Hoi An in the rain

When is the rainy season in Hoi An?

September to January, per VNAT: rainy, cool and cloudy. February to August is warm to hot, with sunny, clear skies.

VNAT's wording for Hoi An is blunt: starting in September, tropical storms hit central Vietnam hard. From September to November the town sees “a lot of rain and even a few small floods”, the temperature drops, and January is the coldest month before it warms up again just ahead of the Vietnamese new year.

The table sets VNAT's season lines next to what they mean for a class. It describes the seasons, not the weather on any given day, and nothing in it is a forecast.

Does Hoi An flood every year?

Small floods are part of VNAT's description of September to November. In 2025 they were big: the old town flooded several times between late October and late November.

Late October 2025 brought record rain to central Vietnam, and AP and other press reported the Thu Bon at a 60-year high between 28 and 30 October. Reuters, on 1 November 2025, quoted residents who had never seen flooding on that scale; by that Saturday the water had gone down and shops were cleaning out the mud. VnExpress International reported water on Bach Dang Street again on the night of 15 November, about 0.4 m at its deepest, with Hoai River boat services shut. VietNamNet called the flood of 18 November the third major one in 20 days.

Two things stood out in those reports. Streets a little higher up stayed dry enough for cafes to keep serving, and the water went down within days. Nobody can say what 2026 will bring. Book the class first, keep the free cancellation in your pocket, and follow local news in the week of your visit.

A rainy-day favorite: hotel pickup, a basket boat in Bay Mau, then Vietnamese coffee, a lantern you make yourself and the class, mostly indoors.

★ 4.9 · 4.5 hours · from $30

Explore the class with coffee and lantern making → Tour details

Do cooking classes in Hoi An run in the rain?

Yes, the class itself does: it is held in a restaurant or a kitchen under a roof. One listing says it plainly: “This tour takes place rain or shine.”

That line is on the class from Da Nang or Hoi An. On the coffee and lantern making class, the boat comes first and the coffee, the lantern and the stove follow at Phu Lanh Restaurant in the Bay Mau coconut forest. Balthazar (Nov 2026) put it this way: “Every single activity was interesting and also great if the weather is bad (three out of four activities are inside).”

Guests on the market class agree. Liz (Oct 2026): “This was a perfect rainy day activity!” The Hangcoconut listing tells guests to be prepared for weather changes and to bring a raincoat or umbrella if necessary. Add sandals that can get wet and a dry shirt in a bag.

What can change on a basket boat day when the river is high?

The boat part. The Bay Mau coconut forest lies on the lower Thu Bon in Cam Thanh, so high water reaches it first, and the operator decides whether the boat runs or moves.

On a wet day an operator may change the order or the boat part. Amber (Sep 2026) on the Hangcoconut class: “Due to rain we did the basket boat trip after the cooking class instead of before as planned but this was totally fine.” What happens in a real flood is up to each operator, so ask. Several listings ask for your WhatsApp number, and the crab fishing class operator calls between 16:00 and 20:00 the day before to reconfirm.

• Does the boat run today, and if not, what replaces it?
• Is the pickup time the same, and can the car reach my hotel?
• Can I move to another day with the same option?
• Is the spinning boat show on? On the lantern class it is an extra, per the listing.

Cancelling yourself is simple: every class on this site cancels free up to 24 hours before. More on the boats in our basket boat guide.

Which Hoi An cooking classes work best on a wet day?

The ones that are mostly kitchen: the cooking-only class, the family class, the Tra Que classes, or the class-only option on a bundled listing. The lantern class adds two indoor crafts to its boat ride.

The cooking-only class has no market, farm or boat, and picks you up in Hoi An or Da Nang, which keeps you out of the rain until you are at the stove. The family class in Cam Thanh starts with welcome tea; there is no pickup, so plan a taxi. On the market, boat and class listing option 3 is the class only, and its from-price is for the lowest-priced option: the full market, boat and cooking day costs more, so check the options on the listing.

Our pick for a grey November morning: the lantern class. It still gets you onto the water when the boat runs, and the rest of the half day is under a roof.

When does the dry season start in Hoi An?

February, per VNAT, which describes February to August as warm to hot with sunny, clear skies. It calls March an excellent time to see Hoi An.

In March, VNAT writes, the fields, gardens and streets are awash in blossoms and greens, a good month for the herb beds of Tra Que and the boats of the coconut forest. From May to August the town can be hot, and a sun hat matters more than a raincoat.

December has its own draw. Viet Nam News, citing the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre, lists the Hoi An International Lantern Festival for 3 to 6 December 2026 around Hoai River Square, with lantern-making workshops. The craft is old: Vietnam Law Magazine, citing the Hoi An Center for Cultural Heritage Management, traces the first lanterns to the 17th-century port of Faifo, with bamboo frames and silk or satin coverings. Tet follows in February: see our Tet 2027 post for the dates.

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