A small town with four different weeks
Hoi An is not Da Nang with older buildings. The old centre is a UNESCO town that fills with visitors. The places people actually live sit just outside that, or they accept the crowds and the rent that comes with sleeping inside it. Figures on the neighbourhood cards are what we have on file. They are not a promise of what a landlord will ask you in the month you arrive.
An Bang
The long-stay centre of gravity. A wide beach, cafes, yoga, families and remote workers who want the town nearby but not under the window. You bike or Grab into the old streets for dinner. This is the default if you are staying months and you like a village that still has a flat white.
Ancient Town
You live in the postcard. Lanterns, tailors, the Japanese bridge, no cars in the core. You also live with tour groups, evening noise, and higher rent. Heritage rules limit what you can change in a building. Wonderful for a month. A harder year than the photos suggest.
Cam Thanh
Water-coconut groves to the southeast. Garden houses, more space, lower rent, and a bike ride that is part of every errand. Birds in the morning. You will not stroll out for a coffee in two minutes. Choose it for the garden, not for convenience.
Cam Nam
The island across the footbridge. Close enough to walk in for dinner, local enough that lunch is a family stall rather than a set menu. Some of the better-value long stays in town are here. Flooding in the wet months is the question to ask before you fall for a ground-floor house.
If the first week is the problem, read the first month. For food, eating in Hoi An.