A rowing boat on the Hoai River in Hoi An costs 170,000 VND for one to three people or 220,000 VND for four or five, per boat, for a ride of about 20 minutes. Those are the rates set by the river's boat cooperative, the latest published ones I could find. A lantern to float from the boat costs about 10,000 VND more. Boats run from 16:00 to 21:30, the same price on full-moon nights, and they stop when the river floods.
The Hoai is the branch of the Thu Bon that runs along the front of the old town, between Bach Dang street and the An Hoi side. Since 1 July 2025, when Quang Nam province merged into Da Nang under Resolution 202/2025/QH15, the old town has been part of Hoi An ward, Da Nang city, formed from the old Minh An, Cam Pho, Son Phong and Cam Nam wards and Cam Kim commune, as Vietnamese Wikipedia's entry on Hoi An ward sets out. This guide is about the boat ride and what it costs on any evening. For the monthly full-moon event itself, its dates and what happens in the streets, see the Hoi An lantern festival guide.
What a boat ride costs in 2026
| Ride | Price | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rowing boat, 1-3 people | 170,000 VND per boat | about 20 minutes | Cooperative rate, March 2025 |
| Rowing boat, 4-5 people | 220,000 VND per boat | about 20 minutes | No more than 5 people, children included |
| Motorboat | about 50,000 VND per person | about 30 minutes | Average found by a May 2026 inspection |
| Floating lantern | about 10,000 VND | Sold along both banks |
The rowing boats. The small wooden boats that carry most visitors belong to the Hoai River boat cooperative, which sets the fare per trip: 170,000 VND for one to three guests and 220,000 VND for four or five, for a 20-minute ride, as Tien Phong reported in March 2025. At 26,300 VND to the dollar, the rate used in the Vietnam entrance fee index, that is about 6.50 and 8.40 US dollars. I found no newer official price list as of October 2026.
The price has risen once since the rowing boats were organised. In June 2022, after complaints about touts, the boat guild of the old Minh An ward published a negotiated price list: 150,000 VND for one to three guests and 200,000 VND for four or five, for 20 minutes, with any change needing the approval of Hoi An's urban management office, as Dan Tri reported. The 2025 rates are 20,000 VND higher, a rise of about 10 to 13 percent in under three years.
The motorboats. Larger motorboats also run trips on the Hoai and charge per person. When Da Nang's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism checked complaints about them in May 2026, it found rides of about 30 minutes at an average of 50,000 VND per person, and no overcharging, as Tuoi Tre reported. The same check found that many boat operators did not post their prices as required, and that the visitors who paid more had usually booked through a hotel or an agent.
Per boat, not per person
The rowing-boat fare is for the whole boat, so it gets cheaper the more of you share it:
| Group | Fare | Each person pays |
|---|---|---|
| 1 person | 170,000 VND | 170,000 VND |
| 2 people | 170,000 VND | 85,000 VND |
| 3 people | 170,000 VND | about 56,700 VND |
| 4 people | 220,000 VND | 55,000 VND |
| 5 people | 220,000 VND | 44,000 VND |
A couple pays 85,000 VND each for the rowing boat, against about 50,000 VND each on a motorboat. The rowing boat is the quieter ride; the motorboat is cheaper per head for one or two people and runs about ten minutes longer.
How the ride works
A rowing boat takes no more than five passengers, children included. Once you are seated, the boat operator hands out life jackets, and the ride lasts about 20 minutes, according to Tien Phong. Under the 2022 rules, you can ask for a shorter ride, but not under 15 minutes, and each trip runs as a closed loop from the pickup point back to the drop-off point.
The loop stays on the river in front of the old town, and most people float their lantern on the way. It is a short, slow ride, more about the view back to the town than about distance.
Where to board and how to buy
Boats leave from landing points along the riverbank, each with a ticket point where you queue and pay. The 2022 plan set up five boat teams, each selling tickets at its own landing, with a two-part ticket stamped by the guild and dated: the team leader keeps one half and you show the other to your boat operator. In October 2026, Hoi An's heritage conservation centre said it was surveying and reorganising some of the boat ticket points on the Hoai, as Tuoi Tre reported, so the exact spots may move.
Buy at the riverside ticket point rather than from someone who approaches you in the street, a hotel desk or an agent. The May 2026 inspection found that the high prices visitors complained about came mostly from booking through intermediaries. The Vietnam bargaining guide explains where haggling is normal; at a cooperative ticket point, the fare is the fare.
Full-moon nights: same price, longer queue
The lantern night, officially the Hoi An Old Town Night, falls on the 14th day of each lunar month; the next two are 22 November and 22 December 2026, and the lantern festival guide lists the 2027 dates. I found no official surcharge for these nights: the cooperative's fare is per boat and does not change with the calendar.
What changes is the wait. A boat seller told Tien Phong that his ticket point sells about 150 tickets a night and that weekends, full-moon nights and holidays are the busiest. On a busy evening in March 2025, visitors described queues of dozens of people and waits of about half an hour, almost twice as long as the ride. Paying through a hotel or an agent can cost more than the ticket point, as the May 2026 inspection found, so queue and pay at the river.
The best time to go
Boats start taking passengers at 16:00 and stop at 21:30, according to Tien Phong. Three windows work well:
- Before dark, 17:00 to 18:00. You get the town in soft light and the first lanterns, with a shorter queue.
- Just after dark. The busiest and most beautiful half-hour, when the riverfront is fully lit. Expect to queue.
- Later in the evening. A good option after dinner; the last boats leave at 21:30.
By season, February to April is the most comfortable time to be on the river, with dry evenings, while October to December is the flood season. The Da Nang and Hoi An weather guide has the month-by-month figures. If you are staying several nights, a weekday evening outside the lantern night is the easiest boat ride of the month.
The floating lantern
The floating lanterns, called hoa dang, are small, colourful lanterns lit by a candle and released on the river for peace and luck. They sell for about 10,000 VND each along both banks of the Hoai, as Nguoi Lao Dong reported from the full-moon night of February 2025. Many people buy one before boarding and release it from the boat; you can also release one from the steps on the bank, without a boat at all.
What happens to the lanterns afterwards
I could not find any study or official figure on how many lanterns end up in the Hoai, or who clears them. The concern is documented elsewhere in Vietnam. After about 30,000 lanterns were released on Lan Ha Bay in 2019, a Tuoi Tre opinion piece noted that lanterns once made of paper with small candles are now often made of plastic, foam or metal, and called for bans on those materials and for collection after every festival. It also noted that Thua Thien Hue had begun regulating lantern releases in October 2018.
If you want to take part, buy one paper lantern for your group rather than one each, refuse any made of plastic, and never throw anything else in the river.
Flood season: October to December
From October to December, the Hoai can rise into the old town, and the boats stop. Late 2025 showed how badly it can go. The old town's event organisers suspended activities from noon on 27 October 2025, after a flood that passed the 1964 record, and the ticket booths and heritage sites reopened only on the morning of 7 November, as Tuoi Tre reported. By 17 November the town had flooded for the fourth time in a little over two weeks, with 0.5 to 1 m of water in Bach Dang, Nguyen Thai Hoc and Cong Nu Ngoc Hoa streets, according to Dan Tri.
During those floods, some locals offered visitors rides through the flooded streets. Hoi An ward's vice-chairman, Vo Dang Phong, told Nguoi Lao Dong that boat rides on the river and through the old town during floods were "strictly banned" as dangerous, and that tourist boats may not run during the hours the city orders activities to stop. Decline those rides if you are offered one.
Not every year is like 2025. In October 2026 a hotel owner told Tuoi Tre that the weather had been fine and sunny, yet the old town was unusually quiet, and a vice-chairman of Da Nang's tourism association put that partly down to the economy and partly to coverage of the 2025 floods. The weather guide explains how Hoi An floods and how to plan around it.
How to agree a price
- Find the ticket point, not a tout. Buy at the riverside ticket point of a boat team.
- Ask "per boat or per person?" Rowing boats are per boat; motorboats are usually per person.
- Check the length. The rowing boats run about 20 minutes, and not under 15 if you ask for a shorter ride.
- Count heads. No more than five per rowing boat, children included.
- Ask what is included. Lanterns are usually extra, at about 10,000 VND each.
- Keep your ticket half until you are back on the bank, and wear the life jacket.
- Pay in small notes. Have the exact fare ready on busy nights.
For the rest of the evening, the Hoi An nightlife guide covers the night market and riverside cafés, and the 3 days in Hoi An itinerary fits the boat ride into a full stay. If you want a different kind of boat, the round basket boats at the Cam Thanh coconut forest are a daytime trip from town.
Limitations
The rowing-boat fares come from a March 2025 news report of the cooperative's rates; I could not find a newer official price list, so a 2026 change is possible. The motorboat figure is an average from one inspection in May 2026, and operators vary. I found no Hoi An-specific data on lantern waste, and the boat ticket points were being reorganised in October 2026. Flood closures are decided at short notice.
Workaround: check the price board at the ticket point and confirm per boat or per person before you board, buy directly rather than through a hotel or agent, and from October to December check the local news or ask your hotel on the day whether the boats are running.