Saigon / Hanoi for short trip?

[seesip]

Considering a long weekend and these are two options. Never been to Saigon and last time I was in Hanoi was 15 years ago. Any suggestions for either place? Traveling with kids.

[watcharacters]

Hanoi is delightful, interesting and beautiful.

We found the local population friendly and helpful.

[dru2]

Hanoi for sure, though Saigon has improved markedly in the last decade. I'd rather live in either than in Bangkok!

[CBR250]

Hanoi for sure, though Saigon has improved markedly in the last decade. I'd rather live in either than in Bangkok!

I have been to neither, but some friends have said that Hanoi is more crowded than Saigon - and that Saigon offers easier access to stunning countryside. I'd appreciate your thoughts - and it sounds like you have spent some time in Vietnam - what would be your top recommendations for places other than the 2 big cities?

[mamborobert]

May sound a bit clichéd but I loved going to Halong Bay. While a lot of people focus on the bay itself which is not overly touristy it is still nothing short of spectacular, the surrounding countryside itself is quite stunning. I was not that keen on some of the big junks and some of the cruise ships but the smaller ones give you a lot more freedom to move about. I was with a group of friends two years ago and had a great time on this one:

http://www.halongbay-vietnam.com/lagoon_junk_cruise_1.htm

And now after recalling it its sorta jumped up again as a nice option for my next holiday.

[dru2]

Hanoi for sure, though Saigon has improved markedly in the last decade. I'd rather live in either than in Bangkok!

I have been to neither, but some friends have said that Hanoi is more crowded than Saigon - and that Saigon offers easier access to stunning countryside. I'd appreciate your thoughts - and it sounds like you have spent some time in Vietnam - what would be your top recommendations for places other than the 2 big cities?

That's a big question...

I have visited Vietnam at least annually for the last 18 years, sometimes three times a year, work and pleasure.

Hanoi is the oldest, most cultured and most attractive capital city in SE Asia. Saigon is much, much newer, but offers fine dining and shopping. The countryside is at its most attractive NW of Hanoi.

In the North: Sapa for Hill people and mountain scenery, also Bac Ha. Ha Giang for mountain roads. Halong Bay for a northern equivalent of Phang Nga. All around Ninh Binh for Karst scenery and ancient temples.

In the Centre: Hue for its citadels, Forbidden City and royal tombs. Da Nang for the Cham Museum, especially Hoi An for period charm and very limited traffic.

In the South: Nha Trang and Mui Ne for beaches, Dalat as a rather kitsch hill resort, Tay Ninh for the amazing Cao Dai 'Holy See'. Personally, I'm not so fond of the Mekong Delta, but many like it for boat trips, lush orchards and its peaceful mien.

The Con Dao Islands off the south coast are remote, beautiful and unspoiled.

It's a very long - if narrow - country and takes time to travel around. The Hai Van ('Sea and Clouds') Pass between Hue and Da Nang marks a natural division between north and south and caused Paul Theroux to write about its ethereal beauty. On a more mundane note, as you cross the pass female salespeople on the southern side have been know to call out "Handsome Man". That's not at all usual in the north.

To appreciate Vietnam even a little bit, you need to make three trips - North, Central and South - but best to start in the cultural and political capital Hanoi. (Chilly in winter).

[sfokevin]

Are there direct flights from CMX to Hanoi or Saigon?...

[orchidlady]

Saigon has a lot more motorcycles than Hanoi (which has a lot more than Bangkok). To get across a street in the large cities you have to be brave and just start walking-they will look out for you (they will treat it as a dance or work their motorcycle around you). I was taught this on my first visit 6 years ago from a Vietnamese person who was laughing at me waiting for traffic to clear for over 15 minutes. It is easier in Hanoi than Saigon. If you have young children they might be frightened and you might have a lot of anxiety in this situation. That said, I much prefer Hanoi and go ever 6 months or so. Be sure to go to the water puppet show. Your kids will love it. I still enjoy seeing it after having watched 10 times.

If you plan to travel outside of Hanoi or Saigon, check the weather forecasts and past reports for the time you expect to go. The central part-Hue and Hoi An have terrible floods. First time I was planning to go to Hoi An, even the airport in Hue was flooded so I ended up going to Halong Bay. Dilat is another nice place in the south(north of Saigon).

Outside of Hanoi (2.5 hours south) is Nihn Bihn. Many day trips from Hanoi to there. Can't tell you much as I'm going the first time over the Queen's birthday next month

Edited July 26, 2014 by orchidlady

[FarmerJoe]

I just bought a pair of tickets for the wife and I to fly to Saigon. Couldn't go from C.M. direct. We have to go through BKK first. Cheap tix right now on Air Asia. 8,400 Baht for the both of us with extra baggage allowance. For kids, check out

Binh Quoi Village (Weekend Buffet)

Suoi Tien Theme Park

Crazy House/Truc Lam cable car in Da Lat

Dan Sen Water Park/Amusement Park (Closed Tuesday) Open 9-6

CGV Cinemas

Paintball Saigon

[stoli]

You will enjoy either city. Hanoi is wonderful for it's closeness to Halong Bay, but you will not go there if this is just a weekend trip with kids. Too long a bus ride there and back, and they may get restless, although you did not mention their age. The bus driver's will scare the heck out of you. Saigon I think would be best for kids, because they have so many beautiful parks everywhere, and a very nice zoo. I think the zoo costs 45 cents in USD. A day trip through the Mekong delta by boat is wonderful, and very inexpensive. Available at the many tourist offices around. About $10 USD, per person, lunch included, for this all day tour.

You must learn how to cross a street in Vietnam first. Just start crossing, because the traffic never disappears. Once you start across the street, just keeping going, without stopping. The drivers will judge where you are going to be when they get to you, and will go around you. This is true in both the north and south. Have fun. Vietnam is a great place, and unlike Pattaya, the tourists have not yet found it.

[LawrenceChee]

Hanoi gets the vote there are a lot if good eating places there and in Hanoi you have the cultural sights to enjoy

The city is old historic and the walk around the parks at night magical

Sent from my iPod touch using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[CBR250]

Just want to thank those so far - and maybe even others to come - for sharing their experiences and suggestions. Very generous and courteous of you.

[sharktooth]

The War Museum in Hi Chi Minh is well worth a visit.

[MMan]

The above comments by dru2 are good advice. Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam are almost like 3 different countries. 4 decades after the war, I sill hear people in the south say they don't even like the people from the north (and I expect many in the north feel the same about them).

The War Museum in HCMC is very interesting for anyone who grew up during that era, especially if you are American. Of course it tells the story from the communist government's point of view, highlighting the damage done to the country by the Americans. It can be rather eerie and some of the pics and exhibits are on the gruesome side, so I'd think twice before taking children. If you are with a Vietnamese tour guide, the guide will usually wait outside in the courtyard where the helicopters, artillery and other things left behind by the US are, while you go in the main building that has the pics and exhibits - as some tourists become emotional. Most of the people in Vietnam today were born after the war, so to them the war is ancient history, and they will tell you they 'look to the future, not the past'.

[CBR250]

The Vietnamese must be a pretty forgiving lot. The war has been over for about 40 years, but the US-inspired embargo that isolated them from the world and caused substantial poverty only finished a few years ago. Yet reports suggest that there seems to be no malice toward us falangs at all.

[dru2]

The Vietnamese must be a pretty forgiving lot. The war has been over for about 40 years, but the US-inspired embargo that isolated them from the world and caused substantial poverty only finished a few years ago. Yet reports suggest that there seems to be no malice toward us falangs at all.

No malice at all, even to US nationals. They didn't much like the Russians - 'GIs without deoderant' - but the historic and continuing foe is China.

When I first visited Saigon in the mid-1990s the people were indeed poor - malnourished, with grey teeth. Thankfully that is no longer the case anywhere in Vietnam - the poorest people are probably remote Hmong communities in the far northwest.

Imagine where this industrious, thoroughly decent people would have been if they hadn't had to fight three Indochina Wars - against the French (1946-1954), the Americans (c. 1960-1975) and the Khmer Rouge/Chinese (1979-1988).

[sharktooth]

The above comments by dru2 are good advice. Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam are almost like 3 different countries. 4 decades after the war, I sill hear people in the south say they don't even like the people from the north (and I expect many in the north feel the same about them).

The War Museum in HCMC is very interesting for anyone who grew up during that era, especially if you are American. Of course it tells the story from the communist government's point of view, highlighting the damage done to the country by the Americans. It can be rather eerie and some of the pics and exhibits are on the gruesome side, so I'd think twice before taking children. If you are with a Vietnamese tour guide, the guide will usually wait outside in the courtyard where the helicopters, artillery and other things left behind by the US are, while you go in the main building that has the pics and exhibits - as some tourists become emotional. Most of the people in Vietnam today were born after the war, so to them the war is ancient history, and they will tell you they 'look to the future, not the past'.

Eerie and gruesome??? Errrrrm, it's a war museum not Disneyland.

[dru2]

The above comments by dru2 are good advice. Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam are almost like 3 different countries. 4 decades after the war, I sill hear people in the south say they don't even like the people from the north (and I expect many in the north feel the same about them).

The War Museum in HCMC is very interesting for anyone who grew up during that era, especially if you are American. Of course it tells the story from the communist government's point of view, highlighting the damage done to the country by the Americans. It can be rather eerie and some of the pics and exhibits are on the gruesome side, so I'd think twice before taking children. If you are with a Vietnamese tour guide, the guide will usually wait outside in the courtyard where the helicopters, artillery and other things left behind by the US are, while you go in the main building that has the pics and exhibits - as some tourists become emotional. Most of the people in Vietnam today were born after the war, so to them the war is ancient history, and they will tell you they 'look to the future, not the past'.

Eerie and gruesome??? Errrrrm, it's a war museum not Disneyland.

MMan is right.

The Army Museum in Hanoi is a war museum. The Saigon one is a museum of war crimes. It's certainly not suitable for young children, and some exhibits upset me so much That I won't be returning. Deformed babies in jars, pictures of the terrible results of agent orange...

[elektrified]

Thanks for wealth of good information in this thread. I too, would like to visit Vietnam in the not too distant future.

I would like to see the Vietnam war museum(s) as I'm a big history buff. I have in the past visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem and the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica Slovakia; 2 museums that forever left an impact on me about what happens during war.

[Lucifer]

...don't forget the visa's.

[davehowden]

Been to Vietnam a few times.

Depending on your interests you might also like to visit Dien Bien Phu (fly from Hanoi), the Maison Central (aka Hanoi Hilton) and the Alexandre Yersin Museum in Nha Trang.

The train ride from Saigon to Hanoi is also a great experience.

Enjoy.