Travel advice for Vietnam
Vietnam - 3 weeks - spent £350ish - We went to Saigon, Hoi An, Hue, Phong Nah, Hanoi and Ninh Binh. Hanoi is the cheapest city in Vietnam. Hue is very expensive and mediocre. You can’t drink the tap water at all anywhere in the country.
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - 3 days - we went to the war remnants musuem, Cu chi tunnels, colonial post office, french cathedral, art museum. would recommend all of them. A lot of time is not needed for HCMC.
Da Lat - due to its altitude, Da Lat is much cooler and less humid than the rest of the cities on this list. Culture wise, we spent an hour walking around the Crazy House - a hotel in the city with unique/crazy architecture. On a similar note, the 100 Roofs Cafe is a bar in the city which, again, is renowned for its interesting and complex architecture - definitely worth a trip if you have a spare evening. Perhaps Da Lat's best tourist activity is its canyoning - for roughly $30-40 US dollars you can spend the best part of a day trekking, abseiling and swimming through some of Da Lat's beautiful hills, mountains and rivers. The highlights for me were a 6 metre jump into a lake followed by abseiling directly into a waterfall.
Hoi An - 2 days - did a cooking class, walked around the old town. If you can go there at the full moon (they have full moon celebrations). A very nice small town. Hoi An is renowned for its tailors - this is the city you need to visit if you are looking at an affordable but quality bespoke suit or dress (and they will ship internationally to save you carrying it on your trip. Mopeds/motorbikes can be rented from most hostels and it is a short, easy and pleasant trip up the coast to marble mountain and/or monkey mountain (both of which host colorful temples and offer short hikes). It is also easy to visit the city of Da Nang. Would recommend.
Travelling between Hoi An and Hue - cheap (albeit basic) buses can easily be organised from any decent hostel to take you from Hoi An to Hue or vice versa. This trip takes about 4/5 hours and costs very little. However, there is a well traveled back road trip that travelers can take themselves by renting a moped or motorbike from either city. The journey has a number of tourist destinations you can stop off at (e.g. marble mountain). This will take most travelers roughly 7 to 9 hours depending on stops. Most hostels offer bike rentals and, often included in the price, will send a guide to accompany you and arrange for your large luggage to be sent by bus (its a risk but saves you a lot of hassle). I would recommend wearing long sleeves as it is easy to burn the top of your arms after steering the bikes all day - thankfully, the breeze will keep you cool.
Hue - 2 days - We went to the imperial citadel, Lebadong art museum, small war museum, DMZ tour (included Khe Sanh base, tunnel village, 'Ho Chi Minh trail' which was a stretch of Highway. If I were to do it again I would get the DMZ tour from Phong Nah as it is closer to the areas you are going to and would be less driving involved and probably slightly cheaper). not as great as I was expecting. If need be skip it.
Phong Nah - 2 days - another small town. the scenery is much like Ha long bay but much its less touristy. there's a national park, large cave systems some of which used by the Viet Minh. a friend just saw a cave on the side of the highway and went in it. It was very impressive. so if you want to save money you could look for caves on the roadside. I would recommend.
Ninh Binh - stayed there for 3 days - went to see various sights in the area, large pagoda, buddha as well as some water caves. more provincial than the other cities we stayed and felt more authentic. stayed in a very nice hostel whch used to be the railway station. with nice restaurants nearby. very cheap. very easy, quick and cheap to get to from Hanoi.
Hanoi - were there for about 6 days - went to museum of ethnology, women's museum, Ho Chi Minh Mauseleum and museum, Vietnam police museum (free), Vietnam army museum. would recommend all of them. when in Hanoi you can go from hostel to hostel during their different happy hours and drink for free throughout the evening. Would recommend highly.
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - 3 days - we went to the war remnants musuem, Cu chi tunnels, colonial post office, french cathedral, art museum. would recommend all of them. A lot of time is not needed for HCMC.
Da Lat - due to its altitude, Da Lat is much cooler and less humid than the rest of the cities on this list. Culture wise, we spent an hour walking around the Crazy House - a hotel in the city with unique/crazy architecture. On a similar note, the 100 Roofs Cafe is a bar in the city which, again, is renowned for its interesting and complex architecture - definitely worth a trip if you have a spare evening. Perhaps Da Lat's best tourist activity is its canyoning - for roughly $30-40 US dollars you can spend the best part of a day trekking, abseiling and swimming through some of Da Lat's beautiful hills, mountains and rivers. The highlights for me were a 6 metre jump into a lake followed by abseiling directly into a waterfall.
Hoi An - 2 days - did a cooking class, walked around the old town. If you can go there at the full moon (they have full moon celebrations). A very nice small town. Hoi An is renowned for its tailors - this is the city you need to visit if you are looking at an affordable but quality bespoke suit or dress (and they will ship internationally to save you carrying it on your trip. Mopeds/motorbikes can be rented from most hostels and it is a short, easy and pleasant trip up the coast to marble mountain and/or monkey mountain (both of which host colorful temples and offer short hikes). It is also easy to visit the city of Da Nang. Would recommend.
Travelling between Hoi An and Hue - cheap (albeit basic) buses can easily be organised from any decent hostel to take you from Hoi An to Hue or vice versa. This trip takes about 4/5 hours and costs very little. However, there is a well traveled back road trip that travelers can take themselves by renting a moped or motorbike from either city. The journey has a number of tourist destinations you can stop off at (e.g. marble mountain). This will take most travelers roughly 7 to 9 hours depending on stops. Most hostels offer bike rentals and, often included in the price, will send a guide to accompany you and arrange for your large luggage to be sent by bus (its a risk but saves you a lot of hassle). I would recommend wearing long sleeves as it is easy to burn the top of your arms after steering the bikes all day - thankfully, the breeze will keep you cool.
Hue - 2 days - We went to the imperial citadel, Lebadong art museum, small war museum, DMZ tour (included Khe Sanh base, tunnel village, 'Ho Chi Minh trail' which was a stretch of Highway. If I were to do it again I would get the DMZ tour from Phong Nah as it is closer to the areas you are going to and would be less driving involved and probably slightly cheaper). not as great as I was expecting. If need be skip it.
Phong Nah - 2 days - another small town. the scenery is much like Ha long bay but much its less touristy. there's a national park, large cave systems some of which used by the Viet Minh. a friend just saw a cave on the side of the highway and went in it. It was very impressive. so if you want to save money you could look for caves on the roadside. I would recommend.
Ninh Binh - stayed there for 3 days - went to see various sights in the area, large pagoda, buddha as well as some water caves. more provincial than the other cities we stayed and felt more authentic. stayed in a very nice hostel whch used to be the railway station. with nice restaurants nearby. very cheap. very easy, quick and cheap to get to from Hanoi.
Hanoi - were there for about 6 days - went to museum of ethnology, women's museum, Ho Chi Minh Mauseleum and museum, Vietnam police museum (free), Vietnam army museum. would recommend all of them. when in Hanoi you can go from hostel to hostel during their different happy hours and drink for free throughout the evening. Would recommend highly.
I would recommend buying a big 5 litre bottle of water keeping it in your room and decanting into your own waterbottle. Works out alot cheaper. You can get tourist/backpacker buses to other cities including nightbuses for pretty much always $7. If your getting an overnight bus the $7 is cheaper than a train but if your getting a normal day bus this is more expensive than the train so pick the train for trainsport if your going in the day (shorter journeys) and pick bus if you're going overnight (longer distances).
If you want to see a Water puppetry show I would see it in either Hoi an or Hanoi, Not in Saigon as it is much more expensive there.
If you get along well with Hostel/Restaurant staff if you ask them they may tell you the best play to buy souveniers. I had one instance when I told a restauranter how much I bought a hat for and she told me could have bought it for nearly half from her husband.
And remember if you the reader want to share some great advice from your travelling then feel free to message me and I'll add you as an author and you can publish your piece.
If you want to see a Water puppetry show I would see it in either Hoi an or Hanoi, Not in Saigon as it is much more expensive there.
If you get along well with Hostel/Restaurant staff if you ask them they may tell you the best play to buy souveniers. I had one instance when I told a restauranter how much I bought a hat for and she told me could have bought it for nearly half from her husband.
And remember if you the reader want to share some great advice from your travelling then feel free to message me and I'll add you as an author and you can publish your piece.
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