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Everyone posts the lantern photos at night, and sure, it is pretty. But I set an alarm and walked the old town at 6am last week and it was a completely different place. Empty streets, a bit of mist on the river, shop owners hosing down the sidewalks, and the best 15k coffee of my trip from a lady who clearly thought I was lost.
By 9 the tour groups roll in and by evening you are shuffling shoulder to shoulder down Tran Phu. The night version is beautiful but you share it with three thousand people. The 6am version felt like I had the town to myself.
So yeah, unpopular opinion: skip one late night, go to bed early, and see Hoi An before it wakes up. Anyone else team early morning or am I romanticizing a walk I did half asleep?
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As a photographer, 6 to 7am is the only hour worth shooting there. The light on the river is soft, no crowds in your frame, and the mist some mornings is unreal. Night shots are fine but everyone has the same lantern photo. The early morning ones are the keepers.
Team early morning forever. I did the exact same walk in February and the coffee lady thought I was lost too. There is something about the old town before the shops open, the smell of the bakeries and nobody around. The lantern photos are nice but this is the version I actually remember.
Replying to SlowTravelSara
Replying to SlowTravelSara @SlowTravelSara Right? I keep telling people the night market is the postcard but 6am is the actual town. Did you find a good breakfast spot that early? I ended up just wandering with the coffee.
Replying to Donna Pearson
Replying to Donna Pearson @Donna Pearson I just grabbed a banh mi from a cart near the Japanese bridge, the lady was set up by 6 and it was still warm. There is also a tiny pho place on Tran Phu that opens at 6, no English sign, just follow the smell of broth. Honestly wandering with coffee is a solid strategy though.