12 days: Northern Vietnam & Laos?

Im joining this conversation quite late and pleny of great advice has been given already. There is no right or wrong, and I think you could ask 100 people what they would do with 11 days in Northern Vietnam and/or Laos and get 100 different answers ;-). At the end of the day, you know best what you like and what you feel most attracted to.

When I look at your first post, I notice that your boyfriend is interested at war memorials, beach and jungle. Your interests (culture and culinary delights can be met pretty much everywhere), but not your boyfriends. No time for beaches, no jungle, and unless you include a day tour to the DMZ from Hue, no war memorials either.

Keeping that in mind & mixed with my peronal interests, I would look at something like this:
- day 1: arrive in Hanoi, walk around the city, maybe visit a water-puppet show, have dinner in an open-air place with simple but tasty food and a mug of bia hoa
- days 2 & 3: either go on a cruise to the Halong Bay or a to Mai Chau. Myself, I would go for Mai Chau. The scenery is beautiful, you can stay in a homestay and eat tasty local food, go for walks in the rice-fields etc. Yes, its a touristy experience, but still very enjoyable.
- day 4: go on a one day tour to the dry Halong Bay (Ninh Binh area)
- day 5: spend the day in Hanoi, and take the night train to Hue
- day 6: take a boat trip on the Perfume River, visit some of the emperors tombs, the forbidden city and enjoy the great food
- day 7: take a day tour to the DMZ
- day 8: fly Hue - Hanoi - Luang Prabang

Spend at least two days in Luang Prabang (I wouldnt bother going there with less time). Fly out back home from Luang Prabang. And add your extra 1-2 days where you feel you most like to. For me, it would be Luang Prabang, which is really beautiful and one of my favourite places in Asia. Its a really lovely small town, surrounded by beautiful nature (great to discover on foot or by bicycle), there is the Mekong (take a boat trip to the Pak Ou caves for example), colorful markets, beautiful temples, great food etc. Also, if you dont only like to eat, but also like to cook, you could take a cooking class for a couple of hours.

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. I am getting a lot more clarity.

@nathalie2 I really like this itinerary that you have suggested! But deciding between Mai Chau and Halong Bay is going to be a really tough choice... Personally, I would probably choose Mai Chau as well, but the boyfriend will opt for Halong Bay. I also like that this itinerary includes an option to tour the DMZ for him. How similar is Halong Bay to the dry Ha Long Bay (Ninh Binh) - would it be worth seeing both given our time constraint?

It sounds like we have similar interests. You are really selling Luang Prabang to me! However, I am also dying to see Hoi An for the ancient architecture and culture, even though I have heard it is extremely crowded... (It sort of reminds me of the Asian Venice...)Would you suggest the itinerary above or the following, leaving out Laos so that we can do both Mai Chau and Halong Bay:

• day 1: arrive in Hanoi, walk around the city, maybe visit a water-puppet show, have dinner in an open-air place with simple but tasty food and a mug of bia hoa
• days 2 & 3: go on a cruise to the Halong Bay
• day 4: go on a one day tour to the dry Halong Bay (Ninh Binh area)
• day 5 & 6: go to Mai Chau
• day 7: spend the day in Hanoi, and take the night train to Hue
• day 8: take a boat trip on the Perfume River, visit some of the emperors tombs, the forbidden city and enjoy the great food
• day 9: take a day tour to the DMZ
• day 10: Hoi An
• day 11: Hoi An - Hanoi - departure back to USA

I also want to add that I spent 6 weeks in Thailand - Cambodia in 2014. The cooking class in Chiang Mai with Baan Thai Cooking School was one of the highlights of my travels. I definitely want to add a cooking class on this trip. Do you have any suggestions of where would be the best to take a cooking class in Vietnam (If we leave out Luang Prabang)?

I hope you don't mind I will be asking lots of questions.
Thanks in advance!

Hoi An has quite a few cookery classes. Green Bamboo gets good reviews.

@herbie47 Thank you. Any thoughts on Hoi An? Is 1-2 days enough?

1 day not enough, 2 days is ok. You can go to beach there as well. I would probably cut out Ninh Binh. Train to Hue will not arrive until about 9am, by time you go to Hotel it will be about 10am, think most tours of perfume river leave before that. Hue to Hoi An is about 4 hours by bus.

@herbie47 Ok, I think we may be able to fit 2 nights there. I just found out that the latern festival is on May 9, 2017. Would it be possible to do the following to the itinerary? Kind of making a loop rather than the typical linear itinerary...

May 1: Depart USA - Hanoi (possible layover in Signapore - haven't booked flights yet)
May 3: Arrive in Hanoi
May 4: Ha Long Bay
May 5: Ha Long Bay
May 6: Nihn Bing Province (day trip from Hanoi)
May 7/8: EMPTY (Maybe Mai Chau if there is room?)
May 9: Fly Hanoi - Da Nang 06:00-07:40, taxi/bus to Hoi An - Lantern festival
May 10: Hoi An
May 11: Hoi An - Hue (private driver to see sights along the way)
May 12: Hue
May 13: Hue-Hanoi (overnight train)
May 14: Departure to USA

Yes it's possible.You can catch the train from Ninh Binh to Hue. Lantern festival is in the evening.

I'm not a fan of Hoi An but its a place you really want to go to, your plan isn't too bad. And you mightnt be enough of a fan of Hue with its war remnants to add one of those extra days to Hue and do the DMZ trip.

@westwood what about Hoi An turns you off? Just curious because I have heard wonderful things... not many negative things. Since I know relatively nothing about Vietnam thus far, I am really open to ideas and suggestions. Thanks!!

Personally I think with your time budget you should travel throughout Vietnam only. You may follow your plan "Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Sapa/Mai Chau - Hanoi - Phong Nha - Hue - Hoi An - fly back out of Hanoi" with a small change: Hanoi (2days)- night bus/train to Sapa (2days) -> back to Hanoi by the early morning then take tour to Halong Bay (2days with 1 night on boat)- back to Hanoi in the afternoon then night train to Dong Hoi (3 days for Phong Nha) - train/ bus to Hue (1 -1.5days) - bus or train to Danang then taxi to Hoi An (2days for Hoi An) (if you take a train, you can travel over Hai Van pass to capture the view of Lang Co bay, great experience).--> fly back to Hanoi. This is quite rush but possible.

I love Laos so much but I think not enough time to add it if you really want to experience both nature and culture in Vietnam