Hi
My partner and I are looking to spend 14 -15 days in Vietnam in September or October this year.
I LOVE independent travel, where as he wants to go on a tour (which I have been looking at…) The tours all seem relatively expensive for such a cheap country to travel in, and I cannot find one which does exactly what I’d like to.
My question is, is 15 days long enough to travel from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min without rushing it?
Don’t want to do internal flights – would prefer train or bus.
Also, would we spend lots of time trying to get transport tickets? Or are they quite easy to pick up from hotels we stay in or directly from the station?
Main points of interest (the usual route I believe)
Hanoi, Halong Bay (boat/kayaking tour) Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Min (tunnel tour), Mekong Delta
Would also like to do a bit of cycling out in the countryside at some point.
It would be terrible if I convinced him that we go independent, and then spend most of our precious time waiting to get transport tickets!
Any words of wisdom for going independent over touring with such short time?
Thanks
K
Hi There
Vietnam is SOOOO easy to travel independently through, I honestly think you would be wasting a huge amount of money going with a tour. Unless you are older, very fearful or have never travelled before I would not do a tour in Vietnam!
I think you have far too much in your itinerary for only two weeks, especially if you are not going to fly between cities. The trains and buses are very slow, you will lose alot of precious time either waiting for or sitting on a train or bus.
We did Hanoi - Halong Bay - Hue - Hoi An - HCMC in 18 days, we flew between cities and it was still very busy and we didn't get to really enjoy each place as much as we would have liked to.
We returned to Hanoi for two weeks just recently and did Ninh Binh / Cuc Phuong - still can't wait to go back as we missed so much!
For your Halong Bay tour I would definitely recommend Handspan not the cheapest but as a search on TT will show you, excellent service and highly regarded. For your Mekong Delta and Cu Chi tour go to the Original Sinhcafe 246-248 DeTham, Q1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 8367338 - 8376833, excellent tours and very cheap.
Good Luck :)
It's easy to travel in Vietnam. You only need to book tours for Ha Long bay and Mekong Delta. In Nha Trang, book a one day tour to the islands. Hue and Hoi An are easy to walk around the towns, same as Hanoi.
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<hr>Hue and Hoi An are easy to walk around the towns, same as Hanoi.<hr></blockquote>
Without the terrifying traffic!
Most hotels and agents can sort out train tickets for you, for a commission. Can be worth paying if you're in a hurry and don't want an extra trip down to the station.
Listen to SR on the timing of your trip - I think you'd need at LEAST three weeks to do everything you've planned - even then, it'd be a push. I thought three weeks was enough to see the north down to Hoi An - even then, I found myself regretting not having more than a two nights in Hue. But I'd say if you absolutely insist on seeing all the places you mention, then you probably should do the tour - you'd need someone to do all the logistics and to make sure you got up in time to move on to the next place - hurry, hurry, hurry, bus leaving in 15 minutes! I'm not sneering, it just doesn't sound like much fun ...
You probably want to book a tour for Halong Bay, for the rest of it probably not.
WeiLong - Travels in Asia
I think there are some good value organised tours around but for my liking they never seem to stay long enough in the places I'm most interested in seeing so I like independent travel. Vietnam is very easy to travel around. I think the itinerary you mention would be a bit rushed also. I spent 19 days going Hanoi, Hoi An and Saigon and travelled by air between these places, I spent alot of time in Hanoi, I just love that city. I booked my flights through small local travel agents and booked the day trips at the hotels I stayed at. Getting my travel organised was easy and not time consuming. Hope this helps.
Why don't you do an independent tour?
I had about 12 days in Vietnam and don't like organised tours but with limited time decided some organisation was best. I covered Sapa, Halong Bay, Hoi An, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Mekong in that time. Did fly internally though with pacific airlines.
There are loads of companies who will organise a set itinerary that you decide on - just email them when and where you want to go. They will organise travel, transfers etc but will leave you with the day to yourselves. Try exotissimo, handspan, buffalo tours etc.
I booked overnight trains and halong Bay tour with Vega travel and did biking in the mekong with Sinhbalo. I pre-booked hotels on line and saved heaps on advertised internet rates by asking for their 'promotional rates'.
Good luck.
My partner and I have just returned from 16 days in Vietnam and did that exact same itinerary (minus the Mekong Delta as you just won't have enought time) and it was so easy travelling independantly. We are relieved that we didn't do a tour. It is so easy to book everything from tours to transportation through your hotels. I think you'd have to pick from Halong Bay or the Mekong Delta for that amount of time. We picked Halong Bay due to the time of year we were travelling. We travelled only by bus and train as my partner is an uneasy flyer and did not want to fly internally. We did Hanoi 2 nights, Halong Bay one night, overnight sleeper to Hue 2 nights, bus to Hoi An 5 nights (very relaxing - stay at the Thanh Xuan Hotel aka Long Life hotel), train to Nha Trang 2 nights, and then 2 nights HCMC. You'll love it. Just take the LP and you'll be fine!
Well, I gave in to my other half.
We are off with Intrepid travel to Vietnam in September. It is totally against all my travel beliefs, but I have said I will give it a go (as I guess thats what being in a relationship is all about!!).
I am really looking forward to it, but will find it strange that there is no 'challenge' involved. (He even insisted on booking it through a travel agent AGGGH!!!)
Thanks for all your replies. It did help (I am just soft). If the trip is 'boring' for me, I will make him go to Peru independently with me next year : )
I'll post a note on the Vietnamese TT when I get back and let you know how it went.
K
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