Hoi An with Kids: Basket Boats, Lantern Making, the Beach, Bicycles, and the Things That Actually Work

Hoi An is car-free in the old town for most of the day, flat, small and safe, with a beach five kilometres away, a countryside you can cycle with a child seat, and food that children eat without persuasion. The evening lanterns are magic at any age. It is the town where families slow down for three or four nights in the middle of a Vietnam trip, and the activities below are the ones that get repeated.

The Cam Thanh basket-boat ride is the winner: round bamboo boats through the coconut channels, boatmen spinning them, palm-leaf rings and grasshoppers made on the spot, 20 to 30 minutes, from age two upwards. Lantern-making workshops, an hour or two of bamboo and silk, suit five and up and the lantern goes home. The Tra Que farm cooking class lets children water the beds and roll spring rolls. Bicycle tours have child seats and small bikes, with a three-hour morning loop the right length. My Son is a hot walk and better left for teenagers.

An Bang beach is a ten-minute taxi from the old town, with calm water from March to August, sunbeds and cafes; Cua Dai further south has lost sand to erosion. The sea is rough and often red-flagged from October to February. Cham Island snorkelling is for confident swimmers from about eight, in season. Hotel pools do the rest, and most family hotels between the town and the beach have one.

Children eat fresh spring rolls, banh mi, fried rice, cao lau noodles and the fruit shakes; nothing is spicy unless asked. The night market skewers and the lantern boats (a few dollars, from the quay) are the evening, then bed by nine before the 21:30 crowd-thinning that adults enjoy. The night guide has the timing.

Heat: do the outdoor things before 10:30 and after 16:00 from April to August, and carry water. Traffic outside the old town is motorbikes; hold hands at crossings and take taxis or Grab between the town and the beach. Pharmacies and a good clinic are in town. February to April is the family sweet spot: dry, warm, green fields, calm sea. The best time to visit page covers the rain months.