Hoi An

Hoi An Ancient town is located in Viet Nam’s central Quang Nam Province, on the north bank near the mouth of the Thu Bon River. The inscribed property comprises 30 ha and it has a buffer zone of 280 ha. It  is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a small-scale trading port active the 15th to 19th centuries  which traded widely, both with the countries of Southeast and East Asia and with the rest of the world. Its decline in the later 19th century ensured that it has retained its traditional urban tissue to a remarkable degree.

Hoi An served as a major port city for more than 2000 years, growing from a small 2nd century Sa Huynh trading post into a powerful international trading center by the 16th century. It operated as the spice trading center of the Hindu Cham Kingdom, as a settling point for Ming Dynasty merchants and soldiers from China, and has hosted international trade between the Arab, European, and Asian worlds for centuries. The influx of money and goods, humans and ideas, have cooked Hoi An into a melting pot. Cham, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and European influence all bubble at the surface here.

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, the ancient core of the city has retained its original architecture and urban planning. The wooden houses and quaint storefronts are painted a moody yellow, bougainvillea vines bursting from French balconies. Cobbled streets wind alongside canals. Women in ao dai bicycle beneath dangling colored lanterns. Young couples stroll along the Thu Bon River, where merchant ships once sailed laden down with worldly goods and adventure.