dgunbug

Not sure I would go to halong bay if the floating villages are gone. Curious if the nihm bihm area would be a good substitute being closer and having some of the same karst scenery.

Geoff_Hersch

My itinerary originally had the Ninh Binh area on it but we changed it to Halong Bay DGUNBUG. How can we confirm that the floating villages are gone?

Another question or spin on this itinerary is where to depart from. We are currently set to do the following.
April 1st- IN transit
April 2- Arrive Hanoi
April 3- Dong Ngac Ancient Village Biking, Hanoi Street Food by Night Tour and/or Water Puppet Show
April 4-6- Halong Bay on Treasure Junk, Dragon Pearl or AUCO ship
April 6- Hoi An
April 7- Hoi An- Tra Que Vegetable Village and small cooking class
April 8- Hoi An- "Free Day"
April 9- Saigon- Ben Thanh Market
April 10- Mekong River, Bee Farm and Coconut Candy Farm
April 11- Cao Dai and Chu Chi Tunnels
April 12- Depart Saigon to LAX

If I can get some advice on where else to go around Hanoi or Danang/ Hoi An, I can hang around there and not even go to Saigon in which case I would either depart for the USA from Danang or from Hanoi. Maybe I am complicating things here or maybe electing to simplify.

thursdaysd

Only one day in Hanoi???

Geoff_Hersch

I should spend another day in Hanoi and trying to do so. Assuming three days and two nights in Halong Bay as well as three nights in Hoi An I don't really know how to add another day and still see Saigon for a few nights on the way out. As stated before, I can skip Saigon and the Mekong entirely and stay longer in Hanoi or go back to Hanoi for a night before departing for the USA.

Kathie

The problem is that you are trying to cover too much in too little time. You'll have to cut at least one destination if you want to experience any of these places.

Geoff_Hersch

Kathie, I completely understand that. Is Hanoi, Halong Bay and Hoi An reasonable and fulfilling for a 10 day Vietnam vacation and do those destinations allow for enough cultural difference to make it worthwhile? That is the key to my goals...to provide a completely different cultural experience for the family while enjoying our time abroad. We are planning some chill leisure while in Haling Bay enjoying the scenery, food, people and culture while in Hanoi and Hoi An right?

More specific suggestions would be appreciated other then from the service we are using to plan this trip. Vietnamstay has been good but we have not finalized the itinerary. I do however have to make airline reservations immediately and therefore need to determine where we are flying out of. Hanoi, Danang or Ho Chi Minh.

crellston

"That is the key to my goals...to provide a completely different cultural experience for the family while enjoying our time abroad."

The tour you decribe above is just not going to do that. Most of the places you have listed will be populated more my tourists than locals. Halong Bay has literally hundreds of boats, scenic it certainly is, otherwise what would everybody go? To get a more "autherntic" cultural experience ask your agent to include a trip to Bai Tu Long bay - same scenery, fewer tourists. Sail around the bay admire the scenery and stay overnight on an island with a local family. With the time you have abvailable I would miss out this part of the trip completely.

The way you have things mapped out you will be spending a VERY high proportion of your vacation time in transit, either by road or air.

If it were me ( our travel styles are no doubt vastly different - not travelling with kids for one thing!) I would go back to something approaching your original plan. A few days in Hanoi, a visit to Ninh Binh ( oft described as Halong Bay on land and easier to get to.). Round off the visit at Hoi An for some downtime and fly back from Da Nang.
To get your cultural experience ask your agent yo include a couple of nights in a Homestay around Ninh Binh or Mai Chau. We just spent a week in the area and loved it. You don't have to trek as you can get from place to place by car and the scenery is stunning, the people so friendly and teh food was excellent. Accomdation is basic, but great fun.

Unfortunately, I haven't written the blog post for the Ninh Binh part of our trip yeat but here is s a link to our blog which covers some of North Vietnam, in Hanoi and some homestays

http://accidentalnomads.com/category/vietnam/

Much as I love the city and the deltaI would completely forget about Saigon and Mekong. You just dont have the time

dgunbug

I agree wholeheartedly with crellston . Forget about halong bay, Saigon and the Mekong delta. Hanoi is an amazing city. Walk the streets, soak up the atmosphere...you will find plenty to occupy your time in three days there. The home stays suggested sound fabulous. If you had more time and the weather was good, I would have suggested sapa, but transportation there would be more costly and you would need three days. Hoi an is a very picturesque city and will provide downtime for the kids. Vietnam is wonderful...I think you will enjoy a more relaxed pace. Don't spend all your time being transported around. The drive to and from halong is miserable - long and boring.

Kathie

Yes, crellston has given you good advice. Fewer places means you have more time to see/do/experience, less time in transit.

Geoff_Hersch

Adding a day in Hanoi for sure then. Still need to fill in my time with leisure or day trips from the destinations we are going to. Maybe a nice beach destination for the kids to enjoy and fly out of Danang to USA? Saigon is an easier hub to fly from but we can connect from Danang to Saigon or Hanoi then out.

1st- In Transit
2nd- Hanoi
3rd- Hanoi
4th- Hanoi
5th- Halong Bay
6th- Halong Bay
7th- Halong Bay- Hanoi- Danang- Hoi An (bad travel day)
8th- Hoi An
9th- Hoi An
10th- ??
11th- ??
12th- Depart for USA from either Danang, Saigon or Hanoi???

caroline33

Hi there,
Completely agree you have no need to go down south, and in my view, it would be a pity to miss on HUE. It gives you all the imperial history bit, with the forbidden city and all the emperor tumbs along the river(which are in fact beautiful gardens/temple/pagoda).I found it was a very authentic Town, not overcrowded with tourists, and you have so much to do!! Last year, we spent almost a week in central Vietnam with our family (2 kids) and they absolutely loved it. you can fly from Hanoi to Hue and then it is very easy ( and not expensive) to hire a van with driver that will drive you all the way down to HOI AN, on one of the most scenic and beautiful roads of the country (it took us about 3 hours). In HOI AN you can easily spend 3 nights with many things to do in the area. You mentioned some of them, but there is also an amazing bit of historic heritage worth a half day / full day trip : MY SON, which is one of the last remaining site of the Champa empire (Unesco listed). We loved it, and to complete the day you can go to the Champa museum in Danang.
As you can see, we are quite keen on historic heritage, but from what i see in your itinerary, you can nicely fit this in and provide to your family a fuller picture of Vietnam. We loved Vietnam, the central region was a big highlight for us (including the kids!)... Have a great trip ;-)

Kathie

No need to add another stop. Spend a day/night in Hue for the history and spend the rest of the time in Hoi An (or you can choose to stay on China Beach, outside of DaNang).

dgunbug

Agree about adding hue. Was one of our favorite destinations. Very interesting and historical.

Geoff_Hersch

Itinierary Shaping up.

1st- In Transit
2nd- Hanoi- (Hotel L'Dopera)
3rd- Hanoi
4th- Hanoi
5th- Halong Bay- Indochina Sails (Phantom Pearl)
6th- Halong Bay
7th- Halong Bay- Hanoi- Danang- Hoi An (bad travel day)
8th- Hoi An- (Botique Hoi An Hotel)
9th- Hoi An
10th-Hoi An
11th-Saigon- (Royal Lotus Hotel)
12th-Depart

PA_Kathy

Just to clarify my earlier comment re the fishing villages. Some people are still living there, although we did not see many people. But during our ride around the area in a small rowboat, our rower (?) did deliver several packages to folks living on the water, which was interesting.

Geoff_Hersch

For a variety of reasons, including our short travel time frame, we have decided to bypass Saigon all together and fly round trip to/from Hanoi. This way, we can adapt to the time changes and jet lag and spend the first part of our trip leisurely traveling in Halong Bay and ease into the culture and food differences by going from Junk- smaller town (Hoi An) - large city of Hanoi to really dive into the culture.

We are clearly on a short time frame and will make the best of our three location visit. Thanks for you input. All for now.

Kathie

I think it makes sense to skip HCMC.

I do hope you will come back and tell us about your trip!

Geoff_Hersch

Thank you for your help Kathie. Upon arrival into Vietnam around 11:00, we will get to the hotel near 12:00pm. Given our expected exhaustion from our 20 hour flight, is there any "introduction" into Hanoi that we MUST DO beside take a cyclo ride or food tour before going to sleep for the night before departing for Halong Bay the next morning? Would be interested to hear what suggestions all of you may have.

Once back in Hanoi for the last three nights of our vacation, we would like to do a food tour, market and suburban bike tour and cooking class, city cycle rides, Hoa Lo Prison, toy street, etc. for the kids. Cheers! Hope we can fit it all in.

Kathie

Let you bodies tell you what you are up for that first day. If you are alert, you can walk around the Old Quarter a bit. I mention being alert because crossing the street is a real art.

Geoff_Hersch

Final Itinerary regarding cities and hotels. We are still totally open to SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES for our days spent in Hanoi and Halong Bay. Bring on the suggestions!

1st- In Transit
2nd- Hanoi- La-Siesta Hotel Family Suite
3rd- Halong Bay- Bhaya Classic Junk
4th- Halong Bay- Bhaya Classic Junk
5th- Halong Bay- Hanoi- Danang- Hoi An Anantara Resort
6th- Hoi An- Anantara Resort
7th- Hoi An- Anantara Resort
8th- Hanoi- Hotel D'Opera
9th- Hanoi- Hotel D'Opera
10th-Hanoi- Hotel D'Opera
11th-Hanoi to Los Angeles (DEPART 5:35pm)