Travel Vietnam - The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips

VIETNAM

Do not miss:

1) Halong Bay
2) Hanoi city old quarter
3) Hue city and temples around
4) Hoi An city - very Chinese Vietnam and My Son ancient ruins.
5) Cu Chi Tunnels - War time catacombs west of Saigon
6) Mekong River Delta

Besides that there are some places less visited by rushing tourists but very interesting. Visiting such places is time consuming but very interesting.
For example Ba Be Lakes. It is number 2 for me after Halong Bay

Forget about beaches in Vietnam – even those most advertised and famous.
1) they are not so nice as they advertised.
2) There are aggressive vendors everywhere. They simply will not let you to spend even couple minutes on your own on the beach. They are really aggressive. They touch you and if you are alone and they are a many they start pushing you laughing on you regardless your behavior. You may smile you cry – everything is useless. They will not let you to enjoy. There are more vendors than foreigners on the beach. We tried some beaches and we never get chance to enjoy. We even stop somewhere in the remote area far from people and settlements and after ten minutes of swimming we got a company of observers (luckily not vendors) who even do not try to hide. They simply come close in front and look at you like in a zoo.
3) It is temperate from subtropical climate in Vietnam so it will not be too warm to swim.



General notes from own experience:

95 % of Vietnamese outside Saigon do not speak any forms of English. You may try to speak Vietnamese but its useless. It is very difficult language due to tones and musical colors. Besides there are so many regional differences so locals even do not understand each other well.

It is prohibited for foreigners to drive a car in Vietnam. May be something changed last years. Check it.

Always watch out of thefts

Take a driver with minivan. No need to overpay for 4WD. Roads are bad, but good enough for normal minivan. We paid 600 USD for 8 day service of driver and minivan. However it is very unusual and cheap price as normally it must be twice higher. As the distance is huge and they must go way back.

I cannot say about all the drivers, but our driver was very very slow. Incredibly slow. You know, I am against crazy driving and do not justify speed driving by any reason. However even for me driving in Vietnam out of Saigon and vicinity is too slow. Our driver could spend all the day to drive 200 km between two nearest cities. From my impression all the cars in central and northen Vietnam move very slow even inspite of empty roads. Roads are really empty of cars. As soon as you move couple hundreds km north from Ho Chi Minh City you can start count cars. Mopeds are the main mean of transport even between cities. Forget about Australian measurements of how much you can drive in a day in Australia and Europe or even Thailand or Malaysia. This is Vietnam.

You do not pay for driver’s food and accommodation. But this is trick. Everytime you go to eat or discuss price of accommodation driver talk to receptionist or to staff in restaurant in vetnamese and they increase price to cover his accommodation or food. We understood it only on sixth day when we arrived to Saigon. All the days before we cannot understand why we pay two times more than Lonely Planet describe. When we understood we simply devided so driver was unable to follow all of us and those who was without driver accompanying negotiated fair price and driver had to arrange his accommodation on his own. This is not a huge money we were ripped by driver – may be extra 100-150 USD, but I do not like when someone considers itself smart enough to make me fool. If they declare it in advance I would ready to pay for driver’s accommodation and food, inspite my income was may be twice higher than his income, however it is not right to support ripping.

Be carefull on or avoid if you are soft traveller Ho Chi Minh Trail – this is the common name for the western areas near the border with Cambodia and Laos. This stripe of land was the most heavily struggled during the War and after that it was prohibited to visit by any foreigners. It is really interesting area beyond the trail, with rugged mountainous landscapes, outstanding views and tons of UXO everywhere. BUT: Despite central government cancelled any restrictions many years ago, local police and military ignore central regulations and keep arresting foreigners. It is not so often in towns (like Buon Ma Thuot or Pleiku) but between the cities it is still happens. We were arrested right between those towns. We stopped to make a pictures of rubber plantation and local officials took the passport of our driver and enforced him to follow to police station somewhere in the middle of nowhere. All the declarations of new regiment set by central government, all the proclamations of embassy phone calls or ambassadors or consuls were useless as none was speaking English there. Army officer (with four stars on a shoulder) tried to take our passports for some purposes, but we closed all the doors in minivan and said that if they want to check our passports they can do it through the glass of the windows. So we showed them passports and they wrote all our passport data. They tried to open doors but not very brave so we fucked them out. We spent about couple hours in closed car surrounded by absolutely lost militaries or policemen (it was not clear) who had no idea what to do and than were allowed to go strait forward to Saigon. What we did indeed.

Some people who consider themselves the highly experienced tough travellers will lough on what I will say furthure, but my position is very simple: Life's too good to be stupid. So I say: Vietnam is badly dangerous from point of view of infectious diseases. You know I am not panic about all this sanitary conditions, I can sleep on ground and eat what I have, but when you on route its much smarter to follow simple safety rules than to break the trip and pay for ignorance during next years or even entire life. If someone will tell you that he visited Vietnam and never faced any health troubles – do not listen him. This is dangerous. This is fact. You simply did not talk to those who had troubles. Some of them cannot say anything now. The most dangerous and easy to get is Hepatitis A. You know consequences.

Advises below are not professional, so don't rely on them. Some medicines may cause side effects. Ask your doctor for more information. Here is just what you should discuss with your doctor (Earnestly most of them have no idea about tropical conditions and deceases so try to find the specialist in this field)

1) Drink and use water from the bottles. We bought 5litre bottles of clean water and washed fruits and drunk it. This is not a 100% guarantee too, but at least.
2) Make a vaccination against Hepatitis. I do not remember which forms are specific for Vietnam we made against 2 of them
3) Take Malaria pills. Lariam or Mephloquin (different names in different countries). It is not a big deal. One pill every 2-3 days. 2 weeks before trip, during and 2 weeks after trip.
4) Keep good collection of drugs. All the drugs must bear English or Latin names to avaoid troubles n customs. I never had any troubles with medications on customs. I never declare them. Sometime you may be too far from doctor who gives you some simple pills as he is less qualified than you. Always keep pain relief and antibiotics for urgent action. I got a fever on Java in Indonesia and it was one of my worst experiences in the life. Couple pills could make me well while I almost died and do not remember most of happenings of that day just because I did not take simple pills with me.

5) We always keep a pack of cosmetic face tampons (cotton pads) and a small bottle of medical spirit. We use it in those cases when we feel unsafe to clean up hands before taking food. Easy and comfortable. I am not crazy. We do not sterilize itself every time we eat. But in many cases in dirty crowdy areas – it’s worth to do. Especially when you are in a car and want to eat something without stopping.
Anyway you never can avoid health threats as you eat out, you drink etc. This is fate, destiny, but we prefer to help our destiny.

Typical shortest itinerary in Vietnam:


You can take a flights between big cities or take a train or bus, but this is another story from technical point of view. The itinerary below is based on private driver. This is the most preferable way to see Vietnam if you want to drive through it.

I recommend to refuse that idea and take a flight between Saigon and Hanoi to save up many days of driving through nothing interesting. You’d better spend those days for driving around North and around South of Vietnam.

But if you prefer to drive:
Here is the shortest possible itinerary. It is very tough and I am afraid your driver will make it longer. Remember that working day of a driver could not be longer than 8 hours and you will negotiate hard to enforce him to drive a distance which seams nothing for you. So I can easily predict that this is too optimistic itinerary.


SOUTH TO NORTH
(I Earnestly prefer vice versa starting in Hanoi and finishing in Saigon moving furthure to BKK or Cambodia)

DAY 1
After crossing border take a taxi to Saigon, but ask him to take you to Cu Chi Tunnels on the way. It will be a small hook and extra payment, but it will save up a lot of time as you do not need to go there especially from Saigon and to spend half day for that.
Cu Chi Tunnels is the best place to touch the history of the last war. It is world famous place and should not be missed. I did not visit it because we visited other famous tunnels in central Vietnam.

Arrive Saigon later afternoon or evening. Find accommodation there and walk around. Lonely Planet can give you more advice on this. I did not find much interesting for me in HCMC though I did not make strong attempts for that. Yura Bendelikov likes HCMC very much. So it’s very personal. For me it’s another one Asian megapolis and that’s it.

Arrange car and driver for tomorrow visit to Mekong Valley. Start searching for the transport to the North. You should talk to 2-3 tour companies and they will ask you a day for estimating the job and price. Give them detailed itinerary and ask them to sign every page of your itinerary and make sure they passed your itinerary to the driver. If you are not lucky with driver you will need it to stop his arguing en route. We had problems with our Vietnamese driver every day. But he was lazy bastard. Another one guy who took us for 2 day trip to Ba Be was just perfect and we made good mates.

DAY 2
Vietnamese people wake up early in the morning before the sun. But as the pay out they close all the restaurants and amusements at 9 pm so last chance to have some food is 8 pm.

Wake up at 5 am go out and you will see something unusual for you. Morning in Vietnam is something unforgettable. Sunrise while people are in active vendoring, shopping, street badminton, gymnastics etc. You’ll like Vietnamese mornings.

Spend this day for driving around Mekong River Delta. Main places to visit:
1) One of floating markets beyond Cantho town
2) Dong Tam Snake Farm (not must but not bad to visit) – many exotic snakes, cuddly deers etc)
3) Monkey bridges. There many places where they are. We took a boat at Ben Tre. There are boats right near the footbridge across Ben Tre Fork of Mekong. Boat take a ride up the river than go into the canal. Ride through canals wich are very narrow just 5-10 meters and sometime bamboo and trees create a green tunnel in this labyrinth of canals. So called “Monkey bridges” one of the main remarkable things of Mekong Delta are built across such canals. Monkey bridges are just a fragile bamboo constructions for foot pedestrians.
4) There is small and very interesting market right near footbridge in Ben Tre. We bought many real Vietnamese things there – not touristy souvenirs – like real straw hats for example. There is a choice of cheap fruits as well. So worth to see.

There are many other things to see which I did not see due to tight schedule but you can make a choice reading LP.

Come back to Saigon in the evening.

DAY3
Leave Saigon early in the Morning. Move to the north. There are 3 roads:
1) Ho Chi Minh Trail – forget - see above.
2) Coastal road – nothing to see
3) mountainous road via Dalat. This is what I recommend you.

Take a drive to Dalat

Stop en route to view
1) Dinh Quan Volcanic Craters
2) Di Linh and nearby waterfalls.

Overnight in Dalat

As I mentioned, our driver was not the best man and broken all the itinerary so we could not visit that portion of the way as cut strait to Saigon. It was pity very much. So I cannot say that I saw it, but from all I know you will not be disappointed.

Di Linh and Dalat used to be the favorite mountainous areas for fashionable outdoor since early colonial times. Mountains and very picturesque landscapes will pay out all the fears of the winding road-serpentines.

Next time I’ll visit it obligately.

DAY 4 AND 5
Proceed to the East coast and then drive to the North.
Dalat – Phan Rang – Cam Rang (this very ex-Russian Navy Base) – Nha Trang – Qui Nhon – Hoi An

THIS IS VERY LONG WAY. And you should push your driver to make it in 2 days. Though if your driver will be better than our one – it may be not a deal at all.

There are no outstanding world famous attractions on this way (except some famous beaches), but there is always something interesting what you can find off the beaten track. This is a sort of exploration – you may find something own. Stop at roadside canteens or villages etc.

Overnight anywhere you are depending on how far and fast you move.

Then overnight in Hoi An

DAY 6
Hoi An is lovely small town. Very Chinese with wooden Chinese houses. This is a world heritage if I remember right. I liked it very much. Yura Bendelikov just felt in love. You are like couple centuries back into the epoch of Chinese expansion to Vietnam. This is a heart of Central Vietnam.

Spend a half day walking around Hoi An then drive to Hue. If you move fast you may visit World famous ruins of My Son. They are also part of World Heritage, but after Angkor and Ayutthaya in Thailand they might be not worth to see. It was interesting for me as it is not very visited place. We found a wild Star fruit tree and picked up a full bag of them. Some ruins are fenced as they are still unsafe due to UXO. The tragedy is that they use to be amazing well preserved, but during the war Americans bombed them and destroyed almost completely. This what the world could not excuse and it was the first global upraise against Americans actions in Vietnam.

Overnight in Hue

DAY7
Hue is a main place to visit in Central Vietnam. I cannot say that I was impressed by Hue, but it was nice to visit. Usually visitors take a cruise along Perfume River to visit temples. We did not take a boat. We took taxis between attractions. The main are:
1) Thien Mu Pagoda
2) Citadel
3) Tomb of Tu Duc

Depart for Hanoi Afternoon.
Proceed as far to the north as you can.


DAY8
Drive all the day to Hanoi.
Arrive Hanoi Late evening or next day before the noon.
Say good buy to your driver.

DAY9
Hanoi walk around the old city and lake. Visit some pagodas. Stay overnight in Old quarter north of the Lake.

DAY 10 and 11
HALONG BAY CRUISE

Keep in mind following:
1) do not take a public tour package. In worst case you will be traveling in overcrowded bus and than take a ride in a big bout with a crowd of passengers staying overnight in the crowded island. In the best case – it will be the same but not so crowded.

2) All packages are return, it means you go forward and back by the same route. It is not interesting.

3) As always – the most interesting things you see off the beaten track.

The best alternative itinerary to visit Halong Bay is what we did:

Early in the morning take a taxi to Haiphong. You remember – the biggest port in Vietnam, built by friendly Soviet specialists in the delta of Red River.

Depart at 5 am as you must arrive to the port before 8 am. You may tike a public van but they are very unreliable and our van late for more than hour. It was a miracle that we got a Boat.

The boat is a hydrofoil Russian “Meteor” which takes you down the river, than out to the sea and finally arrives to Cat Ba - a small fishing town on Cat Ba Island. This is a lovely tiny waterfront town with amazing market where we bought all the necessary food for our 2 day cruise. Just upon arrival to Cat Ba go to arrange a boat for afternoon departure. Walk into all the doors to the left of pier. Ask guesthouses or shops and finally you will find a boat.

ASK FOR PERSONAL BOAT CHARTER ONLY. Starting at Cat Ba and Finishing at Halong City

We paid 70 USD for 2 day personal charter of a boat and we sail wherever we want independently. We selected the best secluded and inhabited island to camp. We avoid any crowds and any tourists at all.

The boat was a 10 meter motor boat (I can call it “barkas” in Russian) if you remember “Beloye Solntse Pustyni”.

Boatman need an hour or two to prepare so you will have a time for visiting market and lunch. Buy the whole Jack Fruit and you will eat it during 2 day cruise with your friends. I like jet fruits very much. It’s very big so 2 day cruise is exactly enough time to finish it.

Afternoon we cruised around islands which are not visited by the crowds of tourists as crowds depart from Halong City and do not head so far to south.

There are pearl farms and water gipsy houses – all is interesting and unforgettable.

We spend a night in a tent on the inhabited island, but there is always opportunity stay aboard.


REMEMBER – it is winter in Vietnam so weather might be cold and sea - rough. Take warm clothes with you.

Next day we were also on our own. Boatman’s know all the main icons and attractions of Halong Bay. Besides you can look through the web and select most attractive for you to ask him to visit.

Afternoon you disembark in Halong City. This is ugly place where all the crowds of package tourists depart for cruises. Prices for charters are incredibly high their and boats are more commercial than in Cat Ba. I do not recommend you to start in Halong City and return there as most people do. Start in Hayphong and finish in Halong City.

There are busses every hour to Hanoi or take a taxi. Bus takes 3-4 hours, taxi is twice faster.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Day 12 departure
However I recommend you to stay one night more to have 1 day for unpredictable troubles. For example you might be out of time due to strong storm in Halong. Or your driver slow down itinerary etc.

ALTERNATIVE RECOMMENDED ITINERARY:
As I told above this is not the most optimal itinerary. As you can see below I cut out Hue and Hoi An because this is what you can scarify. It is very interesting and nice to see but this is not the things which are unforgettable enough to scarify 4-5 days for just stupid driving to cover the distance. If you have time – you may flight from Saigon to Hanoi via Hue with stop there for couple nights and drive around Hue and even soputh to Hoi An to overnight there. I recommend you the following:

Day 1 as above
Day 2 as above
Day 3 as above
Day 4 drive from Dalat back to Saigon via coastal route and Phan Thiet.
Day 5 flight to Hanoi. Walk around. Arrange transport for next days.
Day 6 and 7 visit Halong Bay as described above.
Day 8 and 9 visit Ba Be Lakes National Park. Ask driver to stop at roadside canteens for local food for locals.

Ba Be lakes is the second place which impressed me in Vietnam after Halong Bay. This is a cascade of 3 lakes (ba – 3 be – lake). Area is mountainous. Lakes are fringed with tropical rainforests. Waterfall there is just impressive.

You drive north to Thai Nguyen and then to Na Phac. Turn to gravel road to Cho Ra.

Lonely planet gives perfect detailed info about BA BE so I cannot say better.

You take a boat to visit lakes and waterfall. You may stay in village with villagers in their houses. Talk to the people there. For example near the waterfall. If you fail – there are guesthouses in Cho Ra.

Go back to Hanoi on day 9.