Published:  00:00 Thursday - March 10, 2011

Recently, Wanderlust magazine (UK) has launched the final result of vote for top ten tourist cities of the world.

Vietnam's Hoi An ancient town took the 2nd place with 96% of votes after Luang prabang (Laos) leading with 96,89% of votes. The following places are Kyoto, Japan (95.63), Stockholm, Sweden (93.33), Perth, Australia (92.73), Tokyo, Japan (92.40), San Francisco, USA (92.00), Vienna, Austria (91.85), Cusco, Peru (91.56), Aleppo, Syria (91.54).

The Magazine said "We love the fact that your top city isn’t about bright lights and fast living".

Hoi An ancient town (Quang Nam, Viet Nam) is located in the lower Thu Bon river, about 30km to the South of Danang city. Thanks to the advantages of geography and climate, Hoi An used to be an international commercial harbor, where was considered the meeting place of Japanese, Chinese and Western merchant ships during XVII and XVIII centuries.

In XIX century, the Hoi An harbor was no longer convenient for water transport, so it gave up its role to Danang port.

The ancient town still remained the values of architecture and culture during destructive wars as well as the massive urbanization at the end of 20th century. Gradually, it became an attractive destination of int'l and domestic tourists.

Being well-preserved during wars, most of traditional Vietnamese houses along small and narrow streets in Hoi An boast traditional and French architecture of the 17th to 19th centuries. Besides, religious architectures such as assembly halls, temples are considered as the evidences of the development of Hoi An.

The ancient town still preserves and upholds a diversified and plentiful intangible culture such as its customs, religious life, folk-art, cultural festivals.

In 1999, Hoi An was recognized as the world cultural heritage by UNESCO.

At present, Hoi An has 1,360 relics and landscape sites including more than 1,100 relics inside the ancient town.

Translated by Thanh Pham (TITC)

Source: Cinet