Hoi An City

Hoi An

With the total area of 60km², Hoi An City is located in Quang Nam Province, at the lower section of Thu Bon River, about 50km to the northeast of Tam Ky City (the capital of Quang Nam Province) and 30km to the south of Da Nang City.

 The city has 13 communes, wards (9 wards, 3 mainland communes and 1 island commune). Tan Hiep Island Commune has the area of 15km2, includes 7 islands, of which the largest ones is Cham Island (Cu Lao Cham). The population of Hoi An City is about 88,933 habitants (2009). Mostly of which are Viet (Kinh) and Hoa (Chinese) groups. Hoi An City is located in the region of tropical monsoon climate. Hoi An's annual average temperature is 25oC, air humidity is 82%, rainfall reaches up to 2,066mm.

   From the 16th to 19th century, Hoi An used to be an international trade center on the East - West commercial itinerary and also the busiest trading port in Dang Trong (the South region of Viet Nam). Merchant ships from Japan, China, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands... often stopped here to exchange and purchase commodities.
    Graceful historic Hoi An is Vietnam’s most atmospheric and delightful town. Once a major port, it boasts the grand architecture and beguiling riverside setting that befits its heritage, but the 21st-century curses of traffic and pollution are almost entirely absent. Whether you’ve as little as a day or as long as a month in the town, it’ll be time well spent.
In the progresses of establishment and development, Hoi An was known with many difference names as Faifo, Haisfo, Hoai pho, Ketchem, Cotam... Archeological and architectural relics prove that Hoi An was an important meeting place of many cultures, such as Champa, Viet Nam, Japan and China... Until now, a complex of ancient architecture relics in Hoi An has been preserved mostly intact, including many old houses, assembly halls, temples, pagodas, wells, bridges, churches, ports, markets, roads... with mossy ancient color. According to statistics, the relics in Hoi An are classified into 11 categories, including 1,068 ancient houses, 19 pagodas, 43 temples, 23 communal houses, 38 family worship houses, 5 assembly halls, 11 ancient wells, 1 bridge, 44 ancient tombs... The existence of Hoi An Ancient City is the only case in Viet Nam and also rare in the world. Hoi An is considered  as a living museum of architecture and urban lifestyle.
    Besides diverse architectures, Hoi An also keep quite grandiose intangible culture values. Daily life of the locals with customs, religious activities, folk art, festivals, traditional craft villages, specialty dishes... have been preserved and promoted. This revival of fortunes has preserved the face of the Old Town and its incredible legacy of tottering Japanese merchant houses, Chinese temples and ancient tea warehouses – though, of course, residents and rice fields have been gradually replaced by tourist businesses. Lounge bars, boutique hotels, travel agents and a glut of tailor shops are very much part of the scene here. And yet, down by the market and over on neighbouring An Hoi Peninsula and Cam Nam Island you’ll find life has changed little. Travel a few kilometres further – you’ll find some superb bicycle, motorbike and boat trips – and some of central Vietnam’s most enticing, bucolic scenery and beaches are within easy reach.
    Hoi An also has 7km-coastline that is favorable for tourism development, of which Cua Dai Beach is one of the nicest and cleanest beaches in Viet Nam.
Hoi An owes its easygoing provincial demeanour and remarkably harmonious old-town character more to luck than planning. Had the Thu Bon River not silted up in the late 19th century – so ships could no longer access the town’s docks – Hoi An would doubtless be very different today. For a century, the city’s allure and importance dwindled until an abrupt rise in fortunes in the 1990s, when a tourism boom transformed the local economy. Today Hoi An is once again a cosmopolitan melting pot, one of the nation’s most wealthy towns, a culinary mecca and one of Vietnam’s most important tourism centres.
   In December 1999, Hoi An Ancient City was recognized as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.