Travel To Vietnam-Advice-Must See

[Steevo]

I am going to be traveling to Vietnam in the next month or so. Time is not a concern but aside from Lonely Planet, I would like to get an idea of 'MUST SEE' destinations. I enjoy trekking although not really into Mount Everest style difficult treks. I am the type of traveller that enjoys interacting with the people. Visiting areas that the normal 'Vacationing Westerner' doesnt normally visit. Would love info on the hill tribes, private river travel (not cruises unless it is small and intimate). Interacting with the different cultures.

Thanks in advance

Steevo

[craigt3365]

You could easily spend a month touring Vietnam, and still not see everything! I think LP is a great resource. Their guided walk in Hanoi is fantastic. Sapa is suppose to be very nice if you want to do some trekking.

[flash77]

I enjoyed all the popular places for 'vacationing westerners', i.e. Hanoi, Sapa and Halong Bay in the north, Hue and Hoi An in the centre and HCMC in the south. If you haven't been before, then selecting from them I think will give you a good, quick taste of Vietnam.

For something different, you can look into caves around Dong Hoi in the center of Thailand. There are some massive caves there, with tours that include trekking, swimming etc. We stayed at Phong Nha Farm Stay, which was great; there are few other places around to stay at as well, but the area is certainly not as touristy as most places. An accident meant we didn't do as much as planned over 4 nights, but a boat ride as well as walk into two of the caves was impressive. The farm stay website has a list of their trek options, which I guess are similar as to what is offered by other places.

[FarmerJoe]

I just got back from vacation there 6 days ago. Only stayed a week, but Deneng and Hoi An were laid back and fun and the tunnels at Chu Chi were interesting. We stayed a few days in Saigon which were awful. 10 million people living there and I'm sure others will back me up on this, that the constant horn honking gets annoying real fast. No one walks on the sidewalks as there really aren't any. Vietnamese food is no where close to Thai food in taste. Very bland, with lots of onions in almost every dish. My Thai wife hasn't eaten anything with onions since. The people were pleasant enough though, but the wife was going crazy with everyone wondering why she wouldn't talk back to them when they yammering on in Vietnamese to her. We will be back though as you really can't see an entire country in a week. Loved the beach's. Very clean. Also, visit the Crazy House in Dalat. Check it out on the internet. Very interesting.

[pomchop]

I enjoyed nha trang for the walking...great long promenade with enough shade and generally in good repair very wide sidewalks....there are lots of islands just off the coast there as well....hoi an is also must see though I prefer beach at nha trang over hoi an/danang....halong bay is good...cat ba island is an isolated and somewhat strange place....Hanoi old city is a good place for several days...

ride the train and get off in different places....easy country to figure out I thought....nice people...food very bland compare to thailand....good cheap beer available everywhere and some decent wines as well....some decent taxis around in various places and most seemed ok using meters especially once you get away from airport/train/bus stations....nha trang has great taxi service as well as public buses...very easy to get around...and of course most everywhere in Vietnam is a zillion motorbikes ...you will quickly learn the "cross the street slow shuffle"...just follow the locals leads and don't do anything unusual unless you'd like to visit the hospital....

some good info here as well

http://www.travelfish.org/country/vietnam

[craigt3365]

100% agree with what's been said above! I loved DaLat. Nice change of pace for a few days.

One thing I've read about that gets rave reviews is the motorcycle tours in the highlands. I'd love to do that some day. Did a 1 day tour in DaLat which was fun.

I quite liked HoiAn and liked the boat ride up the river in Hue, but didn't really like Hue. Didn't like Saigon at all either. Stayed in Hanoi old town and it was very interesting. But noisy! Some fun day trips out of Hanoi. The 3 day tour of the delta out of Saigon is something not to miss.

[songhklasid]

I been twice,Only in the north down to hoi-an, I beleive the northern vietnamese are the more genuine, less westernised , last trip i travelled to dien bien phu, where the vietnamese beat the french/americans back in 1955, & gained independence, it's not far from sapa, & bike touring is excellent the the northern mountain ranges, hoi-an is fun river village with good beaches not far, good seafood.

go, enjoy.

rgds S.S.

[Steevo]

I just got back from vacation there 6 days ago. Only stayed a week, but Deneng and Hoi An were laid back and fun and the tunnels at Chu Chi were interesting. We stayed a few days in Saigon which were awful. 10 million people living there and I'm sure others will back me up on this, that the constant horn honking gets annoying real fast. No one walks on the sidewalks as there really aren't any. Vietnamese food is no where close to Thai food in taste. Very bland, with lots of onions in almost every dish. My Thai wife hasn't eaten anything with onions since. The people were pleasant enough though, but the wife was going crazy with everyone wondering why she wouldn't talk back to them when they yammering on in Vietnamese to her. We will be back though as you really can't see an entire country in a week. Loved the beach's. Very clean. Also, visit the Crazy House in Dalat. Check it out on the internet. Very interesting.

Thanks for the advice,, particularly about the onions. I hate them in any form and have never been able to gag them down. Looks like I'll need to have a sign made.

[Steevo]

I am also interested in motorcycle travel. I've done it everytime I go to Bali and wouldnt mind seeing Vietnam the same way. Anyone have any experience in this area?

[dddave]

travelfish.org is another good resource for Vietnam travel advice as is the LP "Thorntree" forum. Trains are a great way to get from city to city in Vietnam, seat61.com is a very good worldwide train travel site with a very good Vietnam section.

We used Agoda.com to book rooms and never had a bad hotel. Read the reviews, toss out the gushers and nigglers and you usually get a clear picture. Really like the Paramount Hotel in Hanoi; tucked in an alley off an alley in the old quarter...very quiet but in the middle of things.

Hanoi is a great food city and there are many good international style restaurants to choose from. I didn't find Vietnamese food to be at all bland, quite the opposite really. Read up on Vietnamese food before you go, maybe watch an Anthony Bourdain "Vietnam" video on YouTube, then you'll know what to look for.

We took the single day boat trip to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi, our friends did the overnight trip, sleeping on the boat. They said it was uncomfortable, smelly and hot. The next morning they were hustled onto a bus for the return so no real advantage to the stayover.

HCMC has a lot of War museums and interesting markets. The traffic is astounding and if you think the motorcycles on the sidewalks in Bangkok are bad...wait till you walk in HCMC!!!

One of my favorite tours was by boat from HCMC to Cao Doc, all around the Mekong Delta..fascinating!

One interesting route into Vietnam is to fly into Phnom Penh, Cambodia, then by bus to Cao Doc and then boat to HCMC.

You can get your "VISA INVITATION" online. Search several pages in on Google and you will find it for 1/2 the price of the page one sites.

One final thing...make sure that your phone has a good calculator app...converting Vietnam Dong into $$ or Baht can be challenging. XE is a great currency converter ap, very easy and quick to use.

Edited September 28, 2014 by dddave

[puck2]

100% agree with what's been said above! I loved DaLat. Nice change of pace for a few days.

One thing I've read about that gets rave reviews is the motorcycle tours in the highlands. I'd love to do that some day. Did a 1 day tour in DaLat which was fun.

I quite liked HoiAn and liked the boat ride up the river in Hue, but didn't really like Hue. Didn't like Saigon at all either. Stayed in Hanoi old town and it was very interesting. But noisy! Some fun day trips out of Hanoi. The 3 day tour of the delta out of Saigon is something not to miss.

In Hanoi you shouldn't miss the water puppet theater, on the south of the Ho (lake) Hoan Qiem in the center, near to the old city..

For me Hue, the old Vietnamese capital, with the emperor's palace (citadel, forbidden city) was interesting. I guess your "boat ride" was on the way to the tombs of former emperors. Nice walking there.

Of course, old Hoi An is a must although stricken by tourism. To escape the tourism go the 6 (?) km to a white sandy beach, not overcrowded, at least in the late 90's.

If you are going from the North to the South - HCMC - and if you can spare some time go to Da Lat. It's not so hot and was/is the relaxing area for the former South-elite. Walk around the lake. See the summer palace of former emperor Bao Dai.

Coming from Natrang (round boats !) I stayed in the "Crazy House". You'll never forget it because of it's unique architecture, buildt by Madame Hang Nga. She is the daughter of Truong Chinh, the second president of Vietnam. Therefore she had some (unnormal) freedom for her architecture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%E1%BA%B1ng_Nga_Guesthouse

Only a few ideas.

Enjoy Vietnam and the pretty ladies in their ao dai (speak: ao sai)

[stoli]

I just got back from vacation there 6 days ago. Only stayed a week, but Deneng and Hoi An were laid back and fun and the tunnels at Chu Chi were interesting. We stayed a few days in Saigon which were awful. 10 million people living there and I'm sure others will back me up on this, that the constant horn honking gets annoying real fast. No one walks on the sidewalks as there really aren't any. Vietnamese food is no where close to Thai food in taste. Very bland, with lots of onions in almost every dish. My Thai wife hasn't eaten anything with onions since. The people were pleasant enough though, but the wife was going crazy with everyone wondering why she wouldn't talk back to them when they yammering on in Vietnamese to her. We will be back though as you really can't see an entire country in a week. Loved the beach's. Very clean. Also, visit the Crazy House in Dalat. Check it out on the internet. Very interesting.

I am lucky. The horn honking is just background to me, but I know many people that are driven crazy by it. It is non-stop, I agree. As for the sidewalks, you must have noticed that they do not allow street parking, so all bikes must park on the sidewalk unfortunately. I fell in love with the Vietnamese food, and enjoy it much more than Thai food. When the French colonized Vietnam they did teach them how to cook beautifully, but if you wanted food that tasted like Thai food, no, you will not find it there. I can't wait to go back.

[songhklasid]

My favourite hotel in hanoi is the TIRANT, tucked away in the old qtr, easy walk to the big lake,good hotel, good breakfast, really friendly, attentive staff, & a good tour desk, about $60 aus a nite.

cheers S.S.

[dddave]

+1 on Puck2's Water Puppet Theater suggestion in Hanoi.

Edited September 29, 2014 by dddave

[craigt3365]

+1 on Puck2's Water Puppet Theater suggestion in Hanoi.

+1 to his entire post. Spot on!

One area I missed is Sapa. Was there in January and the roads were closed due to snow. Coming from Thailand, all I had were shorts and t-shirts!

I'd love to go back and do some simple walks there.

[smokie36]

Some great clubs in Hanoi too.

Oh and Vietnamese food is superb....those who didn't like it surely didn't explore much or try the local markets.

Plenty great international food too especially in Saigon.

[Pikiss]

I just came back from my first trip ever to Vietnam, spending a few days in Hanoi. Overall I was pleasantly surprised of how tidy and green at least the city centre areas were, there were even sidewalks where you could actually walk. Also, the famous Huan Kiem Lake in the Old Quarter was surrounded by pedestrian walk and parks. Wonderful feeling just to sit in a bench in a tree shade and nobody harrassing you to buy something or charging for the use of that bench..

Although the OP isn't interested in modern sights I think it's worth to mention the just recently opened Lotte Department Store and Condominium Tower. The Sky Terrace is open to public (for a fee) and offers spectacular 360 degree views of Hanoi from the 65th floor. There is even a glass floor to stand on and stare at the city bustle underneath your shaky feet.