When you explore Vietnam, you’ll be amazed at how modern, efficient, and beautiful the natural landscapes are. The outdated idea of developed/developing countries is completely wrong here. Vietnam is an extremely developed country, with good roads, public transport, sewage and waste disposal. When you arrange something in Vietnam, like a food tour or walking tour, it will happen on time and effectively. When you need to get from A to B, buses, trains, planes, and taxis are all affordable, on time, safe, and clean. Things work very well here! English is common enough that language wasn’t an issue.
All the people we spent time with in Vietnam were kind, friendly, hospitable, knowledgeable, and helpful. Our hosts were very competent and helped us with any questions we had or information we needed. To explore Vietnam is safe and convenient. You can order taxis with their version of Uber called Grab, a free app that works just like Uber. You can pick up a local SIM card in under 2 minutes at the airport (fastest time we had anywhere in the world). Things work.
Not sure how to start planning your trip? Check out my 3 week Vietnam itinerary here- all you have to do is click on the links and everything is planned for you!
Have more time and want to check out more of Southeast Asia? Find my 6 week Southeast Asia itinerary here!
Table of Contents
When to explore Vietnam
In general, the best time to explore Vietnam is October- December. However, it is tricky as Vietnam is a long country, and the rainy seasons are not the same across the whole country!
Hanoi and Halong Bay would be ideal in October- November, but get cooler and cloudier in later November and December. Of course, you can get lucky and have some blue skies and warmer weather anyway. For us, as soon as it turned December, it dropped 20 degrees and turned grey! But for us late November was still warm and sunny.
Central and Southern Vietnam, where Phong Nha Caves National Park is, has its rainiest months from July- November. Some of the caves won’t open until midway through November or even early December. We went in late November, when the caves were open but it was still rainy…which meant more leeches…
So ideally, you would start in Northern Vietnam in early November, and make your way slowly to central and southern Vietnam in late November/early December. But if you have just one or two weeks in Vietnam, then you might want to go in December for the whole country, and enjoy the atmospheric clouds in Halong Bay and have dry weather throughout the country.
How long do you need to visit Vietnam
To explore the whole country, you’ll need at least 2 weeks. If you have less time than that, you can see the highlights in one busy week in this article here. If you have time to explore other countries in Southeast Asia, read my article here about how to plan your trip.
What to book in advance
- Halong Bay tour
- Anything you’re doing during the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s, especially accommodation!
Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City
First of all, locals actually call it Saigon because that was its name before the Fall of Saigon. The Viet Cong renamed it Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Saigon is an enormous megacity of 10 million people with an intensity that you might not have experienced if you haven’t already been to Hanoi, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, or other megacities. It is not as chaotic or overwhelming as India, however, as there are no animals wandering the streets, there are traffic lights that are mostly obeyed, and people aren’t hassling you in any way (women, men, or children).
However, there are scooters everywhere, and the noise and pollution from them can be overwhelming. Using Grab to get from A to B (in a taxi, not a scooter!), can be a way to observe the traffic without feeling nervous about figuring out how to cross the street!
Why go: Some of the best and most powerful museums, a fantastic and educational food tour, endless amounts of incredible and affordable food, excellent manicures/pedicures/massages, and a look at Vietnam’s past and modern world.
Things to do:
- Saigon Street Eats: This was one of the best food tours I’ve ever been on, and I’ve been on dozens all over the world. We ate staples like banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches on baguettes), Vietnamese crepes, broken rice, a very unusual bean dessert drink, chicken noodle soup, and an enormous spread of bbq seafood- black pepper conch, snails with pork fat, mussels with lemongrass and chili, razor clams in tamarind sauce…so many different new flavors! The sauces were all delicious…
- War Remnants Museum: Fascinating look at the other side, where we read stories and saw photographs of atrocities committed by American soldiers against Vietnamese civilians, like Agent Orange poisoning and massacres- often reported on by American journalists and photographers. It’s not often that you get to see how the “other side” tells their own story.
- Independence Palace: Also called the Reunification Palace, this museum shows the South Vietnam and American headquarters before it fell to North Vietnam, and is another educational stop, especially for Americans.
- Cu Chi Tunnels: This is one example of the enormous network of underground tunnels that the Viet Cong had under Vietnam. I remember it vividly because you can go in the tunnels yourselves, and they are so tiny, claustrophobic, and uncomfortable. The idea that the Vietnamese fighters spent most of their time in there (with poisonous snakes, scorpions, rats, and malaria, among other dangers) was a visceral demonstration of how intensely the Vietnamese did not want Americans on their land. There are many day trips from Saigon every day, like this one that also takes you to the Mekong Delta (see below).
- Mekong Delta to Cambodia: The Mekong Delta is where the mighty river Mekong ends up, which winds its way from China through Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, ending at the southern Vietnam. If you’re traveling in southeast Asia, you will come across the Mekong again and again as a lifeline of many different communities. You’ll see floating markets and whole villages on the Mekong, schools, health clinics, noodles, fruits, and crocodiles for sale and everything in between. When we were there (November 2022), the floating markets had greatly decreased among the locals because of better road infrastructure- they were much smaller and less exciting to visit than when I was there in December 2017. Nevertheless, seeing how people do traditional crafts on the river is worth seeing, and the 3 day tour we did from Ho Chi Minh City ended in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, so it was a convenient way to get from southern Vietnam to Cambodia while learning along the way. You could also get a taste of the Mekong Delta in your Cu Chi Tunnels tour as a day trip from Ho Chi Minh City, if you have less time.
- Walking around, eating food, getting a massage and manicure/pedicure! If you’ve just arrived from Europe or North America, I’d recommend spending the first day just eating delicious food and doing easy, enjoyable pampering to get over your jet lag. I got a wonderful massage at Spa Gallery, and enjoyed a manicure/pedicure at the Privé Spa. We ate wonderful food at Hun Vegetarian cafe– everything we had was so delicious, I wish we had gone back several times to try the whole menu! We also ate excellent traditional food at Cuc Gach Quan.
Cat Tien National Park
Why go: See gibbons, langurs, macaques (all types of monkeys), huge variety of colorful birds and butterflies, crocodiles, and many other animals…if you’re very lucky, elephants, sun bears, and tigers are there too (we didn’t see any of those). If you love wild animals, especially monkeys, it’s worth going. If you have only one week in Vietnam, wildlife might not be your highest priority, but with two weeks in Vietnam (or more), I’d put it on the list.
What to do:
- The early morning gibbons walk was incredible, with the extremely loud call of the gibbons leading us off the path, following the guide to find the family of gibbons high up in the trees. We had to leave at 4:30am, and running through the forest at dawn is not easy, but it was wonderful to hear and see them.
- We also did a sunset boat cruise twice, as our guide was amazing at finding gorgeous birds and helping us get a good view of them.
- The night walk was only worth doing if you haven’t ever done one before, as you’re in a giant, loud van with dozens of other people so the noise will scare off most animals- only the deer stayed visible for us.
- When we were there, Crocodile Lake only had a couple of crocodiles visible by 10am, as it was too hot for them so they would stay underwater and cool- but if it’s cooler when you’re there, there can be up to 200 there!
- We stayed at Green Hope Lodge, which organized our transfer to and from HCMC promptly, with good communication and very affordable prices. They also arranged all of our tours (gibbons hike, boat cruise, night walk, crocodile lake hike). Communication was great, and everything worked smoothly.
Hoi An
Even if you only have one week in Vietnam, you’ll want to go to Hoi An- especially if you like food and/or clothes!
The old quarter is a UNESCO world heritage site because the whole area by the river was where Chinese and Japanese merchants traded for the last thousand years. The Japanese left in the 17th century and the French came, and the Chinese influence remained throughout.
There are Chinese assembly halls for each different Chinese province that lived here, Chinese temples, all sorts of Chinese lanterns, lacquerwork, inlaid pearl, wood carvings, different Japanese and Chinese architecture styles, and yellow paint over all the houses from the French. It’s a unique hodgepodge of different cultures, which makes for gorgeous unique houses and some delicious food!
Hoi An is also internationally famous for having the best tailors in the world. Show them a picture of any dress/suit/shoes/purse you’d dream of, and they can make a copy of it exactly how you want in 24 hours!
Why go: Eat a wide variety of delicious local specialities that reflect the Japanese, Chinese, and French influences, and have any article of clothing made exactly how you’d like! Walk around the unique and beautiful UNESCO pedestrian-only Old Town.
What to do:
- We stayed at a wonderful hotel, Flame Flowers Homestay, with a fantastic host, breakfast included, for $13 a night (2024 prices). It was a short walk away from the Old Town, and the host helped us arrange any logistics we needed. Every time we came back from a day exploring, our host had some delicious fresh fruit waiting for us. Highly recommend!
- Go on the Eat Hoi An food tour! It was a local who started the business 12 years ago and he is still the guide! He took us to 12 different places from 3pm-9pm, and almost all of them were tiny food stalls that zero Westerners were at. We tried all sorts of new foods…a sweet black sesame soup, many different noodle and dumpling dishes, rice cooked so deeply with chicken (and lard) each kernel was delicious, a wonderful fruit and coconut cream and ice dessert…and yes, some very new snails and shrimp paste dishes! Our favorite was the one place we did see other tourists- the storefront our guide’s teacher had opened up decades ago, where she used to let him eat at once a week whether or not he had enough money to come. Anthony Bourdain said it was the best banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) in the world. We agree! In fact, we went back two other times. Two perfect sandwiches, so flavorful and filling, for $2. A delicious and informative tour!
- Have a dress, shirt, pants, suit, purse, or anything else you can imagine made for you! I had my ideal travel dress made- lightweight, airy, folds up to nothing, covers my shoulders and knees, doesn’t wrinkle, and fits me perfectly! Victor had a suit made for him! My wallet was falling apart, so I also had a new one made with exactly the pockets and patterns I wanted. I had dresses and Victor’s suit made at Hoang Kim Fabric Shop– excellent quality work, super fast, and they arranged our bulky items to be shipped back to the U.S. affordably and quickly in the shop itself! The travel dress I kept with me of course! My purse was made at Friendly Shoe Store, where you could get shoes designed for you as well, also excellent quality and service. So much fun and such great products we love using!
- Hoi An Village Experience– we did this fun cycling tour that supports locals while teaching us about village life right outside of Hoi An. With easy, short bike rides, we saw how locals use water buffalo to plow their fields, made delicious rice pancakes and ate a homemade lunch with a village family, learn how to fish for crabs in traditional bamboo baskets, and try out other coconut products. While touristy, it was fun, engaging, and gave a peek at local life.
- Walk around- the main activity in Hoi An is just to wander in the streets, eat tasty food, and explore the Old Town. At night, lanterns light up the city with color, and boats with lanterns ask if you’d like a ride. There are dozens of UNESCO protected houses and temples you can walk into and learn about local life. When we were there, 1 $2.50 ticket got you entrance to all of them. During the day and at night, it’s a lovely pedestrian-only town to wander around!
Hue: The Imperial City
Hue was the capital when Vietnam was ruled by emperors, 1802-1945. They built enormous palaces along the river, and nowadays you can take pretty dragon boats from one palace to another. There are 145 buildings, though many of them were destroyed during the French and American wars. Restoration work is ongoing, and it’s a worthwhile stop if you have two weeks in Vietnam or more.
What to do: Take a dragon boat to different palaces and wander around the ruins! Eat local delicacies, and stay in a pleasant airbnb like where we went. Our host helped us arrange the dragon boat to the different water palaces, and also took us to a nearby village famous for making incense sticks.
Phong Nha Caves National Park
This national park has many of the world’s longest caves, several of which have only been discovered in the last few years. You can experience them in very different ways, from extreme adventure sports with abseiling and technical gear and rock climbing to leisurely boats and paved, well-lit boardwalks. It’s labeled itself “the adventure capital of Asia,” and all sorts of activities are possible from well-organized groups with high safety standards.
Why go: If you want to experience any of the longest and biggest caves in the world, this is the place to go. A UNESCO world heritage site for the collection of over 300 karst caves, you can explore them in all sorts of ways.
What to do:
- For adventure tours, I’d recommend the company we went with, Jungle Boss. We explored the 4th and 6th longest caves in the world, this 2 day, 1 night tour with no special skills required but we did have to be willing to do some climbing and abseiling. They have an excellent safety record, kept us feeling as safe as possible, and had a delicious Vietnamese feast for us inside the cave (and supply all the camping gear, which was all good quality). Note: It was hard! We had been hiking a lot beforehand, and this was a challenging hike at a strenuous pace!
- For a relaxing and beautiful experience, we went to Paradise Cave and Phong Nha Cave, two well-lit caves with easy boardwalks, one of which was only accessible via boat- a calm, very accessible experience that gave us far better views of the inside of the caves than we had when exploring the caves on the adventure tour with just our headlights!
- Stay at Tam’s Homestay, which took such good care of us before and after our muddy, exhausting adventure with Jungle Boss- helping us get all of our clothes clean and our relaxing day after organized! Delicious breakfast and very welcome hot showers!
Hanoi
Vietnam’s other megacity, Hanoi, like Ho Chi Minh, is overwhelming for many tourists with its endless scooters, noise, and pollution. With 8 million people and almost as many motorbikes, walking anywhere is challenging- navigating the food stalls and scooters is not relaxing even on the alleged sidewalks. However, unlike Ho Chi Minh, there is an Old Town, so you will see some beautiful old buildings, temples, atmospheric narrow alleyways, and a small lake with a picturesque temple.
What to do:
- See a water puppet show: This gorgeous art form was a major highlight for us in Hanoi. It’s a traditional Vietnamese art form that is also at least 1000 year old from the rice farmers who created wooden puppets to tell traditional stories in the flooded fields. Beautiful and unlike anything else in the world- and with so many gorgeous scenes we’ve seen around Vietnam, like the water buffalo, the fishing, the processions, etc. We couldn’t buy tickets online when we were there directly from the theater (seems true as of July 2024), so we went in person to buy them at the theater. It’s right across from the pretty temple on the water anyway, so just go during the day, buy your tickets for that evening, and enjoy the temple views.
- Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum: Fascinating look at how North Vietnam views their most famous leader.
- Hoa Lo Prison Relic: Known sarcastically by American prisoners of war as the “Hilton Hanoi,” this infamous prison is now a museum and still shows a very different perspective on how people were treated there than related by famous inmates like the late Senator John McCain.
- Vietnamese Ethnography Museum: Great overview of different cultural traditions across Vietnam, with examples of real houses, clothes, and other cultural markers with explanations.
- Temple of Literature: Quiet, peaceful grounds with beautiful buildings and landscaped gardens.
- Stay at Golden Sun Hotel– good location in Old Town, breakfast included, clean and quiet rooms.
- Get a massage at Omamori Spa– we went to the one in Old Town- great oasis! I also got a mani/pedi here at Pea Nail Salon.
Ninh Binh
Just a couple hours away from Hanoi, Ninh Binh is known as “Halong Bay on land” for its similar karst formations in the rice fields instead of in the bay. If you’re already going to Halong Bay and you have less than two weeks in Vietnam, then you probably don’t need to go unless you are overwhelmed by Hanoi and want a day outside the city instead of a 2nd day in Hanoi. If you have more than two weeks in Vietnam, then it’s a wonderful relaxing getaway.
What to do:
There are two main ways to experience Ninh Binh, about a two hour drive away:
- A day trip from Hanoi: This is a great option if you’re short on time, don’t want to rent a scooter (we didn’t want to!), and don’t want to spend all your time in Hanoi in Hanoi itself. We did this when I realized Hanoi was too overwhelming for us at that point in our travels. We got to hike up to a stunning lookout with a dragon temple on the top, see another mountain temple with lovely views, and got in a canoe around the karst formations. Lunch was arranged for us, and we arrived back in Hanoi for dinner. It was a lovely relaxing day in nature!
- Spend a night or two at Ninh Binh Family Homestay: Friends we met stayed here and strongly recommended it. They can arrange a pickup/dropoff for you from Hanoi, and you can rent bikes or scooters there to get to the mountain temples, viewpoints, and canoe rides. This would be a relaxing vacation from your vacation out in the rice fields.
Halong Bay
Halong Bay is perhaps the most iconic, stunning images you might have already seen of Vietnam. The incredible karst formations spread throughout the bay is just gorgeous, and the beautiful traditional boats you can spend the night on add to the scenery. There are over 2,000 tiny limestone islands, covered in vegetation.
What to do:
You’ll definitely want to spend a night on a boat in Halong Bay. Even if you only have one week in Vietnam, you absolutely want to spend a night here. If you have two weeks in Vietnam or more, then I’d highly recommend spending two nights here, which is what we did. That meant we had time to spend a day on Cat Ba, an island in Halong Bay. There, we hiked to the top of a mountaintop with stunning views, biked around the rice fields, as well as kayaking around the limestone islands.
The rooms on the boats are lovely and comfortable, with big windows where you can just lie in bed and watch the islands passing by. The food was tasty, and people were friendly. Most people stayed one night, which gives you all the beautiful views and the kayaking, but you’ll miss the hiking and biking. Whatever you have time for!
We went with Vega Travel, and we did the 2 night/3 day trip. The traditional 1 night/2 day trip is here. However much time you have, it will be a wonderful part of your trip! Enjoy!
Last Tips
When you explore Vietnam, you’ll be impressed by how well everything is organized, with efficient and well-developed tourist infrastructure, excellent food, and hospitable people. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh are enormous cities, with a million things to do and eat, lots of excitement, and potentially overwhelming. Hoi An has a charming, picturesque pedestrian-only Old Town, and incredible tailors. For nature, the national parks Phong Nha has adventurous caves and climbing opportunities, Cat Tien has wildlife, and Halong Bay has relaxing scenic views.
With two weeks in Vietnam, you can get a taste of the wonderful variety the country has to offer. With more time, you can slow down and get to know it better. If you have just one week in Vietnam, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Halong Bay, and maybe Hoi An can give you a quick look. However long you have to visit Vietnam, you’ll leave wanting more in this friendly, fascinating country!
Not sure how to start planning your trip? Check out my 3 week Vietnam itinerary here- all you have to do is click on the links and everything is planned for you!
Have more time and want to check out more of Southeast Asia? Find my 6 week Southeast Asia itinerary here!
Have fun!
