Carolinpanama

We are traveling to Vietnam in March/April 2015, and this is our proposed itinery:
Arriving in Saigon.
4 nights at a low key beach to recover from the 36 hour trip........ Any suggestions as to where?
4 nights Saigon, day tours, tunnels, Mekong Delta (Mango day cruise?)
6 nights Hoi An, day tours, street food tours and cooking classes (Taste of Hoi An, Coconut tours, Green Bamboo cooking school, Red Bridge cooking school ?). Possibly the Cham Islands?
7 nights Hanoi, day tours, Halong Bay or Bai Tu Long Bay? Dragon Pearl, Dragon Legend, Singnature or Starlight cruise? 1 or 2 nights?

We are not going north to Sapa.
We would like to include the caves and caverns in the Phong Nha/Dong Hoi area if feasible.
We are a retired couple in our early 60's and require moderate comfort.
Any suggestions and recommendations are appreciated.
Thanks!

kimanhoianhotel

Hi Carol,

If you would like to relax and have comfortable trip, I think your plan is quite good.
Just something to add:
For the 1st 4 night to recover, you can choose Phu Quoc to enjoy the beach.
During 6 nights in Hoi An, you can add Hue to your favorite places. It's about 130km from Hoi An, so you can book a day tour with a private car and driver.
Wish you have good trip.

thursdaysd

Are you shoppers? Because if not, I would not recommend anything like as long in Hoi An. Consider Hue instead.

I found the delta boring, and did not go down the tunnels (no other reason to visit them) as I have a touch of claustrophobia.

You need at least one night on a boat to make the trek to Halong Bay worthwhile, unless you're planning to kayak not sure you need two.

crellston

Phu Quoc or Mui me are our closest beach resorts to HCMC. Phu Quoc is probably the nicer choice but both will add considerably to your alreadlong journey. Why not just find a good hotel in Saigon with a pool to relax on your arrival and leave the beach until later.

I enjoyed the delta and will return there next month en route to Phnom Penh but would suggest an overnight to a homestay like http://www.nguyenshackhomestay.com to really explore rather than just take a day trip which will not be that impressive.

I agree with Thursdaysd's comments re Hoi an and Hue although your main focus seems to be cooking? In which case you may already have that planned out. Otherwise a couple of days in Hoi an would be enough unless you wanted to spend your beach time there ( although the beaches are not as good as PQ)
iI am in Hanoi at the moment and love the city.it needs 3-4 days to explore. The remainder of your time could be used in other trips such as Halong Bay - I would go for Bai tu Long as it is quieter with far fewer boats. It is a 4 hour trip each way so one preferably two nights are needed. As an alternative, or in addition, consider Ninh Binh. Three hour from Ha noi but you couldn't spend a couple of days there.

thursdaysd

Hi crellston, hope the trip is going well. Don't see a TR - are you blogging, and if so, where?

crellston

Hi Thursdaysd, the trip is going great thanks. I will be blogging but am In the process of setting up a new blog via wordpress. Travelpod is getting a bit old and tired now. Not sure about a TR as we are travelling for avery long time - may just post a report here and there when we find something new.

Have been following along on your around Europe - sound like you are having a great time - I didn't know some of these places existied even though my home base is in Europe!