Published:  09:02 Saturday - June 23, 2012

The central coastal town of Hoi An is just 10 kilometres in radius, making it ideal for bike use.

Bikes in Hoi An

Cars and motorbikes may be the most regularly used vehicles in Vietnam’s big cities, but in Hoi An, even motorbikes aren’t necessarily that common, bicycles and electric bikes being the first choice for many.

Local people still use bicycles that date back to the 1970s, and they’re unconcerned about theft, often leaving them unattended when buying a newspaper or stopping for coffee.

Serveral bicycles are still carrying number plates which dates back to a time when bicycles were as valued as a motorbike. People used to work hard for several years to be able to afford buying a bike, making them the equivalent of a luxury motorbike today.

Cycling around Hoi An

Visitors and locals alike enjoy using bicycles in Hoi An, and travels to other suburb villages nearby, which are just a short ride away. Some hotels rent bikes to their guests.

Some travel agencies have caught this new trend and offer bike tours combining cycling and rowing coracles into nipa forests. When cycling, tourists are introduced to the local culture.

Hoi An eco-tourism city

Hoi An remains a popular tourist destination, with 1.5 million people every year visiting the city. Some 5,000 travelers arrive in Hoi An everyday, but compared to the local population of 125,000, it doesn’t have that much of an impact.

However, to boost the use of bikes the local authorities need to create bicycle lanes, use more road signs to indicate priority lanes, and build concrete roads and bridges instead of pathways to help bikes travel through fields and along canals, creating convenient routes to trip by bike and boat without interruption, opening bike repair-shops and provide bike parking lots so people can easily switch to cars or motorbikes when necessary.

Hoi An is targeting becoming Vietnam’s first eco-tourism city, with the authorities intending to raise the number of bikes used in the city to 100,000.

The network of no-smoke cities has asked Hoi An to hold a “Car free day” on September 9.

Suburban villages near to Hoi An

Yellow dots – schools, red dots – markets, set to be connected by bicycle lanes

Source: http://www.dtinews.vn