How do both cities compare in terms of things to visit? I suppose that Hanoi is more interesting? What would be the minimum time you need for both cities, not counting the surroundings?

I find hanoi a much more interesting city. I would say three days will enable you to see most things. Four days if you have lots of time.

I think two full days is enough for Saigon and that includes the tunnels.

Thks, Glorialf. Do you mean three/four days for the city as such or do you include things outside the city?

I'd say 3 days at least for the city itself. There might be some day trips you will want to take in addition but Hanoi is really a wonderful city.-

I agree with Gloria that Hanoi has a lot to see and do. I spent a week there with just one day trip outside the city and enjoyed it greatly.

Hanoi - yes more interesting, especially the Old Quarter. There is a walking tour of the Old Quarter in the Lonely Planet Vietnam. It acquaints the visitor with the different streets, i.e., shoe street, gravestone st, mirror street, towel shop st., clothing st., Hang Gai st (silk st) etc etc and helps you get your bearings around the Old Quarter. Fascinating walk.
Also near the start of the tour on the walk is the Water Puppet theatre, so on your walk, book the Water Puppet show for the next day and try to get a front row seat, then continue on the walking tour. We stayed in Hanoi at the for 5 days with one day tour of Halong Bay.

We also enjoyed Ho Chi Minh but stayed for a shorter period of time (3 days) at the Rex Hotel. We did not have time to tour the Mekong River. The Cholon Market in Chinatown is to people watch, especially the young men who carry enormous items on their back going up and down the stairs at the Market.

There as so many museums to see in each of the above cities. We plan to return to Vietnam next year.

Do you have time to also include Hue and Hoi An?

i also agree about hanoi...3 days would be fine and maybe one or two days outside...there are artists to see outside and the pottery village...also halong bay which is a two day thing more or less...

can't speak for saigon...didn't look interesting to us so we skipped it...

Hanoi is great. 3 days for the city itself and 1-2 days for day trips to Ha Long, etc. The Water Puppet show is fantastic. HCMC is also interesting for the big city buzz and people watching - maybe 1 day is enough. The main reason to go to HCMC is to venture to the Mekong Delta which was one of my favorite places in Vietnam. You can do a full day trip or stay longer.

Thank you very much, you confirm what I more or less thought, that Hanoi is worth to spend some more time than in HCMC.
Is the Perfume Pagoda worth the trip and does that take a full day to go there, tour the place and return to Hanoi?
Hoi An and Hue are not on our tour, first because Nov seems not to be the right season for Central VN and second, because we have not sufficient time. Maybe I should already start planning the second trip to VN.

I have been reading a number of posts about visits to Vietnam and I what I'm sensing is that there are a few things folks need to be aware of:
1) Travel Infrastructure is not up to par compared with say BKK.
2) English is not widley spoken.
3) English menus are not always available.
4) You may have some trouble with taxis in not understanding where you want to go, etc.

This is just to get the new comers aquainted with some of the nuiances of travel there as compared with Sing or BKK where these are not issues.
This may also form some of the basis for why some people might be better off on a tour rather than striking out on their own. (Now I'm not a tour person but if these things are going to stress you out then maybe a tour is appropriate for some folks)

I took a day trip to the Perfume pagoda and enjoyed it. The scenenry is lovely and it was nice to see the countryside. I will caution you that there will be young women who will want to guide you and it's virtually impossible to shake them. They were the most agressive people I've ever met in terms of asking for very high pay - they want US$50 each "for school" plus to be paid for many other things. Just be clear and firm. DOn't let my warning put you off from visiting the Perfume Pagoda, just be forewarned.

another option is to have an english speaking guide and/or driver with you but do it privately. It's quite cheap.

oops- hit post too soon - It is pretty much a full day trip. We did stop at the "silk village" on the way back - basically it's a place where they sell silks both by the yard and some ready-made goods. We purchased gorgeous long silk bathrobes, reversible, with elaborate embriodery on one side and beautiful brocade on the other for US$10 each.

PS - just a couple of comments on Bill's cautions.

VN is certainly not on a par with Thailand in terms of development of infrastructure for visitors. Nonetheless, I found it easy to navigate Hanoi. I always took a card from my hotel with me to show the cab driver on teh way back, and had the doorman instruct the cab driver on where we were going.

Every place we ate had English menus.

We took a small group tour (20 days with Travel Indochina) and didn't regret it. At the same time it soon became clear that Vietnam isn't an especially difficult country for the independent traveller.

Infrastructure certainly has a long way to go, but during our independent wanderings around the cities we visited we never had serious language difficulties - in fact we were surprised that so many people spoke at least a little English. When shopping we sometimes had to communicate with "duelling calculators" and a few Vietnamese phrases (for the sake of politeness more than anything), but never found this a problem, and overall less so than in China.

HCMC is worth a day (two at the outside), and side trips to the Mekong, Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple could occupy another couple of days. Hanoi is definitely the nicer city, though.

I think when you visit Vietnam, the place you can not miss it is Hanoi and surrounding.
- Halong bay, Sapa, Tam Coc, Bich Dong, Perfume Pagoda, and do not miss one hour cycling around old quater and enjoy water puppet show. This performance attract tourist most.

Visited both last year and I preferred Hanoi, we spent 3 days there (wish it had been longer) and did not get to Halong Bay which is really a must. We were also in HCMC for 3 nights. One thing I really noticed is in Hanoi there is a lot less cars on the road than HCMC. But in both crossing the road is an experience in itself and it took me a while to get use to it.

If you are looking at a hotel to stay I would recommend the Sofitel in Hanoi.

The main places to visit have all been covered above. We ate at some fantastic restaurants one being a French one in HCMC. If need any recommendations let me know.

Patsey