Tan Ky House

YukioSanjo · CC BY-SA 4.0

A merchant house nearly two centuries old, where Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese architecture meet under one roof.

Tan Ky was built by a trading family at the end of the eighteenth century and their descendants still live in it — you are visiting an inhabited house, not a museum reconstruction. The front opens onto Nguyen Thai Hoc street for selling; the back opens straight onto the Thu Bon river for unloading cargo from boats, exactly as a trading house in a working port should. Inside: ironwood columns on stone bases, Vietnamese-carved beams, Chinese yin-yang roof tiles, a Japanese crab-shell ceiling, couplets inlaid with mother-of-pearl. On the wall by the back door are ink marks recording the height of each year's flood, some of them well above head height.

Visitor information

When is the best time to visit Tan Ky House?

Morning, before the tour groups arrive

How much does it cost to visit Tan Ky House?

Included in the Hoi An old-town ticket

How long do you need at Tan Ky House?

30 - 45 minutes

What are the opening hours of Tan Ky House?

08:00 - 17:30

Did you know

The house was built at the end of the eighteenth century and has passed through generations of one merchant family.
Its architecture blends Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese styles.
It has two faces: the street front for trade, the rear opening onto the Thu Bon river for cargo.
Marks on the wall record the water level of major historical floods.

Travel tips

People live here — ask before photographing the family's living areas.
The house is one of the sites the old-town ticket lets you choose; pick it if you will only see one.

Source: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/595299310

Updated: 2026-08-16