The Halls of the Overseas Chinese

Best Time to Visit

Early morning, from around eight to ten, or late afternoon toward dusk. The midday heat on the central coast of Vietnam is intense, and the halls offer welcome shade, but the light and the crowds are gentler at the edges of the day. If you can, aim for a weekday, when the Old Town's foot traffic is lighter and you can linger in the courtyards without a queue. The dry season, roughly February through August, is the most reliable window for comfortable walking.

Pro Tips

• •Most of the halls and the Quan Cong temple are covered by the single Hoi An Old Town ticket, which costs one hundred and twenty thousand Vietnamese dong, about five US dollars. It gives you five tear-off stubs to spend at your choice of roughly twenty-two sites, and it stays valid for ten days.
• •Two of the stops on this walk, the Hainan and Trung Hoa halls, are frequently open without a stub, so save your stubs for the grander ticketed halls like Fujian.
• •Walk the street from west to east, starting at the Cantonese hall and finishing at the Chaozhou hall, so the story builds in the order the stops are written.
• •Wear something that covers your shoulders and knees, since these are active places of worship where locals still come to pray and light incense.
• •Slow down inside the Fujian and Chaozhou halls and look up. The finest detail, the carved beams and painted ceilings, is easy to miss at eye level.
• •Carry small dong notes in cash. Some sites and the market opposite the Quan Cong temple are easier with change than with cards.