VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
The Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An
Hoi AnThe Japanese Covered Bridge

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hoi An by François Guerraz, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Charleston or Hoi An?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Charleston for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’s own page.

Choose Hoi An for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Hoi An’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Charleston and Hoi An are level on 72.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Hoi An 68: Charleston leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Hoi An 66: Hoi An leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Hoi An 28: Charleston leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Hoi An 63: Hoi An leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Hoi An 50: Charleston leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Hoi An 58: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Hoi An 48: Hoi An leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Hoi An 57: Hoi An leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Hoi An 88: Hoi An leads by 61 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Hoi An 24: Charleston leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Hoi An 65: Hoi An leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Hoi An.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Charleston
53match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Hoi An
Best match
57match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Hoi An in July

35 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600800JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonHoi An

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Hoi An: 1991-2020 normals, Da Nang (23.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonHoi An
Official language-Vietnamese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dong (VND)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACFG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114
Elevation6 m13 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsDa Nang International Airport (DAD)23 km from centre47 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonHoi An
City population150,227121,716
People per km²532-
Museums within 10 km195
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston or Hoi An somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.