When we pulled into Danang Port onboard the Azamara Club Cruises Azamara Journey, the weather was looking really ominous. It had been a rough night at sea and I was hoping the rain would hold off and the sun would come out. It took a little while but that ended up happening! That made for an excellent day tour of Hoi An and Danang.

Hoi An is about a 30-minute drive from Danang and has quickly become my favorite place I’ve been to in Vietnam. I love Saigon and Hanoi but they’re both big cities. Hoi An is a little place that looks like a Mediterranean Island town meets Asia. I think that’s the best way to describe it!

The day tour of Hoi An and Danang was good because it showed you the highlights but gave you plenty of time to explore on your own. I’m generally not a big tour guy so that worked out well for me!

There’s no better way to explore Hoi An than by foot. There is the famous Japanese Bridge that makes for a crowded but nice photo. If you’re patient you can get it with nobody in it.

Strolling the streets and along the river are great because you can check out the shops, people watch and stumble onto places like temples, Chinese houses, amazing coffee shops, etc.

Hoi An is a bright, festive place that is full of tourists but it really doesn’t feel like it. Plus there’s hardly any traffic so you don’t feel congested like you do in the big cities. You don’t need much time to explore Hoi An. I wish I had a night or two but I got a great feel from my day tour. I highly recommend Hoi An.

The first and last stop of the day tour of Hoi An and Danang was Danang itself. Driving into the third city of Vietnam was nice across the dragon bridge; which I thought was really cool.

The Hindu Museum was the first stop on the tour. I have to say I didn’t really care for it but the building itself was interesting and had a lot of parts to it. Sometimes in Asia, the building is more interesting than the contents of the museum!

Danang was the recent host of the APEC 2017 conference. This is the Asia Pacific Economic Conference that was attended by all leaders of Pacific bordering nations including the United States, Russia, China and others. You could tell the city had undergone some renovations for the event.

There are a ton of big resorts along the coast from all the usual suspect hotel names. It’s a beautiful beach that runs long from Danang. This includes the famous China Beach, so named by US soldiers during the Vietnam War. It’s very built up nowadays but it’s fun to put yourself back in 1968!

So that was essentially my day tour of Hoi An and Danang. I really enjoyed it although I could’ve done without a few of the compulsory shopping stops but that happens with group tours. I still loved it although I might recommend focusing on Hoi An if you don’t like shopping for textiles, marble or whatever in Danang.

Disclaimer: I did my hosted day tour of Hoi An and Danang with Azamara Club Cruises. Everything written here is by me based on my experience and has not been influenced in any way.

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