Vietnam Trip Details

Hotel Reviews

Ambassador Hanoi Boutique Hotel & Travel: Stayed here for two nights in March 2023
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Mee Too Homestay, Ninh Binh: We stayed here for two nights in March 2023.
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Sai Gon Phong Nha Hotel: We stayed here for one night in March 2023.
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Thanh Lich Royal Boutique Hotel, Hue: Stayed here for two nights in March 2023.
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Hoi An Central Boutique Hotel and Spa: Stayed here for one night in March 2023.
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Tour Reviews

Hanoi to Hue road trip: We selected Hanoi Car rental agency, thanks to the excellent reviews. It was a great choice. We wanted a tailor made trip for two people. We started in Hanoi, worked our way down through Perfume Pagoda, Ninh Binh, Phong Nha, Danang and ended in Hue. Dai was very responsive over Whasapp and helped us with the initial planning. His communication skills are excellent and responds to all queries almost immediately. He was our driver and guide for the entire trip. His driving skills are excellent and knows all these places quite well. He also worked around the weather ensuring we hit the outdoor spots when the weather was sunny. We are vegetarians and he helped us find vegetarian restaurants and order vegetarian food on the way. He was very courteous and his spoken English is excellent as well. We highly recommend him for all your travel needs.
Day trip to Ha Long Bay: We chose this company based on the excellent ratings on TripAdvisor. We weren't disappointed. We chose the private private one day Ha Long bay tour. The tour was very well organised. It was very easy to contact the company on WhatsApp and book the tour. The guide and the driver showed up on time. The guide spoke excellent English and the driver had excellent driving skills. The boat was waiting for us when we reached the harbour. We covered all the high points on time. We had pre-ordered vegetarian food and the lunch was served on time and the spread and quality was excellent. We left at 8:30 and were back by 7:30 pm. I will highly recommend this trip for anyone who is short on time. This is the fastest way to enjoy the bay.

Driving Logistics

As of 2023, the expressway/freeway coverage is very limited. We only encountered one such road - Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. If you are driving country roads, the going is slow. The road is mostly one lane each-way. Typically it takes 10 to 20% more than the timings on the Google, thanks to the unpredictable traffic.
The roads are generally in great conditions. There are hardly any potholes and there are no stray animals. Most people follow lane discipline and there is very little honking or speeding.
Hiring a car and driving by yourself is only for real adventure seekers. Hiring a long distance taxi with a driver is the norm. Most hotels help with such bookings. The driver will have very little English knowledge. If the itinerary is simple then this is a fairly straightforward proposition. If the itinerary is complex with multiple stops, then this would be a challenge in communication.

Sightseeing Tips

NOTE

There is a long lunch break in Vietnam. So musems/temples etc tend to close between noon and 1:30 pm.

Hanoi

Citadel: Must see. Very small place. Arrive early to beat the crowd. 30 mins should be sufficient.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: Must See. Quite easy to walk around and see it from the outside. If you want to enter, it is an extremely long wait.
Cathedral: Should See. There isn't much to see here. The outside facade is photogenic. Arrive in forenoon for best lighting.
National History Museum: Must See. This is the best museum in all of Vietnam. An hour should be sufficient.
One Pillar Pagoda: Must see. It is a very small shrine. But access is difficult because it is through the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
Temple of Literature: Must see. It gets very crowded. Arrive early to beat the crowd. One hour should be sufficient.
Truch Bach Lake: Must see. There are coupe of pagodas nearby - Quan Thanh and Tran Quoc. One hour should be sufficient to see the lake and the pagodas.
Opera House: Must See. Well, you can only see it from the outside. So doesn't take any time at all.
Hoan Kiem Lake: Must See. Don't miss the Ngoc Son Temple. 30 mins should be sufficient.
Long Bien Bridge: Must See. Just for the history. Driving past should be sufficient.
Ceramic Mural: Must See. Driving past should be sufficient.

Hue

Citadel: Absolute Must see. Arrive at 7 am to avoid the crowd. You need a minimum of thre hours here.
Royal Tombs: I would say all of them are a Must See - Gia Long, Tu Duc, Ming Mang and Khai Dinh. If you can see only one, it has to be Khai Dinh. A close second would be Tu Duc. If you have a private taxi, you can cover them all in about 3 to 4 hours.
Thien Mu Pagoda: Must see. Arrive early to avoid the crowd. 30 mins should be sufficient.

Hoi An: Most of what is there to see is in the old town. Most of the old town buildings are now shops or restaurants. There are 20 which are some sort of vistable attractions. Tickets have to be bought at special kiosks. One ticket allows you to visit 5 monuments. So if you want to visit 6, you have to buy two tickets. The tickets cost about USD 50 cents each. You cannot miss the Japanese Bridge. The Assembly Halls (there are four of these) are the best of the monuments. Old houses are all similar. So visiting any one should be sufficient.
Phong Nha: Must See. The best caves here are off limits for casual tourists. They need serious caving skills to visit. What is open to casual tourists are well worth the effort to get here. Paradise Caves and Phong Nha caves are the best. Both than can be visited in little over half a day.
Purfume Pagoda: Must See. In order to get here, you have to drive in, take an electric car, then a boat and then a cable car. There are two options for the boat. Slow, cheaper row boat that takes an hour and a half each way. Faster, costlier motor boats that takes 20 mins each way. You need a minimum of half a day to visit the site.
Ninh Binh

Hang Mua Caves: Must See. It is about a 30 min hike up to the view points. So about one hour return should be sufficient.
Hoa Lu: Must See. It gets very crowded. Arrive early. About an hour is sufficent.
Trang An: Must See. There are two options for river crtise here - Tam Coc and Trang An. The latter is more scenic and is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is about a 3 hour cruise. Arrive early to avoid long wait times.
Bich Dong: Should See. It is almost always closed. But you can see the impressive entrance gateway at all times.
Bai Dinh: Must See. This is a gigantic site. You need at least 3 hours to see the main points. It is a bit of a challenge to figure out which electric car to take to get to the immediate next point.
Tuyet Tinh Coc: Should See. Nice lake and a cavern-pagoda. About an hour is needed to see the place.

Ba Na Hills: Must See. It is quite expensive to get to the top and it is very crowded. But the various photo points are very well done. Come early to beat the crowd. You need a minimum of 3 hours here.
Marble Mountains: Must See. Come early to beat the crowd. You need a minimum of 3 hours here.
Museum of Cham Sculpture, Da Nang: Must See. A small museum. One hour should be sufficient.
My Son Sanctuary: Must See. You need about a couple of hours here. The place is about 1:15 hrs from Hoi An by taxi (each way).

TRIP ITINERARY

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