We are planning a trip to Vietnam for spring 2025. We will have 20 nights on the ground, starting in mid-April and ending in mid-May. Our itinerary will have us traveling south to north, starting in Saigon and ending on Halong Bay. We've secured refundable hotel reservations in each of the places we're planning to visit, in some cases more than one option as we decide where we will ultimately stay.

As we continue to nail down our details, we have a couple of questions on which we hope Fodorites could provide feedback.

- Is there a tour operator you would recommend? Specifically, we are looking to hire drivers to take us from Danang to Hoi An, Hoi An to Hue, Hue to Phong Nha, and Phong Nha to Ninh Binh. I know we can arrange cars and drivers with the hotels we're staying at, but would like to know if there are operators you've used, liked, and would recommend? If helpful, our fuller itinerary is Saigon -> Danang -> Hoi An -> Hue -> Phong Nha -> Ninh Binh -> Hanoi -> Halong Bay. We left out Dalat, Buon Me Thout, Pleiku, and the northern highlands given lack of time.

- When it comes to overnight cruises on Halong Bay there are so many options. We're looking at 2-night options? What the pros and cons on the ones that advertise as Halong Bay, Lan Ha Bay, and Bai Tu Long Bay? If there would be one that would be less overrun with other tourists, we would prefer to go with that one.

Thanks, as always.

Bai Tu Long bay is less touristy than the other two.

We rarely use tour operators but did use https://ethnictravel.com.vn a couple of times for hiking trips to places like Pu Long, Mai Chau , Ba Be lakes etc. and found them to be very good. Efficient and fairly priced and rather than just offering standard tours, were very flexible and adapted to pretty much anything we wanted. We were in Hanoi for a couple of months and checked out a bunch of tour operators and they were our first choice.

If you have already booked hotels etc. then I am not sure how interested any tour operator would be in just providing transport in those locations and sourcing what you need direct with your accommodation may well be your best and cheapest option. We did a very similar trip a few years ago and basically used the train asa "hop on, hop off" from Hue all the way to Hanoi, sometimes overnight sometimes day trains. I would recommend doing one leg by train if only for the experience. For Phong Nha we stayed at https://phongnhafarmstay.com who arranged transport to and from the station at Dong Hoi. It was a very nice place to stay and they organised everything we needed in terms of cave and canoeing trips etc.

We went to Bai Tu Long Bay which is supposedly less visited than Ha long or Lan Ha bays but even so, it still seemed crowded. When anchored for night we were surrounded by quite a few other boats and when we arrived at the various stops it was still busy. If it is somewhere less visits that interests you, we preferred Pleiku and Buon Me Thout and especially te norther highland

For qu superior tour operator on Halong Bay, open
www.orientalbridgetravel.com
and click on all the "Oriental Bridge Travel cruises on Halong Bay" .
Of course, a private junk is the best, but it is expensive. If over your budget, open the link "Superior collective junks". The featured junks are perfect, the Cozy being the best-seller

You'll get lots of opinions about the trip to Halong/Bai Tu Long Bay. We quite enjoyed our overnight (1 night) on Bai Tu Long Bay....BUT, it was in 2011, so things may have changed. We were on a small four-cabin cruise operated by Indochina Junks. It was just the three of us (18 y/o daughter was with us on that trip), two French couples and an Australian mother/daughter. There were only a handful of IJ's boats right around us at night and it was very quiet. Our photos from that excursion are here if you want to see what it was like (note, though, that the photo site operator archives albums without notice, so the link might become inactive). Our visit was end of March/early April. It is a long drive out there. Our hotel in Hanoi arranged everything for us, although we selected the specific junk/cruise. We did it in the middle of a week-long stay in Hanoi and just kept our hotel room there, as it was relatively inexpensive.

As I mentioned on your India report, we are going back next month to visit (mostly) Saigon and Hue/Hoi An. I'm currently looking at possibilities for a full day drive from Hue to Hoi An (many of the operators I've looked at will do that either direction). We'll also need transport from Hoi An to the Danang airport, but I plan to have our hotel arrange that. I can report back here on that once we've traveled.

Thanks for your responses, everyone. I will look into your suggestions and come back to follow up if I have more questions from it.

Have an amazing time, ms_go. Will you be there during Tet? Would love to know if you ended up with someone you liked.

No, we are traveling for the couple of weeks right before Tet. That was intentional to avoid any issues with heavy domestic travel. Also, there are a few activities we've looked at are not operating that week.

for transfers I used this company
https://www.hanoitransferservice.com...i-an-hue-3524/

they were terrific. prompt. great prices and on time.

Like Crellston suggested above, Ethnic Travel were great to work with when we used them for Mai Chau valley and Ninh Binh area.
Most hotels seem to have a tour desk that will organise a car and driver fairly easily.
Our hotel in Hanoi organised our expedition to Ha Long Bay, but that was 2009 and I expect things have changed.
In 2016 we used the Green taxi to take us from Da Nang airport to the Marble Mountains and return to Da Nang, then train to Hue. We sat on the right side of train for spectacular coastal views! Your itinerary looks good.

Thanks millie2112 and sartoric. Much appreciated.

It si true, but, to visit it well, you need a 3-day cruise bcause it is north of Halong Bay.

For all information open the web site of the Halong specialist Oriental Bridge Travel and click on all tyhe links "Halong"
www.orientalbridgetravel.com

Thank you Larsay.

Hi, I recommend you check out our 3-week Vietnam trip with itineraries to help you Plan your Trip to Vietnam,
including info on the best things to do in Hanoi, our Hoi An, Da Nang, Hue, Sapa and Saigon trips, and our Ha Long Bay 2-day cruise. Moreover, the best transport options. I must say we enjoyed the overnight train from Hanoi to DaNang. Vietnam is excellent, and I'll be off to Vietnam again in March. Enjoy!