Comparing the top 3 Hoi An lantern making workshops

Two people can pay almost the same money for a Hoi An lantern making workshop on the same afternoon and come away with completely different opinions of it. One of them bent and lashed a bamboo frame for an hour before any fabric came out. The other was handed a finished frame and shown how to glue silk onto it.

Both are sold as a lantern making class in Hoi An. Only one of them is a craft lesson.

I’ve been through thisand it’s real, and it isn’t the thing the listings talk about. So this is three workshops I’d send someone to, what each is like, and which of the two classes to ask for when you get there.

• Quick Answer: The three best Hoi An lantern making workshops are Tiếng Vọng Phố at 507 Hai Bà Trưng for the full class where you build the bamboo frame yourself, Lantern Making Class With Lynn in the Old Town for the choice between a 45 minute express class and a longer one, and The Lantern Lady at 3/6 Phan Bội Châu for walking in without a booking. Walk-in prices run 120,000 to 250,000 VND per person depending on lantern size and whether you build the frame. The same classes sold online cost roughly $9 to $17
• The Three, and What Separates Them:
  • Tiếng Vọng Phố Lantern Workshop, 507 Hai Bà Trưng. Family-run, 250,000 VND walk-in, about an hour, full class available, closes at 6pm.
  • Lantern Making Class With Lynn, Old Town. 250,000 VND for the express class, more for the long one. Open until 10:30pm, air-conditioned.
  • The Lantern Lady, 3/6 Phan Bội Châu. 150,000 to 250,000 VND by size, no booking needed, can get crowded.
• Prices You’ll Actually Pay:
  • 120,000 VND at Hằng Dũng on Nguyễn Thái Học, the cheapest of the ones I checked.
  • 190,000 VND at Phố Hội on Nguyễn Duy Hiệu, drink included.
  • 250,000 VND is the standard Old Town rate for a one hour class.
  • $9 to $17 per person booked through a platform, usually 1.5 to 2 hours.
• Before You Book Anything:
  • Ask whether you build the bamboo frame or decorate a finished one. This is the whole difference.
  • Anything under an hour is an express class, whatever the listing calls it.
  • Children from about 3 are accepted at most workshops, and 6 or 7 is where they start enjoying it.
  • The lantern folds flat to a few centimetres. Learn the fold before you leave the workshop.

You’ll notice I’ve linked to a few hotels and activities I used or recommend, you can even highlight any text to check prices and book instantly. If you make a booking through them, I receive a small commission, which really helps support the work I do here, at no additional cost to you.

Full Class or Express Class: the Question That Decides Everything

Every Hoi An lantern making workshop runs one of two things, and most of them run both without making the difference obvious.

• The express class hands you a completed bamboo frame. You choose a shape and a silk, then you glue, stretch, trim and tassel. It takes 45 minutes to an hour, it’s almost impossible to ruin, and you leave with a lantern that looks exactly like the one you’d have bought in a shop.
• The full class starts with loose bamboo ribs. You bend them, seat them into the two wooden rings that form the top and bottom, and lash them into a shape before any fabric appears. It takes 1.5 to 2.5 hours and there is a real chance your first attempt goes lopsided.

The price gap between them is small, often 50,000 to 100,000 VND. The experience gap is enormous. If you want to know how a Hoi An lantern is made, the express class does not teach you that, and every disappointed review I’ve read of a lantern making class in Hoi An is somebody who booked express expecting full.

So ask one question before you hand over money, in person or by message: do I build the frame, or is the frame already made? Treat any class advertised at under an hour as an express class regardless of what the title says.

1. Tiếng Vọng Phố Lantern Workshop, 507 Hai Bà Trưng

• 250,000 VND walk-in, about an hour.
• Open 8:30am to 6pm, 7pm some evenings.
• 507 Đ. Hai Bà Trưng, Hội An.

This is the one I’d pick if you want the full class, and it’s a fifteen minute walk northwest of the Japanese Bridge, out past where the day-trip crowd turns around.

It’s a working family operation. A lot of the Old Town classes turn out to be a table set up at the back of a lantern shop, and this isn’t that. There are several people helping, all related, and they give a short talk on the history of the craft partway through, when people are actually listening. Reviewers who wanted 2.5 hours because a child was taking her time were left to take 2.5 hours.

Two things to know. It closes earliest of the three, so this is a morning or early afternoon plan. And it’s the furthest out, though fifteen minutes on foot in Hoi An is nothing.

The online version of this workshop is sold as a foldable lantern class with a translator, herbal tea, hotel pickup and a choice of full or express, running 1.5 to 2 hours. It’s the same address on the map pin. Booking ahead is what I’d do in March or in the week around Tết, when the workshop fills.

Outside those weeks, walking in and paying 250,000 VND works perfectly well.

2. Lantern Making Class With Lynn, Outide the Old Town

• 250,000 VND for the express class, more for the long class.
• Open 9am to 10:30pm.
• 57 Đào Duy Từ, Hội An. (2026 updated)

Lynn’s is the one to book if your day is already full, because it’s the only one of the three still teaching at nine in the evening.

The room is air-conditioned and bigger than the average Old Town lantern workshop, with the widest choice of shapes and silks of the three.

You pick between the short class, the express version at 250,000 VND for 45 minutes to an hour, and the long class, where you cut, bend and glue the bamboo yourself.

Nobody I’ve spoken to who did the long class wished they’d done the short one. Plenty the other way round.

It sits on the main road into the Old Town, next to a leather shop, and it is small enough from the street that people walk past it.

Confirm the address when you book, because Lynn’s operation has appeared at two different addresses in the last couple of years and taxi drivers will take you to whichever one they know.

What I’d use it for: an evening class after the heat has gone, or a rainy afternoon. Hoi An gets a lot of both, and this is the workshop that stays open through them.

3. The Lantern Lady, 3/6 Phan Bội Châu

• 150,000 to 250,000 VND depending on lantern size.
• Open 9am to 8pm.
• 3/6, Đ. Phan Bội Châu, Hội An.

The Lantern Lady is Thuy, she’s been doing this longer than most, and the reason to come here is that you don’t have to arrange anything.

Walk-ins are the normal way people arrive. Couples turning up on a Sunday afternoon get seated. You can pick the small lantern at 150,000 VND or go up in size, and you can choose whether to cover a ready-made frame or build one from the first step, which makes this the most flexible of the three on both price and depth.

The cost of that flexibility is that it gets full. It’s down a side street off Phan Bội Châu, the space is smaller than Lynn’s, and on a busy afternoon you will wait between steps while the staff work round the room. Several reviews say exactly this, and they’re also the reviews that say the staff fixed every mistake anyway.

Mornings are quieter. If you’re coming with more than two people or you want a specific hour, book the slot even though you technically don’t have to.

This is the workshop I’d suggest if lantern making in Hoi An is still a maybe on your list. You can decide at eleven in the morning and be gluing silk by half past.

The Three Side by Side

What a Hoi An Lantern Making Class Costs

The honest range for a Hoi An lantern making class price in 2026 is 120,000 to 250,000 VND walking in, which is roughly five to ten dollars, and $9 to $17 booking online.

The online listings usually run longer, throw in tea, a translator and sometimes hotel pickup, and let you cancel free up to 24 hours ahead.

That’s a fair thing to charge for and I don’t think anyone is being fleeced here, which is not something I say about every priced-per-person activity in this town.

What I’d avoid is paying a platform price for a 45 minute express class, since that’s the version you can walk into for 150,000 VND.

For comparison, a finished silk lantern in the night market costs 50,000 to 150,000 VND depending on size, and no class will beat that on price. You’re paying for the hour, not the object.

Three Cheaper Workshops Worth Knowing About

The three above are the ones I’d compare properly. These are the ones I’d point you to for a specific reason.

• Hằng Dũng, 51 Nguyễn Thái Học. 120,000 VND, about an hour, snack and drink included, and there’s a two hour version where you paint your own design onto the silk. It’s the cheapest lantern making class in Hoi An Old Town that I’ve found and it’s central. It’s also busy and brisk, and at least one reviewer arriving late got a cool reception, so turn up on time.
• Phố Hội Lantern Workshop, 310 Nguyễn Duy Hiệu. 190,000 VND including a drink, closes at 5pm. Fans running, painting option, and the workshop most consistently praised by parents of eight to twelve year olds. Families have gone back the following day.
• Reaching Out. A different craft: a folded diamond lantern in handmade paper instead of bamboo and silk. It’s a social enterprise employing artisans with disabilities, and you book through their own website.

Making Lanterns With Children

Most workshops in Hoi An accept children from about 3, which is true and slightly misleading. A three year old chooses a colour and watches an adult do the rest.

From about six the gluing and trimming becomes something they can do themselves, and from about ten they can attempt the frame.

My honest read from watching a few of these: the sweet spot is seven to twelve, and what limits it is the heat, not the craft. A child who has been walking around the Ancient Town since nine in the morning will not sit still for an hour at two in the afternoon.

Go in the morning, or go to Lynn’s in the evening where the air conditioning is doing the work. Phố Hội and The Lantern Lady are both patient with children who need three attempts at a step.

Getting It Home: How the Foldable Lantern Works

The whole point of the Hoi An foldable lantern is that the bamboo ribs pivot on the two rings, so the finished lantern collapses to a flat disc a few centimetres thick.

Have someone show you the fold before you leave. The first time you close it there’s a moment where it feels like you’re about to snap something, and knowing how much pressure it takes stops you damaging it three days later.

To open a Hoi An lantern again, hold the top ring and push the bottom ring up until the ribs lock out. Some have a small wire catch that clips into place.

Almost none of them come with a bulb, which is deliberate, since a fitting makes the lantern impossible to fold. A battery LED at home does the job.

Several workshops also sell flat-pack lantern kits if you’d like to make more once you’re back, and those pack even smaller than the finished one.

What the Bamboo Actually Involves

The part of the craft you don’t see in either class is the preparation, and it’s the reason a real Hoi An lantern costs what it does.

The bamboo has to be old, around five years, then boiled and soaked in salt water for roughly ten days so borer beetles won’t eat the finished frame.

After sun drying it’s split and shaved down into ribs. Those ribs seat into the two wooden rings and get lashed with cord, not glued, which is what lets the whole thing fold and unfold for years without loosening.

Ask to see the untreated bamboo if there’s any lying around. It takes two minutes and it changes what the frame in your hands means.

Classes Bundled With Something Else

Three combinations come up constantly in searches, so briefly.

Lantern making with a lantern boat trip is sold as a two hour package for about $20. The boat portion is the standard hand-rowed ride, which costs 170,000 VND per boat at the riverside booth if you buy it yourself. I’ve written up the lantern boat ride in full.

Basket boat, cooking class and lantern making runs about 4.5 hours from around $30, and it’s decent value if you wanted all three. The lantern segment is the express version, so treat it as a nice half hour and not the craft class.

Lantern making with painting at Hằng Dũng or Phố Hội adds an hour and lets you paint the silk before it goes on. Of the three combinations, this is the one that makes the lantern more yours.

Which One I’d Send You To

If you want the version that teaches you something, go to Tiếng Vọng Phố in the morning and take the full class. It’s the workshop most set up to let you take your time, and building the frame is the difference between an activity and a lesson.

If your days are booked solid or it’s raining, Lynn’s, in the evening, long class if you have the hour.

If you’re the sort of traveller who decides at breakfast what the day looks like, The Lantern Lady, before noon.

Questions I Get Asked

How much is a lantern making class in Hoi An? 120,000 to 250,000 VND walking in, $9 to $17 booked online.

Do I need to book a Hoi An lantern making workshop in advance? No, except in peak season, on lantern festival nights, and if you’re a group of four or more.

How long does it take? 45 minutes to an hour for the express class, 1.5 to 2.5 hours to build the frame.

Can I bring the lantern on a plane? Yes. It folds flat, it weighs almost nothing, and it goes in a suitcase or a day bag.

What shapes can I choose? Usually lotus, diamond, garlic, UFO and a plain round. Sizes from about 20cm upward, and larger costs more.

Is it worth doing if I’ve already bought a lantern? Different thing entirely. Buying gets you the object, the workshop gets you the hour and the technique. All three are within twenty minutes on foot of most of where I’d stay in Hoi An.

One Question, Then Go

Ask yourself whether you want a lantern or you want to have made a lantern. If it’s the first, skip all of this and buy one in the market for 80,000 VND. If it’s the second, the class you want is the one that starts with loose bamboo, and there are only a handful of workshops in town that will actually give you that.

What I wouldn’t do: book the express class through a platform for the price of the long class, schedule it for two in the afternoon in June, or leave the workshop without having folded the lantern once with somebody watching.

For where a lantern workshop fits into a couple of days here, it’s in the afternoon slot of my Hoi An things to do guide, and the timings behind that are in how many days in Hoi An.

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