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The Highlight Reel

Bangkok

Bangkok was HOT! The humidity was close to 40 degrees most days, which Andy described as ‘like breathing in hot soup’. This meant it was challenging to sightsee during the day, and even the nighttime temperatures were relentless.

We did have an excellent tuk-tuk tour through Airbnb, which we recommend, as it was a quick, 2-hour tour of the main attractions in the central city where we got to chat with a tour guide and also jump out at some spots to walk around and hear some interesting facts. Another day, we took the water taxis down the Chao Phraya River, which was easy enough to do from one of the piers, and it took us to the ICONSIAM shopping mall, which had great street-not-on-the-street food on the lower floor market. A highlight of our trip was visiting the Rajadamnern Stadium to watch a Saturday night Muay Thai fight. With the courage of free beer, the lively crowd cheered on their favourite fighters, although not for the faint-hearted, as many fights ended in a knockout or some quite brutal injuries.

Other highlights from our trip were the Chatuchak Weekend Market and Chinatown (at night), where we ate lots of delicious street food and enjoyed a cocktail at a hidden speakeasy bar.

However, there are many Bangkok travel blogs out there that we think would be more helpful if you are looking for a few-day itinerary. We can, however, give great recommendations on the best air-conditioned shopping mall!

Recommendations:

• Stay within the city's centre, near the main attractions, or close enough to the river so you can use the water taxis. If not, you MUST be near a BTS or metro station as the traffic is too bad to use taxis, even if these aren’t very expensive. For this reason, we would not recommend our hotel near CentralWorld Mall.

• We advise visiting not during their peak summer as we missed out on several attractions simply because we could not walk around for long and usually took refuge within air-conditioned shopping malls instead. This being said, the shopping malls were all incredible.

Railay

We absolutely loved our time in Railay. A small peninsula between Ao Nang and Krabi, Railay is only accessible by boat due to the high limestone cliffs. It is perfect for anyone searching for a quiet getaway in a tiny town; you can walk from East to West in about 10 minutes. If you want something more lively with nightlife, I recommend staying in Ao Nang or elsewhere in Krabi.

We stayed at Railay Phutawan Resort, which we definitely recommend. It was a small walk away from walking street, with your path up the small hill inhabited by local monkeys swinging around, which made the resort quiet and peaceful with beautiful views from their swimming pool and pool bar.

We didn’t do much in Railay, as you’re there for the classic, picturesque Thai beach experience. We did book the ‘Four Island Tour’ around Koh Phi Phi as we wanted to see the island. The tour was a great way to quickly see the other islands nearby, although it was more touristy, and some islands we visited were horrendously busy, with sometimes one single path in and out of the dock. I would pay extra for a private or quieter tailboat if possible. We did some great snorkelling and saw many typical coral fish like Nemo & Dory (not jellyfish, luckily). One day, we ventured to Phra Nang Beach, where we enjoyed relaxing on the sandy beaches, but we had to avoid the water because it was also jellyfish season! We accidentally got caught on an isolated section of the beach during high tide and enjoyed having to wade through the water after the tide came in to return to our hotel whilst avoiding the humungous jellyfish around our feet.

Railay is a perfect location if you are looking for a quiet few days to read your book and enjoy the beach. The restaurants are nothing to write about, but enjoying a cold beer on the beach at sunset was the most beautiful view we have seen on our whole travels! If you stay elsewhere, take the time to visit; it is only a 20-minute boat ride across.

Recommendations:

• You must get a long-tail boat from Ao Nang Pier or Ao Nam Mao to reach Railay. It doesn’t make a huge difference which one you arrive on, so choose the one closer to your departure location. Ao Nam Mao was more accessible, as we got a taxi from Krabi Airport.

• Wildlife in Railay: The monkeys were completely harmless, but we always kept our belongings tucked away when we walked past them. Mosquito spray is essential. Watch out for jellyfish season, which meant we couldn't enter the sea.

Koh Lanta

We decided to head to Koh Lanta as we were both keen to gain our PADI for scuba diving. We were recommended Koh Lanta as an island with great diving centres that are less crowded than places like Koh Tao. We got a minibus as the low season meant many boats were not running. This took a little longer than we wanted, around 4 hours, but it was a relief that we could still complete our journey without hiring a private taxi.

In the end, we found a fantastic dive school called Andaman Dive Adventures, where we spent three days learning to Scuba Dive and had the opportunity for four open-water dives, too. This has been one of our favourite things we have done during our travels! Our instructors were fantastic and spoke excellent English, and we completed our training with another German duo, whom we ended up meeting for drinks at the end of our Koh Lanta trip.

In Koh Lanta we treated ourselves to a stay at Twin Lotus Resort after being recommended by a friend. The resort was paradise! An incredible buffet breakfast every morning, three swimming pools, and located right on the beach. As it was low season, Koh Lanta was another tranquil island and many of the bars and restaurants were in the last week of business before shutting down for a few months. We arrived at the perfect time to enjoy quieter bars and restaurants with few crowds. It would have been nice to have some lively bars during some evenings but we made the most of the privacy as we knew it would get busier as we headed North.

One day, we rented a scooter and spent the day exploring the island. We drove across to the Old Town, where we enjoyed lunch on their pier, and also down to the South of the island to check out ‘Why Not Bar’, which turns out was also very quiet at this time of year. I would definitely recommend renting a scooter and enjoying more of the island for the day.

Recommendations:

• The best mojitos and food at Majestic Bar, Khlong Dao Beach.

• Andaman Dive Adventures was a great centre where we learned to dive. Although the course cost us around £300 each, we felt the higher price matched the quality of the training we received with it feeling closer to completely personal, private training.

• In low season, it can be too quiet, and many bars and restaurants are closed. On our last day, we also experienced the very beginning of the rainy season, and it would be difficult to enjoy your stay to the fullest during this time, so check carefully what the weather will be like when you are going. The beginning of May was touch and go!

Phuket

Phuket was not our first choice of destination, as we had heard it has become very overcrowded in recent years. We decided to stay here as it was a more straightforward journey from Koh Lanta, and Andy also needed to visit a hospital (for routine blood tests).

First of all, a word of warning for the speedboat journey. Oh my goodness! As we boarded our boat, the heavens opened, and rain poured along with thunder and lightning. Nevertheless, the journey continued, and we endured 1.5 hours of thunder, lightning, rain, and crashing waves. Thankfully we both took sickness tablets before the trip (essential), but to say we were soaked was an understatement. We arrived in Phuket very wet!

We stayed in a cheap and cheerful hotel called ‘The Tint’, which had a small pool and was walkable to the main streets of the Old Town. We enjoyed strolling around, searching for postcards in the picturesque buildings, and treating ourselves to a lazy cinema night at the Central Phuket Mall (we watched 'The Fall Guy’, which was pretty good, 7/10).

We enjoyed our short whistle-stop tour around Phuket. We can’t say much about the touristy beach sides, but the old town is definitely worth a short visit if you are staying nearby. Despite the sheer amount of tourism the area receives, it has maintained its personality and character in the shops and cafes.

Recommendations:

• Staying near the old town means you are close to the port when coming from islands like Koh Lanta. Our taxi ride was a very quick 10 minutes. However, the airport is very far North, far away from both the beaches and the old town

• If you need a hospital for whatever reason, it just so happens that we needed one and found Bangkok Hospital Phuket (confusing name) provided great service for foreigners, with all prices very transparent.

Chiang Mai

We loved our time in Chaing Mai and only wish the temperature was cooler so we could have enjoyed it more! Firstly, the airport is incredibly close to the centre, and our taxi only took around 20 minutes. We LOVED our hotel, too, which I found on a boutique website but got cheaper by booking directly with the hotel. Booking directly also meant we got a room upgrade and a glass of champagne on arrival! The hotel was called Hotel Ping Silhouette and cost just £40 a night with breakfast. They also have a great rooftop pool, which was well-needed when pitstopping back at the hotel during the hottest parts of the day.

We enjoyed walking around and visiting the temples on our first full day. The temples were beautiful and many were free to enter. Remember to cover up, especially if you are a woman. We stopped between temples at coffee shops/ bakeries, our favourite being the ‘Fern Forest Cafe’, a little pricier but well worth it for the beautiful garden you can sit in and enjoy your iced coffee. We even tried our first iced orange coffee here… delicious!

Our favourite day was our trip to the ‘Elephant Nature Park’ (ENP). I extensively researched to find a sanctuary that felt the most ethical. ENP is an elephant rescue and rehabilitation centre providing a caring home for over 100 elephants. Many of the elephants living in the sanctuary of ENP have been rescued by the Save Elephant Foundation from street begging, elephant riding, and circus shows, where they often sustained both physical and psychological injuries. We chose to do the full-day tour, where we visited both of their locations, including the Skywalk, where we got up close to many different elephants displaying natural behaviours. One interesting note about this sanctuary is that they no longer allow you to bathe with the elephants, but we really don’t think this is needed, and it makes sense that humans do not interact with them during this time. We 100% recommend this trip, either a whole or half day! It was a special experience walking through the large reserve with huge elephants all around you, eating, swimming and washing. The tour will also pick you up from your hotel, making it an easy day for you to enjoy.

One evening we took a class at ‘Zabb E Lee Thai Cooking School’, one of many cooking classes you can do in Chiang Mai. I love cooking classes and had been waiting to do one whilst in Thailand, and I was glad we waited until Chiang Mai as there were so many to choose from. We got to choose what we wanted to cook from their menu and could choose separately from each other. We got the chance to make fresh or fried spring rolls, a rice dish, a curry dish and sticky mango rice. There was lots of food to enjoy and take home; our host was hilarious!

Another evening, we went to the Chiang Mai Cabaret Show, a great, fun, light-hearted way to end the day. You arrive for showtime and pay for your ticket at the door, which gives you a free drink. The show has two halves and lasts around 1.5 hours. The performers were excellent, talented, and very funny. We won’t give much away, but hold onto your husbands tightly; Andy won’t forget the experience, for sure.

On our final day, we went to the ‘Grand Canyon Water Park’ where you can unleash your inner child on the inflatable obstacle courses, slides and zip line. This was so much and we had endless fun slipping and sliding around the course. We were lucky it wasn’t too busy, although we were very knackered after an hour or two, so bring some energy. It felt very touristy but we actually think it is well worth it for an afternoon of fun! We took a taxi there, which was a little longer than expected, but we easily booked one back on our apps, too (Bolt or Uber).

Chiang Mai is definitely worth a visit. There are many nice cafes, restaurants, shops, bars, and a night market to explore. You can spend many lazy days here. The elephant sanctuary is the star of the show and provides an unforgettable experience. We wish the temperature were a little cooler so we could have had more energy for exploring. However, after weeks of travelling, some downtime reading by the pool was honestly quite welcome.

Recommendations:

• Great coffee shops and bakeries at ‘Fern Forest Cafe’, ‘Forest Bake’ and ‘Yelloo’.

• Playworks Shop and Cafe is a great shop selling clothes and other gifts made by local artists. Andy and I really struggled not to buy most of the items in the shop!

• Elephant Nature Park is definitely our recommendation for visiting an ethical elephant sanctuary and we recommend making the time to do the whole day trip.

• The Sunday Night Market was a great way to sit, try some street food, and buy a few nik-naks but the streets get very busy, so be prepared to come earlier if you want to avoid the crowds.

Pai

Pai was our final stop on our Thailand adventures, so it was time to relax and chill, as we knew our next leg of travels would get a little full-on again, given we had done a full itinerary switch and were now heading to Seoul, South Korea. We stayed at the Pai Village Boutique Resort in one of their garden villas and had a fantastic breakfast included. The hotel also had a lovely pool to sit around and enjoy during the hot days, and the hotel staff were all very kind and accommodating. Overall, there was not much to complain about; it was a great stay in a great location, quite mosquito-heavy given the type of accommodation, but you are provided with a mosquito net for the bed.

We were warned about the windy 3.5-hour bus journey from Chiang Mai to Pai, so we took motion sickness tablets beforehand and didn't find it too bad. The return journey was a little worse, but we blamed ourselves for eating right before. Don't let the journey discourage you from visiting, but definitely take motion sickness tablets. If possible, avoid sitting at the back, where you feel the bumps from the wheels quite a bit more!

Pai is a small town with not too much to offer beyond the cafes and bars, and ideally, you would need to rent a scooter to enjoy the sights nearby. We chose not to in the end but booked a group bus journey to watch the sunset at the ‘Two Huts’ one evening. The sunset was lovely but it would have been better to enjoy it over an hour rather than the 2 hours we had to fill. This would definitely be worth visiting with a scooter, but it isn’t worth the journey alone. Others also recommended visiting Pai Canyon, and younger travellers looking for more of a party atmosphere took part in tipsy tubing.

I believe Pai is great for young backpackers who want to socialize, enjoy drinks, and take a break from a hectic travel schedule. However, it has become quite crowded with tourists, making it feel too busy for us. It takes away from the feeling of exploration when Westerners surround you and see so few locals going about their daily lives. But, if you're seeking a place to unwind with a few coffee shops and restaurants in a rural setting, Pai offers just that. However, after spending three nights there, we felt ready to move on, especially as a couple who no longer fit in with the younger backpacker crowd.

Recommendations:

• In their beginner yoga class, I had an amazing experience at ‘Bodhi Tree Yoga’. The cost of the class was £6 and was enjoyable for even a beginner yogi like me

• We had some great dinners here, ‘Charlie & Lek’, ‘Blue Ox’ and ‘Pai Siam Bar & Bistro’

• Bring mosquito spray! Especially in the Garden Villa, we had to be on mosquito watch and sleep with the net they provided

Stay tuned for our next posts following our adventures through South Korea and Japan in our new, revised travel itinerary to shake things up!

We wanted to create this post as an overview itinerary for sharing our incredible trip through the beautiful country of Vietnam that we hope inspires others to follow in our footsteps. As a newlywed couple, we travelled down Vietnam for around 4.5 weeks, balancing both the high-end pampering accommodation and the simple, cheap, ‘never-going-to-be-in-anyway’ hotels along the way to give a well-rounded experience that feels would save someone else a heap of hours trying to plan a similar experience.

Below are our recommended itineraries based on your intended trip length. For each location, you can read our individual blog posts covering our whole experience regarding ratings, overall reviews, accommodation, bars, restaurants, and all the various points of interest we went to, which you can use for your own planning.

So, without any further ado, here’s our complete travelling itinerary for Vietnam.

Recommended Itineraries

10 Days

Hanoi (4 nights), Ha Long Bay (3 nights), Hai Giang Loop (3 nights).

21 Days

Hanoi (4 nights), Ha Long Bay (3 nights), Hai Giang Loop (3 nights), Ninh Binh or Phong Nha (3 nights), Hoi An (5 nights), Ho Chi Minh City (3 nights).

30+ Days (Our Route)

Hanoi (4 nights), Ha Long Bay (3 nights), Hai Giang Loop (3 nights), Ninh Binh (3 nights), Phong Nha (4 nights), Hoi An (7 nights), Nha Trang (2 nights), Da Lat (2 nights), Ho Chi Minh City (3 nights).

Route Summary

Place — Andrew’s Rating, Beth’s Rating /5 — Nights Spent

Hanoi — 4, 4 — 5 nights

Ha Long Bay — 5, 5 — 2 nights

Hai Giang Loop — 5, 5 — 3 nights

Itinerary Blog

Ninh Binh — 3.5, 3 — 3 nights

Phong Nha — 4, 4 — 4 nights

Itinerary Blog

Hoi An — 4.5, 4.5 — 7 nights

Itinerary Blog

Nha Trang— 3, 3 — 2 nights

Da Lat — 3.5, 3.5 — 2 nights

Ho Chi Minh City — 3.75, 3.9 — 3 nights

Itinerary Blog

General Vietnam Travelling Tips

• Use 12Go for all your intercity buses, trains or ferries.

• Use an E-Sim to get phone data and stay connected. It's more convenient than replacing your physical SIM and can be renewed from your phone as you go. I had no issues using Nomad.

• For taxis, the days of haggling and worrying about paying way above normal rates to get around are gone. Use Grab or Bolt based on availability.

• Cash is still king in Vietnam; be sure to take some out with you. ATMs usually charge and we advise using your own bank’s exchange rate if possible to save a few extra pounds.

• Premium VIP sleeper buses between cities are worth the extra money; the beds are wider and more comfortable, and, from experience, they actually have working charging ports.

• Book through Agoda or directly with the Hotels where possible; although you miss out on reward programs like that on Booking.com, you sometimes save enough money to make it worthwhile. Also, our special requests were much more likely to be accommodated when booking directly.

• Banh Mi’s are delicious and pretty much great everywhere in Vietnam, so there’s no need to wait 30 minutes at the TikTok-influenced places if you want one.

• Look up trains as an alternative to buses if the route allows. You can get cheap private cabins that allow you to stretch your legs in a way that buses can’t really accommodate. However, be aware of where the stations are on the map in relation to your accommodation.

• Scooters are very accessible and easy to ride in Vietnam; we never had to give our passports or licenses as a deposit, and they were very cheap on a daily rate. We also were never stopped by the police, though we always wore helmets. We have heard that they crack down more on tourists who don’t, so wear one!

• As UK residents, we had a 45-day visa to travel to Vietnam, and we were not required to show onward travel, easy peasy.

• From our own experience, April was a great time to travel to Vietnam. The Weather in the north was warm and dry; however, it was getting hotter and more humid in the South, but it was all manageable and I would choose that over heavy rainfall any day.

• Buy sunscreen, deodorant, and other important toiletries in the UK; they're gold dust out in Vietnam in terms of price. We also found that other products contained skin-brightening chemicals, which you probably don’t want if you’re as pale as me.

Andrew: 3/5 Beth: 3/5

Nha Trang was a more rogue choice on our itinerary, and in truth, this may be a more uneventful blog post. The honest reason why we came here was that we needed to head South from Hội An and knew how long the bus journey would take to go all the way to Ho Chi Minh City, so a couple of stopovers were necessary. Nha Trang is regarded as a ‘coastal resort city’ known for its long, curved beach, which seemed like an easy place to spend two nights relaxing. Our trip from Hội An took 11 hours, and we slept overnight on one of Vietnam’s VIP Sleeper Buses. These buses are premium compared to others we had experienced, most notably wider, so you’re not lying like a pencil, and we both (with the help of a sleeping tablet) slept very comfortably for most of the journey.

We found a simple, no-frills, clean hotel for our stay (Mojzo Inn Boutique Hotel), which came to a bargain of £25 for two nights with a private, air-conditioned room and bathroom! The hotel was a short walk to the beach through the night market, with an abundance of coffee shops and restaurants nearby. We would definitely recommend staying here if you’re seeking value, especially as our bus arrived at 8 a.m., but the hotel kindly had our room ready by 10 a.m. so that we could have a quick power nap and refresh.

In all honesty, we didn’t really do much here. We had planned to visit a mud bath, Thap Ba Mud Bath, which seems to be most notable here in Nha Trang, but with some beach-town lethargy setting in, we resorted to relaxing at cafes and restaurants, walking down the shore and watching some locals play beach volleyball. Without sounding like a broken record on all our posts, the weather was so incredibly hot that it was impossible to be out for too long; tourists and locals were zig-zagging the streets to find any shade they could while walking. Due to this, we shamefully succumbed to a McDonald’s (the first one we had seen in Vietnam) for a large Diet Coke and ice cream twice. Our favourite pastime, however, was to sit on beanbags on the sand at the beach bar, looking out at the sea with an ice-cold beer as the sun set, chatting away as we built up our appetite for dinner. Some of the best things to do in life are the cheapest!

Food-wise, it was pretty good; being a coastal, more resort-y tourist town, there was more than just Vietnamese food on offer, so we took the opportunity to mix it up and try some very satisfying Greek food, and we even found a lovely Italian to enjoy fresh pasta, salads and (actually good) wine. Overall, Nha Trang was worth the two nights and one full day we spent here to reduce our travel time and allow our bodies some time to unwind. We would say, though, if you’re cooking up your own Vietnam travel plans and days are precious, there is no need to include this on your itinerary, but if you do, follow in our footsteps and smoothly walk into a 5-star hotel (Meliá Vinpearl), dodging staff, to use their swimming pool for the nights you stay, it definitely validated our choice to go for the chill, £12 a night hotel we stayed in and gave us a fun story to tell.

Points of Interest

• Meliá Vinpearl Nha Trang Empire - Map

• Bãi biển Nha Trang (Beach) - Map

• Thap Ba Mud Bath - Map

Accommodation

• Mojzo Inn Boutique Hotel - Map (£12 a room per night)

Food & Drink

• Phyto Bistro Vegan & Vegetarian Healthy Restaurant - Map

• Alpaca Homestay Cafe - Map

• Greek Kitchen - Map

• La Cala - Gusto Italiano - Map

Da Lat

Andrew: 3.5/5 Beth: 3.5/5

Da Lat was a place that I (Beth) came to 6 years ago. Previously, we rented motorbikes and rode around the countryside to discover beautiful new landscapes around every corner. Da Lat has definitely modernised and developed over the past six years, and it wasn’t quite the picturesque city that I remember. However, overall, we enjoyed our two nights here with no regrets, and our trip was really made by an incredible tour on our second day, which we will talk about later.

It was a 3-hour and very bumpy minibus ride over from Nha Trang with the most horrendous driver that kept us airborne for most of the journey, with a poor woman being sick halfway through. This was just our luck for boasting about how excited we finally were to have a short journey… Lesson learned: never prematurely celebrate! We were dropped off at our hotel, which looked like it had been quickly built that morning, and the reception staff had no idea that they were, in fact, meant to be running a hotel and not a TikTok channel. Needless to say, we will not waste time talking about the hotel, but we wouldn’t recommend staying there. To make matters worse, Andy was in absolute horror when he realised we had accidentally booked a hotel without air conditioning, although luckily the nights here are much much cooler due to its distinct temperate climate up in the hills, so you won’t need to worry too about this when you are looking for accommodation, though, it wouldn't go a miss.

We spent our first afternoon at ‘Crazy House’, an unconventional building designed and constructed by Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga. Taking inspiration from architect Antoni Gaudi, the buildings are a maze of spiral staircases, themed hotel bedrooms, hidden nooks, and swirls of bright colours - weird, wild and wonderful are the only words to describe it truly. We had an hour of fun exploring all that Crazy House offers and being praised by Chinese tourists for our inventive photography skills and modelling; after all, if there’s no photo, were you really there right? You can stay here too in a series of uniquely themed rooms, tigers, bears, bamboo, you name it! Truthfully, it would be very noisy and busy during the daytime as people can literally walk past your room door and windows but are obviously encouraged not to pester, so privacy might be a concern. We discussed this and are still on the fence about whether this would be a fun spot to stay. We think it could be for one novelty night!

Our evening meals in Da Lat were spent at the same restaurant, Goc Ha Thanh, as we struggled to find inspiration for decent food that wasn’t overpriced and aimed at tourists here. It helped that this spot offered fantastic Vietnamese food at a great price and in a homely atmosphere, so coming back was an easy choice, and we recommend it! On the first day, we spent time walking around the lake in the late afternoon and got very excited when we visited our first large supermarket (why are foreign supermarkets such an event?), where we were greeted by dozens of dogs in glamourous sunglasses at the entrance … yes, truly. Sadly, it was a ploy to sell tourist photos, and the cute doggos weren’t really some special, fashionable breed we hadn’t encountered in the UK, but it was fantastically funny and cute.

Our trip to Da Lat was truly defined by a last-minute tour that we booked, ‘Mr Rot’s Secret Tour’, which was recommended by a friend and booked through doing lots of research online to find an email address or number (see below). As you can tell by the name, the tour is a well-kept secret with those who attend, and Mr Rot asks that it stay this way, for good reason, too. What we can say, without spoiling anything, is that the morning was unlike any tour that was advertised elsewhere, and it was the one moment in Vietnam where we were deeply immersed in a local community that would otherwise not be available to tourists (even other tours that might advertise something similar). Due to Mr Rot’s very unique personal upbringing and family life as someone who walks the worlds between Vietnamese and the K'Ho people (who mostly do not speak Vietnamese), we got to have some of the most wholesome, authentic experiences with the locals and Andy even got to bust out some dance moves and nearly got himself a new wife… Yeah, things really escalated quickly. In the afternoon, we visited a few more tourist sites while still staying in a small group and being taken to places off the beaten track. We strongly recommend this tour to anybody visiting Da Lat. The only part we missed was the Alpine Coaster, which we would have liked to have done if we had more time.

Da Lat was a lovely stopover on our south route, but the secret tour made the visit worthwhile; it offers something genuinely unique to the trip you can’t get elsewhere in Vietnam. Finally, we booked another VIP Sleeper Bus for 8 hours through the day, taking us into the heart of Ho Chi Minh City for our final stop in our escapade through Vietnam. We were actually booked through a bus tour company called ‘An Anh’ through 12Go, which was the best we had experienced in Vietnam, so try to book through them if you can!

Points of Interest

• Crazy House - Map

• Mr Rot’s Seret Tour - $42 per person, Whatsapp +84913953300

• Xuan Huong Lake - Map

Accommodation

• Thanh Thanh 3 - Map (not recommended)

Food & Drink

• Goc Ha Thanh Restaurant - Map

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Andrew: 3.75/5 Beth: 3.9/5

Our unique ratings for Ho Chi Minh City are based on it not quite hitting the cultural experience that Hanoi gave us, yet it was a nice hit of a more commercialised city with plenty to offer (and you could actually walk on the sidewalks!).

We had an incredible stay at our first Airbnb in Vietnam in District 1, above a bougie coffee shop that played Vinyl records throughout the day and served overpriced (but delicious) coffee whilst the local hipsters worked away on their laptops. We loved having our own mini apartment for the last leg of our journey, appropriately named “Funky Apartment”, filled with cute little details and amenities that gave a nice homely vibe, as our energy levels were depleting slightly as we neared the end of our Vietnam trip. The night we arrived, we enjoyed our trip's first takeaway: a delicious pizza from Pizza 4P, which was recommended to us. We ordered via Grab on the sofa, accompanied by a bottle of wine from the supermarket, while watching Netflix.

Yep, here we go again with the heat. Ho Chi Minh City was another hot city, so our days were about hitting the key locations, taking it slowly, and finding as much shade or air conditioning as possible. Andy spent the day at the War Remnants Museum, which we highly recommend making time for. I (Beth) had previously been, so I spent the time alone catching up on my own things.

The Indochina & American-Vietnam War impacted all the families of the country in one way or another, whether it was family members serving in the military, political views, religious beliefs, or physical disabilities. It was a historic period that Vietnamese people are proud of due to their resilience and strength against the odds. If you are interested in learning about the historical impact of the conflict and the true stories behind the war, you must visit the War Remnants Museum, although it can be a heavy experience.

Outside, as you enter, you will see an arsenal of old military equipment fielded by both sides, including a tank, chinook, artillery pieces, and planes, accompanied by some key facts. The museum building has multiple floors, where you will be guided through a mix of war stories, documents, films, key statistics, photos, equipment, weaponry, and other artefacts that illustrate everything that happened during the war, including the atrocities of Agent Orange. This dioxin-based herbicide caused severe health and genetic disorders, which are still being seen even four generations later. The room depicting the damage caused by this chemical was not for the faint of heart due to the sheer number of photos showing the effects on victims.

We also visited the famous ‘Apartment Cafes’, a lovely novelty. The nine-story apartment block has been transformed into countless cafes, restaurants and shops, and you can choose to climb the stairs and explore or pay a small price to use the lift. Convincing ourselves that we were still young and able-bodied, we climbed the floors despite the rampant sweating that followed and settled in a cute coffee shop to enjoy an iced coffee while overlooking the city from a balcony. Also, whilst someone is on hand ordering the coffee, we strongly recommend grabbing a doughnut from ‘Dosh’ on the same block to accompany it!

The rest of our time in the city was spent exploring Book Street, Saigon Central Post Office, cocktail bars and racing each other around the city via getting separate Grab motorbike taxis. Some reviews give the post office a bad reputation, but we enjoyed spending half an hour here to shop for a few more postcards to use as wedding thank you cards, write them there, and then send them off whilst exploring the little market stalls. It is also conveniently located next to Book Street and the Notre Dame Cathedral (which was under construction when we went, sadly). Also, I have to confess, I (Andrew) saw a cool area of Saigon called the Japanese Corners and thought it would be a great place to go for food that night, we did go, and it was streets filled with brothels masquerading as massage parlours - was a pretty funny turn of events and place to take my wife to before abandoning the plan, we live and learn to do a little more due diligence.

On our last full day, we booked a half-day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels through Airbnb. We were nervous about booking this as we knew it would be a long drive with only a few hours at the tunnels before returning to the city and wondered if it was worth it instead of exploring more of the city. You can also choose to include the Mekong River Delta in the trip, which, if you have a more limited stay in Vietnam, is recommended to do, but do it on separate days so you’re not rushed at both places by your tour guide; we ultimately passed on this because had a lot of similar experiences earlier in Vietnam and had limited days at our disposal to explore the city.

Despite some initial trepidation, we were glad we spent some time visiting the tunnels, and we think it was well worth the trip. It is touristy, that’s unavoidable, but just like the War Remnants Museum, it’s just really, really interesting to learn how the network of tunnels was utilised to sway the war in their favour through superior movement throughout the jungle, allowing to set ambushes and booby traps that kept American soldiers terrified of walking through the jungle. We enjoyed crawling through the tunnels too - albeit only doing the short ones whilst the rest of our group conquered the long ones, which even went to the second level of three, where it was much darker and hotter, returning from them looking a little worse for wear and sweaty!

In truth, they have made the tunnels almost two times larger now to fit us Western tourists; we’re not built like Vietnamese soldiers who were skinny, living off tiny rations back then. But the good news is that you can go through them now, and the immersion isn’t totally broken, as you can still see some of the original tunnel structures and examples of the brutal traps they used. If you want, you can pay to shoot various weapons on a range, but after exploring the war memorial, we personally didn’t think it was appropriate.

The only thing we would change next time would be to use a tour company that used guides with more knowledge about the tunnels' history in context with the war and their impact, and even a ‘script’ that they follow for the tour. Our guide was lovely, but we often got derailed on other stories or facts about Vietnam, missing out on questions we had about the tunnels or the Vietnamese war - at the end of the day, that’s what you’re there for! So for this trip, I would look into booking with a more well-known company that still keeps the group size to around 10 people maximum.

Ho Chi Minh City was a fantastic end to our five weeks in Vietnam. We loved our time here in a bustling, developed vibe in contrast to the vast majority of our trip, and there really isn’t much we would do differently except maybe the Mekong River Delta if we had another day. We now bid farewell to the city and Vietnam as a whole as we are now off to our next country and capital city, Bangkok, Thailand!

Stay tuned, though! We will write a separate, much more succinct Vietnam itinerary post outlining our completed route through the country, key information and tips, days spent at each location, and linking to our individual blog posts that you can bookmark and use if you so choose to make a similar journey in the future, or parts of it - and we could not recommend it enough! We have created special memories that will last a lifetime here, and we will always remember how beautiful the country is, how kind and welcoming the locals are to us as tourists and how, as a whole, it feels like a truly authentic adventure for those wanting a break for western culture.

Points of Interest

• Cu Chi Tunnels - Map

• War Remnants Museum - Map

• Apartment Cafes - Map

• Saigon Central Post Office - Map

• Book Street - Map

• Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon - Map

Accommodation

• “Funky Apt 2A” - Map, Airbnb

Food & Drink

• Cuc Gach Quan Restaurant - Map

• Hai Cái Tẩy Cafe - Map

• Ben Nghe Street Food - Map

• Pizza 4P’s - Map

• Secret Garden Restaurant - Map

• Dosh - Map

• Layla Eatery & Bar - Map

Andrew: 4.5/5 Beth: 4.5/5

Our travels down North Vietnam had been incredible, but we were starting to get that itch to unwind, decompress and have a little TLC in our lives. So, we decided to carve out a week in our plans to stay in Hội An. I (Beth) visited six years ago, but only briefly, and everybody on our travels mentioned how much they loved the ancient town. Hội An is renowned for its beautiful mix of French, Chinese & Japanese architecture, where there are more tailoring shops than people. The town comes alive at night with its bustling night market and beautifully lit lanterns that adorn the houses and float down the Thu Bon River, a unique tradition in Vietnam that originated from Chinese merchants in the 14th century. It is easy to see why it is considered the most beautiful place in the country.

Through a fantastic deal on ‘Agoda’, we booked in at the Little Oasis Hotel, a ‘boutique hotel’ between the old town and the beach, surrounded by rice paddy fields and boasting two swimming pools. More importantly to Andy, it had a fantastic breakfast buffet so he could enjoy himself like a six-year-old at Disney Land, and by that, I mean bacon and maple syrup waffles, chocolate croissants and endless Vietnamese coffees every morning. We would 100% recommend this hotel to anybody visiting Hội An. The staff were a pleasure to talk to and helped with anything you needed during your stay, and of course, the rooms were beautiful. There was also a gym with benches, machines, and free-weights (I (Andy) used this to justify going HAM at the buffet), great food and drink options with bars by the swimming pool and an hourly shuttle bus that takes you into the old town or the beach daily so you’re never feeling disconnected from where its all ‘happening’. There is not a single thing we can complain about; it was a true 5-star experience. Of course, mentioning that it was our honeymoon did get us a room upgrade and another cake!

You might expect that with seven days, we would have a bursting itinerary with everything to see and do in the town, but that was not the case; we stayed true to what our bodies were craving and used the week to recharge with a sprinkle of energic activity throughout our week. We had a lazy time roaming around the countless shops and stopping to have the ol’ favourite coconut coffee, try our first salt coffee (sounds awful, but it's quite delicious and tasted like salted caramel), and, of course, try to find the best western-style cappuccino in town.

The weather was HOT. It has been hot everywhere in Vietnam the entire trip, so that’s nothing new, but this is all-caps hot, bring-a-sweat-towel-out-with-you style hot. So, our day was often broken up by coming back to the hotel to cool off in the pool or to catch a breeze by cycling around to an air-conditioned lunch spot. No air-con, no deal. We had some great Vietnamese food, bakery bites, and comfort eats, both unhealthy and healthy, around the old town and beach; we’ve listed the ones that were memorable in our recommendations at the end. In the drinks department, unsurprisingly, good beers were easy to come by, with Huda & Saigon being our personal go-to’s, but more notably, we found a hidden gem of a wine bar that has a happy hour and does very nice, international wine called The Hill Station (personally would not recommend Vietnamese wine, sorry Vietnam). A trip to Hội An wouldn’t be complete without embracing the night market scene either, so outside of the restaurant and cafe experience, we did spend one night trying out all of the local food, indulging in chocolate banana pancakes, Banh mis, ice cream rolls, sugar cake, bean cake (disgusting) and copious amounts of beer and wine whilst watching the lantern-lit boats float down the river. Beautiful scenes.

The question everyone asks when you say that you have been to Hội An is if you got any clothes made during your stay. The town is famous for it, so naturally, we had a little FOMO to follow suit. We both decided to have a piece of clothing made for ourselves at local tailors, Andy opting for some linen trousers and myself going for a linen dress. This was a fantastic experience. We ended up going to separate places as the dress was quoted a much higher price in Andy’s tailors, but for half the price, the dress came out just as good. In total, it took around three days to make our items, and we stopped a few times to check on the progress and make the adjustments we wanted. Overall, we were both happy customers and enjoyed our new looks! I recommend going with pictures and a strong idea of what style you want; copying from a designer/ website is even easier! I think this made my dress-making process a little easier than that of Andy. If you have more items made, then definitely shop around for the best price, but consider the quality of the material they will be using. In every shop we went into, the women working there were very polite, and we never felt pressured to make a quick decision with them. Finally, if you get clothes made, do so at the start of your stay so you give yourself enough time for the alterations; you don’t want to rush what they are creating for you.

A MUST when you are in Hội An is the Secret Cocktail Experience. We booked this as a little treat for our one-month wedding anniversary on our last night through Airbnb, where we were taken to four secret cocktail bars with a small group of around ten other tourists. We had not been to most of these bars, and you would struggle to stumble across them alone. The cocktails were very unique and delicious; they were not just whipping up a martini and calling it a day, but the highlight of the tour was undoubtedly the host. Tinh, a local Vietnamese man, spent the evening diving into the history of Vietnam during our different stops and shared some delicate, heartfelt stories about his family history, which we won’t spoil here, but it was very moving. We also won’t reveal the secret locations of the bars, so go, and you won’t regret it!

With special thanks to our friend as another wedding gift, we had a great experience at the eco-cooking class. We were picked up from our hotel and began the tour by meeting our guide and group and stopping off at some local stalls around the market to pick up some items and gain some insight into key Vietnamese cooking ingredients. We then spent the next few hours cooking and tasting some of Vietnam’s most popular dishes. Fresh spring rolls, fried spring rolls, fried pancakes and pho. The cooking class was easy to follow and lots of fun and we enjoyed that you got to sit down and eat throughout instead of waiting until the end. To round it off, you have the option of going on a coconut boat at a more secluded location than other tour groups. Despite being short, it was lots of fun, and Andy even got a chance at trying to catch a crab … not too successfully. We would definitely recommend booking this class or something similar when in Hội An if you have the time (link at the end).

Side Quest: Bà Nà Hills - Da Nang

Looking for a one-day excursion during our stay, we decided to do a day tour of Bà Nà Hills in Da Nang. This former historic French vacation spot high up in the hills is today connected via long cable cars that take you around this unique, medieval-looking town, now more of an amusement park, above the jungle canopy. This was all organised through the hotel, including transport, lunch, water, a tour guide, the lot, and a nice rest from the DIY approach we are used to. Instead, we just got ferried around the location to see the sights and soak it in, which we were more than happy with.

To get straight to it, it’s touristy AF. There’s no beating around the bush here. It’s packed full of people, so this is no spot off the beaten path. That said, despite us often avoiding this sort of experience, it is a very unique place in Vietnam. There’s nothing quite like it elsewhere. And whilst it’s not our favourite place by a long shot, it was worth seeing as we had the luxury of time during our stay. There are some great views to see whilst walking around and on the cable cars, but the town itself is more of a theme park, quite average and not really why you are in Vietnam; you can also see they are building much more to turn it their own Disneyland in the coming years.

The highlight of the trip? This may come as a surprise as these places usually have the worst tourist-trap food in existence, but no joke, the lunch buffet at this place we went to, I can’t remember the name, but it was gigantic and genuinely high quality. Kinda laughable that this was the best bit of Bà Nà Hills, but it is what it is; go if you have an abundance of time in Hội And as we did. Otherwise, you’re probably safe to skip.

Points of Interest

• Secret Cocktail Experience in Hoi An - Airbnb

• Hoi An Eco Cooking Tour - Website

• Kimmy Tailor - Map

• Milan Linen - Map

• Dong Tay Barber Shop - Map

• Bà Nà Hills (Nha Trang) - Map

• Hội An Night Market - Map

Accommodation

• Little Oasis | An Eco-Friendly Hotel & Spa - Map (£48 per room per night)

Food & Drink

• The Deck House - Map

• The Hill Station Deli & Boutique - Map

• Hadi Coffee - Map

• Morning Glory Original - Map

• Red Dragon - Map

• Good Eats Hoi An | Vegetarian Cafe - Map

• Ellie's Cafe Hoi An - Map

• Nourish Eatery - Map

• The Espresso Station - Map

Next, as we head towards the capital, Ho Chi Minh City, we are doing a couple of stopovers to break the long journey up in Nha Trang and Da Lat, two nights in each with not too much planned; let’s see what we make of it!

Andrew: 3.5/5 Beth: 3/5

We did it! We stayed in our first dorm room at a hostel… and as we feared, we were unsure whether we would rush to do it again. Based on a friend’s recommendation, we stayed at Banana Tree Hostel, known for being the ‘social 'hub’ of Tam Coc (Ninh Binh). The hostel itself is located right on the beautiful Tam Coc River and has fantastic Western Food to enjoy around its lively pool and bar area. We can totally see why this is a hot spot for solo travellers or those wanting to get a drink with a group of friends and meet new people, and honestly, we would recommend it to anybody wanting this.

The beds in the luxury dorm room were comfortable, private and air-conditioned (although Beth’s bed did become the Arctic). Our ‘dorm friends’ were very respectful and friendly, and the shared bathrooms stayed clean throughout, which, to be honest, was a huge win. We easily rented bikes during our stay and had some laundry done; the staff were very friendly and helpful, plus they spoke great English, which made organising the days easier. However, for the same price, we would have preferred to stay a little out of the bustling town in a homestay. There was just something about being at Banana Tree that really knocked you out of the Vietnamese culture and vibe; after all, you are surrounded by a horde of Western folk the entire time. Also, we just wanted the luxury of a private bathroom; it’s the small things. This is down to personal preference. We do enjoy meeting new people, but we feel that we can get that through our experiences outside of the accommodation, so we enjoy being able to have our privacy in the evenings. So yeah, the TLDR, we might not be blogging about dorm rooms soon.

The weather was extremely hot in Ninh Binh, so we spent quite a lot of time reading around the pool and tactically jumping in and out to reset the sweat and body temperature every half hour or so. On our first day, we rented bikes and journeyed out to the Bich Dong Pagoda, which was free, although remember to bring clothes to cover up if you want to enter the temples. On our way back, we visited Buffalo Cave, where we met Mia, the friendly neighbourhood water buffalo, fed some ducklings, and tried our hand at fishing before being scared off by a massive hornet. All of this cost 75,000 VND, which included a nice cold drink, which was needed!

On our second day, we visited Trang An Tours, which costs 250,000 VND per person for a 3-hour boat tour. We chose to go around 3 pm when it was a bit cooler, and the weather was much more bearable. Each boat holds four people, and you will be rowed around (although they are grateful for the help, too) on one of 3 routes. We chose the third route and paired with another young British couple before setting sail, exploring a large cave and weaving through the landscape, including the iconic area from the film Kong: Skull Island. Altogether, you go to Trinh Temple, Dot Cave, May (Cloud) Cave, Suoi Tien Temple, Dia Linh Mountain, Dai Cave and Hanh Cung Vu Lam (Vu Lam Royal Step-over Place). We had a great time here, and the other people we shared the boat with were a great chat (you have 3 hours together, so you are way beyond small talk), so we highly recommend making the time to do this trip and many people we spoke to preferred this tour to the Tam Coc tours, which may be suitable if you have less time.

Overall, Tam Coc (Ninh Binh) disappointed us a little. We heard great things about the countryside and enjoyed cycling around, but we just felt the town seemed very touristy; maybe its glory days were gone, or maybe we got unlucky or didn’t hit the right spots. The hot weather meant we spent more time around the pool than we wanted, and we may have had a better experience if we had stayed in a homestay outside the main lake area. We did eat some great food, but this was from lots of research and trying to find something that wasn’t aimed at tourists or making the food more Western (we did have fantastic Indian food). I would still recommend visiting here if you have the time, as it is close to Hanoi, and getting a cheap Grab to Ninh Binh train station was very easy on our route to Phong Nha.

Points of Interest

• Trang An Tours - Map

• Buffalo Cave - Map

• Bich Dong Pagoda - Map

Accommodation

• Banana Tree Hostel - Map (£8 per person, per night)

Food & Drink

• An Tam Coc Restaurant & Coffee - Map

• Tam Coc Noodle Soup Restaurant - Map

• Aroma Indian Restaurant - Map

• Brick Coffee Shop - Map

• Lang’s Salad Tam Coc - Map

Phong Nha

Andrew: 4/5 Beth: 4/5

Our journey began with an 8-hour train journey from Ninh Binh train station to Dong Hoi. We opted to get a 1st class sleeper train during the day as we wanted to try out the trains and also felt this was more comfortable than an 8-hour bus. Honestly, we quite enjoyed it. The bunks were comfy enough, and we enjoyed being able to walk around and stretch our legs throughout. Our two bunk buddies kept to themselves, and it all felt safe and easy to do. The only downside is that our poor research meant that we did have to pay for a 45-minute taxi ride on the other end, which we organised through our homestay. However, we would still recommend this route if your budget isn’t too tight. As we presumed but still did not prepare for, food was very limited on board, and we ended up eating our pre-bought Banh Mi’s within the first 10 minutes and only enjoying boiled corn on the cob for lunch. Andy did eat a LOT of Oreos.

We decided to stay at Lucky Homes Homestay for four nights in Phong Nha. Our accommodation was clean and air-conditioned, with large rooms and a swimming pool. We loved our stay here. It was simple but perfect for what we needed, and at a great price, including breakfast and coffee every morning overlooking the Con River. Our air conditioning broke on night one, which caused Andy to go into complete disarray, but credit to them, they quickly moved us to a new room and miraculously fixed the problem overnight.

We rented a scooter from our homestay during our stay and drove around the idyllic countryside. It was Andy’s first time learning to ride a scooter, and Phong Nha is the perfect place to learn because it has rural, quiet streets, which allow you to take it slow and steady. We visited Duck Stop, which is an absolute MUST when visiting Phong Nha, where you get the chance to become a Duck King/Queen for the price of 100,000 VND. This also included a drink and some Vietnamese pancakes. We drove past the popular spots ‘Pub with a cold beer’ and ‘Monkey Bridge’, but these were both a little quiet when we passed around midday. In the afternoon, we drove to the Botanical Gardens, which really is them just sending you into the jungle and calling it a garden. It was extremely hot and humid, so bring an ample amount of water and try to do this in the early morning as it shuts at 5 pm, which cuts our time short.

The highlight of our trip to Phong Nha was our jungle trek booked through Jungle Boss Tours. There are many different treks to choose from, all with glowing reviews that take you through different routes, different caves, activities, and even camping for up to 4 nights. Considering we are truthfully more on the glamping side of the spectrum, and it was 35 degrees with high humidity, we kept it simple with the one-day Elephant Cave & Ma Da Valley Jungle Trek, and what a day it was!

We were picked up around 8 am, and other travellers from other homestays in the area joined us for the day. The group size wasn’t too big, maybe in total ten people, so the experience definitely felt like an expedition as opposed to just being ferried around as a pack of tourists. After a safety briefing from the team, ice-breakers to get to know each other and an overview of the day to come, we were given all the equipment we would need for the day, including helmets, head torches, towels, water bottles, and even provided trekking shoes so you didn’t have to get your own completely wrecked, 10/10 pre-prep.

After the brief, we took a bus into the National Park and began our adventure. I was expecting to ease into the day, but yeah, that was not the case, as we started with a huge incline heading up to the impressive Elephant Cave (zero elephants present), which has a 60-metre-tall entrance and is 300 metres long, walking through it with our head torches on made us feel very small but the experience was quite epic as from the inside you see the beautiful jungle canopy and rocks look almost superimposed over the giant entrances.

After the cave, we then began trekking through the jungle towards the Ma Da Crystal Lake, where the team had set up a makeshift base where they would prepare traditional-style Vietnamese barbeque food for us whilst we got to swim in the refreshing clear waters of the lake, not a bad deal if you ask me! We jumped in from the cliff-sides of the water, and despite being a massive pansy when it comes to freezing waters to swim in, words cannot express how magical it was after the intense sweat of the day. After cooling down, we sat down together and ate; we were lucky to have a great group, sharing our time with a couple from Barcelona & two friends from Ireland who were great company throughout.

Next on the agenda was to trek to the Tra Ang Cave, about an hour away from the lunch spot. We trawled through the jungles further before reaching the cave entrance. What I loved about this particular trek we did was that you have a little of everything, from the obvious hiking to exploring caves on foot, swimming in a beautiful little lake and for the final act of the day, we were to swim 300m into a cave that goes into total darkness and back for a new experience. Of course, you are given a life jacket so you don’t need to worry about your ability to swim so much, but I will say that it is something a little out of the ordinary and if you’re afraid of the dark or not particularly fond of swimming you might be a little uncomfortable, even I (Andrew) found it a little eerie when we switched all the head torches off and just floating 300m deep in complete darkness… But it’s worth it!

Finally, with the main itinerary complete, we trekked back to Ho Chi Minh Road, arriving around 5 p.m. There, we were greeted by the air-conditioned bus that would take us back to the homestay, but not before they whacked out a cooler of beers that they handed out so we could all toast to the successful adventure and drink; that first sip after the long day was the best beer I’ve had in Vietnam. Jungle Boss Tours was a recommendation given to us, and for those wanting to visit Phong Nha, I would say to do it in a heartbeat as you experience the very best of what the area has to offer in a much less touristy way.

In total, we had four nights in Phong Nha, which was more than enough time as it allowed us to spend our final day relaxing, drinking coffee and writing this blog as the weather was rainy too. Finally, succumbing to slightly poorly bellies, we spent our last evening at Drifter’s Paradise Pizza, which was authentic, delicious pizza and, personally, guilt-free. We missed out on visiting the Dark Cave and Paradise Cave as the bad weather and feeling poorly meant we didn’t have the energy to venture out, which is around 45 minutes via scooter. Everyone recommended that we do this, so I would add this to your itinerary during your stay in Phong Nha.

We caught the sleeper bus to Hoi An on our final morning, which took just over 8 hours. We were ready to start our week of relaxation and shopping!

Points of Interest

• Jungle Boss Tours (£52 per person)

• The Duck Stop - Map

• Elephant Cave - Map

• Ma Da Crystal Lake

• Tra Ang Cave - Map

• Botanical Gardens - Map

• Dark Cave - Map

• Paradise Cave - Map

• Phong Nha Cave - Map

Accommodation

• Lucky Home Homestay - Map (£18 per room, per night)

Food & Drink

• Lantern Restaurant - Map

• Rice House - Map

• Drifter’s Paradise Pizza - Map

• Coffee Station - Map

With both of us hitting 30 and recently just married, we’re taking some time out of the busy London life to break from being totally responsible adults and, instead, travel for five months across Southeast Asia. We’re writing this (very) informal, just-for-fun series of blog posts to hopefully help family, friends and others looking to follow in our footsteps in travelling these countries with our recommendations and thoughts in the places we’ve been. The advantage of travelling later in life compared to immediately post-graduation means you have a little more money in your pocket to make the trip more ‘comfortable’, which we’re hoping to take advantage of and give a slightly more unique perspective to the trip in what we thought was actually worth spending extra on.

We hope you find it useful as we trot across Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia!

Let’s get started with Hanoi…

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Hanoi

Andrew: 4/5 Beth: 4/5

We arrived in Hanoi from Hong Kong, and easily enough, we caught the airport bus 85, which took us minutes away from our hotel and cost 45,000 VND each (I would recommend). We decided to stay on Hoàn Kiếm Lake at La Sinfonía del Rey Hotel & Spa as it was the beginning of our honeymoon/ travels, and we wanted a little luxury to ease us in. The hotel did include a complimentary couples massage, which was the best we have both ever had, and also a great rooftop bar for cocktails and incredible views (I would not recommend the wine). The hotel’s location was unmatched and could not be more perfect. Breakfast was included, buffet style, with hot food to order. The rooms were super comfortable, and the staff were extremely attentive to anything we requested during our stay.

Hanoi is as busy and chaotic as you may hear about, and crossing the streets took a few practises and a lot of confidence (and hand-holding on my part), but this makes the city fun and charming. Restaurants and coffee shops are easy to come by, and you can ‘shop til you drop’ in the hoards of shops scattered around the Old Quarter. We did visit the Long Bien Market but found it very busy and crowded, and we didn’t have the same enjoyment of getting lost while walking around the streets.

We ended up walking through the whole city and only got a ‘Grab’ once. Downloading the Grab app works exactly the same as Uber and is super helpful for getting around without worrying about haggling over a price.

Our favourite part of Hanoi was taking the day slowly and stopping into coffee shops and restaurants. Many of the ones listed below were actually recommended to us by friends (thank you). We went to many more but have decided to list the ones we personally recommend to other travellers. We bought postcards from a little shop and stamps from the post office by the lake and began writing a few to family members while trying to find the best coconut coffee in the city (Hidden Gem Cafe).

Train Street is a must, although be prepared that you now have to buy a drink to wander down, this was still at a very reasonable price and helps the people who live/ work there. The Street Art Murals are just North of Train Street and seem to be a well-kept secret from other tourists. Free and beautiful. We spent an hour one evening at the Water Puppet Show, although we had mixed reviews about this from family and friends. Personally, we enjoyed it, and it was an easy activity in the evening. I recommend buying your ticket a few days before to get the best, cheaper ticket and the audio transcription when entering, as the show is in Vietnamese (unsurprisingly, we didn’t understand anything). We also walked past Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, although you must be covered up to walk around, so we skipped by this and headed towards West Lake, where we enjoyed an hour on Pedalos and drinking beer on deck chairs. On our last day, we visited the Hoa Lo Prison Relic, which took around 1 hour to walk through, and tickets only cost 30,000 VND.

We spent three days in Hanoi (an extra day after Ha Long Bay) and felt this was the perfect amount of time to walk around, see what the city has to offer and take the days slowly.

Points of Interest

• Train Street - Map

• Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre - Map

• Street Art Murals - Map

• Hoa Lo Prison Relic (Museum) - Map

• Hoàn Kiếm Lake - Map

• West Lake Pedalos - Map

• Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum - Map

Accommodation:

• La Sinfonia del Rey Hotel & Spa - Map

Food & Drink

• Bahn Mi 25 - Map

• Hidden Gem Cafe - Map

• The Note Coffee - Map

• Bun Cha Ta Hanoi - Map

• Gau Coffee & Bakery - Map

• MET Vietnamese Restaurant & Vegetarian - Map

• Hanoi Coffee Station - Map

• Poke Hanoi - Map

Ha Long Bay

Andrew: 5/5 Beth: 5/5

Considering this was a pseudo-honeymoon trip, we wanted to do Ha Long Bay in a little more luxury for a couple of nights, and despite having some contrasting views on the bay from other travellers regarding the high level of tourism, crowds or litter, we were very fortunate not to encounter any of it once we were out on the water, so perhaps here it is a case where in terms of money, what you put in, you get out. Our cruise provider was called ‘Elite of the Seas’, who picked us up from our Hotel in Hanoi via a ‘Luxury Limousine’ and drove us down to the bay to transfer to the boat. Here, it was busy for sure; I heard there were over 500 cruise providers operating in Ha Long Bay, so yeah, I wouldn’t be hanging around here any longer than you need to. Fortunately, once we were checked in, our bags were taken, and we were ferried off to the beautiful Elite of the Seas boat.

Elite of the Seas had a 5* white glove deck crew service that would literally welcome you by dropping petals on your head as you're walking up to the main deck before taking your bags to your rooms so you can explore the boat’s infinity pool. bar area, spa, restaurant and viewing platform. I thought it had a very modern, sleek, and clean interior, and the rooms were equally well equipped with Japanese-style toilets, air-conditioning, bathrobes, and more. The cruise itself had a 3-day itinerary starting from when we arrived:

Day 1: After arrival, we kayaked around the bay in the late afternoon before enjoying an 8-course dinner with a pianist providing a beautiful background ambience. This was followed by a cooking demonstration and live band entertainment in the evening.

Day 2: Breakfast and buffet, Cat Ba Island excursion, cycling tour, relaxing on a natural beach, boat viewing platform drone photos, a couples massage (a wedding gift from a friend, thank you), Vietnamese menu dinner, squid fishing on the boat, and live band entertainment in the evening.

Day 3: In the morning, we took a local rowing boat through a cave and into a cove, where we saw some monkeys chilling out before we headed back to the mainland and transferred back to Hanoi.

Of course, when booking the boat, we mentioned it was our Honeymoon and Beth’s 30th birthday, so the boat had a few little surprises, including the bed in our room having some fancy decoration made for both nights and being singled out at dinner both nights with the crew singing and presenting a cake to us—the other guests must have thought we were completely milking it (and yes, we were).

Heading back to land, you take another ‘luxury limousine’ back to Hanoi, where they dropped us off at our chosen hotel, this time Cheers Hostel, so that we could spend the night before our tour at 8 p.m. the next day.

Points of Interest

• Cat Ba Island - Map

Accommodation:

• Elite of the Seas

Hai Giang Loop

Andrew: 5/5 Beth: 5/5

How do we even begin…

The Hai Giang Loop has been the highlight of our trip so far. We booked our tour through Cheers Hostel after extensively researching the best tours to fit the ‘vibe’ we wanted. We didn’t want our group to be too big, but we still wanted to meet like-minded people along the way while avoiding the big party groups. Cheers Hostel offered us exactly this!

We decided to stay the night before the tour at the hostel and booked a private room. This made things a little easier, but it is definitely not essential. Our group seemed big initially as we were debriefed and headed off for our 6-hour sleeper bus at around 9 pm, but we split up into smaller groups when the tour began. We arrived in Hai Giang at 3 am and had a very brief but comfortable (enough) few hours of sleep in the dorm. You will be tired and slightly sleep-deprived, but the coffee and excitement for the day easily get you through.

If you choose to have an Easy Rider (which we strongly recommend as if you go solo, you’re biking at high altitude and expected to keep pace), you will meet them in the morning when they hand you a helmet, and you clamber aboard the back of their motorcycle. Every Easy Rider is different, and their bike, too. My rider was much more shy and seemed to have the smallest bike going compared to Andy’s confident and well-experienced driver (often directing mine the correct way when he got lost). Whoever your driver is, by the end of the trip, you will love them endlessly and grow to communicate through broken English, charades and toasting drinks with ‘happy water’.

It isn't easy to show with pictures or videos the views you will see and how high up the mountains you will go, but it was breathtakingly beautiful and the most incredible experience. Along the way, you stop at various viewpoints for photos or snack breaks and have an hour each day for family-style Vietnamese lunch, which was always delicious and a great chance to chat with other travellers. You will have a numb bum, but they break regularly, so you are never driving for longer than around 45 minutes. Most of the driving felt very safe but on Day 2 it was much bumpier and a few roads were still being properly built. Nevertheless, despite something that initially was worrying me, I never felt that I was in danger. We did get very lucky with the weather. Day 1 was a little chilly but dry, and the following two days were hot and the weather was perfect for our waterfall dip at the end of the second day.

At the end of the first day, we had our own private room in a hotel, which had air conditioning and was very clean. In the evening, we had dinner with our group and had a few drinks whilst Andy challenged an 8-year-old to a very close game of pool. The second night was at a homestay, where we had a semi-private room and a shared bathroom. I really enjoyed this place as it felt more homely in a rural area, and we had a chance to enjoy karaoke, breaking out Britney Spears and Journey before downing too much happy water in the evening. There was honestly never too much pressure to drink lots or stay up late, and everybody enjoyed the evening however they wanted to, but to be honest, in most cases, including ours, you are so tired from the day's activities you conk out early, still some sore heads the day after for the final day of course.

On the final day, you will arrive back in Hai Giang around 3 p.m., and everyone will disembark on their buses throughout the afternoon. We headed back on a 4 p.m. bus to Hanoi and stayed a final night at Cheers Hostel because we arrived around 11 p.m. We never realised that we could have taken a bus to another location (Sapa or Ninh Binh was on our list), which we wish we had done instead, although the bus journeys would have been much longer.

It goes without saying that we highly recommend making time on any trip to Vietnam to do the Hai Giang Loop!

Here are a few top tips:

• Check the weather and pack light. Things will get dirty and sweaty, but no one really notices or cares what you are wearing. Make sure you are comfortable. We wore trousers/ leggings the first day with a jumper/ raincoat. On the second day, we were both in shorts and a t-shirt, but we used a small sweat towel to sit on as the seat got hot and sticky on our skin. They provided us with ponchos if it rained, but we luckily did not need these

• Don’t waste space in your bag with things like iPads and Kindles. I never used mine. Also, check what your tour company provides. Ours provided towels, which saved space as well as water throughout the day. You can easily buy things at stops along the way or in the small towns that you settle in for the evening

• Make sure to tip your Easy Rider at the end. We heard that they recommend 500,000 VND per rider, so be sure to have cash on you for this

• Bring sun cream and mosquito spray. In the homestay, Andy got very bitten!

Points of Interest

Day 1

• Bac Sum Pass - Map

• Heaven Gate - Map

• Dong Van Karst - Map

• Hmong King’s Palace - Map

Day 2

• Ma Pi Leng Pass - Map

• Sky Walk - Map

• Meo Vac Town - Map

• Thâm Luông Waterfall - Map

Day 3

• Lung Tam Village - Map

• Quan Ba Town - Map

• Nui Doi Mountain - Map

Accommodation:

Organised by Cheers Hostel for the tour

• Hotel in central Dong Van

• Cheers Homestay in Du Gia

Food & Drink

• Traditional Vietnamese food provided by the Homestays & Hotel

Next, we’re off to Nimh Binh and Phong Nha, where we’ll share our experiences and recommendations in more rural Vietnam. Hopefully, we will experience some slow, scenic boat rides, trekking through jungles, and exploring caves.

See you then!

Andrew & Beth