Three of central Vietnam's main destinations sit close together. Hoi An's Ancient Town, An Bang beach and the city of Da Nang are all within about an hour of each other by road, which makes it easy to treat them as one stop. Which one you sleep in shapes the trip more than those distances suggest.
Hoi An Ancient Town
Sleeping inside or on the edge of the old town means walking to most of what you came for: the lanterns at night, the tailors, breakfast, the riverside. The trade is that the Ancient Town is heavily visited, and the central streets are at their busiest through the middle of the day and into the evening.
It suits short stays and first visits, and anyone whose main reason for coming is the town itself. The town is quietest early and late, and those hours are considerably easier to use if you are already inside it.
An Bang and the beach
A short ride from the Ancient Town — ten to fifteen minutes by bicycle, less in a Grab — and a different pace entirely: low-rise guesthouses and small resorts, a wide beach, beach restaurants. You get the old town as a destination you ride to rather than a place you live in.
It suits stays of three nights or more, and families who want the beach at the door rather than a city around them. The cost is that an evening in the Ancient Town means arranging transport back.
The three bases, and the distance between them: Hoi An · Da Nang. (Enable JavaScript for the interactive map.)
Da Nang
A city rather than a town: a long beachfront, high-rise hotels, the Han River, a city's range of bars and restaurants, and an airport close to the centre. Hoi An is around forty-five minutes south by car.
It suits travellers who want a city, anyone arriving late or leaving early by air, families who want more than a beach to fill a week, and longer stays generally. It is a poor base for a two-night trip built around the Ancient Town, because the round trip eats into a short stay.
What each base costs you in travel
The distances are the whole argument, so it is worth being concrete. Hoi An to An Bang is a few kilometres of flat road — ten to fifteen minutes by bicycle, less in a Grab. Hoi An to central Da Nang is roughly thirty kilometres and about forty-five minutes by car. Da Nang's airport sits close to its own city centre, and around forty-five minutes to an hour from Hoi An depending on traffic.
On those figures, a Da Nang base puts about an hour and a half on the road each time you go into the Ancient Town and come back. From An Bang the same return trip is twenty to thirty minutes by bicycle, less by Grab. From Hoi An the town is a walk, and the beach is that same twenty to thirty minutes there and back. Which of those you would rather pay is the choice.
How to choose, practically
Two nights and the old town is the point: stay in Hoi An. Three or four nights with beach time: An Bang, and ride in. A week, a family, or an early flight: Da Nang, or split between Da Nang and Hoi An.
Season matters too. Between roughly September and November the central coast is in its storm season, and a beach base loses much of its advantage when the sea is rough and the sky is grey. The Ancient Town is less dependent on the weather, though it is not immune to it — the streets nearest the river flood in some years.
The split option
Two nights in Hoi An and two in Da Nang is a workable shape for four nights, and it costs you one transfer. It gives you the town at its quiet hours and a city with an airport at the end.
What is nearby from each
From Hoi An: the Ancient Town, Tra Que vegetable village, the Thu Bon river, and My Son Sanctuary roughly an hour west. From An Bang: the same list, plus the beach itself and the quieter coast north of it. From Da Nang: the Marble Mountains, the Son Tra peninsula and Linh Ung Pagoda, My Khe beach, the Ba Na Hills complex with the Golden Bridge, and the Hai Van Pass heading north.
The list from Da Nang is the longer of the three, which is the honest case for it on a longer stay. The Hoi An list is shorter, and most of it other than My Son is within a short ride.
Getting between them
Grab operates in all three. Hoi An to An Bang is flat enough to cycle. Some hotels in Hoi An and An Bang run shuttles to the Ancient Town — worth asking about before booking, since it changes how easily you get to dinner.
What this choice is actually setting
Look at what follows from it. Your base shapes how easily you can be in the Ancient Town early or late, which is the difference between the lantern-lit streets in the photographs and the middle of a busy day. It sets whether the beach is somewhere you stay or somewhere you visit. And it shapes how much travelling you need to do when the weather changes your plans.
Those consequences are easy to miss when the three are three dots close together on a map. Where the base question gets harder is when it meets the rest of the trip — which nights you have in the region at all, and what you have committed to before and after. That wider ordering is what Vietnam, End to End works through.
FAQ
What is it like to stay in Hoi An Ancient Town?
Sleeping inside or on the edge of the old town means walking to most of what you came for: the lanterns at night, the tailors, breakfast, the riverside. The trade is that the Ancient Town is heavily visited, and the central streets are at their busiest through the middle of the day and into the evening.
Should you base yourself in Da Nang instead of Hoi An?
A city rather than a town: a long beachfront, high-rise hotels, the Han River, a city's range of bars and restaurants, and an airport close to the centre. Hoi An is around forty-five minutes south by car.
How far apart are Hoi An, An Bang and Da Nang?
The distances are the whole argument, so it is worth being concrete. Hoi An to An Bang is a few kilometres of flat road — ten to fifteen minutes by bicycle, less in a Grab. Hoi An to central Da Nang is roughly thirty kilometres and about forty-five minutes by car. Da Nang's airport sits close to its own city centre, and around…
