12 days: Northern Vietnam & Laos?

Hi travelers!

I know there is probably a million different posts that are similar to mine, but after having done quite some research, and being relatively unfamiliar with Vietnam, I would like your input...! :)

My boyfriend and I only have 12 days to spare (next spring) but we are determined to do Northern Vietnam & Laos. Understandably, this will be a somewhat rushed itinerary but we are always up for an adventure! We are departing from the USA, therefore Day 2 will be our arrival in Hanoi. Ideally we would like to spend 7 days in Northern Vietnam (incl. Halong Bay and Sa pa/Mai Chau - which to do?) and then take a flight to Laos to explore the last 5 days around Luang Prabang & Vang Vieng. Does anyone have any ideas for an itinerary?

Some more about what we are looking to do: He is interested in learning about the war memorials. He likes jungle and beach, whereas I am more interested in the cultural and culinary experience. I also really enjoy the backpacker vibe, which I am expecting to see in Laos.

Thanks in advance & happy traveling!

12 days is not really enough time.

You know about the new visa cost for Vietnam?

The north will still be a bit cool so maybe not good for beach. War memorials probably more in the centre around Hue. Jungle you will see some in Laos.

After Vang Vieng where are you going?

Yes - luckily I am exempt from the visa cost as I am Canadian and EU citizen, but my boyfriend will have to pay the visa fees.

Given the time of the year, what's the weather like in Ha Long Bay around May?

After Vang Vieng we would fly back to US. Sadly, because of both our work schedules we have limited time to travel but don't want to miss out on traveling to these types of destinations. I realize we will be missing a lot of great stuff, therefore I want to try and put together an itinerary that makes the most sense.

I think it will help if you state how many days you have available, once you take out your travel time to and from your own country, and also where your main international flights will arrive and depart from.

Dale164, we have not yet booked our flights. But we should have 11 full days, given that we will arrive on Day 2 and depart on Day 12. Another option I have considered is just taking Laos out of the itinerary and focusing only on VN. (Ninh Binh province and Phong Nha are places we would also love to explore) In this case we would likely start in the north in Hanoi and fly out of HCM.

Dale164, we have not yet booked our flights. But we should have 11 full days, given that we will arrive on Day 2 and depart on Day 12. Another option I have considered is just taking Laos out of the itinerary and focusing only on VN. (Ninh Binh province and Phong Nha are places we would also love to explore) In this case we would likely start in the north in Hanoi and fly out of HCM.

With only 11 days, your trip would be rushed whether you spend the whole time in Vietnam, or include Laos. If Laos, you should plan on flying out of Luang Prabang at the end, and not including Vang Vieng. There is plenty to explore in north Laos; a visit to Nong Khiaw and maybe to Muang Nguy would take less time and be more culturally interesting than Vang Viang.

Or if Vietnam, you shouldn't try to go all the way to HCMC in 11-12 days. You'd go south by bus or train to Hue and Hoi An in central Vietnam, and then fly back from Da Nang airport to Hanoi for your flight back home. The region around Hue is particularly good for "war monuments".

@mstep thank you for the excellent advice. I am honestly not really interested in going South. I prefer staying north/central and going as far down as Hoi An - I have heard it is very rich in culture and excellent food? Is this a must considering our time limit? How about Hue?

Here are 2 alternative rough itineraries:

N Vietnam & Laos:
Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Ninh Binh - Hoi An - Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and fly back out from Luang Prabang. (Leaving out Sa pa as I don't think we'll have time)

Vietnam only:
Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Sapa/Mai Chau - Hanoi - Phong Nha - Hue - Hoi An - fly back out of Hanoi

Please, any recommendations are really appreciated as we are still really early in the planning stages :)

N Vietnam & Laos:
Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Ninh Binh - Hoi An - Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and fly back out from Luang Prabang. (Leaving out Sa pa as I don't think we'll have time)

Hoi An is central Vietnam, so not possible with this itinerary. If you do this and want to include Vang Vieng, you'd fly out of Vientiene, Laos at the end. That's a pretty city, so you might want to save a day for that.

Vietnam only:
Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Sapa/Mai Chau - Hanoi - Phong Nha - Hue - Hoi An - fly back out of Hanoi

I like this itinerary better, but I still think you have at least one too many places on the list to see in 11 days, considering the transport time. If going to Sapa, you'd want 3 days for that, because you'd want to trek to a minority village in the mountains there, and stay overnight.

In the North Vietnam, you can take a Halong cruise for 1 or 2 night. Choosing Sapa or Mai Chau, you have opportunities to experience local cultures and food. However, I am afraid that 7 days are not enough for including both Laos and Vietnam in your trip.

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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

#11
If you want to do Mai Chau and the Halong Bay and Hoi An, you will indeed not have enough time to also include Luang Prabang. There is no right or wrong as I already said, so go for the places you feel most attracted to. Both LP and Hoi An are beautiful places, and both are worth visiting. Personally I prefer Luang Prabang, but thats me. In terms of "logic" it probably makes more sense to stick to Vietnam on this trip and keep Laos for another trip.

The itinerary in #15 looks good (I would go to Mai Chau on days 7+8). And as mentionned before, you can do a cooking class in Hoi An.

I did North Laos to Sapa last spring. I needed a fleece in Laos, but all my clothes in Sapa. Cat ba was cloudy, but milder. Dong hoi mixed weather, cloudy/ sunny. Hoi an, hot and sunny, which I was desperate for, which is part of the reason I liked it so much. The old town is very touristy, but stunning visually. Ang bang beach is great, as is the bike ride out there. You only have a short trip, and a few days in Hoi an will give you beach, history, culture, islands, temples, the lot.

Stick to Vietnam, save Laos for next time. Fly Danang to Hanoi to catch your flight home. What you see between Hanoi and Danang is your choice. You can go from Cat ba, via Haiphong, to Tam coc ( Ninh binh), overnight there, and take the night bus the following day to Phong na. Then do the caves. Bus to Hue, overnight, then train to Danang, so you see the Hoi van pass, and end up in Hoi an.

So there is a flight option to fly into Hanoi via a connection in Singapore and depart Da Nang to Singapore to catch our flight back home to the USA, rather than booking a RT ticket to Hanoi and then booking a separate flight from Da Nang to Hanoi... I think that is the best option here... :)

So you are all suggesting we do the linear route N-S down to Hoi An, but what about the lantern festival on May 9? Is that worth changing the schedule for/arriving in Hoi An earlier than expected? Better- my question is how can we rearrange the itinerary: Hanoi - Sapa - Halong Bay - Ninh Binh - Phong Nha - Hue - Hoi An - to be in Hoi An for lantern festival on May 9 (Day 7)

In addition, is it even still possible to include Sapa in this itinerary instead of Mai Chau, or would it be too rushed?

Thanks!

UPDATED -- We purchased our flights and have decided to focus on Vietnam only... very tough choice as Laos was incredibly tempting!! Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. Our flight schedule is as follows:

SFO - ICN - HAN (Arrive in Hanoi at 9:30PM on May 2)
DAD - ICN - SFO (May 13 with a 12 hour layover in Seoul at 5:15am - 4:30pm)

We are still a bit stuck on the itinerary. My boyfriend is more interested in Halong Bay and Nihn Bihn but I have been reading that one should NOT skip Sapa when in Northern Vietnam... I would appreciate a little more help with an "official" itinerary now that flights are set in stone.

May 1: Departure
May 2: (Day 1) Arrival in Hanoi at 9:30pm - get to the hotel
May 3: (Day 2) Halong Bay - overnight
May 4: (Day 3) Halong Bay - return to Hanoi
May 5: (Day 4) ---
May 6: (Day 5) ---
May 7: (Day 6) ---
May 8: (Day 7) ---
May 9: (Day 8) ---
May 10:(Day 9) ---
May 11:(day 10) ---
May 12:(Day 11) ---
May 13: (Day 12)Departure DAN - ICN 10:40PM
May 14: ICN layover 5:15AM - 4:30PM

my question is how can we rearrange the itinerary so that we hit Hanoi, Halong Bay, (Sapa), Ninh Binh, Phong Nha, Hue, and Hoi An, to be in Hoi An for lantern festival on May 9 (Day 8/12)

Thanks again everyone!

Its possible fly to Danang on May 9. The stay Hoi An 2 days Then go to Hue for 2 nights.

Sapa in May should be good. Its just how long for.

It is going to be tight, but depending on what time you get back to Hanoi after Halong, could you go straight on to Ninh Binh? You can get a bus from Haiphong to Tam coc, but it left Haiphong about midday. You need to be in Tam coc first thing in the morning, i.e. staying there overnight, to make the most of the boat trip at 7 am. Then tour the area by bicycle, returning for the overnight bus to Phong na at about 9 pm. The long hotel in Tam coc will sort all your travel needs. Arrive in Phong na in the middle of the night, but hotels seemed aware of arrivals, and open. Do the caves, and then bus to Hue, which you could do in an afternoon, train to Danang next day to take in the Hoi van pass, and minibus transfer on to Hoi an. Yes, you can do this trip in your timescale, but really I think you need to get back from Halong to Hanoi, and get the last bus out to Ninh Binh/Tam coc, so you are there for the full day, starting early.

As for Sapa, if you have time after Hoi an, then go for it. Really, I think with your time restraints it would be better to forget Sapa, and maybe try and find a more secluded mountain getaway out of Ninh Binh or Phong na, even if just for a daytrip by private taxi. This will give you time to enjoy the rest of your trip, not be racing around like a lunatic, and won't cost you any more than another transfer thru Hanoi, and return to Sapa.. Sapa is beautiful, but hideously touristy, and I'm sure you can find somewhere else just, if not more enjoyable, by taking a 20 dollar taxi tour from Phong na, close to the Lao border, or out of Tam coc.
Just re read your post, flying out of Danang. Leave out Sapa, then you can do all the rest. Accept you can never see everything, and I think you will have seen a really good chunk of Vietnam. I was in Sapa in April, and the rice fields were disappointing. Ninh Binh and Hoi an were much greener.

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