The Hoi An lantern boat ride ticket price remains fixed at 150,000 VND per vessel, a rate regulated by the Hoi An Center for Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation since the practice was formalized in 2018. The tradition itself predates that framework by centuries. Hoai River, a tidal branch of the Thu Bon system, served as the commercial artery of Hoi An when the port city ranked among Southeast Asia's busiest entrepôts between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Japanese merchants moored junks along Bach Dang Street; Chinese traders built assembly halls within walking distance of the quays. By the nineteenth century, silt and shifting trade routes had ended Hoi An's maritime dominance, but the waterfront retained its ceremonial function. Families released paper lanterns onto the river during the full moon of the first lunar month, a practice rooted in ancestor veneration and maritime thanksgiving. Today the lantern boat tours operate every evening from 16:00 to 21:30, though the optimal window falls between 18:00 and 20:30 when natural darkness amplifies the lanterns' glow and river traffic thins. Each boat accommodates up to three passengers. The vessels are narrow wooden sampans, their hulls lacquered in the traditional style, propelled by a single oar worked from the stern. Boatmen wear conical non la hats and navigate a looping course that begins near the Japanese Covered Bridge, follows the southern bank past the Fujian Assembly Hall, and returns via the Cam Nam Island channel. The journey lasts twenty to thirty minutes. Passengers receive a single silk lantern, its wire frame supporting translucent fabric dyed yellow, red, or green. At the midpoint of the ride, travelers release the lantern onto the water and make a silent wish, continuing a ritual that connects contemporary tourism to centuries of riverine devotion. The Hoi An lantern boat ride ticket price tours contribute directly to heritage conservation. Revenue supports the maintenance of the ancient town's 1,360 classified structures, a UNESCO World Heritage ensemble since 1999. The conservation zone encompasses eighty-four hectares; the Hoai River forms its natural eastern boundary. Lantern production employs more than two hundred artisans in workshops clustered along Tran Phu and Nguyen Thai Hoc streets. Each lantern requires hand-stretched silk, bamboo ribbing, and lacquered wooden frames, techniques transmitted within families across multiple generations. The evening boat rides transform cultural heritage into lived practice rather than static museum display, a model the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture has cited as a template for other heritage cities.