travellingwineO

My wife and I have 12 days in Vietnam next April. We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City and depart from Hanoi. Our plane tickets are award seats and these cities and their dates are fixed.

My thoughts were to concentrate our time mostly on Hoi An, Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay. We would fly from HCMC to Da Nang and from Da Nang to Hanoi for efficiency.

My preliminary thoughts:

Day 0: arrive HCMC at 10:30 am

Day 1: spend full day in HCMC

Day 2: am flight to Da Nang ---> Hoi An

Day 3: Hoi An

Day 4: am flight to Hanoi---> day in Hanoi

Days 5, 6,& 7: Halong Bay Cruise (3day/2night)

Day 7: ----> night train to Sapa

Days 8 & 9: Sapa ----> night train to Hanoi

Days 10, 11, & 12: Hanoi ----> depart 12:30 on Day 12

My concern about this schedule:

Are we trying to do too much in too little time? Is the trip to Sapa even worth it for two days with a night train on either end? I keep wondering if we'd be better off eliminating Sapa and adding a day each to our time in Hanoi and Hoi An, but that seems like we'd be missing out on the closest thing to the "real" Vietnam we are likely to experience on this trip.

Any and all thoughts are appreciated and thanks in advance!

Kathie

You are trying to cover a lot of ground in the time you have. And a couple of places you are going take a lot of time to get there: Halong Bay, you have a 6 hour drive each way through pretty boring countryside. And Sapa, you have an overnight train ride each way and the tracks are rough. Unless you are a "champion sleeper" you may find you get very little sleep on the train.

Right now you have just one day in Hoi An, and aren't going to Hue. I'd suggest you choose one or the other - Sapa or Halong Bay.

dgunbug

I would eliminate Halong bay altogether. The ride to and from there is boring and seemed endless to me. It takes up half a day on each end. One day on the bay was nice, although it was oppressively hot and in retrospect, I would have eliminated that from my itinerary.

Alternatively, the train to Sapa is during the night on each end, therefore, you lose no time touring during the day. Reserve a sleeping compartment as soon as possible. While the train ride was noisy, we got sufficient sleep each way. If you can arrange to be in Sapa on a Sunday, I highly recommend going to the Bac Ha market. I would spend 3 days in Sapa.

You seem to be missing out on Hue, which was one of our highlights. You can hire a driver from hoi an and spend 1 1/2 days there to see the major sites. Fly from Hue to Hanoi.
Hanoi is a wonderful city.

crellston

I totally agree with dgunbug, eliminate Halong Bay from your plans. IMO it is not worth the the effort of the journey there and back. Three days/nights are realistically needed for Sapa. Years since I have been but we really enjoyed the scenery and the village home stays. Another alternative is Ninh Binh, a little closer than Halong Bay and is sometimes described as "Halong Bay on Land". You could easily combine it with Mai Chau, The Black River etc. if you want to see the "real Vietnam" we spent 3 months in the country this year and used Ethnic Travel who were pretty good.

I love Saigon but it is a little frenetic for some tastes. A couple of days of non stop sightseeing will get you around all the major sights and provide ops for sampling the amazing food on offer.

Again I agree with dgunbug re Hue. Having spent a lot of time in both Hue and Hoi An, I much prefer the former but it really depends on your specific interests. Hoi An sees way more tourists and can get VERY crowded.

Hanoi probably my favourite city in Asia and, in the context of the time you have available, three days would be about the correct proportion of your time.
Some more info and lots of photos of these places (with the exception of Halong!) are on our blog @ http://accidentalnomads.com/category/vietnam/

Finally, as you are limited on time it is essential to work out not only where you want to go, but also the specific places you apwant to see so as not to to waste a moment. Enjoy your planning.

ptt1106

I think you should skip the Halong Bay Cruise. I'm a Vietnamese and to be honest, Halong is not worth your visit. Instead of 3 days in Halong, you can increase your time in Hue and Hoi An. From Hue you can go to Quang Binh, which is also a great destination to see with famous caves and beautiful beaches.

travellingwineO

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate the insight an it looks like we probably need to tighten up the itinerary a bit and narrow our focus some.

I'm sure Halong Bay can seem trite if you've been to Vietnam before, especially if you were there for 3 months in the country this year. We've never been to Asia, so this is all new to us and I think we're pretty set on visiting Halong Bay.

Based on comments though, I think that we're more likely to book one of the Indochina Junk cruises to Bai Tu Long Bay- it includes almost no kayaking/swimming nonsense, but does include at least two village visits with an overnight off the boat in a village.

The other changes I'm considering based on comments would be eliminating the second day in HCMC, leaving the day after we arrive. Having only been to Western Europe, I'm not sure how hard the jet lag is going to hit us. I suspect that it will be substantial, given the 13 hour time difference for us and the fact that we're headed West. I don't generally have much of an issue with jet lag, but my wife tends to. The thought of 28 hours of travel followed by a trip to the airport the next day seems a bit much to me, but HCMC is the least appealing of any of the places on our list.

Additionally, I think more time in Hoi An, with or without adding Hue seems like a great plan to me. I also like the idea of more time in Hanoi.

Which leads me to ultimately conclude that Sapa is the thing that we'll eliminate from our trip. Sapa itself sounds fantastic. Two night trains doesn't. If Vietnam is really "all that" (and I suspect it is), we'll just have to go back.

crellston

Halong Bay is one of the most popular sights in Vietnam and a World Heritage sight and for good reason - it is pretty spectacular. I just find it much to busy. Bai tu long would be far preferable to Halong IMO - fewer boats and a much quieter experience but still great scenery. An overnight on one of the islands is a great idea.

yestravel

I completely agree re Bay trip...we did the Indochine Junk to Bai Tu Long also and loved it. It's something that you just don't see in lots of places. Our boat did do the kayaking and while I passed the people doing it all had a great time. yes, it's a long boring approximately 3 hour drive each way, but it's worth it. I would not do it for just one day, but as an overnight On a Junk, go for it.
OTOH I think Sapa has become terribly touristed and agree that you can skip it. Some of crellston suggestions for alternatives are good.

LancasterLad

Was in Hue last week for 5 nights, and unusually for us we splashed out on relatively expensive accommodation.

But we hit a tropical depression/typhoon from the outset, and it rained, and rained, and rained. Couldn't use the pool or our scenic balcony for the duration.

Just finished a week in Hoi An, constant sun, heat, and humidity. But loved the place, especially after dusk. Also enjoyed the Travel Lodge Hotel [thanks Crellston!].

Finishing off in Saigon. Went to th War Remnants Museum this morning. Interesting place.

crellston

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Travel Lodge LL. Sorry to hear about the rain in Hue. If it's any consolation it has poured 3 out of the 4 times we have been!

nicd235

HI, I would reduce the trip to Halong bay to one night. I did a 2 night trip but felt the 2nd day was wasted as it was just on small island which you could canoe from or swim. I would definitely recommend to spend more time in Hoi An. We took a trip to Mai Chau and stayed overnight. We had a tour of the rice fields on bikes and experience local life. It is not as far from Hanoi and Sapa but well worth a visit.

janejohn

Hi there! I would reduce time on Halong Bay to 2 days/1 night, it is quite enough, and 2 days are quite enough for Sapa!

LancasterLad

<<<The price is quite reasonable with private taxi. US $ 56,00 for one way. You can try it with Hue Private Taxi.>>>

The train between Da Nang and Hue is very, very scenic.
A 3rd Class seat costs 42k dong. There's a train leaves Da Nang daily @ 0835, and it takes 4 hours to reach Hue.