Explore Vietnam from head to toe, including Halong Bay and the Mekong Delta, visiting archaeological sites and medieval towns, exploring both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and with time to relax on the beach at the end of your holiday.
Days 1 – 2: Hanoi
Hanoi, Vietnam’s thousand-year-old capital, is elegant, delightfully old fashioned, surprisingly leafy, steeped in heritage and utterly enthralling. Were it to lie within two or three hours’ flying time of the UK it would become the short break sensation of the decade. Stay at the elegant, French colonial Sofitel Metropole. You might also want to consider a side trip to Sapa highlands and hill tribes (see our Sapa extension itinerary).
Day 3: Halong Bay
From Hanoi, before striking south, you will detour northeast to Halong Bay, an archipelago of hundreds of hairy, ‘thumbs up’ islands that share the looks and geological CV with the more poster-familiar specimens in Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay. Cruise and spend the night on your own, private traditional junk, or, if you prefer to cruise in company, you could upsize to a larger vessel, the Halong Ginger (save £85 pp), or a replica paddle steamer, the Emeraude (save £112 pp).
Days 4 – 5: Hue
Leapfrog to Hue by plane. The imperial city, home to several generations of the ruling 19th century Nguyen dynasty, where you’ll find Vietnam’s single most important monument, the Citadel. Its heavily fortified royal court is enclosed by a ten kilometre red brick wall, with an inner sanctum known as the Forbidden City. Much battered during the war, it is now protected by UNESCO.
An even more agreeable activity in Hue is a boat trip by a sampan, with the head of a dragon on its bows, up the Perfumed River to see the fabulous tombs of the emperors. Stay at La Residence, a former ambassador’s house on the banks of the river, overlooking the Citadel.
Days 6 – 8: Hoi An
From Hue it is a four hour drive to Hoi An. Aside from its creamy white beaches, Hoi An’s medieval heritage is celebrated in its Chinese merchants’ homes, 16th century Japanese bridge and wooden shop houses now reincarnated as restaurants, cafés, bars and trading places for local artists, craftsmen and tailors. It’s one of the most appealing towns in south east Asia. Stay at the Nam Hai, on the beach, a short distance from town.
Days 9 – 10: Ho Chi Minh City
If you want to inject more beach time into your itinerary, we would recommend a few days at Nha Trang (see our Vietnam hotels for details). Otherwise head straight for Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City to give it its proper name, an hour’s flight from Danang but a journey to another age. Saigon is flash, brash and totally different from Hanoi although there are still plenty of colonial buildings in the French quarter to testify to a previous life. It’s also one of the shopping treats of the east, especially for textiles and handicrafts. There’s plenty of grim wartime memorabilia too, in the War Remnants museum, for example, and in the 250 km network of Cu Chi Viet Cong tunnels just out of town. Spend the next two nights at the Park Hyatt.
Day 11: Mekong Delta
Asia’s largest rice bowl is a watery landscape of bowling green paddy fields with coolie-hatted figures scurrying between plots, baskets balanced on bamboo shoulder poles, or leading buffalo ploughs. You’ll cruise the Delta and spend the night aboard the Bassac, a renovated luxury rice barge that goes to the Delta villages of Can Tho and Cai Be.
Day 12: Ho Chi Minh City
Return to the city for another night at the Park Hyatt.
Days 13 – 15: Mui Ne
Spend your last three nights in this utterly laid back beach resort, staying in the Princess d’Annam resort.
Day 16: Depart Mui Ne
Suitably relaxed after your days of touring, you can either fly home from Ho Chi Minh City or, to incorporate a visit to Angkor Wat, you could fly to the Cambodian city of Siem Reap and spend a few days exploring Angkor Wat and the region’s many other temples.
