Where to stay in Hoi An: beach or old town

Should you stay on the beach or in Hoi An old town?

It depends on what you want your evenings to be. The old town is a World Heritage Site that is still a working town, and from a bed in or beside it you step out into its streets. The beach is somewhere you drive to, and a beach stay turns that around: you go into town for the day and come home to the sand.

Most guides frame the choice as the old town against An Bang or Cua Dai, the two beaches nearest to it.¹² There is a third option they leave out: Hà My, the stretch of coast that runs north from An Bang towards Da Nang. The hotel sits there, so this guide gives you the numbers we know first-hand, and says plainly which ones come from other sources.

Old town: the streets at your door. Beach: the sea at your door, and the streets twelve minutes away.

Can you actually sleep inside the old town of Hoi An?

Barely, and the guides do not agree. One says you cannot book a hotel directly inside the old town;³ another that there are very few places to stay, because preservation rules limit accommodation;² a third lists a few hotels inside the pedestrian zone.¹ So “staying in the old town” usually means the streets around its edge, a short walk from the lanterns.

What you do pass through is a protected place. UNESCO inscribed Hoi An in 1999 as an exceptionally well-preserved traditional Asian trading port.⁴ According to VTV, since 15 May 2023 visitors must buy an entrance ticket at the counters before entering the old quarter.⁵ A local travel site, Good Morning Hoi An, updated in 2024, says the ticket holds coupons for five of 22 visitable sites and that you do not need one just to stroll the streets.⁶ The two do not agree, so ask at the counter on the day.

Vehicles are limited too. Motorbikes are kept out of the old town’s streets in two daily windows, in the morning and from mid-afternoon into the evening; the evening one runs later in summer,⁶ so check the signs on the day rather than trusting a fixed timetable. At those hours the streets are for walking.

How far is the beach from the old town?

From An Bang, about 5 km and 10 to 15 minutes by taxi or motorbike;¹ another guide puts the beaches 4 to 6 km from the old town.² From the hotel at Hà My it is about 8 km and 12 minutes, along one flat road. The airport is 25 minutes the other way, about 20 km, and the centre of Da Nang 30 minutes. For the rest of the trip, see getting to Hoi An from Da Nang.

So the beach near town is closer to the lanterns by a few kilometres. What the extra distance buys is a quieter shore: to us, Hà My is one of the best preserved and quietest stretches between Hoi An and Da Nang, with far fewer people than the beaches next to town. That is our own view, not a measurement.

What is the beach at Hà My like?

Open sand with a coconut grove behind it. You walk out from the grove to the sea without crossing any public road, and there is nothing set up on the sand: no loungers, no umbrellas, no beach bar. The shade and the hammocks are back in the grove.

Two things to know before you go. Swimming is allowed only in the marked safe area, and there is no lifeguard, on the hotel’s stretch or the rest of Hà My, so the sea is your own responsibility, and worth reading twice if you travel with children.

On the plan of the resort, the courtyard block, the farthest from the sea, is about 140 m from the sand in a straight line from its middle, around two minutes at an easy pace. That is measured on an aerial photo, with a margin of 20 %. That block, which does not look at the sea, holds some of the Standard Rooms and the two Junior Suites; the sea-front villas are about 60 m away.

Who should stay where?

Stay in or beside the old town if this is a short stop, if you want to eat and walk late, or if you do not plan to spend a day at the sea. You will be among the lanterns at dusk, which is when the town looks its best.

Stay on the beach if the sea matters to you, if you travel with children who need space, or if you want the town as a day out rather than a base. At a resort in a coconut grove on Hà My the day runs like this: the sea in the morning; into town in the late afternoon, the time we recommend, when the light drops and the lanterns go on; and back to the grove for dinner.

If you fly in, Da Nang is the airport every guest lands at, 25 minutes away. Send us your flight number when you book, whatever hour it lands, and reception will tell you how to cover the distance.

Does the choice change in October and November?

It can. In the wet months the Thu Bon can flood the low-lying streets of the old town,¹ and a base beside it has the river on its doorstep. Rainfall month by month and the record flood of 2025 are in our guide to Hoi An in the rainy season.

The hotel is open all year. If your dates fall in the wet months, tell us your dates before you book.