Evening Street Food Tour with 7 Tastings & Lantern Boat Ride Hoi An

Hoi An Old Town and its hidden alleys

Hoi An Ancient Town was a busy trading port between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, where Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese merchants built the wooden shophouses, assembly halls and temples that still line its streets. Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is one of the best-preserved historic towns in Southeast Asia, with mustard-yellow walls, tiled roofs and silk lanterns hanging from every balcony.

On this walk your guide leads you away from the main streets into narrow alleys where families live, cook and chat on their doorsteps. These hidden lanes are where the small, family-run stalls of Hoi An are found, the places you would rarely discover on your own. Visitors need an Old Town entrance ticket, which is not included; you can buy it in advance or during the tour with your guide's help, and reuse it during your stay.

Hoi An market at dusk

The tour begins in the late afternoon at the lively Hoi An market, the town's food heart on the riverbank. The air is full of the smell of grilled meat skewers, fresh herbs, lemongrass and rich Vietnamese coffee, and stalls sell everything from tropical fruit to freshly made noodles and rice paper.

Your guide explains the ingredients that define central Vietnamese cooking and introduces you to vendors who have worked here for years. It is the perfect place to try grilled skewers hot from the charcoal and to see how locals shop for the evening meal. Is a food tour in Hoi An worth it? For first-time visitors, having a local guide to order, explain and choose the best stalls turns a confusing market into a delicious introduction to the town.

Hoi An specialities: cao lau, white rose dumplings and banh mi

Hoi An has its own dishes that are hard to find elsewhere in Vietnam. Cao lau is a bowl of chewy, thick noodles with slices of pork, crunchy croutons and fresh greens in a small amount of rich sauce, a recipe tied closely to the town's history. White rose dumplings are delicate translucent parcels of shrimp shaped like flowers and topped with crispy shallots, and the local banh mi, a crunchy baguette filled with meats, pâté, herbs and chilli, is often called the best in the country.

Across the 4 tasting stops you also try crispy spring rolls and Vietnamese pancakes folded with herbs and dipped in sauce, for 7 dishes in total, plus a Vietnamese coffee and a soft drink. The menu changes slightly on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month, and vegetarians can be catered for if you tell us in advance.

Lantern boat ride on the Hoai River

As the sun sets, the Old Town lights up with hundreds of silk lanterns, and the Hoai River becomes the most romantic place in Hoi An. You board a small wooden boat, with no more than 5 guests per boat, for a gentle 15-minute ride along the river, admiring the reflections of the lanterns and the historic houses on the water.

Each guest receives a floating paper flower lantern to release onto the river, a simple local tradition of making a wish and sending good luck downstream. This Hoai River lantern boat ride is one of the classic things to do in Hoi An at night, and doing it as part of the tour means no waiting or bargaining at the riverbank. Have your phone ready for photos, but hold it carefully over the water.

Traditional folk games in the Old Town

The evening ends with traditional Vietnamese folk games played with locals in the Old Town. Bai choi is a singing card game from central Vietnam in which a caller sings verses to announce the cards, now recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, and on this tour you join a bingo-style version of it. In Dap Nieu, players are blindfolded and try to break a clay pot hanging overhead with a stick, guided only by the shouts of the crowd.

These games are noisy, cheerful and a lovely way to share a laugh with local people at the end of the night. The tour finishes at about 20:30 in the heart of the Old Town, so you can walk back to your hotel, take a taxi or simply stay to enjoy the lanterns and the night market a little longer.