The city of Hoi An has many amazing attractions and historical monuments to visit. it also offers a stunning coastline and beaches. Whenever you visit the city never forget to see its country side. There are some villages in the outskirts of Hoi an which are must visit attractions. If you want to see an authentic village life with the buffalos and lush green fields then head toward the Vegetable village Hoi An. This place is a perfect option to escape from the city crowds and snatch some relaxing moments in fresh air.
(Vegetable Village Hoi An)
The name of this beautiful vegetable village is Tra Que village which is the home of more than 150 farmers and 400 overall land owners. They grow highest quality vegetables and supply them to Hoi An markets and eateries. The village is small and lush green piece of land where you will only find rows of vegetation and crops. A mix of traditional and modern techniques are used for the growth of vegetables to maintain their good quality and taste. Fields are open for the visitors, they can roam around and explore every corner of the village without hassle. The farmers are friendly and love to share the information about their village.
(Vegetable Village Hoi An)
You will find a couple of eateries in the villages which are opened by the locals. They serve the traditional foods made with fresh vegetables and herbs. You can also see the farmers working in the village. There are some other activities offered in the village if you book with a tour company like cooking classes, farming lesson, bicycle tours, water buffalo riding and many more.
How to Get to Tra Que Village
You can find the vegetable village in the area between Hoi an and An Bang Beach. The village is separated into two parts by the Hai Ba Trung street. One side of the street is the vegetable gardens and on the other side, there are herb gardens. Village is easily accessible by walk, bicycle or motorbike. However, motor bike is not allowed at some parts of the village and sign boards for no motorbikes are fixed.
Rent a Bicycle
The best way to reach and explore the village is by bicycle. The allotments have bicycle parking areas where you can easily park it. Tra Que village is very popular in Hoi An so you can get the directions to the village from locals. The environment of the country side is very calm and beautiful. You will see a lot of refreshing natural beauty on the way to Vegetable village from Hoi An.
Hire a Motorbike
The new drivers of motorbike can drive easily in the way of vegetable village Hoi An because the roads have very less traffic flow. The drivers also drive carefully and comparatively slow in the village areas. To reach the village with ease it is better to download the maps or keep an offline map to find the way. You can easily get to the village. However, you will see signs of no motorbike at many places of the village so avoid driving there. You can park the motorbike at one place and walk to explore Tra Que village.
Use Grab
Grab is like Uber in Vietnam that is easily available from its app. You can easily book a Grab from Hoi an and you do not need to have the hassle of bargaining with the taxi drivers. If you are using Grab, then hire the motorbike because some areas of the village are thin for the car. Motorbike is more convenient to get dropped inside the village. When you want to go back, you can easily book a grab from your app. Mostly Grab is easily available at the village or you can walk a little outside to find one.
Planning the trip on your own
You can plan a leisure stroll with your group to the Tra que village. There is no entrance fee and you can sit and eat at any eatery in the fresh air and sweet smell of plantation. Normally the tours of the village start early in the morning and the groups of people start coming to visit. It remains very busy for a couple of hours. If you are a solo traveler, then plan the visit accordingly. Never forget bringing your camera and tripod stand to get some amazing clicks of the sunrise and sunset of the village. The village becomes silent in the afternoon because the temperature becomes very hot and most of the villages sleep for a couple of hours after the lunchtime. You can enjoy the most at the sunset because of the beauty and the nice evening winds. Solo travel is amazing to explore the culture closely and have local interaction.
Tours of Vegetable Village Hoi an
There are many companies available on the internet and in the Hoi an city center which offer trips to Tra Que vegetable village. They offer bicycle tours, motorbike tours and walk tours that you can join according to your choice. The structure of the trips is almost same but some of them offer lunch or complimentary activities. Some companies offer bicycle tours that depart early in the morning to have experience and interaction with the local farmers.
Among some of the local tour companies the Hoi an Fun bike tours is a very nice company. This company is run by the locals of Hoi an and vegetable village. They give money back guarantee to the guests while booking and the 10% of their profits go to providing food to the needy people.
(Vegetable Village Hoi An)
General Structure of the tour
Cycling tour companies take the guests to the village on bicycles and guide them about the history of the village. After reaching they can work in the fields with the farmers and learn about their techniques. The traditional and modern knowledge is given to the visitors by the farmers. Some of the tips are very good for the roof top gardening. Then the people can make rice paper and bowl of pho. The charges for these activities are very cheap and tourists happily pay that because the charges go to the farmers who offer these services. There are also cooking classes in the village. If you want to learn some delicious traditional things, then you can ask your tour company to book for that.
How Tra Que Village Works
Vegetable village is located at the country side of Hoi an so you will not find it by chance if you do not know about it. There are a lot of villages with their specialties and encouraging them through tourism is a common practice in Vietnam. The tour groups have guides for communication because the farmers cannot speak English. You will find a lot of tours in Hoi an encouraging the tourists to visit their villages.
(Vegetable Village Hoi An)
The first thing everyone notice about the vegetable villages is that there are no chemicals used in the growing of vegetables. The quality is maintained by the natural fertilizer. The trend of environment friendly practices is increasing every day. The usage of chemicals is replaced by the organically grown traditional herbs that were used in the past for pest and disease prevention of plants. One traditional practice is gathering the algae present in the lagoon. Farmers visit the lagoon every morning and gather algae from it to put in the fields. It increases the quality of growth of the vegetables and improves the taste. This is a special type of algae due to that the organic vegetables of vegetable village taste different. The soil of the village is also well maintained and filled with nutrient due to that it produces a huge amount of vegetables and herbs every year.
History of the Tra Que village
The locals of the village were majorly fishermen 300 years ago. They used to do their daily household chores near the De Vong river and Tra Que lagoon. There they found the manure of Tra Que lagoon’s seaweed and discovered the advantages. They started growing the vegetables for their everyday use by using the manure in the fertile soil. It started producing huge amount of harvest so they started practicing it for every harvest. There are around 41 different herbs this village produces along with melons, water spinach, turmeric and amaranth.
The villagers started selling their production in Hoi an. They made their restaurants and cafes with the increase of tourism that plays an important role in the improvement of their living. Tra Que herbs are famous for their taste and distinct fragrance.
Where to stay for the Tra Que Vegetable Village
There are some places where you can stay to enjoy the Tra Que vegetable village sunrise and sunset. These places are very close so you can have easy and quick access.
Christina’s Hoi An
This wonderful accommodation is inside the Tra Que village alongside the river. It also has an outdoor pool. You can easily visit Hoi an, Tra Que village and chill out at the pool or the river side whenever you want. This place makes you indulge in its magic but you need to have an open budget to stay at this place and you will immediately fall in love.
Tropical Garden and Pool Villa
This is the best option if you want to stay on the country side of Hoi an. The private rooms are very affordable. You can access Hoi an and vegetable village easily by walk. This is the best place to stay in a relaxing environment away from the city crowds.
Activities in vegetable village Hoi an
There is a plenty of sightseeing and farm life exploration at the village. You can personally experience Raking, watering, sowing, picking, recognizing the seeds and many more. The tours are not for free but if you are willing to pay then you can experience the things which you cannot explore alone. There are some other activities you can do apart from growing vegetables.
Cau Bong Festival
The 7th January of Lunar calendar is an annual festival celebrated in Tra Que Village. People celebrate this day and evening with so much arrangement and pray for the bountiful harvest season. You can plan according to the date to join the local people in this wonderful festival.
Village cooking classes and restaurants
There are many places in the village which happily teach the Vietnamese food to the tourists. They also teach the use of different herbs and their traditional cooking skills. Almost every travelers of the vegetable village try to learn the local dishes.
Karma waters
This is an amazing vegan restaurant where you can pick your own vegetables and cook them with the help of local cook. You will get some of the most delicious Vietnamese vegetarian dishes on their menu.
Water wheel restaurant
This restaurant is run by a family that loves to welcome tourists. You can learn dishes and decoration like creating flowers, animals and other things for the food décor. They teach six different dishes that you can learn or you can simply select something from the menu and enjoy.