Renting a motorbike, scooter, or car in Hoi An
Hoi An is flat, compact, and stitched together by rice-paddy back lanes that beg to be ridden through at a lazy 25kph. Which is the long way of saying: get a scooter.
You can walk the Old Town and you can grab taxis to the beach, but the good version of Hoi An - empty lanes, a random banh mi stand, An Bang at sunset - happens on two wheels. Cars earn their keep too, mostly when it rains sideways or you're hauling a family out to My Son. Here's what renting either actually costs, where to get one, and the couple of traps worth knowing before you hand over any cash.
What it costs
Rentals here are cheap enough that price is rarely the thing you agonize over. Ballpark daily rates, before haggling or a multi-day discount:
| Vehicle | Typical daily rate | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-auto scooter (Honda Wave / Blade) | 100,000 - 130,000 VND | $4 - 5 |
| Automatic scooter (Honda Vision / Air Blade) | 130,000 - 180,000 VND | $5 - 7 |
| Electric scooter | 150,000 - 220,000 VND | $6 - 9 |
| Self-drive car | from ~750,000 VND | from ~$30 |
| Car with a driver (around Hoi An) | 1,000,000 - 1,700,000 VND | $40 - 70 |
Weekly and monthly deals cut the daily rate hard. If you're staying a month, never pay the daily rate times thirty - a scooter long-term lands somewhere around 1,200,000 to 2,000,000 VND a month ($48 - 80) depending on how new and automatic it is. Fuel is separate and basically a rounding error: a full scooter tank is about 70,000 VND and lasts days.
Scooter or car - which one
For 90% of Hoi An, it's a scooter. The town is tiny, the beach is a 15-minute ride, and parking a car anywhere near the Old Town is a problem you don't want to invent for yourself.
Get the automatic unless you actually know how to ride. Semi-automatics (the cheaper Honda Waves) want you to shift with your left foot and have no clutch, which sounds easy and is, until you panic-brake with the wrong appendage. Automatics are twist-and-go. Spend the extra dollar.
A car makes sense in exactly three situations: it's monsoon season and the rain is horizontal, you've got kids or luggage, or you're doing a longer day trip (My Son, the Hai Van Pass, Hue) and don't want to ride it yourself. For those, a car with a driver is usually the smarter buy than a self-drive - it costs a bit more than the car alone, and you get someone who knows the roads, the parking, and which checkpoint to slow down for.
Where to rent
Three options, roughly in order of how much grief they'll save you.
Dedicated rental shops are the move. They keep newer bikes, they'll actually fix a flat for you, and the good ones let you pay a cash deposit instead of holding your passport (more on that below). Drop & Drive Motorbikes Rental is a solid local pick if you want to walk in and sort it in person.
Your hotel or homestay is the lazy option, and sometimes a fine one - a lot of places keep a few scooters out front. Convenient, occasionally a touch pricier, and the bikes are whatever they happen to own, so look before you commit.
Booking online ahead of time is worth it for cars and for peak season (the Old Town gets slammed around Tet and in summer), when the decent bikes get spoken for. The box below pulls live availability and prices in Hoi An, so you can lock something in before you land.
Do you actually need a license?
Technically, yes, and this is where most travel blogs go quiet. To legally ride anything over 50cc in Vietnam you need either a Vietnamese license or an International Driving Permit issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention. The UK government's Vietnam travel advice says it outright - you need the 1968 permit and your home license on you.
Here's the catch nobody mentions: the United States only issues the 1949 Geneva permit, which Vietnam does not recognize. So that AAA card in your wallet is, legally speaking, decorative. Most rental shops won't ask, and plenty of people ride anyway - but the reason to care isn't the police (a stop is usually a small fine). It's that if you crash without a valid license, your travel insurance can refuse the medical claim, and a Vietnamese hospital bill is a worse souvenir than a fine.
Two ways around it: sub-50cc and electric scooters sit in a looser category that doesn't need a motorcycle license, which is part of why electrics have caught on with tourists. Or ride within your comfort level, wear the helmet that actually buckles, and know the bet you're making.
The deposit-and-passport trick
Never leave your passport as a deposit. It's common, it's framed as normal, and it hands a stranger the one document you cannot easily replace in Vietnam. A cash deposit (usually 1,000,000 - 2,000,000 VND) or a photo of your passport does the same job. If a shop won't budge on holding the physical book, walk - there's another rental every 50 meters.
Before you ride off, photograph the bike from every angle, scratches included, and make sure they see you doing it. The old move is to find "new" damage on return and charge you for it; a timestamped photo ends that conversation instantly. Check the brakes and the horn before you leave the shop, not at the first roundabout.
Electric scooters and cars with a driver
Electric scooters are the move for getting around town, and I'd nudge you toward one. We rented an electric from Trace Travel in Hoi An and it nailed exactly that job - quiet, almost nothing to run, no petrol stops, and the small ones sidestep the license question since they don't need a motorcycle license. Around the Old Town and out to An Bang beach, it's all upside.
The one catch is range. Any time we wanted to go further afield we had to swap it for a gas model, because an electric won't comfortably make a full day out to My Son, over the Hai Van Pass, or the other day trips out of town. So keep the electric for daily life and rent a gas bike (or grab a car with a driver) for the long hauls.
Car with a driver is the underrated option for anyone not sold on riding. For a My Son run or a Hai Van Pass day it's close to the price of a self-drive car, minus the part where you navigate Vietnamese traffic in a vehicle you don't know. Book it as a half or full day and let someone else deal with the parking.
See live prices and book a Hoi An rental →
FAQ
How much is scooter rental in Hoi An?
Expect 100,000 - 180,000 VND a day ($4 - 7), with semi-automatics at the low end and newer automatics at the top. Weekly and monthly rentals drop the daily rate substantially - a month runs roughly 1,200,000 - 2,000,000 VND.
Can you rent a car in Hoi An?
Yes, though self-drive cars are less common than scooters and start around $30 a day. For most visitors a car with a driver (about $40 - 70 a day) makes more sense, especially for day trips to My Son, Hue, or over the Hai Van Pass.
Do I need an International Driving Permit to ride in Hoi An?
Legally, yes - and it has to be a 1968 Vienna Convention permit. The US-issued 1949 Geneva permit is not recognized in Vietnam, so most American and Canadian tourists are not technically road-legal on a bike over 50cc. Shops rarely check, but riding unlicensed can void your travel insurance if you crash.
Is it safe to drive in Hoi An?
Hoi An is one of the gentler places in Vietnam to ride - it's flat, slow, and small. Traffic still moves to its own logic, so go slowly, wear a proper helmet, avoid riding at night on unlit rural roads, and never ride after a few Bia Hoi. The countryside lanes are the easy, lovely part; the one chaotic stretch is the main road toward Da Nang.