Hoi An Night Market
Due to its touristy characteristic, Hoi An’s old town is partly a pedestrian precinct with few market traders or food stalls. In 2011, an area across the river, on An Hoi Islet, which was once inhabited banana plantation, was cleaned to make room for a beautiful night market. A boat dock from Bach Dang pier will takes tourists to An Hoi, a smaller, quieter and greener version of Hoi An. Here are somethings to do at Hoi An Night Market.
Not as famous as its counterparts in Dalat or Nha Trang, Saigon, and Hanoi, Hoi An Night Market has its own charm to lure visitors to the ancient town. Located by the bank of the Hoai River, the night market on Nguyen Hoang street becomes very busy at night, but visitors can still find antique features of an old town, with thousands of lanterns lighting the area.
Market traders line the street from sunset at around 5 pm or even 4pm to 11 pm. Along the 300-metre area are about 50 booths. The night market looks similar to Hoi An with several booths of colourful lanterns, handicraft products or specialties. Salespeople may constantly asking visitors to buy goods but most products have reasonable prices and good quality.
Lanterns are probably the most noticeable items in the market. At the market, tourists can find countless lanterns of diverse colors, shapes, styles and materials, from silk, lace, chiffon to hand-painted cottons, sold at numerous stalls at competitive prices. Some sellers even make or decorate lanterns right at their stalls so tourists can watch the full process of making them. The scene of lanterns gorgeously lit can provide the most excellent photos.
Besides lanterns, tourists can find numerous stalls selling trinkets, jewellery, silk fans and so on. Sellers are nice and visitors can easily find something lovely at a cheap price.
Great food in Hoi An Night Market
The night market is a great place to enjoy signature food of Hoi An and the Quang area such as cao lau (rice noodles with pork and veggies), banh bao (steamed rice dumplings with pork and mushrooms), banh vac (steamed rice dumplings with ground shrimp and veggies), banh dap (rice crackers with steamed rice pancakes and anchovy sauce), banh xoai (mango cake) or xi ma (black sesame pudding). Apart from street vendors, visitors can find a lot of restaurants from luxurious ones such as boutique Fusion Lounge to humble ones like Chips, Fish and Stuff with 4,000 VND beer. Alfresco attracts customers with seating overlooking the lantern festival of the night market. In fact, any restaurant by the riverside offers quite good food. Tourists choose to sit upstairs or on a balcony to have better view and avoid being annoyed by hawkers.
The night market can surely offer tourists to the ancient town of Hoi An a good time and memorial experience, therefore it is worth trying.
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