Tra Que Vegetable Village, Hoi An (2026)
Tra Que is a working vegetable farm on a small river island 3 kilometers north of Hoi An's Old Town, about 15 minutes by bicycle. In 2024, UN Tourism named it one of 55 Best Tourism Villages in the world, chosen from more than 260 applications across 60-plus countries - Vietnam's only entry to make the list that year. Not bad for a village whose main export is mint.
The village has farmed the same plots organically for around 400 years, using algae raked from the Co Co River as fertilizer instead of chemicals. That is not a marketing detail - it is the reason Hoi An restaurants specifically source their herbs from here, and the flavor difference is noticeable if you have eaten enough Vietnamese food to have a baseline. The Tra Que Vegetable Village listing has the map and current hours if you want to plan around it.
What Tra Que actually is
202 families and 326 farmers work about 18 hectares of raised garden beds here, according to Quang Nam tourism figures reported by Viet Nam News. That is not a boutique operation dressed up for a bus tour - it is most of a village's income, and the beds you walk past on a visit are the same ones that supply Hoi An's morning markets.
The craft villages around Hoi An range from "still a working trade" to "gift shop with a demonstration corner." Tra Que sits firmly at the working end. It was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Vietnam in 2022, and the 2024 UN Tourism award got the international press attention, but neither changed how the place runs day to day. The farmers were here before the plaques and will be here after them.
What you do there
Walking the plots is most of the activity, and it does not need much explanation. Paths run between raised beds of mint, basil, coriander, lettuce and a dozen other herbs, with farmers working around you rather than performing for you. Most guided visits fold in a short hands-on stretch: watering with the traditional double shoulder-cans, raking a bed, maybe weeding if the farmer trusts you with a tool.
None of it requires prior farming experience, which is fortunate, since almost nobody who shows up has any. Budget 45 minutes to an hour for the walk-through alone, longer if you stop to talk to anyone or take photos of every herb you cannot name.
The cooking classes
For most visitors, this is the actual reason to come - the garden walk is the appetizer. Several operators run classes that start with picking your own herbs off the beds, then move to a kitchen for a hands-on Vietnamese cooking session. Tra Que Water Wheel Restaurant & Cooking Classes and the Tra Que Organic Cooking Class both run this format, and the difference between them mostly comes down to group size and how much of the class happens in the garden versus at the stove.
Booking one turns a 45-minute walk into a half-day outing. It is also the version of Tra Que most people remember afterward - not the garden beds themselves, but the bowl of pho they built from herbs they had pulled out of the ground ten minutes earlier.
Eating in the village
If a full cooking class is more commitment than you want, you can just eat here instead. Tra Que Garden Restaurant serves the same herb-driven food the classes teach, without requiring you to cook it, and the open-air setting looking out over the beds does more for the meal than the food alone would.
That is the whole case for Tra Que as a food stop: the herbs on your plate were pulled from the ground within the hour, not trucked in from somewhere else and left to wilt in a market stall overnight.
Entry fee and the practical stuff
Expect a small entrance fee, around 35,000 VND - check the current price at the gate, since village-level fees here move around more than the Old Town's fixed ticket does. It is a minor cost regardless, and most of what makes the visit worthwhile - the farmers, the beds, the smell of the place after it rains - does not come with a price tag at all.
If Tra Que is one stop among several paid Hoi An attractions on your itinerary, it is worth pricing out a combo pass before you start paying per gate.
How to get there and when
Tra Que sits 3 kilometers north of the Old Town, and a bicycle is the obvious way to reach it - flat road, about 15 minutes, no real reason to hire a car for a trip this short. Go early, before the mid-morning heat sets in and before the day-trip groups arrive. The farmers are out working the beds from first light, and that is the version of the village worth seeing.
An Bang Beach sits about 4km further along the same route, which makes for an easy pairing: village first while it is cool, beach for the rest of the day once the sun gets serious. If you would rather stay overnight than day-trip it, Tra Que Flower Homestay puts you inside the village itself instead of commuting back to the Old Town each morning.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tra Que free to visit?
Not quite - expect a small entrance fee around 35,000 VND, though it is worth checking at the gate since prices at village-level attractions move around more than the big Old Town ticket does.
How long do you need at Tra Que?
An hour covers a walk-through of the garden beds. Add a cooking class and you are looking at half a day once you count the picking, the prep and the meal at the end of it.
Is Tra Que touristy?
Less than you would expect from a village with a UN Tourism award attached to its name. 202 families still farm these plots for a living, and the paths you walk are working access roads, not a constructed set piece.
Can I combine Tra Que with the beach?
Yes, and it is the natural pairing. An Bang Beach is about 4km further along the same road, so a bicycle gets you from garden beds to sand without doubling back through the Old Town.
Related Hoi An guides
- Thanh Ha Pottery Village - the other craft village worth your time
- Best things to do in Hoi An - where Tra Que fits in a trip
- An Bang Beach - 4km further up the same cycling route