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Thai Nguyen
We will be in Hoi An next week and the night lantern boat ride is on every must-do list. The photos look unreal, all those colored lanterns on the water. But I keep picturing thirty boats crammed together with everyone shouting and taking selfies.
For anyone who has done it recently: is it genuinely magical, or is it one of those things that is better in photos? We are traveling as a couple and we have exactly one free evening in Hoi An, so I want to spend it right.
If you say do it, what time should we go? And is there a difference between the boats near the Japanese bridge and the ones further down the river?
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We did the small private boat and it cost a bit more, but no sharing with strangers shouting over the water. The boat lady even let us release a lantern. That part was actually lovely.
It is beautiful for about ten minutes and then it is bumper boats with a hundred other lantern boats. Still worth doing once, just do not expect silence and romance. Go around 8pm when the first wave of tour groups has left.
Replying to Luke Stewart
Haha bumper boats is exactly what I was afraid of. Did you go on a weekend or a weekday? Wondering if it makes a difference.
Replying to Daisy Arko-Dadzie
Weekday. Weekends are worse, honestly. If you can, go on a rainy evening, fewer people and the lanterns reflect off the wet street. Looks amazing.