Hoi An Countryside Adventures

Activities to do

There are various activities you can enjoy in this village. You can walk around and learn about farming in vegetable gardens or rice paddies, eat lunch in a farmer’s home, participate in a cooking lesson, or even get a traditional foot massage.

In Tra Que’s vegetable gardens, you will find a large variety of vegetables, from mint, basil and cilantro, to lettuce and broccoli. What is most special about these vegetables is that they do not use pesticides. Instead, they use organic farming techniques. For fertilizer, some use local seaweed from the river.

There is also plenty to do in Tra Que’s rice paddies. You can learn about irrigation, ploughing a field, or transferring young rice seedlings into the rice field. You may even get the opportunity to ride on a water buffalo!

What a tour is like

There are many tour operators in Hoi An offering biking tours to Tra Que Village, with slight variations in the tour activities. Typically it will only last half a day, starting at about 8 in the morning from Hoi An by bike. You will then visit an organic farm or rice paddy, followed by a cooking class, and then end with lunch where you eat what you have made.

Background

During the wars in the past century, the village served as a shelter for local people and soldiers. Now it is most well known for their fishing products and is a popular destination for tourists.

Activities to do

There are various activities you can explore in the village, like learning traditional fishing techniques, learning to paddle the round bamboo basket boats while exploring the flooded nipa palm forest, and learning about wetland ecosystem. In addition, you can also hear many interesting Vietnamese-American war stories.

What a tour is like

Typically, a tour to Cam Thanh fishing village will only last for half a day. At about 8 to 8.30, your tour guide will pick you up at your hotel to go to Thu Bon wharf, where you will join a boat cruise. During this cruise you can watch the fishermen catching fish and mussels.

Your destination will be Bay Mau nipa grove (water coconut palm forest) where you will discover the lives of the local fisherman. There you can participate in various activities, including learning the local people’s fishing and paddling techniques. A cooking class and then lunch at a local home will end the tour. At the end of the tour, your guide will bring you back to your hotel.

Background

In the earlier years, the Nguyen Dynasty of Hue used to invite craftsmen from the village to make various articles for the palace.

While the village has faced economic challenges due to foreign competition, many of the locals still preserve this local tradition, including unique pottery techniques that are not found in other parts of the country. In this way, the village is like a live museum and gives pottery enthusiasts a valuable insight into traditional Vietnamese pottery.

Activities to do

A main landmark in this village is the Terracotta Village, which is a park with various pottery articles, including replicas of the architectural wonders of the world made of pottery, from India’s Taj Mahal to Rome’s Colosseum!

In the park there is also a pottery workshop where you can try your own hand on the pottery wheel. This is a great activity for both adults as well as children.

Background

During their glorious days, the villagers were commissioned by the Nguyen Dynasty to build the Hue Capital. This testifies to the reputation they had at the time. In fact, most of the architectural projects in Hoi An Ancient Town were constructed by Kim Bong’s carpenters at the time.

Activities to do

You can bike through the streets of Kim Bong village and see carpenters at work in their open-air workshops, or you can buy souvenirs at their shops selling various wooden items from coasters, and statues, to doors.

Activities to do

Visitors to the village will have the opportunity to learn more about the process of bronze casting. You can also hear firsthand the traditional sound of the gongs they make.