Some visitors go to the Hoi An night market for lanterns and souvenirs; others go for street food and the river at dusk. Both end up on the same street in the same evening hours, and if you are staying in Da Nang, the last public bus back leaves early in the evening.
The market also sits on An Hoi (An Hội), an islet that floods badly and often when water comes down from upstream, which matters if you travel in October or November.
Where the Hoi An night market is and when to go
If you are standing at the Japanese Covered Bridge (Chùa Cầu), the market is just across the water. The Hoi An night market, the Nguyen Hoang Night Market (chợ đêm Nguyễn Hoàng), is on Nguyen Hoang street in the An Hoi area, opposite the Japanese Covered Bridge across the Hoai River (sông Hoài), and Da Nang's city tourism website lists 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm as its reference hours.
The An Hoi bridge (cầu An Hội) links the old town with the market, so from the old town you walk over. The same tourism website says the best time is from sunset to about 8:00 pm, when the lantern light reflects on the river. Entry is free: since August 10, 2026 the old town fee of 20,000 VND (about US$0.78) per person is charged at each heritage site, and walking the streets costs nothing. See Hoi An Ancient Town for the sites and tickets.
For a hotel address: Hoi An has been part of Da Nang city since July 1, 2025, and press reports from November 2025 place the An Hoi area in Hoi An ward (phường Hội An), formed from the former Minh An, Cam Pho, Son Phong and Cam Nam wards and Cam Kim commune. One June 2026 page on the city's tourism website gives Hoi An Dong ward instead.
Floods: why October and November are different
If your trip falls in the rainy months, check the flood news before you plan an evening here. An Hoi lies between the Hoai and Thu Bon (Thu Bồn) rivers, and the city's tourism website warns of flooding in the old town in October and November.
In 2025 it happened several times. On the evening of October 26, floodwater was lapping at the An Hoi bridge by a little after 7:00 pm, yet the Nguyen Hoang night market was the liveliest of the streets still drawing visitors, most of them wading through the water. The next afternoon only the posts of the An Hoi bridge still stuck out of the water, and boats carrying visitors and evacuees ran along the street past the market. In mid-November the old town flooded for the third time since late October. One report put the water at 0.8–1 m on many streets; another found Nguyen Thai Hoc, Bach Dang and Le Loi streets in the old town still 1–1.5 m deep on the afternoon of November 18, with the An Hoi area cut off. The bridge to the market went under again, and crews cleared mud from the market streets on November 21.
The market was still busy on the flooded evening of October 26, 2025, so do not count on a closure announcement to tell you when to stay away. If the water is up, this guide suggests skipping the market that evening: the old town side floods too, and on October 27, 2025, Bach Dang street in the old town and Nguyen Phuc Chu street on An Hoi were both under nearly 2 m of water.
Safety note: During the October 2025 floods, police in Hoi An warned people not to go into deep or fast-flowing floodwater, traffic police asked people not to drive through flooded areas, and the authorities put up warning signs at dangerous spots. In November 2025, the authorities also advised people to follow flood warnings closely.
What to buy and eat, and how to pay
Bring cash and an idea of what you want before you start browsing. The city's tourism website describes handicraft and souvenir stalls, silk lanterns, paintings of the old town, and street food from cao lau and Hoi An banh mi to grilled skewers, local pastries and traditional sweet soups (chè).
The tourism website lists dishes but not their prices, so ask before you order. For Hoi An Market, the central market on Tran Phu street that is busiest in the morning, the tourism website suggests carrying small-denomination cash and, for non-food items, asking prices, comparing a few stalls and bargaining politely; its night market entry gives no such tips. Cross-border QR payment is being rolled out in Vietnam, but as of June 2026 many small shops in tourist areas still dealt mainly in cash.
In early April 2026, Hoi An ward was clearing sidewalks in the old town. It said it would not allow selling from pushcarts on any old-town street or in public spaces such as parks and sculpture gardens, and that it would act against touts, scams and theft.
A 2018 news report and a 2022 article by the Hoi An heritage conservation center also name night markets on Cong Nu Ngoc Hoa street, for food, and on Tran Quy Cap and Bach Dang streets near Hoi An's central market. Both reports date from 2022 or earlier, so they may no longer match what runs on those streets.
Boat rides and floating lanterns on the Hoai River
Agree on the price at the boat before you step in. On May 30, 2026, the city's culture and tourism department said a check of Hoai River motorboats found trips of about 30 minutes at an average of 50,000 VND (about US$2) per person. The same check found that many motorboat and basket-boat businesses in Hoi An had not fully posted their prices as required, and that some complaints of high prices came from booking through hotels or middlemen, which cost more than buying directly at the boat. Touts were still fairly common at some tourist spots.
The city's tourism website mentions buying paper lanterns from vendors along the riverbank. A VnExpress travel guide first published in 2022 and updated April 16, 2026, which still carries older details, gives 10,000 VND (about US$0.39) per lantern. Treat that as a rough figure and ask the vendor first.
Old Town Night (Đêm phố cổ) is held on the 14th night of each lunar month: October 23, November 22 and December 22, 2026. On the first one of the 2025 lunar year, February 11, 2025, which was also the Nguyen Tieu (first full moon) festival, the Hoai River boats could not keep up and visitors queued for a turn. The Hoi An International Lantern Festival is scheduled for December 3–6, 2026 at Hoai River Square, the An Hoi Sculpture Garden and along the river. See Hoi An lantern festival for the full calendar.
Getting there and back from Da Nang
Plan the ride home first. Under the timetable in force since August 28, 2026, public bus route 02 runs from Da Nang's central bus station to the Hai Ba Trung parking lot in Hoi An, about 1 km (0.6 miles), a 14-minute walk from the Japanese Covered Bridge, and the last bus back to Da Nang leaves the parking lot at 6:30 pm, before the market's best hours are over.
After 6:30 pm, the bus is no longer an option. Grab's fare table lists its one-way Da Nang to Hoi An route for a 4-seat car at a minimum of 279,818 VND (about US$11) for the first 25 km, plus 10,309 VND (about US$0.40) for each extra km; the same page says fares can change with demand and that surcharges, including night and bad-weather surcharges, may apply. If you ride a motorbike in, this guide suggests settling the parking fee and getting a ticket when you hand the bike over. See the Da Nang to Hoi An guide for more options, and where to stay in Da Nang if you would rather sleep in Hoi An.
Sources and how we checked
We checked every fact on October 3, 2026. Hours, location and what is sold come from Danang Fantasticity, the city's tourism website; ward boundaries from the 2025 resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee and press reports; boat prices from the city's culture and tourism department as reported by Tuoi Tre; flood events from VnExpress, Nguoi Lao Dong and Dan Tri; fares from Grab and bus times from Danabus, the city's bus information site, and the walking distance from Google Maps. Market hours are the tourism website's reference hours, not an official schedule, and we found no official or press source with food prices at the market and no stall count we could confirm. We also found no official notice of the market closing for floods, no official price for floating lanterns or for parking near the market, and no source from 2024–2026 confirming that the other night markets named in the 2018 and 2022 reports still run on their own. Where sources disagree, on the ward, we give both. US dollar amounts use Vietcombank's transfer rate of 25,800 VND per US$ on October 1, 2026, rounded to the nearest cent below US$1, US$0.5 up to US$100, US$1 up to US$10,000 and US$1,000 above that.
- Danang Fantasticity: six local markets, including Nguyen Hoang Night Market (in Vietnamese, June 12, 2026); Hoi An Ancient Town (September 26, 2025); Hoi An Market (July 13, 2026); Hoi An International Lantern Festival 2026 (September 11, 2026).
- Da Nang city government (in Vietnamese): heritage site fees from August 10, 2026 (August 6, 2026).
- Government of Vietnam (in Vietnamese): Resolution 1659/NQ-UBTVQH15 on Da Nang's wards (June 16, 2025).
- Tuoi Tre (in Vietnamese): boat price checks (May 30, 2026); sidewalk and street vending rules (April 4, 2026).
- VnExpress (in Vietnamese): floodwater rises at night (October 27, 2025); visitors evacuated (October 27, 2025); Hoi An travel guide (updated April 16, 2026); Hoi An opens a third night market (March 9, 2018).
- Nguoi Lao Dong (in Vietnamese): third flood since late October 2025 (November 17, 2025); mud after the third flood (November 21, 2025).
- Dan Tri (in Vietnamese): An Hoi under water (November 18, 2025); sidewalks cleared (April 9, 2026); crowds on the first full-moon night of 2025 (February 12, 2025).
- Znews (in Vietnamese): QR payments for foreign visitors (June 8, 2026).
- Hoi An heritage conservation center (in Vietnamese): Hoi An at night (June 13, 2022).
- Google Maps: walking distance from the Hai Ba Trung parking lot to the Japanese Covered Bridge, measured October 2, 2026.
- Grab: fare table (in Vietnamese, updated July 8, 2026). Danabus: route 02 changes (in Vietnamese, August 2026).
- Photos: Danang Fantasticity, Hoi An old town tickets 2026 (in Vietnamese, March 6, 2026), Hoi An Ancient Town (September 26, 2025), six local markets (June 12, 2026) and Hoi An Market (July 13, 2026).
Updated: October 3, 2026
