Best Places To Stay In Hoi An: Old Town vs Beach | Vietnam

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I spent a total of 9 nights in Hoi An altogether. 6 nights were in the Old Town and 3 nights were at Cua Dai Beach. Without tooting my own horn, I nailed it! Not only was I 100% happy with my itinerary, but I loved both hotels and their locations were perfect for me. So if you’re wondering where the best places to stay in Hoi An are, I break it down for you in this guide!

Hoi An Old Town vs Hoi An Beaches

When people think of Hoi An, the first thing that comes to mind is the old town area. There are actually several neighbourhoods that make up Hoi An and they stretch all the way out to the coast. It’s around a 20-minute drive between these areas. A Grab taxi cost approximately 60-70k.

Putting this into perspective, the popular backpacker hostel chain ‘Mad Monkey’ (in Cam Chau), is actually a 45-minute walk from the Old Town and 30 minutes to the nearest beach.

If you are only staying in Hoi An for a couple of days, getting a Grab between places may not be a problem. But I didn’t want to be doing this every day for 9 days, which is why I chose to stay in 2 different areas.

Hoi An Neighbourhoods

Some of the Hoi An neighbourhoods include:

• Minh An (Old Town) – This is the Old Town area. It gets extremely crowded at night but has the most options for places to eat and drink, and things to do. Next to the river.
• An Hoi Island – Opposite the Old Town. Busiest area for nightlife (Hoi An Night Market and bars/restaurants).
• Cam Pho – This was between where I stayed and the Old Town. If I had a slightly higher budget, I originally looked at this area. Quiet but closer to the Old Town.
• Thanh Ha* – This is where I stayed for 6 nights. Was quiet but only a 10-minute walk away from everything in the Old Town.
• Tan An – North of the pedestrianised Old Town. Quite a busy area with lots going on.
• Cam Chau – Neighbourhood with cheaper accommodation options and lots of rice fields, between the main area and the beaches.
• Cam Thanh – Coconut boat village.
• Cua Dai* – Quieter beach area.
• Cam An – Busier beach neighbourhood where An Bang Beach is located.

*=Where I stayed

I am glad I spent most of my time close to the Old Town. There was lots of see and do as well as plenty of places to eat and drink just a short walk away. It was also handy for having clothes tailored. I had 2 items made and had to go for fittings, collections etc, so that was convenient too.

Hoi An Old Town

*I stayed in Thanh Ha for 6 nights

The Corner Riverside Hotel

• 💰Budget friendly, breakfast included in room rate.
• 💻Book The Corner Riverside Hotel here

As I mentioned in my Hoi An at night post, the Old Town gets VERY crowded at night. Honestly, I loved staying at The Corner Riverside Hotel, it was my little escape. It was located approximately 700m from the Japanese Bridge, so it took me around 10 minutes to walk into the centre of the Old Town. 

To reach it, you do have to walk along a road without a path, that has a blind bend that vehicles fly round at high speed while laying on their hooter, but it wasn’t too bad! It was worth it for the quiet river views and there was a cutest little coffee shop next to a rice field, just around the corner. (Cà phê vườn phố hội)

The staff are awesome. Phuong on reception was amazing! After I arrived she sent me a giant WhatsApp message with all her local recommendations. The clothes tailor she suggested was great and so was the banh mi location!

The Rooms

I ended up staying in two different rooms: a deluxe double and a superior double. Both with river views. There is no lift, but as a backpacker, this was no problem at all. Even though the deluxe was a bigger room, with a large bathtub and windows that fully opened, I preferred the room with the balcony.

Being on the main road, there was a little bit of traffic noise. This stopped by 10pm but did start up again at 5am. I am a light sleeper so some nights I did need my Loop earplugs, but this is more of a ‘me’ problem, as I can’t even sleep with air con noise!

Two small bottles of drinking water were provided daily, along with tea and coffee. An in-room mini bar was available for an additional cost. There was also shampoo and body wash along with complimentary convenience items (toothbrushes, comb, razor, shower hat and cotton buds).

Breakfast & Facilities

Breakfast was a big highlight. It is served from 7am and you do have to select it the night before. You pick one ‘main’ meal, from a choice of local Vietnamese food, such as Cao Lau and noodles or variations of egg or crepes. It’s then cooked fresh and served with fruit and depending on what you order, banh mi bread. 

Then you could choose 2 drinks. Because I could make tea or coffee in my room, I often chose a juice (lime was my favourite) and the Butterfly Pea Macchiato which I ended up having every day, I will forever dream about. They have both inside and outdoor seating.

There is also a small (but deep!) pool with a handful of sun loungers and umbrellas. As well as the pool area, there is a garden on the opposite side of the road, next to the river. A local fisherman has a net set up in front of the hotel, so I found that interesting watching him do that. Free bicycle rentals are available too.

Hoi An Beaches

*I stayed in Cua Dai for 3 nights

The area of Hoi An covers the Old Town, all the way out to the beaches on the coast, and all the rice fields in between. After the busy town, it was nice to spend a couple of days relaxing at the beach.

I did a guide to the beaches of Hoi An, but I was happy my hotel was located in the quieter Cua Dai beach end. It took me about 50 minutes to walk along the beach to the popular An Bang beach.

Alternatively, An Bang Beach in Cam An is the ‘main’ beach area, with more choice for different budgets of accommodation and many bars and restaurants. It is a busier area though, so not quite as relaxing.

A popular thing to do is use/hire a bike to cycle through the rice fields surrounding Hoi An. Depending on where you are staying they are close to the beaches. Cam Chau neighbourhood runs parallel to Cua Dai and Cam An, on the opposite side of the river.

I’m not a huge fan of cycling (and it meant navigating the crazy roads) but there was a rice field trail that started close to my hotel. I decided to spend one afternoon walking it for around an hour and I really enjoyed it.

Hoi An Beach Resort

• 💰Mid budget, breakfast included in room rate.
• 💻Book the Hoi An Beach Resort here

Not going to lie, the nightly rate at Hoi An Beach Resort was double what I was paying close to town. But then the hotel was a more typical resort style that wasn’t a normal budget hotel.

For the first time ever, I was driven to my room in a golf cart! That has never been in my budget before, but in Vietnam, your money goes a lot further!

Garden View Room

I stayed in a Double Garden View room. The hotel is sandwiched between the beach and the river, so you could pay extra and get a river view room, but I wasn’t prepared to break the budget THAT much. Especially not when I had already had a cheaper river view for 6 nights. 

The room was absolutely massive though. The TV was also connected to YouTube, so it was the first time I had actually turned the TV on. Again, tea and coffee were provided, along with 2 reusable glass bottles of water per day. I just filled up my own water bottle so I could drink them outside of the room.

Just like The Corner Riverside Hotel, they had the same complimentary convenience items, with the edition of body lotion alongside shampoo, body wash and hand soap.

I also had a small terrace area outside my room, which was on the ground floor.

The only downside was there were a lot of mosquitoes in my room. Thankfully I only got bit once (potential sneak attack while potentially on the toilet, on the only area of my body not to have repellent!!!). But it did make me on edge as I tend to react badly to bites.

Breakfast & Hotel Facilities

Breakfast was included and started at 6am. It was a typical resort-style buffet breakfast with a live egg cooking station.

I liked the fruit section which had some different choices, like passion fruit, that you don’t commonly see on buffets at hotels in my budget!

The restaurant has open-air sides and overlooks the river, which was nice.

Other than breakfast, which was included in my room rate, and a coconut coffee from the pool bar one day, I mostly ate in the restaurants outside of the hotel. Cua Dai Central Restaurant and Chien Kitchen were both very good with budget-friendly options.

Hoi An Beach Resort has 2 pools, my favourite was the infinity pool that overlooked the river. I spent most of my time at this one. It was a nice temperature and depth and had sun loungers and a couple of hammocks. There’s also a gym.

As the name suggests, it also has a private section of beach on Cua Dai. Sun loungers, umbrellas and towels were free for guest use, along with toilets and a beach bar. It was nice being at the far end. As a solo traveller I felt a bit more comfortable leaving my belongings unattended while I went in the water.

I also had a treatment at the spa. A 60-minute traditional Vietnamese massage cost just over 600k. More expensive than Thai massages that are super cheap, but still better value than U.K. prices. Originally I had booked a hot stone massage but apparently, there was a problem with the rocks being heated.

Final Words

I’m glad I got to see both sides of Hoi An. If your itinerary allows, it is worth spending a bit of time in both areas. I found the accommodation and general costs (such as food and drink) to be cheaper in the Old Town area though.

If you are travelling on a budget and want to stay near the beach, Cam An is cheaper than the Cua Dai.

Alternatively, Da Nang also has some nice beaches, further up the coast. But I did find that food and drink were a little more expensive and they also charged for sun lounger rentals. (Although admittedly I didn’t look at EVERY provider. But I had to pay 40k on top of my drink price.)

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