VacationSelector
The Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An
Hoi AnThe Japanese Covered Bridge
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Hoi An by François Guerraz, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Hoi An or Sofia?

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 Hoi An for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Sofia for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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. Hoi An 72, Sofia 5: Hoi An leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Hoi An 68, Sofia 45: Hoi An leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Hoi An 66, Sofia 60: Hoi An leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Hoi An 28, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hoi An 63, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Hoi An 50, Sofia 60: Sofia leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Hoi An 58, Sofia 40: Hoi An leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Hoi An 48, Sofia 65: Sofia leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Hoi An 57, Sofia 38: Hoi An leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Hoi An 88, Sofia 78: Hoi An leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hoi An 24, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hoi An 65, Sofia 45: Hoi An leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hoi An and Sofia.

Your match

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

Hoi An
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600800JFMAMJJASOND
Hoi AnSofia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hoi An: 1991-2020 normals, Da Nang (23.5 km from centre). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHoi AnSofia
Official languageVietnameseBulgarian
CurrencyDong (VND)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114112
Elevation13 m560 m
Main airportDa Nang International Airport (DAD)23 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureHoi AnSofia
City population121,7161,213,134
People per km²-2,466
Museums within 10 km542
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hoi An or Sofia 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.