremony at La.Kao Teahouse, a cozy, personal experience in a peaceful setting. La.Kao, open since 2023, offers dozens of teas; a tasting of three varieties lasts about an hour (200,000 dong). The host pours water from a Japanese cast-iron kettle into a Chinese porcelain teapot using a bamboo ladle. Each tea is steeped three times, the taste shifting with each brew: Dragon’s Tail, a delicate white tea, begins sweet and floral before developing woodier notes; Green Snail Spring, from ancient Snow Shan trees, grows slightly more bitter; and Putaleng Red Shan starts cocoa-tinged, and deepens with each infusion. One can also smell the leaves and learn the tale behind each tea, often hand-picked from wild trees in Vietnam’s northern mountains.