Hoi An: Vietnam’s City of Lanterns

We spent most of last week in Hoi An, which is without a doubt one of the most charming cities in Vietnam.

Walking into the old town in Hoi An is like walking into a carnival, no matter the day or time you visit — it’s all bright colours and bustle, with the yellow French colonial buildings creating a perfect contrast against the bright blue skies, and vibrant multi-coloured lanterns punctuating the scene with bursts of colour everywhere you look.

The streets near the riverfront are closed to motor vehicles — instead, walking tour groups, fruit sellers, and pedicab bicycles jostle for space as they make their way down the shop-lined lanes and in and out of the narrow alleyways.

In the evenings, just after the sun sets, the festivities expand out into the Thu Bon River, where hundreds of small wooden boats joggle around one another, ferrying tourists up and down the river by lantern light. The dark river waters dance with the reflections from these colourful orbs, and from the thousands of small candles set adrift in paper boats — representing the wishes of the tourists who released them.

The whole town is so oriented toward tourism that it can sometimes feel more like a simulation than a real place — but it’s still hard not to be taken in by its charms, in the same way you might be by Paris or Venice. Sometimes, we decided, it’s worth it to just embrace your inner tourist and let yourself succumb to the magic of a place like this, even if it’s a little more manufactured than you’d like.