Lantern night on the Thu Bon River

When the heat breaks and the silk lanterns come on, Hoi An becomes the town on every postcard: candles drifting on the river, boats with paper lamps and lanes glowing red and gold.

Area

Hoi An old town

Start from

Hoi An

Distance

walking distance

Time needed

one evening

Best season

All year; full-moon nights are special

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

On foot; short rowing boat on the river

Tickets & rules

Old town ticket; small fee for boat rides and floating candles (agree the price first)

Why go

In daylight Hoi An is pretty; after dark it is something else. Around six o’clock the lanterns along every street flicker on, hundreds of silk globes in red, yellow, purple and green. Their colour reflects in the water of the Hoai, the small branch of the Thu Bon that runs past the old town, and the whole river front glows like the inside of a paper lamp.

The best way to see it is from the water. Small wooden rowing boats wait along Bach Dang street, and for a modest fee a boatwoman will take you slowly up and down the river while you set a paper candle-lantern adrift. It is touristy, of course, and still quietly beautiful, especially if you go a little later, when the first wave of crowds has gone to dinner.

Then cross the An Hoi footbridge to the night market, which sells lanterns, snacks and souvenirs under a canopy of lights. Even if you buy nothing, the walk is worth it for the view back across the river: the yellow houses of the old town lit up from below, music drifting from a riverside café, and children chasing each other between stalls.

The story

Lanterns came to Hoi An with Chinese and Japanese merchants centuries ago, hung outside homes and shops for luck and to mark festivals. Over time local craftsmen developed their own style: a bamboo frame that folds flat, covered in silk stretched tight and glued by hand. A skilled maker can finish a simple lantern in under an hour, and a few workshops still let you try.

The modern lantern evenings began in the late 1990s, around the time the town was listed by UNESCO. The local government decided that on the 14th day of every lunar month, the night before the full moon, the old town would switch off most electric lights and turn itself back toward its past. Shops hang extra lanterns, families set out offerings, and folk games and traditional music appear in the squares.

Floating a candle on the river is an old Vietnamese custom tied to remembrance. People set a candle adrift to honour ancestors, to make a wish or to send away bad luck. You’ll see older women folding lotus-shaped paper boats in the afternoon and selling them by the water at night, and some local families still float them quietly upstream, away from the crowds.

The full-moon nights also see bai choi, a folk game from central Vietnam that mixes singing and a kind of lottery. Callers sing short verses that hint at the winning card, and players sit in small bamboo huts. UNESCO recognised bai choi as intangible heritage in 2017, and in Hoi An you can often hear it near the river on festival evenings.

Getting there

Walk from any guesthouse in or near the old town. On full-moon evenings and weekends the lanes are crowded, so leave bicycles at a guarded parking spot on the edge of the old town; attendants charge a small fee.

Boats wait along Bach Dang street and near the An Hoi bridge. Prices vary with demand: agree on the price per boat and the length of the ride before you step in.

A suggested plan

1. 17:30Find a seat by the river to watch the light fade and the lanterns come on.
2. 18:30Dinner in the old town or on An Hoi island: cao lau, white rose dumplings, fried wontons.
3. 19:30Rowing boat on the river and a paper candle set adrift.
4. 20:30The night market and the lantern stalls on Nguyen Hoang street.
5. 21:30A quiet walk back through the side lanes, which empty quickly after nine.

Where to stay

Any place within a fifteen-minute walk of the old town works for this route. If you want to sleep after the evening, choose a guesthouse a few streets away from the river; music near the night market can carry until late.

Good to know

• Check the lunar calendar for the 14th day: the lantern festival nights are the most atmospheric.
• For photographs, the blue hour just after sunset gives colour in both sky and lanterns.
• Walk upstream past the Japanese Bridge for a quieter stretch of river.
• Bring small notes for boats and candles.