We will be touring laos and end up in Hanoi where we have one week on our own in Vietnam before flying back to Bangkok. What to do/where to go in one week? Very interested in hiking. Any recommendations?

Sapa

Climb Fansipan

I would go to Hue and Hoi An. You can take an overnight train to Hue, which was the old capital of Vietnam. It has an imperial palace modeled on the Forbidden City and lots of imperial burial grounds. You can also take a day trip to the DMZ. Hoi An is not far from Hue and between the two is China Beach. Hoi An has classic Vietnamese architecture; it looks the way Vietnam looked before the French and Americans got ahold of the country. Also, it is the shopping mecca of the country. A really cute, small town. Hoi An also has access to a beach area.

We had 9 days last year and visited Hanoi, Hoi An, and Saigon. We did an overnight trip from Hanoi to Mai Chau, we hiked into and out of the village. We arranged this with Buffalo Tours.

Ann K - Would you recommend Buffalo Tours, and how do we get in touch with them?

Joaki

hanoi is worth about 2-3 days ...a day or two to halong bay is worthwhile..

We just returned a week ago from three weeks in Vietnam. I would not miss Hanoi and the area around it, including Halong Bay. I could have stayed there two weeks. Hue was fine if a bit small, I can't imagine more than two days there.

Whatever you do, don't bother with Ho Chi Minh City unless you are going to spend all your time in the Delta.

A word of caution regarding Buffalo Tours....we just returned from a trip to Hanoi and we used them for the overnight on a junk boat trip to Halong Bay. They charged the full amount for the trip on our credit card at the time of booking (6 weeks before we got there). I noticed that they had overcharged me by $US 81, based on the prices they quoted. When I brought it to their attention, they quickly agreed it was a mistake and promised to issue the refund to my credit card immediately. 6 weeks later I am still trying to get the money back.

Sorry to hear about your problem with Buffalo Tours. We actually weren't charged for our tour, we emailed them after we returned since we didn't receive a charge on our credit card statement. They eventually charged our credit card.

http://www.buffalotours.com/