Hoi An Night Market: A Colorful Shopping Street

When night falls, the sparkling lanterns light along Nguyen Hoang Street. It is the time when the busiest Hoi An night market begins.

With a length of about 300 m, the locals set up the shops on mobile cars on both sides of the road to start a colorful night market.

For a long time, Hoi An night market has been an attractive place for many locals and tourists to visit and shop. It is great if you take the time to walk along this street and see the colorful stalls.

The night market in Hoi An will be a favorite place for hand-in-hand couples, those who love to take pictures of the colorful lanterns, the diners who love to enjoy street food, and the kids because of lots of toys.

What to see at the night market in Hoi An?

Hoi An night market on Nguyen Hoang Street, although along a short distance, has up to 50 stalls, not to mention street vendors along the street. A large number of shops will satisfy the viewing and selection of souvenirs, lanterns, clothing, scarves, and plenty of handicrafts.

Souvenirs and handicraft items

Like other night markets in Vietnam, souvenirs are quite a lot at the Nguyen Hoang night market in Hoi An. When you walk around the market, you can also want to find yourself a beautiful little item to decorate your beloved house or as a souvenir of your trip to Hoi An.

An outstanding product that you would love to see in the old town and at this night market is the lantern. With many colors, lanterns made of red, yellow, and green silk cloth light up the whole neighborhood, making Hoi An City poetic and gentle. Hoi An itself is also the place to preserve the culture of making lanterns, so the details are done meticulously to create the best quality and eye-catching products.

The lantern is probably the product that many international visitors love because it is the traditional culture of Hoi An ancient town. Besides, the lanterns uniquely are designed and very light, so you can easily fold them into your luggage. The price of each lantern is from 30,000 VND – 300,000 VND (1.20 USD – 12 USD), depending on the design and size.

To He – a pottery whistle is one of the unique items in Hoi An presented at this night market. It is because Thanh Ha pottery village, 2 km from Hoi An ancient city, produces many ceramic items for construction, decoration, and also beautiful little To He. “To He” will give interesting sounds, especially a lot of excitement for the children. The price is very cheap, about 5,000 VND (~ 20 cents) for a To He.

Another souvenir product that will probably cause curiosity to most visitors, is to write the name on the rice grain. Imagine that the artists can write your name on a small grain of rice, and indeed the performers show quite a unique and excellent talent. After engraving your name on the grain of rice, they will put it on the pendant so you can take it as a souvenir. The price for each writing and the chain is from 50,000 VND – 100,000 VND (2 – 4 USD).

Besides handicraft shops, you will also find shops selling colorful silk scarves. Silk scarves are beautiful, priced from only 80,000 VND (~ 3.20 USD).

Or, you can visit a shop selling ready-made ao dai. The price is from only 500,000 VND (~ 20 USD) for ao dai; if the whole set includes pants, the price is about 600,000 VND (~ 24 USD). However, ready-made ao dai is only for souvenirs and viewing.

If you want to wear it well, you need to tailor it. It is because Ao Dai has a typical feature that each piece is tailored based on the shape of each person. And, Hoi An is a garment paradise for visitors with hundreds of tailor shops ready to tailor you the best clothes in just one day.

Tasting food at Hoi An night market

Cuisine can be said to be a unique feature of Vietnam, and Hoi An is no exception. With local style and selective reception, Hoi An cuisine is very diverse in terms of types of dishes and flavors.

Coming to Hoi An ancient town, you will see colorful street food, from baked cakes to crispy bread. All create a multi-flavor color of the cuisine in this area.

 You will find a variety of street fast foods, such as:

• Banh Trang Nuong, also called Vietnam pizza: consists of rice paper, and its inner is filled with ingredients mixed together, spread evenly on the rice paper, and baked. Ingredients include quail eggs, spring onions, scallions, chili sauce, and mayonnaise. Price from 15,000 VND – 20,000 VND (~ 60 cents -0.8 USD) depending on the sellers.
• Grilled piercing: has attractive color and flavor. It includes pork, bell pepper, and onion. All are marinated and put into bamboo sticks, and then baked on charcoal fire, creating a very attractive flavor. The price for one piercing is 20,000 VND (~ 0.8 USD) and over.
• Banana cake: is a Thai dish you can also find here. The banana cake includes banana, flour, milk, and sugar. All are coated on a hot surface, and when serving it, the seller adds a little extra chocolate. It costs 30,000 VND (~ 1.2 USD).
• Smoothies: is one of the favorite foods on hot sunny days. Smoothies include a variety of fresh fruits mixed together with a little sugar, milk, and plenty of ice. A smoothie is around 15,000 VND (~ 60 cents).

Besides, you can also find typical Hoi An dishes:

• Banh Mi (Bread): Bread is probably not strange to Vietnamese people, it is everywhere. However, Hoi An bread has its own features because the crust is very crisp, and the inside is very fragrant and delicious. Therefore, domestic and international tourists highly appreciated Hoi An bread. At Nguyen Hoang Hoi An night town, you can also find bread. But, the right place to enjoy Hoi An bread must be Phuong Banh Mi in 2B Phan Chu Trinh, Hoi An.
• Quang Noodles: This is a familiar dish of the Hoi An people. Locals eat Quang noodles anytime, morning – noon – evening – and late at night. You will find noodles with shrimp, and quail or chicken eggs, peanuts, and lots of vegetables.

If you do not want to taste the local food on the street, there is a restaurant right in Hoi An night market, Vy’s Market at 3 Nguyen Hoang Street is the right restaurant for you. The restaurant offers street food and Hoi An specialties with modern hygienic style, but still retains the taste of local food.

Shopping Tips at Hoi An Night Market

At Nguyen Hoang night market or other shopping areas in Hoi An, the shopping is quite similar to each other. So, when shopping at this night market, you need to pay attention to:

• Bidding: The skill of bargaining is always a challenge for foreign tourists, but a cultural feature of business in Vietnam, as well as some Asian countries. So you need to have a little skill to bid the price to have the item at a reasonable price. Starting at 50% of the seller’s price and paying off gradually. About 20-30% is the level price that many sellers can agree with you.
• Checking the price: the first stalls at the night market are usually more expensive, because the kiosks are located in a convenient position, and they often have many customers. Checking and asking prices to check and compare with many of the stalls inside will give you a suitable price.
• Purchasing at a low price: Vietnamese people often have a habit that if they can sell one item quickly just by opening a shop, it will be good luck for that day. So if you arrive early when the store has just opened, the sellers can sell some items at a good price. However, you should be aware that you are the first person who can bring luck to them and also make them feel unlucky for the sale. So, you should consider when using this suggestion.

>>> You may want to see the 4 popular Hoi An Markets.

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Conclusion

Hoi An Night Market is a fascinating and colorful promenade. Coming here, you can not only have exciting moments but also shop for souvenirs and enjoy tasty street food. This activity is a memorable experience when traveling in the ancient town of Hoi An.

Hoi An night market today is not only one place is Nguyen Hoang Street, but also on Tran Quy Cap Street right in the food market of Hoi An. But when mentioning to Hoi An night market, many people default to the night market on Nguyen Hoang Street because this is the first night market in this city.

At the same time, the Hoi An night market on Nguyen Hoang Street is also cheaper and has more products than the market on Tran Quy Cap Street. Therefore, to experience the night market in Hoi An, you should immediately find Nguyen Hoang Street to spend your time.