This travel guide is a very personal account of our travels. What we saw, where we ate and stayed, and what we liked and didn’t like.
Along with our lists, we’ve included a few tidbits of wisdom that we wish we’d had before we left. We hope you find this information useful on your next trip as well.
Vietnam is a large and densely populated country with many cities, sights and cultures within its borders. The country is over 1000 miles from top to bottom and runs from the flat coastal plains to the mountainous interior. The territory covers many different climate zones, but practically speaking, you can divide Vietnam into North, Central and South.
Each of these zones has different “best” seasons, for temperatures and rainfall. This makes trip planning a bit more challenging, as you’ll be forced to make some tradeoffs, depending on your priorities.
If you have a week or less available, you could visit both of the main cities, but you’re better off exploring just one region. To see all 3 regions would require a minimum of 2 weeks, and preferably more.
Vietnam is over 1000 miles from top to bottom. The 2 main cities, and international ports of entry, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, are separated by 750 miles. Halfway in between is Da Nang. If you’re planning to visit more than one area, flying is your best option.
A train from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City takes 30 hours, versus a 1 1/2 hour flight. This is time much better spent seeing the country some other way than through a train window. Intra-country flights are plentiful and inexpensive.
Within each region, there are train and public bus options available to just about anywhere. However, given the relatively low cost and much higher convenience, we feel it’s better to get a private car and driver.
In the major cities, ride hailing is abundant and inexpensive using the Grab app.
Just a couple hours drive from Hanoi, Ha Long Bay is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam. Hundreds of Junk-style ships cruise the waters of the bay in tours that range from a few hours to several days. The largest of these ships carry several hundred passengers.
Adjacent to Ha Long Bay is Bai Tu Long Bay. It has the same beautiful rock formations as its neighbor, but is far less crowded. When we visited, Vietnam’s tourist industry was just starting to recover from the pandemic. We were told that only about 250 out of the normally 700+ cruise ships were operating at that time. Even that seemed very crowded.
Our 3-day, 2-night cruise was booked with Indochina Junk and we were very grateful to be cruising the less busy Bai Tu Long Bay on a ship that had only 4 cabins and 8 passengers.
It is certainly possible to visit Vietnam without using local guides. You can see and do all the things we write about here on a self-guided tour. But you would miss out on the insights about the people, history and culture of the region that only a local guide can provide.
We used local guides throughout our tour of Vietnam and can recommend the ones we used highly.
Jackie Chan, who taught us Vietnamese and took us around Hanoi, Ninh Binh and Mai Hich. What’s App +84 35 969 1997
Khanh was our guide for the bicycle tour of Hoi An. What’s App +84 93 247 1315
Phong was our guide for the Mekong Delta. She lives in Ho Chi Minh City now but grew up in the Delta. She’s very knowledgeable about the area. What’s App +84-93-266-65-49
The Capital and second largest city in Vietnam. A bustling, chaotic place. For visitors, the main attraction is the Old Quarter. This area is filled with little shops and restaurants. Each street in this part of town used to be dedicated to a single trade, e.g. ironwork, plumbing, pottery, etc. Much of that has now changed, but the signs remain. We saw a Sailmaker Street, but there were no sails to be found.
Water Puppet Show. This is a traditional art form dating back over 1000 years The show will give you a peek into Vietnam’s distinctive cultural identity and is worth an hour of your time. The best seats are rows 4-7 in the middle of the theater.
Hoan Kiem Lake. A favorite gathering place for locals and tourists alike. By day, the main attraction is the Ngoc Son Temple. It sits on an island in the middle of the lake and is reached by the Rising Sun footbridge. At night, the area is bustling with locals out enjoying food, drinks and just hanging out in small groups.
Stroll through the French Quarter to see remnants of Vietnam’s colonial past. The Hanoi Opera House, modeled after the Paris Opera House, is also located here.
Bat Trang. A small village located just outside Hanoi, it is known as the ceramic village and is the source of much of the beautiful pottery seen in the city.
About a 4-hour drive from Hanoi, Ha Long Bay (and Bai Tu Long Bay next door), is a must see in Vietnam. The bay is famous for its hundreds of limestone rock formations which jut out from the bay, rising with sheer vertical walls often several hundred feet high. The ships cruising the bay are built in the traditional “Junk” style and range from holding just a handful of passengers to several hundred.
Depending on the length of the cruise, you may visit a local floating village, go kayaking around the bay, see a former fisherman’s cave and have a picnic lunch on the beach.
We had a wonderful experience on Indochina’s 3-day, 2 night cruise. We cruised Bai Tu Long Bay, which is far less crowded than Ha Long, on a boat with only 4 cabins. This made for a more intimate experience, and the food on our cruise was exceptional. We highly recommend this company.
The Ninh Binh area, a couple hours drive south from Hanoi, is known for its stunning scenery, with limestone mountains and green river valleys. It is the dry version of Ha Long Bay. The main tourist town in the area is Tam Coc.
Tam Coc River Cruise. A must do in the area. Glide down the river in a small wooden rowboat, passing temples and rice paddies and going through several grottoes along the way. The scenery was simply stunning.
Cycle through the rice paddies. A great way to see the countryside. We borrowed bikes from our hotel.
Hua Lu Ancient Capital. Briefly the Capital of Vietnam over 1000 years ago, the area today is full of temple and fortress ruins.
Mai Hich, a commune about four hours southwest of Hanoi, is home to the country’s Thai ethnic minority. They are mainly subsistence farmers, living along the streams scattered across the forests and hills. They grow rice and other crops, and raise fish in their own ponds.
This stop on our tour was a chance to “go native”. Though it was billed as a homestay, in reality it was just a hostel run by a family. During the day, we bicycled through the area and took a bamboo raft ride down a river. At night, the locals entertained us with with a performance of their native songs and dances.
An alternative to Mai Hich is the town of Sapa. This mountain village in the far north of Vietnam is a popular stop on many itineraries, but it’s several hours farther from Hanoi. Though we didn’t see it, we’re told the hiking and scenery there is quite splendid.
Hoi An is a coastal town located just south of what was once the border dividing North and South Vietnam. If you’re arriving from the north, you can immediately sense a very different feel, even 50 years after reunification. The regional airport is the former Danang Air Base, once the largest US airbase in the world. The town is divided into 2 areas, “old town” and “beach.” We opted to stay at the beach and take taxis (and Grab) into town. It was a delightful combo.
Bike Tour. A half day bicycle tour that included a ride through the organic vegetable garden, rice fields, small villages and a coffee stop in Hoi An.
Shopping. Hoi An is THE place to buy custom tailored clothes and shoes. See the separate section below for much more..
Renamed after unification, every local we met still called it Saigon. Saigon is the largest, most international and cosmopolitan city in Vietnam. It also feels much more capitalistic than its northern counterpart, Hanoi. Most people opt to spend only a day or two here as they feel it doesn’t represent the real Vietnam. We discovered, however, that it’s charms are there, if you know where to look.
XO Scooter Tours. XO Tours conducts food and city tours of HCMC on scooters. The drivers/tour guides are all young female college students or professionals and they’re very well trained on driving foreigners. We never worried about our safety. We really enjoyed chatting with our drivers as we sped through the city. They provided us insights into Vietnamese life and Gen Z’s current thinking that we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. After taking the Foodie Tour our first night, we enjoyed it so much, we took the Saigon at Night tour the next night. We highly recommend both tours, but the Foodie tour is the standout.
Four hours south of Saigon is the Mekong Delta, one of the largest river deltas in the world. There are very few roads in this area, so for the residents, the river provides transportation, food and most everything else. So naturally, the best way to see the region is by boat.
Private Boat Tour. There are numerous options for touring the delta region. We hired a private boat for a full day tour that started in My Tho and ended in Can Tho. Along the way, you get a real taste of life on the river, seeing people fishing, cooking, washing, and just living on the river.
Cai Rang Floating Market. Just up the river from Can Tho, this busy, colorful market serves as both the retail and wholesale hub for all the local buyers and sellers of fruits, vegetables and more. Almost all business is conducted on the water, between the hundreds of boats that come every day.
Hanoi Food Culture. Every dish was well prepared, and the flavors were perfect. Reasonably priced. Highly recommended.
Sente: Flavor of the Lotus. After we left, the same people who recommended Hanoi Food Culture to us recommended this restaurant.
Banh Mi 25. We loved their chicken and pork sandwiches. They are rather small so you may want 2. Very popular with tourists.
Hidden Gem Coffee. We enjoyed coffee (latte, coconut coffee and egg coffee) at this back-alley cafe where the décor is recycled everything.
We understand that Beer Street is the place to go for nightlife, although we didn’t go there.
There are many rooftop bars in town. They are wonderful places to watch the sun go down.
Weasel and Luwak (poo) coffee is available for purchase throughout the city. This is naturally decaffeinated coffee where the beans have passed through the digestive systems of these animals.
Bamboo Bar and Restaurant. We had the set menu for 200,000 VND, with duck substituted for chicken. The stir-fried goat is a local specialty. It was good. What we really loved, though, was the 5-spiced duck with sweet bamboo sauce. We asked for the recipe, but the owner wouldn’t share it.
Family Restaurant. Just like the name implies. Our favorite dish was the fried spring rolls.
Banh Mi Phuong. Delicious Banh Mi. We went twice.
Com Ga Ba Van. If you’re feeling adventurous, this is a VERY local restaurant. Very inexpensive and cash only. Good place for Cao Lau (Pork). The Com Bui (Chicken and Rice) was nothing special.
Morning Glory Restaurant. We were reluctant to try this restaurant because it’s gotten touristy. It’s touristy for a reason. The food is so good we bought the cookbook. The traditional restaurant is more quaint than the new sister restaurants
Mua. We so wanted to love this farm-to-table restaurant, but we didn’t ☹ The duck was more tender and flavorful at Bamboo Restaurant in Tam Coc. The rest of the dishes were interesting, but the flavors didn’t come together. Don’t recommend.
In general, food is more cosmopolitan and expensive than in other areas of Vietnam. While we’re sure there are many great restaurants in HCMC, we were too busy enjoying the XO Foodie tours to try them.
Charm Bakery. The best Banh Mi in the country. The bread was fresh and the filling was tasty.
Trung Nguyên Legend Café. The founder, Dang Le Nguyen Vu, is a local hero who, with his then wife, built up the Vietnamese coffee industry after growing up very poor. There are several franchised coffee shops in Saigon. The one we visited had a beautiful tree-filled courtyard.
The Rabbit Hole. Avant-garde cocktails and light jazz in a swanky speakeasy.
Sao Hom Restaurant. Located on the waterfront. While the location was wonderful, he food was tasteless and expensive. Across the street, the food stalls at the night market is a much better option.
We used Rickshaw, a UK-based travel agency to book a 2-week trip that took us to the North, Middle and South of Vietnam. We had used them before and loved their little 2- and 3-day a la carte tours to off-the-beaten-path experiences. Rickshaw found very unique and local experiences for us outside the main cities, with amazing lodging choices. Unfortunately, our lodging in the big cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho ranged from ho-hum to downright awful. As a result, you’ll see as many negative recommendations here as positive.
Golden Lotus Luxury Hotel. Extremely cramped rooms. Everything smelled old and musty. We do not recommend.
Tam Coc Garden Resort. We loved our stay here. The hotel was serene and peaceful, with beautiful gardens and spacious rooms that overlooked rice paddies. We carved out an afternoon just to relax by the pool. The price includes breakfast at their high-end restaurant. We enjoyed lattes, croissants, crepes, springs rolls, pho and other delicacies. Dinner is also available. It’s a little expensive with dishes costing 230,000 VND, but everything is fresh and well prepared. Alternatively, you can hire a cab for 80,000 VND to take you to Tam Coc for more traditional food (10-15 minute cab ride).
Min Tho Homestay In this rural area there aren’t many accommodations. We didn’t see anything other than “home stays,” which are really hostels run by local families. While the room was private, the wall didn’t go to the ceiling so the lights and sounds from the neighboring rooms affected us. (We’ve since learned that such room dividers are common in Vietnam.)
Palm Garden Resort. A small scale garden resort in a sea of high rise resorts springing up all around it. It had a pool and a beachfront area for lounging. Getting back and forth to old town Hoi An was easy. We used Grab and it cost 75k to 100k VND. We really enjoyed our experience at this hotel and recommend it.
Orchids Hotel. A decent mid-priced hotel in a good location. Be sure to book a king bed, otherwise you get 2 singles. Ask for a room with a bathtub – they are corner rooms with the best views.
Kim Tho Hotel. we stayed here, but don’t recommend it. The beds are hard as rocks.
Hoi An is chock full of clothing and leather tailors and custom shoe stores. While many stores will make something for you in an afternoon, it is better to give them a couple of days so you can have multiple fittings and they can tweak items to your exact measurements. Below are the stores we used and notes of our experiences.
Yaly Couture. We strongly recommend this store for high quality custom-tailored clothes. They have some patterns on display. Alternatively, you can bring in your favorite articles of clothing from home or just show them a picture from your phone. They have hundreds of fabrics to choose from (but not thousands, thank goodness.) Once you decide on the designs and fabrics, they price out your purchase. Linen pants cost $50-$60, depending on the fabric. (They line see-through linen colors like white and taupe.) Tops are $40 to $50. Custom women’s blazers are $75. They don’t negotiate until you get to $300, then they only offer 5 percent. Ann got a formal gown for $200.
We placed our order at 8:40 pm. Eighteen hours later we had our first fitting. Items that were made from their patterns or from items brought from home only needed one fitting. Items made from pictures needed two fittings. We were so pleased with the clothes that we ordered more after the first fitting.
Another place that appeared to have the same quality was Bebe.
The Leather & Suede Shop, 85 Tran Phu St. (leathersuede85@gmail.com) This store has been in business 20 years. They have a catalog of jackets and many leather options. Our friend got a very slimming and stylish black jacket made from buttery, black goat leather for $76. We highly recommend this store.
Son Boutique 66 Tran Phu St. (tranthitrang241084@icloud.com) Had nice quality linen dresses and blazers. Our friend bought one for $60 and it was delivered to her room within 12 hours.
Thanh Tram, 54 Le Loi St. In addition to Jade, they had fun necklaces for $25. We bought 3.
Izi Wear, 28 Tran Phu St. We bought off the rack clothes from Izi. the outfits are on-trend and good quality. The reviews online say this store is a good tailor.
Leather Shop Song Da, 349 Nguyen Duy Hieu St. We bought custom boots, shoes and sandals as well as leather bags and purses. They traced our feet so that the shoes were the right size. The leather they used was soft and supple. They have arch support, which molds to your arch after several wearings. Since we’ve been home, we’ve worn the boots and shoes a lot.
March 23, 2024
Beyhan
Another great destination! Thank you both for the wonderful tips about Tunisia. Just got back and had a terrific time. Keep traveling!
Melissa Law
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