Vietnam is a beautiful country in South East Asia which has a rich history, distinct culture, cheap prices and friendly people. It is narrow and long and different regions have different weather patterns making it hard to time your visit as a tourist, especially if you are planning to cover all major places in a single itinerary. We felt December end was a good time as most of Vietnam would be dry and hoped that the weather doesn’t play too much of a spoil sport. On the hind sight, we felt it wasn’t as crowded for year end, as we had imagined.

Even though Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, it lags behind in size and development compared to Ho Chi Minh City in the south (which was previously called Saigon). Vietnam has had a difficult past having faced colonization (from French until 1954) and internal wars (between the socialistic North supported by China and Russia and Capitalistic South supported by USA). But they are not shy of showcasing or celebrating these difficult years and so, you will find a fair share of Museums and opportunities to listen to their history, while you are in Vietnam.

Best time to visit

Vietnam can be divided into 3 regions

Northern Vietnam
Popular places include Hanoi and Sa Pa valley. Drier season starts from November till April. Though, this is also when it gets significantly colder reaching single digit temperatures (in celcius) or maybe even lower, depending on how north you are.

Central Vietnam
Hoi An, Da Nang & Ba Na Hills are the most popular places in this region. Drier season starts from Jan and lasts till August. September to December are much wetter, although pretty pleasant in terms of temperature.

Southern Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh city comes in the South. The dry season is from November to April, but also the time when it gets a bit hot, reaching 30+ degree Celsius.

Considering all the above, best time to visit is probably around Feb to April. December can also work for the most part, but do except some showers in Hoi An region.

Itinerary

Day 1: Fly into Hanoi. Spend the rest of the day visiting the Train Street, Hoan Kiem lake, Temple of literature, St Joseph’s Cathedral etc. Stay in Hanoi.

Day 2: Day tour to Halong Bay exploring Sung Sot Cave, Luon Cave, and Ti Top Island. Stay in Hanoi.

Day 3. Day tour to Ninh Binh visiting Hoa Lu, Trang An (or Tam Coc) and Mua caves. Stay in Hanoi.

Day 4: Fly from Hanoi to Da Nang. Take a taxi to Hoi An. Take a boat ride in the evening and explore the Hoi An night market. Stay in Hoi An.

Day 5: Spend the entire day walking through the Hoi An old town visiting the Japanese bridge, Hoi An Museum, Chinese Assembly Halls. Stay in Hoi An.

Day 6: You can choose to take a day tour to either Hue/Coconut forest/Marble mountains/Da Nang or spend your day relaxing at the An Bang beach(this is what we did!). In the evening, you can go to the highly rated Hoi An Memories show(we had to skip this due to rain). Stay in Hoi An.

Day 7: Take a taxi to Ba Na hills. After checking into the hotel, explore the French village and the indoor Fantasy park. Stay in Ba Na hills.

Day 8: Head to the golden bridge on the first cable car (at 6.15 AM) from Ba Na. After checkout, head to Da Nang airport to fly to Ho Chi Minh City. Explore the Bui Vien walking street and night market (if you have time). Stay in Ho Chi Minh city.

Day 9: Day tour to Cu Chi tunnels and Mekong Delta. Stay in Ho Chi Minh city.

Day 10: Free day to explore Ho Chi Minh city. You can to go one of the many malls, do some street shopping, try some local food or get a massage.

Day 11: Fly back to India.

Flights

Vietjet offers direct flights from many of the Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Trichi to Vietnam. Pricing out a cheap ticket on Vietjet goes a long way in keeping the budget of the overall trip to minimal. Since we made our plans pretty late and it was December end, revenue tickets were expensive and so, we ended up booking award flights to and from Vietnam (Thai airways onwards and Singapore Airlines return). Indigo also has flights from Kolkata to Hanoi/Ho Chi but not as cheap as Vietjet.

Hotels

The real estate prices in Vietnam cities are apparently high. That’s why you see most of the hotels are more vertical than horizontal. The stays are fairly cheap and typical of a South East Asian country. These are the places where we stayed and approx. cost of each –

1. Hanoi Hotel Royal (Hanoi) – We paid around 10k INR for 3 nights. This is centrally located in the old town, fairly accessible to most attractions. Its also close to many Indian restaurants. (Recommended)
2. Karma Song Hoai (Hoi An) – We had access to this property from Karma Group as part of our investment in this group. It was an excellent property, fairly close to the old town and offers free shuttle to the old town. But you will find lots of hotels around the old town which are fairly affordable (like <5k INR per night).
3. Mercure French Village (Ba Na Hills) – If you are planning to stay overnight in Ba Na Hills to have a chance at getting good pics of the golden bridge without many people, this is your option. There is only one hotel up in the hills and costs around 12k INR for 1 night stay (which we paid through Accor points). (Recommended)
4. Novotel Living Saigon South (Ho Chi Minh City) – We booked this because we wanted something with a kitchen and had lots of Accor points lying around with us. The property was good, although a bit far from the old town. Taxi rides from here to city center used to cost us anywhere between 100k to 220k VND, depending on the surge pricing. We paid around 15k for 3 nights here. (Would recommend to stay in District 1 instead).

Visa

Vietnam offers e-visa for Indians, which typically takes about 2 to 3 business days to arrive in your email. There were rumors of visa waiver for Indians but that wasn’t implemented as of end of 2023. The e-visa costs 25$ per person and fairly easy to get on your own. Make sure to enter the port of entry correctly while applying for one. You can apply for the visa from here: https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en_US/web/guest/khai-thi-thuc-dien-tu/cap-thi-thuc-dien-tu
Make sure to take a print out of the e-visa before you leave for airport.

Currency

Their currency is Vietnamese Dong, one of the most undervalued currencies in the world. 1 Re roughly equals 340 VND (as of 2023 end). But most prices on the menu and shopping are quoted in 1000s of VND. They only have notes in circulation, no coins. It is still a fairly cash heavy country for transactions, and acceptance of credit cards is not much. Make sure to carry sufficient cash for your trip. As always, we took a mix of USD and Euros from India and exchanged for VND there at good rates. Unlike other South East Asian countries, currency exchanges are not as wide spread. Rates in airports are also fairly good, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to exchange sizable money in the airport itself when you land.
Pro Tip: Mental math -> 1000 VND = roughly 3.5 Rs

Booking Online vs Offline

We found this to be bit of a mixed bag. Some things are definitely cheaper if you book online through Klook (sim card pickup at airport, tour packages) and some aren’t (airport transfers – Grab is cheaper). Local sim cards are definitely cheaper than plans provided by some of the e-sim providers.

Renting bikes

You can rent a bike in Vietnam starting 100k VND per day. People have reported the need for IDP to rent one at official places, so make sure to take one with you. They also keep your passports until you return the bikes. We didn’t personally rent as travel within city was more comfortable through affordable taxi rides and some of the far off attractions such as Ha long bay etc., were too far to be able to be done comfortably on bikes.

Hanoi

Situated in the north, Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam and second largest city in the country. Airport is situated a bit far from the city. Weather was pretty cold when we went in late December. Just like any other city in Vietnam, there is an old town and new town (newer areas of the city). Staying in the old town is beneficial as it is walkable to most attractions. Also they do hotel pickup for tours if you stay in old town.

Top things to do in Hanoi

1. Train Street

One of those Instagram worthy streets where trains pass through the cafes at specific times. Trains appear way closer than you imagine. Owners of the café take the responsibility of making sure to keep their customers safe from the incoming train. Because it is so popular, it can also be a tourist trap as there are people who will lead you to their specific café and other actors supporting this act. We went in the evening and stayed long enough to see couple of trains pass by.

Tip: To get the best snaps without too many people in the frame, let one train go and wait. The crowd usually disperse immediately after the train leaves and you can then watch the next one pass by more peacefully. It is definitely one of the most unique things we have experienced anywhere in the world.

The two sections of Train Street, Le Duan and the Old Quarter, have different train timings.

TRAIN TIMES THROUGH THE OLD QUARTER SECTION:

• Monday-Friday: 7 PM, 7:45 PM, 8:30 PM, + 10 PM
• Saturday and Sunday: 9:15 AM, 11:20 AM, 3:20 PM, 5:30 PM, 6 PM, 7 PM, 7:45 PM, 8:30 PM, 9 PM, + 11 PM

TRAIN TIMES THROUGH LE DUAN SECTION:

• daily at 3:30 PM + 7:30 PM

2. Hoan Kiem Lake

This is one of the most popular places in Hanoi, with a historic temple inside the lake. There is a bridge that connects the temple to the mainland which gets light up during the night. Entry to the bridge costs 30k VND per person.

3. Night market

This is located very close to the Hoan Kiem Lake bridge and operates only during Saturdays and Sundays from 8 pm to 11 pm. It’s fairly small but offers good collection of sweaters and jackets.

Other things we didn’t visit (due to shortage of time), but you should consider –

4. Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre

This is a great attraction to visit, if you are travelling with kids. This is located very close to the bridge and the show lasts about 1 hour. The narration is in Vietnamese, but the songs are supposed to be enjoyable irrespective and you could follow the narration somewhat. Overall, rated well for the visual experience and artistry. Costs around 150k VND per person.

5. St. Joseph’s Cathedral

Just a few minutes walk from the Central lake, it is a quite fabulous and impressive building originally built by the French.

6. Phung Hung Street

A street in Hanoi filled with Murals from artists showcasing long-standing culture of the capital city.

7. Temple of literature

An old temple dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi. It has an imposing front gate, landscaped courtyards and various altars for photography.

8. Tran Quoc Pagoda

This is another Buddhist temple which is insta-worthy. Visit there in the late evening when the place gets lit up. This is a bit far from the old town, so make sure to allocate sufficient time if you are interested to visit this.

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is situated about 2 to 3 hours from Hanoi. The bay is pretty large covering thousands of islands and lime stone formations. Depending on how long you want to stay here, there are various tours offering day visits or 1 to 3 night stays on the luxury cruise boats to explore the regions islands. A lot of these islands have caves which can be explored as part of your tour itinerary. We opted for a single day tour from Hanoi and that covered Titop island, Sung Sot Cave and a kayaking experience. By the end of the day, they also put on a dance and sound show to entertain the guests. Overall, it was quite touristy but good experience never the less.
Link to the tour we booked on Klook: Ha Long Bay Premium Cruise

Ninh Binh

The Ninh Binh province is situated around 2 to 3 hours from Hanoi and is home to the ancient capital of Vietnam – the Hoa Lu. The tour starts with a visit to Dinh King temple in Hao Lu and lunch break after that. Later, we go on to explore the main attraction of the tour – the boat tour of around the picturesque limestone formations on land. There are 2 regions one can explore – Trang An and Tam Coc. We did the Trang An one, and the boat ride lasted for about 1.5 hours. You will come across many insta-worthy scenes such as 1 km long cave, the famous shot of Pagoda in the water etc. You also hop off the boat a few times to explore things on land such as temples. The last stop on the tour was the hike up the Mau Caves. Its a very steep hike of 500 steps and you can get the 360 degree views of the whole region from its top. Another reason to climb up the Mau caves is to get a chance to take a pic of one of the most famous shots from Vietnam – The Dragon on the mountain. The last bit of the climb to reach the dragon is quite slippery and narrow. Be very careful while you attempt to get this shot.
We booked this tour on Klook and would recommend for others – Ninh Binh Day tour

Hoi An

Once a trading port, this ancient city of Vietnam is one of those places with which you fall in love instantly. It has a very well preserved Old town cut through by canal and is situated about 45 mins away from the main city of Da Nang. It has so much history associated with it, that you could see it in its architecture which has a mix of Chinese, Japanese, French and Vietnamese influence. The old town of Hoi An comes alive in the night and transforms itself into something drastically different. So you do end up going back again and again to this thing of beauty. The 3 nights we spent in Hoi An were absolutely memorable and we felt we didn’t even explore half of what it has to offer (considering it rained for a day and a half). It’s a place people can keep coming back to (like Bali) and never feel tired of visiting same place again.

Top things to do in Hoi An

1. Evening boat ride through the Hoai river

This is the most famous thing to do in Hoi An. When the sun goes down, the Hoai river gets flooded with numerous small boats offering 20 mins ride over the river. During this time, you can also light lanterns and release on the river (they say making a wish while doing so, will get granted). It cost us 200k VND for the boat ride + 3 lanterns. You need to purchase the tickets at one of the many booths on the river edge and wait for your turn to hop on to the boat. Since its so popular, it can also be a tourist trap with people on the street enticing you to take you on one for cheap and leading you somewhere else. Make sure to say ‘NO’ to them and head directly to the river edge where they sell tickets.

2. Get lost in the old town

In the old town, you will find many insta-worthy old buildings and structures colored blue or yellow. The streets are lined with shops selling various things from Jackets to handicrafts and others. There is also the famous Japanese Bridge which was under renovation/restoration when we went. This needs a ticket for entry. Each street offers different experience and you can easily get lost in many of these taking up most of your time. It truly comes alive during the night when the streets get lit with lanterns, a great hub for street photography.

3. Visit the Night Market

Nguyen Hoang Night Market, situated in front of the iconic Japanese Bridge is relatively small, only stretching 300 to 500 meters long. But it boasts of shops selling items like footwear, lanterns, showpieces and souvenirs.

4. Hoi An Memories show

This is supposed to be the world’s largest outdoor performance featuring 500 performers in a unique fusion of music and dance celebrating history and culture of Hoi An and Vietnam. The tickets are sold as a combo ticket for show + a theme park. The show lasts for about 2 hours from 6.30 pm to 9 pm, but the theme park opens a bit early (like 5 pm). Unfortunately we could not experience this as it was raining for 2 of the 3 nights we were there. Avoid this if it is raining as its an outdoor spectacle and best experienced in good weather.

5. Visit a Massage parlor

Massages in Hoi An are cheap since there are multiple centers offering them. You can find massages starting as cheap as 50k VND.

6. Hit the beach

The An Bang beach in Hoi An is one of the better rated and well preserved beaches in Hoi An, about 5 kms from the Old Town. Since our daughter loves beaches, we gave it a visit and spent 3 hours there.

7. Get a suit or dress stitched in 2 hours

Vietnam is famous for quick and customized stitching of suits and dresses. Hoi An is the main hub of such activity. You will find lots of stores offering such tailoring services and one can chose from vast variety of materials to stitch your suit or dress from.

8. Coconut Forest Basket Boat Ride & Countryside Visit

You can spend half a day experiencing the boat ride at Bay Mau Coconut Forest near Cam Thanh village and explore the nearby vegetable farms and village culture.

9. Visit the Marble Mountains and Monkey Mountains

Marble mountain is a Buddhist pilgrimage site offering glimpses into origin and culture of Buddhism in Vietnam. You can also explore the mysterious Am Phu Cave, famously known as the Vietnamese Hell Cave. You can also find the tallest Buddha Statue in Vietnam here (Lady Buddha). Monkey mountain, as the name suggests, has lots of monkeys and best avoided for Indians 🙂

Ba Na Hills

Ba Na Hills was once a French hill station, now converted to a theme park. It is being run by Sun World company. The park on the top offers rides and carnival like atmosphere just like a Disneyland would. It also has a French themed village where the Mercure hotel is situated.

The most famous spot on top of the hills is the Golden bridge (the hand bridge). People (including us) stay there overnight just to get the shot of the bridge in peace early morning when the cable cars are not yet open for tourists from below. There are 4 cable cars running from bottom to top reaching different points on the hill top. The longest one is supposed to offer one of the longest cable car experience in the world at 20 mins to the top. If you are staying on top, leave your excess luggage at the bottom at the reception of Mercure where you check-in. Unfortunately, the day we went to Ba Na Hills, it was quite foggy with lots of rain in the air. We couldn’t experience the full glory of the theme park. If you are short on time in Vietnam, you can skip the visit to Ba Na Hills, especially if you remotely suspect bad weather conditions.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh is the largest city in Vietnam, was previously called Saigon. It is much more developed than the north in terms of infrastructure. Culturally, the city is not as significant as their northern or central counterparts. But it has had a difficult and interesting past due to the Vietnam war, which is what gets celebrated the most in the city.

Top things to do in HCMC

1. Cu Chi tunnels

These are the extensive network of tunnels used by Viet Cong forces against the US during the Vietnam war. It was of great significance in the war story as the Viet Cong had their bases established here, providing critical supply routes to their soldiers and military edge over the US. These tunnels have been preserved by the Vietnam government and turned into memorial park since then. People can visit these tunnels as part of a half day tour from the Ho Chi Minh city. Make sure to visit early (or book one that visits early) as the place gets crowded once the tour groups start coming in huge numbers and waiting times for tunnel excursion increases exponentially.

2. Mekong River delta tour

Mekong river is one of those legendary rivers that flows for very long distance covering 6 countries from China to Vietnam. This tour showcases life at different islands around the Mekong River delta closer to the Ho Chi Minh city. We cover 4 to 5 islands, and offers many attractions such as motor boat ride, sampan boat ride through the picturesque river canals, cycling around the island’s villages, a coconut village visit (Coconut used in different forms), Vietnamese folk songs and region specific instruments etc. Lunch will also be included in the tour and provided in one of those bigger villages. Overall, it can be a bit touristy, but good experience none the less.

We did this combination tour for small group covering both of the above excursions in a single day and would recommend this to others.

3. Ben Thanh Market

This is the central market in Ho Chi Minh selling goods like footwear, clothing, accessories etc. It is fairly small compared to markets in other South East Asian countries and have a mix of fixed priced and bargainable shops.

4. Bui Vien Walking Street

This is quite a happening place in Ho Chi, lots of lights and loud music. It offers multiple bars and restaurants, strip clubs and various other establishments that you can imagine. It is good for a leisurely stroll through the street.

5. Miniso and Minigood stores

These are the chain shops selling all the cute stuff one can buy. Even though Miniso is in India, the collection here is vastly different.

General observations about Vietnam

1. Roads are filled with bikes. Most times you find footpaths or sidewalks used to park bikes, there are that many. Too much chaos on the road because of that.
2. Prices of real estate apparently is pretty high. So most of the hotels you will see are built narrow and vertical, like match boxes.
3. Not many in Vietnam speak English. Make sure to have your Google Translate app handy.
4. It is very organized and welcoming of tourists. Tourism is a big thing in Vietnam
5. Streets are very colorful, filled with unique subjects/characters. Interesting props on sale etc. Great for Street photography.
6. Vietnamese cuisine is very bland and completely anti Indian in terms of spices usage. They eat almost all types of meat.
7. The country is surprisingly Vegan and Vegetarian friendly. Lost of restaurants serving separate menu for Vegetarian food, very aware and mindful of that set of people
8. Lots of Indian restaurants in cities. Seem to be popular with even non-Indians.
9. Lots of cafes/coffee shops in Vietnam. The ones in Hanoi were smaller in size compared to Ho Chi. If you are looking to try some Egg coffee, make sure to try in Hanoi as that is where it originated.
10. Walking street in Ho Chi Minh was a bit overwhelming. Strippers, gays and escorts lining up to be at your service; it was quite a sight.
11. Roads are very good for the most part, you will not find any speed breakers on the road. Although it is very chaotic with lots of 2 wheelers on the road and confusing traffic light system.

Top places for Vegetarian food

Hanoi

1. Bánh mì chay Vegan – Amazing selection of vegan Banh Mi’s and very reasonable prices as well.
2. Gujarat Indian Restaurant Ha noi – Fine dining restaurant with pure vegetarian Indian food.
3. Veggie Castle – A vegetarian buffet restaurant at just 90k VBD person.
4. Ưu Đàm Chay – an upscale vegan/vegetarian restaurant
5. MẸT Vietnamese restaurant & Vegetarian Food – This is a chain with multiple outlets in the Old Quarter. Has a variety of vegan/vegetarian dishes on the menu.
6. Cafe Giang – first cafe in Hanoi to serve original egg coffee.
7. Cafe Lam – serves the authentic condensed milk coffee and really good Egg Coffee as well.

Hoi An

1. An Hy Vegetarian – We had the best Pho in all of Vietnam here. Very reasonably priced as well.
2. LÉ HÔI BÁNH MÌ CHAY – A little stall serving delicious Vegan Banh Mi.
3. Am Vegetarian & Hideaway – has the most delicious fresh spring rolls.
4. Ganesh Indian Restaurant – Great Indian food.
5. Maazi Hoi An- cute little restaurant right in the centre of the Old town with yummy Indian food.
6. Tam Quang Minh restaurant – small street food restaurant that offers simple but delicious dishes. Has vegan/vegetarian versions for most Vietnamese dishes.
7. Little HaNoi Egg Coffee – Amazing Egg coffee and other Vietnamese coffee as well

Ho Chi Minh City

1. BENARAS Indian Bistro – absolutely fantastic Indian food.
2. Little HaNoi Egg Coffee – Best egg coffee we had in Vietnam. Must try!
3. Shamballa Vegetarian Restaurant – delicious Vegan/Vegetarian versions of Vietnamese delicacies.

Top things to shop in Vietnam

1. Lanterns at Hoi An
   • You will find lots of colorful lanterns for sale in Hoi An. We paid 80k VND for a lantern which was about 1.5 ft tall.
2. Jackets and Sweaters in Hanoi
   • You will find lots of stores selling fake “North face” jackets everywhere in Vietnam. Prices differ between cities, starting from 200k VND. We found prices to be cheaper in Hanoi. We bought a good set of sweaters from Night market in Hanoi (starting at 100k VND). We couldn’t find sweaters anywhere else on the whole trip.
3. Fake and Real Crocs/footwear
   • Crocs or similarly designed footwear are very prevalent in Vietnam. Prices start from 120k (for kids) and typically have to shell out around 300k for high quality ones for adults.
4. Hair clips and accessories
   • We found stores selling these in the Ben Thanh market in Ho Chi Minh. You will also find some better quality ones (and higher priced as well) in chains like Minigood and Miniso.
5. Egg shell art/paintings
   • We stopped at a govt factory making Egg Shell art on the way to Cu Chi tunnels. These are very unique and can be considered for purchase.
6. Silk thread paintings
   • Another unique piece of artwork from Vietnam are the silk thread paintings. These look very rich on your wall, albeit pricey. The bigger sized ones can only be found in the large store where the tour buses stop on the way to Ninh Binh.

Parting Thoughts

Vietnam turned out to be a much better experience than we had imagined, went straight to the top of the list on our preferred South East Asian destination. Streets are colorful and vibrant, people are welcoming and respectful of Indians, prices are cheap, stays are varied from low budget to ultra luxury, good availability of Indian (and vegetarian) food, lots of things to see and do, all made up for an excellent year end vacation. We will definitely go back again to Vietnam, something we don’t say that lightly to any country.