we have 10 days in October to see as much as possible of Vietnam, beginning in Hanoi.
We want to be in Luang Prabang for the full moon festival. Can we make airline flights the day before and does it cost considerably more or should we set an itinerary with flight reservations?
What is a good itinerary to see Hanoi, Halong Bay (or other beautiful aquatic adventure ) before travelling to Hoi An?
Because it is October, the weather will play a factor, that is why we havent confirmed anything yet.
What is the easiest way to fly to Luang Prabang?
Thanks for your help

dive...we went to halong bay a couple of years ago...we spent one full day which was quite adequate (i actually thought it was boring, but we are glad we did it)....we stayed at the harborside hotel in hyphong---its owned by the royal garden group that owns the bkk marriott by the way...it is small but nice...decent restaurant...we did not see any place on the bay where we wanted to stay so it was a good choice...

we flew from bkk to hanoi and back on air france, but i understand that they no longer do this...i booked it through a bkk travel agent and saved a pile...try [email protected] and see what eddie can do for you...

we had asiantrails.com from bkk plan almost the whole vietnam stay...they were very reasonable and gave us great service....we used one of their standard packages and then customized it ....

there is a pottery village just outside hanoi which is a must do...the old part of hanoi is worthy of at least one full days walking tour....very cheap purchases...my wife got wonderful tablecloths....lots of embroidered things as well...

we are going to LP in june for 4 nites and staying at the pansea...has a pool...we are going on bkk air...we use the special pass often spoken of here at $80 each way ...you have to buy 3 legs so we are doing one thai flight also....great savings...

thanks bob for the info...
does bangkok air fly into lp with the
discovery pass? we used the pass last year for 4 legs and it was wonderful.
can we fly thai or lao from hanoi to lp then use pass from lp to bkk or somewhere else in thailand?

if we wanted to go out into the bay at halong...what would you recommend???
did you take the train?
can we easily book flights from hanoi or should we prearrange our flights?
i am concerned about weather ....so we
want the flexiblity to go where the weather is better
thanks again

Bangkok Air does fly from BKK to LP and return. I'm not sure you can fly directly from Hanoi to LP, I think you have to go through Saigon.

how scary is it to fly laos airline???
should we avoid it whenever possible??
lao aviation has a hanoi to vientienne to lp...and a lp to chiang mai...

the other option would be for us to make our way to saigon for a nite, fly to lp from there...not entirely a bad option...

Last year (and will again this year) we used Lao Air to fly from Vientiane to LP - they were actually very good and not scary at all - I think their reputation should be upgraded at least on the busy routes - the very small planes (old chinese/russian ones) are still considered a bit of a risk but they only do the very small airports that the bigger planes can't get into or that they can't fill. Only problems we had was schedule changes that we couldn't find out about until we got to the airport - and so had to wait a couple of hours! At least they hadn't gone early which is also possible. The LP Vientiane flights also get full - a friend from Vientiane was going to follow us up to LP about 5 days later to have a day or so with us but just couldn't get a flight at all - and thats from a very frequent flyer with Lao and in low season - so maybe book your flights well ahead.

i always book in advance...can't imagine not doing it...i hate disapointments...

you need to have 3 trip legs to use the pass and yes you can fly to or from LP using the pass at $80 each way...

we took the russian speed boat from hyphong to halong bay...no trains...i did not even see trains...we had a driver from hanoi to hyphong who also took us to the boat nearby....

the easiest way to fly to lp that i know if is through bkk with bkk air...not sure if you can fly from VN???

hi we did hanoi to ho chi minh with [email protected] they arranged flights,visas, driver, guide the lot. can't speak highly enough of them. our tour was hanoi, halong bay, danang, hoi an, hue, mekong delta, cu chi (tunnels) tay ninh and ho chi minh. the total cost was very reasonable. less than staying in thailand etc.

having just returned (& used the Discovery Pass on all legs): there is one flight a day from BKK (departs at 1100) for LP and the 1 return is at 1:30. I've posted elsewhere, but every leg on the Discovery Pass was a pleasure and every piece of luggage made its destination. With the Discovery Pass, each leg has to have BKK on one end. You cannot fly directly between 2 countries. But, with perserverance it works and a plane was even held for us our first flight was delayed! good luck

if we buy the discovery pass again...can we leave our dates open? if we were planning bkk to hanoi
hanoi or saigon to luang prabang
luang prabang to bkk to chiang rai
is this possible?

does the discovery pass require the first leg to originate from bkk? we might have to reverse our itinerary to make this work

jimbo....how many days was your trip?
do you feel you can really experience vn
on a tour?? do the locals even interact
when groups decend on their towns/villages? i would love to hear more specifics of your trip
thanks in advance

The Discovery Pass requires that you have three legs on Bangkok Air. From what you've written, I only see one leg on Bangkok Air (LP-BKK). Bangkok Air doesn't fly to VN anymore I understand. So if I were you, I'd book the Bangkok Air leg well ahead of time. It's the only flight between Bangkok and LP. BKK - Hanoi is on Thai or VN, Saigon to LP is VN Air. Do I understand you correctly that you plan to include CR in your 10 days? or is that extra? Realize that in 10 days, even just for VN and LP, you won't see much. I'm assuming you want at least 3 days in LP, which means a week for VN. You'll get a quick sample. I'd chose one city (Hanoi) and take day trips, or make the week a journey from Hanoi to Saigon with stops on the way.

thanks kathie for the suggestions...
we have approx 24 days.. this is our tentative itinerary
honolulu to bkk...2 nites in bkk (we love the city)
bkk to hanoi....one week approx ( not sure on weather so we dont know if we should book our exit flight to luang prabang)

hanoi to luang prabang 3 nites

luang prabang to chiang mai ...up to a week to drive around..we used Poon for 4 days last trip

chiang mai or chiang rai to bkk to samui
for 3 nites

back to bkk to depart

we like to be flexible....but if we try to utilize a discovery pass do we have to set our flight schedules?
do we have to begin the discovery pass with a flight out of bkk?
we could always reverse our itinerary but because of the shopping and collecting of things, we liked the idea of thailand last.

what do you think????

Air France still does fly from Bangkok to Hanoi (we did it 2 weeks ago) but I don't know whether this applies to October or not. We spent 3 days in Hanoi and then took a flight to Luang Prabang via Vientiane. As far as I could make out, there are no direct flights to Luang Prabang from anywhere in Vietnam. I think you could also fly from Danang (if you went to Hoi An) or Saigon. The flight took about 3 hours with 2 1 hour legs and a 1 hour stopover in Vientiane. Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai was a very easy direct 1 hour flight with Thai airlines. I too was a bit concerned about the safety of Lao airlines but found no problems at all. The planes were modern and all the usual safety demos and checks were carried out, all the flights were exactly to schedule which was something I didn't expect. I would suggest reservations as our flights were both full.