Hoi An: Basket Boat, Fishing & Cooking Class with Market Tour

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/38

Duration4h 30m

GroupUp to 12

LanguagesEN · VI

PickupAt your hotel

Hoi An flavors from market to river to kitchen in half a day

You’ll wander Hoi An’s bustling market with a local guide, paddle through coconut palms in a basket boat, try your hand at fishing and crab catching, then cook (and eat!) classic Vietnamese dishes together in a countryside kitchen. Expect laughter over broken pancakes and new flavors you’ll remember long after heading home.

4h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Market, Basket Boat, Fishing, Cooking

Visit local colorful market
Take bamboo basket boat trip
Try traditional net fishing
Enjoy welcome drink
Join hands-on cooking class
Learn to cook 4 Vietnamese dishes
Eat cooked dishes with side dishes
Return to hotel

The Experience

Ever tried haggling for fresh herbs when you can barely pronounce the names? That’s how our morning in Hoi An started — at the local market, all colors and chatter and those sharp green smells that stick to your fingers. Our guide, Linh, nudged me to try bargaining for chilies (I failed, but she winked like it was all part of the fun). It’s loud there, but in a warm way. You get handed things to sniff or taste without warning. I didn’t expect to laugh so much before 9am.

After that we squeezed into these round bamboo basket boats — honestly, I thought we’d tip over in five seconds flat. The water through Cam Thanh’s coconut palms is quieter than town; you just hear the oars dipping and sometimes a bird calling out. The boatman showed us how to spin the boat (not as easy as he made it look), then helped us toss nets for fishing. My net landed in a heap, but he just grinned and said “next time.” There were purple crabs crawling along the canal edge too — weirdly cute.

Back on dry land, Linh poured us something cold and sweet (I still don’t know what it was) at her family’s bamboo house. The cooking class itself was more hands-on than I expected; we chopped papaya for salad and rolled spring rolls while Chef Hai explained which herbs go with what — he has this way of making even fish sauce sound poetic. My pancake broke on the first try but nobody minded. We ate everything together with extra side dishes they’d already prepared: morning glory greens, soup, rice… I lost track of what belonged to which course. It felt like eating with friends instead of strangers.

I keep thinking about that moment on the water when everything went quiet except for our paddles — you don’t get that kind of calm every day. If you’re curious about Vietnamese food or just want a real slice of Hoi An life (with lunch included), this cooking class tour is worth it.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup and drop-off by air-conditioned vehicle, all entry fees and taxes covered up front, bottled water throughout the tour, a welcome drink at the countryside restaurant before your hands-on Vietnamese cooking class (with recipes to take home), plus all eight dishes served together at lunch or dinner before heading back to your hotel relaxed — maybe full enough to skip dinner entirely.

Good to know

Infant seats availablePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Hoi An Cooking Class