kilmainham

Hi

Myself and my friend will be in Vietnam at Christmas (Dec 23rd -31st) . We fly out of Hanoi Dec 31st to HK. We thought about spending Christmas in Halong Bay - is there anywhere else we should try and tie in with our visit?

crellston

An alternative to Halong Bay would be Ba Be Lakes. It is a bit of a drive (approx 7 hours) north of Hanoi but , in my opinion, well worth it as the scenery is spectacular and the walking is excellent. We styed with a local family and it wa sonme of the highlights of our RTW trip. Bear in mind though that N Vietnam can be very cold at this time of year. For some more info and photo , here is a link to our blog:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...2280/tpod.html

wintersp

Crellston - this sounds like a very interesting non-touristy spot. How did you find/book this? Particularly the homestay?

Thanks.

kilmainham

Hi thanks for that link - the photo's are amazing

crellston

wintersp - We booked the trip with one of the tour shops in the Old Quarter (sorry but I can't recall the name except that it was vaguely Australian sounding!). Anyway the same similar are offered by many of the operator in Hanoi and it is easy enough (and cheaper)to book and travel within a day or so. Tt is ceratinly non touristy we didn't see another tourist for the entire trip!

greenvietnam

you'd spend your christmas in Halong is the best. Over night on the boat in that night with other customers. Each cruise has a gala dinner and some activity to welcome Christmas.