Vietmam - 2 weeks - Nov/Dec time

[Macky]

Planning a trip to Vietnam Nov/Dec time. We have friends in Ho Chi Min so will be spending a couple of days there. Other than that, we wish to see a good amount of the country, nature, cities, beaches, etc whilst having a bit of time to relax in between.

I thought flying into the south and flying out from the north may be a good idea to avoid doubling back on ourselves. But flights seem to be considerably cheaper if doing returns to same airport. Apparently internal flights are dirt cheap so could always fly back to the same airport to head home again.

Would love to hear any suggestions or experiences people have had.

 

[Scam]

We did Intrepid's Southbound Express tour in Oct-Nov 2019 and it was great. I can't remember the decision-making around going that time of year, but it was warm but not crazy, but not terribly sunny iirc.

Some quick notes;
- Read up/watch Youtube on crossing the road. It's fun (read: bonkers) especially if you're arriving into HCMC
- Hoi-An is lovely, do a bike tour of the surrounding area to farms etc. That was one of my favourite days of the whole trip
- Ha Long bay is very touristy/by the numbers but nice to spend a night on a boat, see the sights/caves and maybe do some kayaking
- Hue is great for food. Bun Bo Hue is like Pho but spicy. Great for breakfast. They also specialise in what's easiest described as Vietnamese tapas. It's historically the "imperial" food. Lots of little things to taste. Eat it all, especially the crispy pancake things which were addictive.
- Eat lots of Bahn Mi (and Pho, obvs)
- The overnight train from Hanoi to Hue was good fun
- The War Remnants Museum in HCMC is dark but fascinating. It's probably important to visit and was formerly called Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes...
- The cafe apartment building in HCMC is a nice spot to seek out for a coffee or lunch

My only regret there was being talked out of eating more street food by my girlfriend!

 

[SoliD]

Did Vietnam in 2019, did the following from memory.
Flew in from HK to Hanoi, 2 nights
Ha Long Bay 2 nights on junk
Train to Hue - 3 nights
Private Taxi to Hoi An, stopping off en route to monkey mountain and few other bits as part of the cab journey
Hoi An 4 nights - was supposed to be 3 but had a few suits made that took a bit longer.
Flight to Ho Chi Minh - 2 nights

Pretty much everywhere hired a scooter locally to get around for about £5 per day, with the wife on the back, was great fun and meant could just go and do what we wanted. It's a great place. Hanoi is even more insane than HCMC for crossing the roads! @Scam has summed up most of the main bits, if you go to hanoi don't miss train street and beer street! everyone is so friendly and helpful and even if they don't speak english they'll do there best to help, google translate comes in very useful, we just had three sim cards that worked just fine.

Like you've found flights are dirt cheap, but so are the alternatives, the taxi from hue to hoi an was a good 4 hours or so and cost something like £50, much better than being stuff on a hot bus.

We want to go back and do more of the inland areas in the north. If you take the train from Hanoi to Hue, book early and get the good new good cabins! so much nicer than the older ones.