Hello there, travelers and adventurers! I hope you're enjoying my Vietnam posts so far. Every time I write travel posts I'm trying to explain our vacation days as best as I can throwing in some tips here and there. If you need any more advice on a specific topic or place let me know in the comments below or even send me a message on Instagram if you like :-)
What to do in Hoi An
Except for exploring Hoi An's exceptionally beautiful Ancient Town which you could read about in my last post, there are a lot more things to do in and around the city. One great option is spending the day at one of Hoi An's numerous beaches.
On our second day in Hoi An we decided to rent bikes from our villa to explore the city's surroundings. After a short morning stop in Hoi An's Ancient Town we paddled to An Bang Beach crossing rivers and passing rice fields, what a beautiful ride! I loved getting out of the city and admiring the surrounding green fields. Watching the local life is one of my favorite things to do when traveling. So seeing the Vietnamese people work on the rice fields made me very happy.
It was an easy, only 20-minute bike ride from the ancient town to the beach. Once we got there we were asked to pay for bike parking but you can really leave your bikes anywhere on the street without paying. The beach was pretty crowded that day and since there were high waves we couldn't go swimming. Thus, we decided to get a sun bed in the shade for the day. A great choice, this turned out to be our most relaxed day in Vietnam, haha. We did nothing but sleep, read and watch the wild sea. For lunch we went up to the Dolphin Kitchen & Bar beach restaurant to enjoy our first European meal after spending more than ten days in Vietnam. I had tuna with mango sauce and Miguel had duck, both served with fries. It was delicious and the beach views from the restaurant were awesome! We decided to leave An Bang Beach in the afternoon to head back to the center and do some sunset shopping at the market before going home and enjoying a good night's sleep.
Long Tuyen Tu Temple
The next day we left for Da Nang to take a night train from there to our next stop Ninh Binh. When we headed to the local bus which would take us from Hoi An back to Da Nang we randomly passed by the stunning Long Tuyen Tu Temple. This temple doesn't seem to appear in any tourist guide or on any travel blog because there was not a single person. It was beautiful! We had the entire temple complex for ourselves and walked around a bit soaking up the Buddhist spirit and admiring the beautifully painted buildings, unique sculptures and plants. Undiscovered places like this little oasis of peace and tranquility make any trip extra special!
