The ancient city of Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam wasplaced in the Top City category in the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2015,the city's information and sport centre revealed on February 4.

The tourism hub in the central region of Vietnam ranked fifth in thecategory with a 94.12 percent satisfaction rating from readers surveyedby the British travel magazine.

Vietnam was listed in the Top Country category with a 94.56 percent rating.

In 2013, Wanderlust also declared Hoi An the world's top city in its Readers' Travel Awards.

In 2012, Hoi An was shortlisted in the top ten Asian cities forUS magazine Conde Nast's Traveler's Readers Choice Awards. The followingyear, the UNESCO-recognised world heritage city was chosen for theTownscape Award by the UN-Habitat Regional Office in Asia.

Coveringan area of 60sq.km, the city has 22.5sq. km of agriculture and forestland and 11sq.km of lakes and channels. The central city was the firstplace in Vietnam to host a Car Free Day and the first location in thecentral province launching the 3-R (reduce, reuse and recycle) programmewhile promoting the use of reusable bags.

The city created apedestrian street in its old quarter in 2002 and installed asolar-powered lighting system in Hoai River Square. The Hoai River andits channels feature in a list of the 10 most famous canals in the worldcompiled in 2014 by the US-based travel website www.touropia.com.-VNA