slangrish

Hi everyone, myself and my girlfriend will be travelling to Vietnam from the 17th Dec - 5th or 6th January.
We're crazy excited about it as it will be our first trip to Vietnam and having moved to Thailand back in August are keen to make it as memorable as possible over the Christmas period. Its also my birthday on the 27th! It will be the first Christmas & New Years away from home in the UK so have no idea what to expect in regards to these Western holidays.
We've put together an itinerary using both this forum and other research over the past few weeks and are hoping for some feedback & advice about if its both manageable/places of interest/hotel recommendations from people that live there or have visited it themselves. We have a budget of about £1000 though as we both work in Thailand, saving money where possible would be great to!
The idea is for the familiar route of travelling from the North down to the South:

Fly into Hanoi from Thailand (probably Bangkok)
Move steadily south visiting several places along the way
Fly back to Thailand from Ho Chi Minh

Living on Koh Samui we've seen plenty of beaches lately and are keen to experience the more cultural and historically significant aspects to Vietnam but with a few relaxing beach days thrown in. That being said, we are realistic in understanding that you're only really scratching the surface in our timeframe! We'll be packing for the colder north and hoping from some sun too once we hit the south. Once again, thanks for taking the time to read my post, sorry if its a bit long but as you can imagine, we want to make the most of our first big adventure outside Thailand!
I'd really appreciate some advice on any overnight travelling options and tips for safety. Ive included our 'rough' dates places of interest. Each date however is open to change though we'd like to be in Hoi An for Christmas & DaLat for New Years flower festival (unless someone recommends differently!)

Arrive Hanoi – 17th evening - 20th
• Vietnamese women’s museum
• Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and museum
• One Pillar Pagoda
• Water puppet show
• Jazz club
• Tran Quoc Pagoda
• Hoa Lo prison
• SF Salon and spa
• Markets – Hang Da, Cho Ho, Dong Xuan, Old quarter night market
• Hanoi Old Town Hotel £12 a night (excellent reviews)

20th-22nd Halong Bay
• 2 day trip – book in Hanoi•
• Junk boat tour & overnight

22nd - 24th Hue (overnight train from Hanoi (Livitrans Express recommended))
• Imperial Citadel
• Tombs of the Emperor
• Blind massage
• Bike tour (top gear)
• Than Tan hot springs
• Ho Chi minh museum

24th Da Nang (possibly just stay the day and head to Hoi An on the evening) or skip altogether if can't fit in) 40km Taxi $25
• Cham museum
• Marble mountains


24th-26th Hoi An
• Old town – coupon to see 5 attractions
• Hoi An orphanage
• Gioan riverside restaurant cooking lessons
• Bicycle tour to Cam Kim
• Christmas eve meal????
• Hoi An Trails

gap here as do not know where to spend my birthday on the 27th... stay in Hoi An longer or travel down to Nha Trang and then move everything up a few days on the itinerary for a new place or stay longer in one of them? advice needed!


28th – 30th Nha Trang
• Beach
• Waterfalls
• Bicycle tour
• Surfing!

30th – 1st DaLat (five hr bus from Nha Trang)
• Monastery on top of mountain
• Markets
• Lake
• Lang Biang mountain
• Flower festival
• New Years eve!

1st – 3rd Phan Thiet (Mui Ne)
• Best beach!
• Hoang Kim Golden

3rd -5th Ho Chi Minh City
• Reunification Palace
• War remnants museum
• Thien Hau Pagoda
• Twenty three September Park (sports/social)

5th or 6th fly home to Thailand


Thanks for reading sorry its so long, take care and your advice is massively appreciated!!

crellston

Travelling around Vietnam is a lot easier than it used to be thanks to the rapidly developing tourist infrastructure. Flying is clearly the quickest and most expensive a but you won't see much of the countryside. Buses are cheap but you do need to keep your wits about you as theft and scams are common. As you specifically asked for tips on safety, take alook at http://artoftravel.com/ which has lots of good info.

Choosing the right accommodation can make or break your trip. For budget style accommodation, www.hostelworld.com and www.hostelbookers are very good ( not just hostels but small hotels and B&B s as well). Good for booking online and the reviews are usually very accurate. www.travelfish.org also has some excellent information on Vietnam.

Travelling from Hanoi to HCMC is a well trodden route. Hanoi has huge amount to hold your interest. The old quarter is a good place to stay but the temple of literature seems to be missing form you list.dont miss Hoam Kiem lake at dawn for the Tai Chi.

Halong bay was not my favourite place in the north, a long way to go for what it is. Mai Chau is a really pretty valley 4 hours west of Hanoi and a great place for an overnight homestay. A bit further on is Sapa also worth considering. There are a few photos of both places on our blog http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blo...ai/3/tpod.html

Da Nang has very little of interest but is mainly a transit point for Hue and Hoi An. It is however the starting point for one of the most spectacular train journeys in Asia to Hue through the Hai Van pass and along China beach. Fit it in if you can!

I preferred Hue to Hoi An. Hoi an is very picturesque but very heavily touristed. A great place to stay is vinh Hung Merchants House right in the old town.

Nah Trang is great for diving and surfing but one of the problems with beach time there is the strog wind that blow every afternoon which sometimes make lazing on the beach somewhat uncomfortable. It is also now a VERY busy resort. That said, renting a boat to take a trip upriver into the country is a great way to spend and afternoon or evening.

Dalat would not be my first choice to spend NYE but you will probably need to book very soon as it is very popular with local Vietnamese tourists for the holidays.

Saigon is one of my favourite cities with lots to see. I would add to your list, the post office and cathedral. Ben Than market and Cholon, the Chinese quarter. All easily covered in te time you have allocated.

Have fun it is an amazing country

Southam

Jazz seven nights a week can be heard at this Hanoi club
http://www.minhjazzvietnam.com/EN/splash.asp.htm The owner often plays a tune or two with the bands. It's above a restaurant which will send food upstairs to the music fans. That link comes from http://tnhvietnam.xemzi.com/ which has plenty of local information, much of it user-generated.
More generally, this link has useful information for the country http://www.travelfish.org/
Hue, in my opinion, is worth at least one full day. Lots of tourists, but the royal palaces, slowly being restored, are interesting.

dgunbug

I concur that sapa is far more interesting than Halong bay. While the bay is picturesque and we were glad to see it, the drive to and from seemed endless. Sapa can be done by overnight train so you don't lose time traveling. The problem is that December is one of the coldest months. You may want to wait and make a decision about where to go and if you should do sapa or Halong bay once you are in Hanoi. If you go to Halong bay, IMO 1 night is enough. We stayed two nites, but unless you want extra time to kayak, you will see the same thing in one day. We did two nights and were surprised that we were the only people remaining on the boat te second day. It was quite disappointing. The second day a new group of people boarded the boat.

jgg

We spent last Christmas in Vietnam, were in Hoi An Christmas eve/Christmas day. We absolutely loved Halong Bay (didn't do Sapa as we were worried about the weather), but have to agree that one night on Halong Bay is probably enough, particularly due to the weather, not warm enough for water activities near the cave.

We had our Christmas Eve dinner at the Cargo Club in Hoi An and really enjoyed it. They had traditional Christmas dinner food as well as Vietnamese food so you could have whatever you wanted. We spent Christmas day doing a cooking class with Van of Green Bamboo and loved it. There are a ton of restaurants that also have cooking classes, so I am sure you will be able to find one.

Christmas Eve is really the day of celebration there - stores are still open, but close earlier, around 5pm/6pm. In the evening, everyone was out in the streets celebrating - more like NYE then Christmas. Then Christmas day everything in town is back to normal. BTW, we were able to find a small prelit/predecorated Christmas tree in a small notions store in HoiAn that we bought and brought back to our hotel room. We did get some looks as we carried it through the streets of HoiAn to hail a taxi - but it was fun!

Here is a link to my trip report you may be interested in reading:
http://www.fromhometoroam.com/catego...hristmas-2011/

slangrish

Thank you SO MUCH for all your reponses regarding our itinerary! We've had two sets of guests staying with us for the last few weeks so haven't been able to dive in and reassess our plans properly. Now they've gone we are trying to make up the time with earnest!
We are looking into Sapa after its recommendations on here and other forums and will only spend the one day at Halong Bay to make room for other places/extended time elsewhere. In regards to booking hotels, did everyone mostly book ahead of time or simply walk-in. I'm a big fan of researching hotels and the like but worry that perhaps now given the lack of time remaining it might not be possible to book everything. (Given the fact that we might like some places more than others also I don't really want to tie us down too much!) I'm pretty certain we'll not be visiting Da Nang now and instead possibly Sapa or Mai Chau.
Quick question -
How much/whats the best way of getting from Hanoi airport to Hanoi? Hoping an airport pick-up might be an option but if not, want it to be as stress-free as possible!
Thanks again for your help.

crellston

As I recall there is aan official taxi rank at the airport providing fixed rate rides (was around $10) into Hanoi thus avoiding many of the overcharging scams which tend to be endemic in Hanoi. Your hotel may, of cours, offer a free pick up.