Hoi An in Dry Season — Why I Always Tell People to Time This One Right

Originally shared on Facebook · February 2014 · Hoi An and Da Nang, Vietnam — peak dry season

I went back to Hoi An in October 2025 and the town was under water. I wrote about that trip honestly. But it would not be fair to leave that as the only Hoi An post on the internet, because the version of Hoi An I want people to see is the one I saw in February 2014 — clear skies, warm but not brutal, lanterns lighting up the river at sunset, and a town that is still, even with all its tourism, one of the most beautiful places in Asia when you visit it at the right time of year.

This is the post for people thinking about Hoi An. Time it right. The whole trip changes.

Why Dry Season Matters in Hoi An

Central Vietnam has two seasons that visitors mostly get wrong. The dry season runs roughly from February through August. The wet season — and especially the typhoon and flood season — runs from September through December. Hoi An sits on the Thu Bon River and floods regularly during the wet season. By “floods” I do not mean wet streets. I mean water above the second-floor signs.

If you visit in February, March, April, or early May, you get the version of Hoi An that earned its UNESCO listing. If you visit in October or November, you might still have a wonderful trip, but you will see a town that has spent half its life under water for the last hundred years. Both versions are real. Only one of them is the postcard.

The Old Town in February: Lanterns, Tailors, and Empty Lanes

Hoi An’s Old Town is what you came for. Yellow walls, wooden shutters, the Japanese Covered Bridge that has been there since the 16th century, lantern shops on every block. In February, the air is dry, the temperature is 24–28°C, and the river is calm. The lanterns at night reflect off the water and the whole town becomes a slightly impossible photograph.

The tailors are part of the experience. Hoi An is famous for them — a suit, a dress, or a coat in 24 hours, made-to-measure, for a fraction of what it would cost anywhere else. Most of the better shops are around Le Loi and Tran Phu streets. The trick is to negotiate, ask to see the fabric quality, and not believe the first quote. I have ordered linen shirts here twice and they have outlasted things I bought in Bangkok.

Cao Lau, Mi Quang, and the Food That Only Exists in Central Vietnam

Central Vietnamese food is its own thing. It is not Hanoi food. It is not Saigon food. It is older, drier, more regional, and Hoi An is one of the only places in the world that does some of these dishes properly.

Cao lau is the famous one — thick noodles made from rice and water that supposedly comes from a specific well in town, served with sliced pork, herbs, crispy croutons, and a small amount of broth. It is traditionally a dry-ish noodle dish. You will not find a real cao lau outside of Hoi An.

Mi quang is the regional cousin from neighbouring Da Nang and Quang Nam — turmeric noodles, a small amount of broth, peanuts, herbs, and either pork or shrimp. White rose dumplings (banh bao banh vac) are translucent shrimp dumplings shaped like rose petals. Banh xeo here is smaller, crisper, and eaten with rice paper and herbs. None of this is the food you ate in Bangkok or Hanoi.

Da Nang Is Not Hoi An, and That Is Fine

Da Nang sits 30 minutes north of Hoi An and most travellers fly in there. They are not the same trip. Da Nang is a coastal city that has been growing fast — modern hotels, a long sandy beach (My Khe), the Marble Mountains 20 minutes south, and the food culture I just described. Hoi An is a small old town with a UNESCO listing.

The right way to do this trip, in dry season, is to use both. A few days in Hoi An for the old town, the food, the tailors, the lanterns. A day or two in Da Nang for the beach, the Marble Mountains, and the bigger-city eating. A bicycle ride along the coastal road between them in good weather is one of the better afternoons you will have in Vietnam.

The Marble Mountains

The Marble Mountains are a cluster of five limestone hills with caves, pagodas, and Buddha statues carved into and out of the rock. I have a Flickr album from this trip — 14 photos and one short video — that does not really capture how strange and good a place this is. The climb up Thuy Son (the largest of the five) takes you through caves that turn into temples that open onto cliffside views of the South China Sea. It is a half-day trip. Go in the morning before it gets hot.

My Son and the Half-Day Most People Skip

About 40 km southwest of Hoi An is My Son, the ruins of the old Champa kingdom. Hindu temple complexes from the 4th to 14th centuries, partially destroyed during the war, slowly being restored. It is not Angkor. It does not need to be. It is small, evocative, and you will not be fighting crowds the way you do at the more famous sites in the region. A half-day excursion. Worth it.

Why I Keep Telling People to Time This One Right

Hoi An is one of the most photographed small towns in Asia. The version of it that is in your head — yellow walls, paper lanterns, golden sunset on the river — is real. It just only happens in dry season. In wet season, the same streets become a working flood plain. People shrug and continue. Then they clean up.

If you are flying from another country specifically to see Hoi An, look at the calendar before you book. February to early May is the sweet spot. Late June to August is hotter but still dry. September to early January is the gamble. Some years are mild. Some years the second floor goes underwater. I have seen both. I would not plan a trip for the second one.

Practical Information: Visiting Hoi An and Da Nang

• Best time: February to early May — dry, mild, low flood risk. Late June–August also dry but hot.
• Avoid: Mid-September through December — typhoon and flood season
• Get there: Fly into Da Nang (DAD). 30-minute taxi or Grab to Hoi An (~400,000 VND)
• Stay: Hoi An old town for atmosphere; An Bang Beach for quieter days; Da Nang for modern hotels and a longer beach
• Eat: Cao lau, mi quang, banh xeo, white rose dumplings, banh mi Phuong (the banh mi Anthony Bourdain made famous)
• Don’t miss: Old Town at night with lanterns, Marble Mountains, My Son ruins, a tailor visit
• Budget: Excellent. Hotels from 600,000 VND, meals from 50,000 VND, tailored shirt ~$25–40 USD

Of all the small towns I have visited in 20 years of Asian travel, Hoi An in dry season is in my top three. The October version of it is also a real thing, but it is a different trip — and a harder one to write a postcard about.

Sebastien H. Brousseau is a Canadian lawyer, permanent resident of Thailand since 2014, and founder of ThaiLawOnline.com. He has lived in Thailand continuously since 2006 and writes about travel, culture, and life in Southeast Asia.