Hoi An Lantern Tour: Evening River Cruises and Old Town Walks

Hoi An’s Ancient Town is most famous for what it looks like after dark: silk lanterns strung between centuries-old merchant houses, the Thu Bon River reflecting orange and yellow light from dozens of bobbing paper floats, and the UNESCO-listed Old Town operating on a slower, quieter schedule once the tour buses leave.

The lantern experience here is genuinely worth a night of your Vietnam trip. This guide covers the main options - from a self-directed riverside stroll costing almost nothing to a structured evening tour that includes a lantern-making workshop, boat ride, and riverside dinner.

The Full Moon Festival (Ngày Rằm Tháng Giêng)

The fullest version of the Hoi An lantern experience is the Full Moon Lantern Festival, held on the 14th night of each lunar month. From around 7pm, the Old Town cuts its electric lights for three hours. Shops and restaurants switch to candles and silk lanterns; the streets of the UNESCO core zone fill with vendors selling paper lanterns, incense, and traditional sweets.

During the festival, the volume of boat traffic on the Thu Bon River peaks sharply. Wooden rowboats depart from the Bach Dang Street riverbank every few minutes, each carrying three to eight passengers who release floating lanterns mid-river. On the most popular evenings (January and February festivals around Tet, and the September and October festivals in the cooler season), the river is so densely packed with lights that the water almost disappears.

How to attend: No ticket is required for the Old Town - simply arrive after 6pm. Boat rides are negotiated directly with vendors on Bach Dang Street; budget 50,000–80,000 VND per person for a 30-minute circuit. The price is fixed by the municipality, though vendors do ask for more; politely declining and moving to the next boat usually resolves it.

Lantern purchases: Paper lanterns suitable for river floating cost 10,000–20,000 VND each at stalls along the riverbank. Larger silk lanterns sold as souvenirs range from 50,000 VND for a small decorative piece to several hundred thousand VND for a quality silk-and-bamboo lantern.

Guided Lantern Evening Tours (~USD 20–35 per person)

For a more structured experience that removes the negotiation element and adds context about Hoi An’s cultural history, several operators run guided evening tours that typically combine three elements: a lantern-making workshop, a guided walk of the Old Town at dusk, and a boat ride on the Thu Bon with lantern release.

Hoi An Eco Tour - one of the most consistently reviewed operators for this format. Their evening lantern tour starts with a 45-minute workshop where a local craftsperson teaches you to assemble a small paper lantern using traditional bamboo frames and coloured tissue paper. The group then walks the Old Town’s main streets - Tran Phu, Nguyen Thai Hoc, and Bach Dang - with a guide who explains the architecture and trading history of the Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese merchant quarters. The tour finishes with a 30-minute rowboat ride and communal lantern release. From approximately USD 22 per person as of 2026. Book via GetYourGuide.

Hoi An Ancient Town Evening Walk and Boat Tour - a shorter format (approximately 2 hours total) that focuses more on the river section and less on the workshop. Suitable if you want the atmospheric boat ride without the afternoon commitment. From approximately USD 15 per person via GetYourGuide.

Private Lantern Tours - available from most tour operators in Hoi An for USD 30–50 per couple. Includes a private rowboat and a guide who can tailor the walking route. Recommended for travellers who want to photograph the river without managing a group.

Self-Guided Evening in the Old Town

A self-directed evening in Hoi An costs almost nothing if you skip the guided tours. The walk from the Japanese Covered Bridge (Lai Vien Kieu) along Tran Phu Street to the riverfront, then along Bach Dang Street to the An Hoi Peninsula footbridge, covers the best-lit section of the Old Town in roughly 45 minutes. All the major lantern-hung facades are visible without a guide.

Self-guided route:

1. Start at the Japanese Covered Bridge (admission: 120,000 VND for the Old Town entry ticket, which covers multiple heritage houses)
2. Walk east along Tran Phu Street - the oldest commercial street, best lanterns on this stretch
3. Turn south onto Nguyen Hue Street to reach the riverfront
4. Walk the Bach Dang riverfront west to the An Hoi footbridge
5. Cross to An Hoi Peninsula for the best view back across the illuminated riverfront - this is the photograph most people are looking for

The Old Town entry ticket (120,000 VND as of 2026) grants access to five heritage sites from a list of 22; the ticket booth is at the entrance to the Old Town on Tran Hung Dao Street. Individual sites include the Tan Ky Old House, Cantonese Assembly Hall, and the Japanese Covered Bridge interior. Most people buy the ticket, visit two or three sites before dinner, and then spend the evening walking the streets freely.

Lantern-Making Workshops (Morning or Afternoon)

If you want to release a lantern you made yourself, several craft workshops in Hoi An offer 1.5 to 2-hour sessions for 150,000–250,000 VND (approximately USD 6–10) that teach the bamboo-frame and tissue-paper construction method used for the town’s signature round lanterns.

Hoi An Craft Workshop on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street - the most centrally located option, open daily from 8am to 5pm. Walk-in is usually possible outside peak season (July–August, December–January). The instructors speak enough English to guide beginners through the assembly process, and you take the finished lantern home (or release it that evening from the river).

Practical Information

Best months for lantern evenings: September to March, when temperatures in Hoi An drop from 35°C to a more manageable 20–25°C. The July and August rainy season creates beautiful reflections on flooded streets but can dampen paper lanterns; guided tours typically continue in light rain with simple ponchos.

What to wear: Comfortable shoes for cobblestone streets; light layers for evenings from November to February when sea breezes off the Thu Bon can be cool.

Booking in advance: On Full Moon Festival nights, guided tours and private boat slots book out 2–4 weeks ahead. On regular evenings, walk-up to boat vendors and same-day bookings work fine.

Combining with a day trip: Hoi An is 30 km south of Da Nang airport and 60 km north of Quy Nhon. Most travellers based in Da Nang visit Hoi An for the day and stay for the evening; the last minibuses back to Da Nang leave around 9–10pm from the market bus stand.

See our Hoi An city guide for more on where to eat, stay, and what to do during the day before the evening lanterns.

Book Hoi An tours:

• Tours and activities in Hoi An via GetYourGuide