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The tiled roof and pink gate of the Japanese Covered Bridge welcome visitors in Hoi An's old town.

Central Vietnam

The best food and the worst weather

The narrowest part of Vietnam, and the part with the shortest distances between good places. It is also where the storms land, which decides more itineraries than anything else on this site.

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The region

What the centre is

A strip of coast rarely more than 60 kilometres wide, with mountains immediately behind it and the sea in front. Everything worth seeing sits within three hours of everything else, which makes it the easiest region to travel and the best one for a first week in Vietnam. Hue was the imperial capital and still eats like it. Hoi An is a preserved trading port that has been discovered thoroughly and is still worth three nights. Between them runs the Hai Van pass, and inland from both is Phong Nha, where the caves are not a side trip but a reason to come.

A yellow pavilion with a tiled roof stands atop stone steps at the Mausoleum of Emperor Minh Mang in Hue.
A shaft of sunlight pierces through a ceiling opening into the vast limestone chamber of Paradise Cave.
Hue · Phong Nha

Places

Where to go, and for how long

Wooden birdcages hang along a narrow alley wall leading to a decorative rooftop gate in Hoi An.

3-4 nights

Hoi An

Three nights. Fewer and you spend them all in the old town.

Ornate tiered gate towers rise above the stone walls and moat of Hue's Imperial City citadel.

2 nights

Hue

Two nights. The tombs are the point, not the citadel.

A motorbike navigates a hairpin curve on the mountain pass road between Hue and Hoi An.

0-2 nights

Da Nang

One or two nights, or use it only as the airport.

Kayakers in life vests paddle turquoise water toward a limestone cave entrance at Phong Nha, surrounded by forested karst.

2-3 nights

Phong Nha

Two nights. The big caves need a whole day each.

A woman in a white ao dai and conical hat walks among the ancient brick towers of My Son Sanctuary surrounded by green hills.

Half day

My Son

A half day from Hoi An, best at opening time.

A visitor stands in an old earthen trench beside a wooden building on the Hue DMZ tour route.

Day trip

The DMZ

A full day from Hue, and a heavy one.

Timing

The weather problem, stated plainly

Central Vietnam has a storm season and it is not a marketing inconvenience. From September to November the coast between Hue and Quang Ngai takes the bulk of the typhoons that cross the South China Sea, and Hoi An old town floods most years — sometimes ankle deep for a day, occasionally waist deep for three. February to August is dry and increasingly hot, with the sea at its best from April.

If your trip falls in October or November, we will still build it, and we will build it with a plan B: more inland nights at Phong Nha and Hue, fewer beach nights, and a flexible hotel booking in Hoi An rather than a prepaid one. What we will not do is book you four beach nights in late October and call it bad luck afterwards.

JFMAMJJASONDCentral coastPhong Nha, inland

● ideal · ◐ workable · ○ poor. February to April is the best all-round window here; September to November is the storm season and Hoi An floods most years.

Advice

Two things people get wrong here

Hue in half a dayThe citadel is impressive and the tombs are better. Two of them at your own pace, with the boat trip on the Perfume River in between, is a full and good day. Trying to add the DMZ to it is how people end up seeing neither properly.
Hoi An after dark onlyThe old town at night is beautiful and extremely crowded. The mornings are quiet, the light is better, and the same streets are almost empty before eight.

Not for everyone

Who the centre does not suit

If you are coming between late September and November and your heart is set on beaches, go south instead — Phu Quoc is dry when Hoi An is under water. And if you dislike tourist towns, be warned that Hoi An old town in high season is as busy as anywhere in Southeast Asia; the answer is to stay outside it and come in early, which we plan by default.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Hoi An or Da Nang as a base?

Hoi An for almost everyone. Da Nang is a good modern city with a long beach and it is where the airport is; as a place to spend your nights it is a distant second unless you specifically want a resort.

Is Phong Nha worth the detour?

Yes, and it is the part of a first Vietnam trip travellers most often say they would add. Two nights, and book the bigger caves early because the permits are capped.

How do I get from Hoi An to Hue?

Three hours by road over the Hai Van pass with stops, or the train from Da Nang, which is the better two hours. We usually do the pass one way and the train the other.

Is the DMZ suitable for children?

The tunnels at Vinh Moc are fine and interesting for older children. The rest of the day is long, hot and about a war, and younger children get very little from it.

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Tours

Tours

Day trips, regional routes and full-length itineraries.

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The tiled roof and pink gate of the Japanese Covered Bridge welcome visitors in Hoi An's old town.

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