Sports in Hoi An

Sport around Hoi An is flat, wet and mostly slow. The delta is made for cycling: narrow concrete lanes with no traffic, ferries between the islands, floating bridges, and a classic loop of about 9 km that never uses the same road twice. The reefs of the Cham Islands, 15 to 50 minutes by boat from the Cua Dai wharf depending on the vessel, supply the rest: snorkelling over coral, a walk along the seabed with a safety diver, and scuba diving.

Cycling comes in four sizes: a four-hour loop through the carpentry and mat-weaving villages, a five-hour afternoon ride with a boat across the delta, a six-and-a-half-hour morning ride with lunch in a family's house, and a nine-hour day built around a one-hour boat trip on the Thu Bon. A longer bike day reaches My Son: a one-hour minibus transfer, the temples, then the ride back through rice fields. Most run as small groups, with helmets provided, tandems and child seats on request, and children of six and up allowed to ride on their own on the delta tours. In the water, the Cham Islands are a four-and-a-half-hour speedboat trip with snorkelling, a full day of snorkelling or underwater walking, or an eight-hour scuba day with an instructor and a photographer.

Practical. Take the morning or early-afternoon departure; June and July afternoons reach 34C. The roads are flat, so no special fitness is needed, but on the Cham days a swimsuit and sun cream matter more than shoes. Snorkelling is not advised with a heart condition, and the underwater walk asks every guest to fill in a health questionnaire, with asthma among the conditions that can rule it out. Boats do not sail in rough weather. The hotel-and-sea-trek packages need 72 hours' notice to cancel, and day trips mostly 24.