Before we went on this trip, I had read that Hoi An is one of the best places in the world for tailors, both in terms of the historic tradition of the skill passing from generation to generation and the speed in which tourists can have custom clothes measured, made and fitted in a short time. I looked at reviews of the local tailor shops and decided on Mr. Xe (pronounced Zay) to get some suits.

Even though my day job is as an attorney, I don’t go to court often and I don’t wear suits that often. However, it had been many years since I bought a suit and I was ready for a couple of new ones. On our first afternoon at the Hyatt Regency Da Nang, we took a Grab to Hoi An ancient town and found Mr. Xe’s shop easily.

The staff welcomed us in, provided cold water bottles and I was measured from top to toe. I picked out the material I wanted, wool/cashmere blend for the suits and bamboo for shirts. Mr. Xe told me to come back the following day at 5pm for my fitting.

After the tailor, we walked around Hoi An. It’s very touristy, but there are lots of interesting shops and places to eat. There’s also a river and an ancient Japanese bridge, which is unfortunately under renovation currently. There are lots of Japanese lanterns all over the town as this was the ancient trading post between Japan and the (Chinese-controlled) Vietnamese empire.

The next morning, I visited the Marble Mountains, which is about a 10 minute walk from the Hyatt Regency. It’s a complex of temples and shrines literally carved into the mountains across the road from the sea. You can take an elevator up to the first level (which I recommend due to the amount of stairs you will still have to climb) and then walk around through the various levels.

I explored most of the complex in an hour or two. There are also great views over the area from the highest points on the mountains. It was very hard work in the heat getting up and down all the stairs, but I made it back to the Hyatt Regency, put on a bathing suit and collapsed into the South China Sea.

That evening, we went back to Hoi An, first for my suit fitting and then for some more shopping and dinner. My suit was apparently 95% perfect according to Mr. Xe but he asked me to return the next morning at 11am for a final fitting. I also arranged for the shop to ship all the clothes to me (and a pair of shoes I bought at the leather shop next door) for about $60. We just did not have room in our bags for all of that plus all the souvenirs we bought.

After the visit to Mr. Xe, we walked around and found our last souvenirs of the trip. There were some unique items we had not seen in other places in Vietnam. We also bought a cheap rolling tote bag so that we would have room for everything. I ended up calling it the s**t bag as it kept falling over when I rolled it through the five airports we had to transit on our return.

We had dinner at Morning Glory, which is a nicer restaurant in the ancient town, just down the street from Mr. Xe. It’s part of a locally owned small chain of restaurants in Hoi An. The menu is mostly local specialties, but it was nice to have an air-conditioned area to enjoy our dinner. The food, drinks and dessert were all very good.

After dinner, we walked along the river for a while before heading back to the Hyatt. It was a lively place.

I returned the next morning for my final fitting and my suits and shirts (and shoes) were packed up for shipping. They arrived about nine days after we returned home and look great. Although our main objective in Hoi An was the tailor, we enjoyed the town. It costs about $9-10 each way by car from the Hyatt Regency using the Grab app (cheaper if you take a Grab bike but we didn’t try that).

Up Next: Hyatt Regency Da Nang Regency Oceanfront Suite Review

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