The best day trips from Hoi An, ranked by how far you'll drive

Hoi An is unusually well placed. Within an hour's drive you have a UNESCO Cham temple complex, a 500 m mountain pass, one of Vietnam's best beaches, a marble mountain full of caves and a French hill station with a bridge held up by giant stone hands. The trick is not choosing — it is not trying to do three of them in one day.

20 minutes: Tra Que and the coconut forest

Barely a trip at all, which is the point. Tra Que herb village is 3 km north — rows of basil and mint grown in river weed, and a decent cooking class if you want one. Cam Thanh's water-coconut palms are 5 km east, where you sit in a round basket boat while someone spins it alarmingly for tips. Both are half-day-at-most, both work well glued onto a beach afternoon. Free to wander; 30,000–50,000 VND for the boat.

25 minutes: An Bang and Cua Dai beaches

An Bang is the good one — proper beach bars, decent swimming from March to September, sunbeds for the price of a drink. Cua Dai has suffered badly from erosion and much of it is now sandbag defences. Go to An Bang, arrive after 3pm when the light softens and the heat drops, and stay for dinner.

35 minutes: Marble Mountains and Lady Buddha

Five limestone hills sticking out of flat coastal land, riddled with caves that have been Buddhist shrines since the 17th century. Huyen Khong cave — the big one with the shaft of light coming through the roof — is worth the entry alone. 40,000 VND, plus 15,000 for the lift if you would rather not do 150 steps in the heat.

1 hour: My Son Sanctuary

The reason many people come to central Vietnam: red-brick Hindu temple towers built by the Chăm between the 4th and 13th centuries, bombed heavily in 1969, and quietly beautiful in what remains. Entry includes the electric shuttle to the temple groups, the site museum and the daily Chăm dance performance.

Go at opening — 6am. By 9am four coach tours are in the same courtyard, the temperature in the bowl-shaped valley is climbing, and the light has gone flat. A 5am pickup is unpleasant for about ten minutes and then transforms the visit entirely.

1 hour 15: Ba Na Hills and the Golden Bridge

A French hill station turned mountain-top theme park, reached by one of the world's longest cable cars, and yes — the bridge held by two enormous stone hands. It is unashamedly a theme park. It is also genuinely spectacular, 15°C cooler than the coast, and if you have children it will be their favourite day.

900,000 VND per adult for the cable car and park entry, which is the most expensive ticket in the region by some distance. Arrive at opening or after 3pm — the Golden Bridge between 10am and 2pm is a shuffling queue of tripods.

1 hour 30: Da Nang, properly

Most people transit Da Nang without seeing it, which is a shame now. The Cham Museum is small and outstanding; Son Tra peninsula has the best coast road in the city; My Khe beach is enormous; and the food scene has genuinely overtaken Hoi An's for anything that is not cao lầu. A relaxed day, no entrance fees to speak of.

2 hours by boat: Cham Island

Cu Lao Cham is a marine reserve 15 km offshore — clear water, decent snorkelling, one good beach and a village. Speedboats leave Cua Dai in the morning and come back mid-afternoon; expect around 700,000 VND per person for a package with lunch and gear.

2 hours 30: the Hai Van Pass and Hue

The big one. The pass alone is a half-day; continuing to Hue for the Citadel and the royal tombs makes it a long, full and genuinely great day — 260 km round trip, 11 hours door to door. Better as a one-way with a night in Hue if your schedule allows it.

One administrative note that affects your searching

Quảng Nam province no longer exists. Under National Assembly Resolution 202/2025/QH15 of 12 June 2025, the whole province was merged into Đà Nẵng city, with the new local government operating from 1 July 2025. Hội An, Mỹ Sơn and Cù Lao Chàm are now administratively part of Đà Nẵng, and ward names across Hội An were consolidated at the same time. Nothing about the drive changed — but ticket decisions are now made by the Đà Nẵng People's Council, and older English pages citing "Quang Nam Province" addresses are working from a map that has been redrawn.

How to sequence a week

The single most common regret we hear is not that someone missed a temple — it is that they stacked My Son and Ba Na into one day and remember neither. One thing, done unhurried, and an afternoon spare for the town you actually came to.