I make my own travel arrangements in Europe, but have now started to travel in Asia. Thailand was easy to "do it myself", but I'm wondering if Vietnam might be a whole different ball game. Concerned about language barriers, over-paying and ease in making daytrips & connections between cities.

We are *** or ****star kind of folks when we have to pay for it (not my employer). Don't need any handholding and we like to walk and eat away from our hotels.

I'm thinking I could do the flight and hotel reservations myself and arrange a few tours in each city to save a few bucks and maybe stay in a better hotel.

What do you folks do? I'd welcome any recommendations on tour companies as well.

Though we haven't been to Vietnam yet, I've spent a good deal of time researching for a future trip and based on what I've read, it is no more difficult to go to Vietnam on your own than Thailand.

Hi Kim, you do seem to know your way around Thailand!

I'm looking at discoveryindochina and WaytoVietNam so far. How about you?

I read talesofasia and travelfish for general information, as well as just reading reports and using google. Search out hotels using google, recommendations and links.

We really enjoy Thailand, and will spend a bit of time there again next year after Cambodia.

I think it's not much harder to do VN on your own than Thailand. VN does not yet have the same level of tourism infrastructure as Thailand has, but you'll find it easy to find accommodatons that meet your needs. I would recommend doing your hotels and flights on your own, and I really didn't see a need to arrange city tours. The language won't be much of a barrier. We did hire a driver one day in Hanoi to go out to teh Perfume Pagoda and stop at teh Silk Village on the way back.

Let me recommend Hanoi as an attractive city with lots of opportunites to walk interesting and scenic streets and around lakes within the city, eat great food, shop, etc. Hanoi also has an amazing collecton of museums in the city.

Kim, travelfish looks pretty good.

Kathie, my LW's first priority is Hanoi, maybe three full days and two daytrips.

i have just a slightly different view...i think it is harder in general than in thailand, both in the city and more so in the country...

hanoi is not too bad, but outside we found it quite difficult...we did not go to any of the other major cities ...

we did ours on a sharred basis....i made all the arrangements for air and hotels and i used asian trails for some of the land and for halong bay...
we never would have seen some of the out of the way places had it not been for their assistance....

twice we hired taxis to drive us around for a few hours, once in hanoi and once in hyphong....both taxi drivers spoke no english at all...i had the hotel in each place write a list of the places we wanted to go and they explained it to the driver...both trips were fantastic after this assistance...

many shop keepers spoke some english...usually there was someone who spoke quite good english...

good luck

degas, we spent a week in Hanoi and did one day trip out of that week. I found plenty to do in Hanoi, and while there were places we didn't see that were "on our list" a week was fine. As Bob says, often taxi drivers don't speak much English, but I'm accustomed to asking the hotel to write things out for me (and I always take a hotel card with me). The doormen at our hotel were just great, and they always made sure the cab driver knew where we were going.

Actually one of the most interesting conversations I has was with an old VN man who spoke no English. We were both sitting on a bench in an out-of-the-way temple and he managed to convey to me that he had spent time in both Bejing and Moscow. It was a fascinating experience.

Since you previously booked your flights/hotels for Europe,
I think Vietnam will be a piece of cake for you to do the same.

Been to Vietnam twice, for month long visits.
We used Bangkok as the hub to get to Vietnam.
For flight arrangements we used VSP Travel in BKK
but they are now closed. Some other people have used
Eddie at Seatours in BKK for flight arrangements.

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For hotels in Vietnam, I either go through Vietnam Stay
Or Hotels-in-Vietnam or book directly with a hotel.
The websites also have tours available.
Check out the websites which I’m sure you already know about.

http://www.vietnamstay.com

http://www.hotels-in-vietnam.com

But if you just walk through the old quarter streets, there are tour agencies galore
and they will find you.

I booked a one day tour to Halong Bay through one of the agencies in the
Old Quarter. It was about $20 per person.

Three days Hanoi and two day trips is a quick trip.

Here’s an article “The best of Hanoi in Two Days”
http://aol.nationalgeographic.com/tr...117_hanoi.html

Here’s a 2003 article “Shop till you Drop – Hanoi, Vietnam”
http://www.thingsasian.com/goto_arti...icle.2510.html

Even if you think you might have paid too much for something,
It’s still inexpensive for things in Vietnam.

And the above posters all have good recommendations.

It's easy to travel independently in Viet Nam. We have done it twice. We stayed at the Classic 1 Hotel in the Old Quarter both times and loved it. Nice clean room with a/c, free internet and breakfast and a staff that can't do enough for you.

We took day trips to the Ceramic Village and the Silk Village and had a great time at both. The hotel can hire a driver for the day for about $20. They did speak a bit of english and were very attentive.

Little Ha Noi restaurant is just up the street and is an excellent choice for lunch or dinner. Highway 4 Bar is also a great spot for dinner and refreshments.

Just take off walking around the city and get lost. There is a comfortable feeling where ever you wander and always a cyclo driver willing to take you back to your hotel for a dollar.

We can't wait to return.

Thank you all for the great info, and encouragement. I like the idea of hiring a driver for the day.

Just a note about accommodations in Hanoi. We stayed at the DeSyloia and just loved it. It's a small boutique hotel and the staff is great. They were very helpful on anything we needed advice. We also arranged our car and driver for the day through the hotel.

By the way, I posted a long review of Hanoi restaurnts after I returned from Hanoi. If you do a search, you'll find it.

I willl add just a little about my own limited experience in Vietnam a few years ago. I traveled on my own and stayed with a relative in HCM so had no hotel arrangements to work out. But I agree that it is supremely easy to arrange everything else once you arrive. There are scads of local agencies that can arrange day trips and drivers for you on the spot. With only three days notice, I booked air and hotel to Siem Reap (out of Vietnam, I know). And this was in December, high season!

Kathie, thanks for the hotel and restaurant info.

Ekscrunchy, I'm thinking of doing Siem Reap as an add on to the Vietnam trip.

I don't think Vietnam is as easy to plan the trips through the country as Thailand is because of the infrastructure. The first time I visited I used IndoChina Travels which was booked for me by a couple (Vietnamese married to an American Vet who live in Olympia, WA.) before I left the states. I had a guide and driver which helped me to understand the country so much better. My guides in Saigon and Hanoi are still people I hear from who became my friends. My next trip they also helped. By the 3rd trip I was traveling on my own.
They also planned the trip for me in Cambodia before I went to Vietnam.
My favorite city is also Hanoi. I flew from Saigon to Danang and then to Hanoi on the first trip using Thai Air.
Second trip was Saigon, Dalat and Laos-Vientienne and Luang Prabang. Using Lao Air to get to Laos. By the 3rd trip I was traveling completely on my own being met and enjoying experiences with friends I met there.
Like Kathy I like the De Syloia in Hanoi and the Majestic in Saigon is my favorite.
I do think it has become easier to book on your own as my first trip was 5 years ago and the last one 3 years ago.
I have never used the trains in Vietnam so I cannot give any suggestions there.
What ever you decide I think you will find it a very enjoyable country with friendly people.

Glad I could help, Degas, even if in a limited way. I booked my hotel and flights to Siem Reap at a travel agency in HCM; I did not book any tours. After exiting customs at the airport in SR, I immediately was surrounded by cab drivers wanting to take me to my hotel. I choose one who seemed very nice and who also had an excellent command of English. I ended up using him for the entire 4 days of my stay in SR; the price was very low, as I recall. My point here is that I did all of this impromtu, even at the height of the season and it worked out supremely well. This was at the end of 2000, so perhaps things have changed since then in the sense that there are more tourists and therefore hotels and flights might be booked up longer in advance. Whatever you choose, I wish you a wonderful trip...I truly loved my brief time in VN and SR and hope to return soon....

We have done Vietnam twice.
Both times booked over the net and enjoyed very low cost holidays.
The first time booked and payed on arrival even flights thru www.vietnamstay.com

Second time used http://www.sinhcafevn.com/