I will start this blog off by saying that Vietnam is one of my favourite countries. This was my first time visiting and I would happily go back and see more of it! We spent just over 3 weeks here, and you could easily spend more time here – I’ve popped some recommendations at the end of the blog on how to spend extra time!
Vietnam was also one of the cheapest countries we went to, and honestly we splurged a bit on activities that you could do in cheaper ways – especially if you are comfortable riding a motorcycle. For 25 days, we spent roughly £38.80 a day:
£497 on activities
£152 on transportation
£119 on restaurants
£66 on accommodation
£136 on miscellaneous (ATM fees, shopping, snacks, laundry etc)
Days 1 to 3: Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)
Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh City as we travelled over from Phnom Penh in Cambodia, and this was a fairly smooth process if you are doing similar. Please note: in Vietnam, there are common scams of people offering taxi rides as soon as you get off – do not do this. They charge about 10x the price of a Grab taxi! 🥲
Our main highlights for this city was visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels, a key historical place for learning about the Vietnam War – something I knew very little about prior to this. It’s a completely unique place with fun interactive pieces, but it is incredibly busy and we did it as part of a day tour so we felt quite rushed around.
To help ease us into a new culinary culture, we love to do a street food tour so we know what the best local dishes are and how best to enjoy them! We did one in HCMC, organised by our hostel, and it was really well-organised and great value for money. We ate a wide selection of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes and made some lovely friends too.
If you are looking for a hostel in the city, I’d recommend Saigon Authentic Alley Hostel. They have two branches fairly near to each other, and often connect for group activities – like the street food tour. The only negative we found was our hostel room had 8 beds, but only 1 toilet and shower together in 1 bathroom so you may be waiting a while to use it before bed.
Days 3 to 5: Da Lat
Next up is Da Lat, a last-minute addition to break up our journey to Hoi An. It’s a really beautiful town with a lake in the centre which is enjoyable to wander around, as well as Crazy House which is extravagantly designed and great for some unique Instagram shots!
You are likely to also be familiar with Da Lat thanks to the Mario Karting videos you see all over tiktok. We didn’t do this, but we met a lot of people who did and they recommended going with a group of people to make it extra fun – a good reason to get out of your comfort zone and talk to the other people in your dorm. 👀
If you visit this town, I’d recommend staying at the Family Hostel. It has really nice, clean rooms, delicious food in the restaurant area (and regular family dinners), plus a variety of tours available – including to the many waterfalls dotted around the area. We went to Datanla waterfall which had an alpine coaster, as well as a nice relaxed walk around the falls – you can easily spend an hour or two here exploring.
Days 5 to 9: Hoi An
Hoi An gets all the hype in Vietnam, and it’s definitely worth it. When we arrived, it was still recovering from recent flooding so a small area around the river wasn’t accessible, but you could still fully enjoy the area. You can explore the Ancient town, checking out all the shops, delicious restaurants, make jewellery and check out the Chinese bridge.
A key attraction for the city is clothes tailoring, with an unlimited number of shops offering this for an excellent price. It is definitely worth making the most of this if you have spare space in your luggage!
Other activities in the area include letting lanterns go over the river (think: Tangled🏮), as well as taking a rice boat for a dizzying spin! We unfortunately couldn’t do this due to the recent floods but it’s a very common tour attraction.
We also did a day trip over to Da Nang, getting into Ba Na Hills early in the day to check out the stunning views, enjoying the longest single track cable car ride in the world and checking out some fun amusements. After this, we headed to Linh Ung Pagoda which was a nice quiet treat after the chaos of Ba Na Hills. We finished off the day with a short hike up Marble Mountain, taking a walk round the Pagodas, Cave and viewpoint here that provide a unique experience of nature in Vietnam whilst in a city.
Fuse Hostel in Old Town Hoi An is an ideal place to stay, in a good location and it’s slightly more in-land so less likely to be affected by flooding – those staying in the coastal branch were evacuated to the Old Town hostel towards the end of our stay here as a typhoon was reaching land!😰
Days 9 to 11: Hue
Hue… was interesting. It’s definitely a must-visit due to the Imperial Citadel, Royal Tombs and Thien Mu Pagoda. However, it had a very different vibe to the rest of Vietnam. It was still safe, but it just wasn’t what we had come to love about Vietnam.
I would still recommend visiting though, and staying at Kha Hostel – the room was good, the staff were lovely and it was in a perfect location for a lively street filled with restaurants and accessing the Citadel.
Days 11 to 12: Phong Nha
Now moving onto Phong Nha, and this was our kind of vibe! It’s only a small town, and I would recommend booking Central Backpackers as the bus drops you off directly outside here.
With just 24 hours here, you can arrive in the afternoon to get settled and before your afternoon bus towards Hanoi the following day, book onto a day tour into the National Park. You have the opportunity to swim, visit the dark cave, have a mud bath, ride a zip wire, visit a waterfall among other things. We really loved this and glad we did just 24 hours here as there isn’t much else to do or explore beyond this day trip. (The hostel has showers downstairs so even after you have checked out, you can shower off and get yourself ready for a long bus journey).
Days 12 to 17: Hanoi
A highlight for many people on their visit to Hanoi, the capital city, it’s a busy place but in the same sense it is full of life, history and culture. You can easily navigate the city on foot, doing a walking tour to learn more about the culture of Northern Vietnam, the history of the city and quickly ticking off all the major sites to see!
As part of these 5 days in the city, we did a 3 day/2 night Ha Long Bay tour organised through our hostel (Buffalo Hostel). I would highly recommend this tour, unless you are not comfortable being around people who are drinking. You can also do this as a 2 day/1 night trip, but we didn’t think that was worth the money compared to the longer option. As part of the longer tour, you get to visit a secluded private beach, hike and cycle around Cat Ba Island, as well as kayak around the bay and check out a small cave. You are well-entertained during the day, but in the evening you are left to your own devices with a karaoke machine and a well-stocked bar. This means that it just becomes lots of drunk people screaming into a microphone, or sitting around chatting and it just wasn’t the best – but it did mean I didn’t feel guilty about getting an early night! 😴
Days 17 to 21: Ha Giang
Direct from Hanoi, we headed to Ha Giang with Bong ready for our 4 day/3 night Ha Giang loop tour. We did this with an easy rider and I’d highly recommend this even if you are comfortable riding a bike. From stories, we’ve heard you are essentially guaranteed a big fine ($100+) even if you have all the correct paperwork and licenses. I really enjoyed this, even as the only person not drinking the happy water that was put in front of us every night. It did have a big party vibe to it in the evenings, but it was easy enough to be a part of it without drinking and nipping off for some quiet time in the dorms. (Pro tip: leave the full shot glass of happy water in front of you, and they won’t keep trying to offer you more😂).
Days 21 to 24: Sapa
We decided to spend a bit of extra time in Sapa to recover and relax from the Ha Giang Loop, which was perfect as we ended up getting food poisoning from Bong Hostel (AVOID the burgers 🤢).
We weren’t able to complete everything we wanted to do in Sapa, but we did manage to do rice terrace trekking organised by our accommodation (Hmong Sister House) which was amazing. Our guide was incredibly friendly, and even though it wasn’t the best weather at the time, the views and experience were still beautiful.
Other highlights to check out are Fansipan Mountain, the highest peak in Vietnam which you can potentially hike, but it is very intense – or you can take the cable car up and down. You can also check out the Glass Bridge, and the various waterfalls dotted around the town. Let me know in the comments what you think of these spots so I can convince myself to revisit Sapa 👀.
Days 24 to 25: Head back to Hanoi and depart
Our last day was used to head back to Hanoi ready for our onward journey to Luang Prabang in Laos, and watch Wicked: For Good (which was a must-do as a huge musical lover, and it had just been released 2 days prior). You can also use this time to check out other areas of Hanoi that you hadn’t managed to explore previously. We stayed at Bong Hostel this time, as it was closer to the outskirts of the city for better access to the airport, but we would recommend Buffalo Hostel to enjoy a few days in Hanoi.
The Round Up:
I hope that this blog has shown you how incredible Vietnam is: how much variety there is to see, history there is to learn and beauty to bathe in!
If I was to go back, I’d also consider visiting Ninh Binh for 2-3 nights and spending a few days specifically at Cat Ba Island to do more hikes and soak up the island life. Maybe next time… 👀
Let me know in the comments below of any questions you have about this itinerary, or other places you’d recommend!
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