Vietnam - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 877

unspoilt by development, though small
restaurants have been springing up along
the beach.

Cooking Many restaurants teach you how to make Hoi
An specialities during their half-day (around $30) and
full-day (around $50) cooking courses. The Morning Glory
Cooking School (106 Nguyen Thai Hoc; T 0510 2241555,
W restaurant-hoian.com) comes highly recommended, with
a visit to the market, and professional kitchen, but large
groups. Red Bridge Cooking School ( T 0510 3933222,
W visithoian.com/redbridge) teaches small groups at their
school, reachable by 4km boat cruise down the river; the
full-day course is particularly worthwhile.
Diving Blue Coral Diving (77 Nguyen Thai Hoc; T 0090
5939291, W divehoian.com) is run by experienced dive
masters and offers snorkelling and diving trips around
the Cham Islands; a one-day trip including two dives
costs $87 (PADI certification required); snorkelling day-
trips cost $40.

The islands
Touring the outlying islands on a rented
bicycle makes a good day out. Cam Nam
Island lies over the Cam Nam Bridge,
offering a great view of Hoi An across the
water. he waterfront restaurants to the
south of the island specialize in hen tron
(fried fresh clams).
From Hoi An ferry station on Bach
Dang, you can take a ferry (20,000VND)
to Cam Kim , a large island famous for its
specialist craft villages. he island's
woodcarving workshops are a popular
stopover for tourist boats returning from
My Son, but the maze of sandy tracks,
bamboo “monkey” bridges and picturesque
little villages makes the island a beautiful
place to explore independently. A main
road bisects the island from the western to
eastern shore, where there is a small jetty
with boats to ferry you back to Hoi An.
he mountainous Cham Islands , 10km
offshore from Cua Dai Beach, are
renowned for their swallows' nests, a
culinary delicacy that can fetch up to
$2500 per kilo. he islands' main
attraction for tourists, however, is the
coral reefs and marine life in the
surrounding waters; diving and
snorkelling (see below) are possible
mainly between April and September as
the seas get too rough out of season.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By bus Once-daily open-tour buses drop off at central
hotels. They provide the easiest and quickest way out of
Hoi An, stopping at all major destinations north and south.
There are also once-daily buses departing for Savannakhet
and Vientiane in Laos. Tickets can be booked from Sinh
Tourist or in your hotel. Local buses stop at the main bus
station about 1km northwest of the town centre at 96
Hung Vuong; these are notorious for overcharging tourists.
Destinations Da Lat (18hr); Da Nang (1hr); Hanoi (21hr);
HCMC (22hr); Hue (4hr); Mui Ne (17hr).

11

ACCOMMODATION
An Hoi Hotel 69 Nguyen Phuc Chu T 0510 3911888,
W anhoihotel.com.vn. Decent a/c rooms in a perfect
location for the Old Town, on Hoi An Isl and. Perks include
a swimming pool and breakfast. Double $25
Hoang Trinh 45 Le Quy Don T 0510 3916579, W hoian
hoangtrinhhotel.com. All rooms in this friendly place have
a bath and a balcony, and even the cheapest are given the
sorts of personal touches you'd expect from a much more
expensive hotel. Rooms at the front ($30) have views of
the Confucius Temple, and the co mmu nal rooftop terrace is
a great spot for breakfast. Double $20
Hoi Pho 627 Hai Ba Trung T 0510 3916382, E hoiphohotel
@yahoo.com. The bright, unfussy rooms in this quiet little
hotel are good value, the staff are help ful a nd there's a
good book exchange in the lobby. Double $15
Hop Yen 103 Ba Trieu T 0510 3863153, E hopyen
[e-mail]. Basic hostel offering simple doubles
and twins and two three-bed dorms in the attic. The
rooms are nothing to write home about, but the y'r e
clean, and o ne of the cheapest options in town. Dorm $6 ,
double $15
Nguyen Phuong 109 Ba Trieu T 0510 3916588,
E [e-mail]. Polished, spotlessly
clean lit tle a/c rooms, a short walk from the Old Town.
Double $20
★

Starfruit Homestay 26A Dinh Tien Hoang T 0510
6260026, W starfruithomestay.com. Run by a wonderfully
friendly family, this beautiful guesthouse, a 20min walk
from the Old Town, offers luxurious rooms with starfruit-
green accents, proper bathtubs and a filli ng breakfast.
Free bicycles available for guest use. Double $25
Thanh Binh III 98 Ba Trieu T 0510 3916777. One of
several similar hotels in the Hai Ba Trung cluster, with
spacious a/c rooms and a swimming pool. All rooms have
a private bal cony or patio, and there's an on-site spa as
well. Double $30

INFORMATION AND ACTIVITIES
Tours Hoi An has plenty of agencies offering tours, visas,
open-tour bus, train and air tickets, Sinh Tourist, 587 Hai
Ba Trung (daily 6am-10pm; T 0510 3863948, W thesinh
tourist.vn), being a particularly reliable option.