Ho Chi Minh City (3 nights)

Loads to do! My first recommendation is to look up! In tall buildings that may have mopeds on the ground floor like a garage, there's a whole world to explore on the floors above – quirky coffeeshops, handmade clothes, artist studios, you’ll find the best places in these buildings. You can also get a nice view, especially in the evening. Ones around Ho Chi Minh square are great.

Above the general commotion of the busiest street in the ‘backpackers district’ there’s a nice rooftop bar called The View, 195 Bui vien, Dist. 1.

If you want to meet locals, head to parks on the weekends or during evenings. People will come over to ask to talk to you to practise their English.

>>>> early morning flight to DaLat (Vietnam Airlines)

 DaLat (1night)

A whirlwind visit but packed in a lot! We arrived insanely early but luckily found an open coffee shop to lie down in for a while. Had a totally different feel to everywhere else we went to. We didn’t have much time here but it was worth a visit. 

Trúc Lâm Temple was very peaceful. There’s a cable car that goes there but it was closed due to bad weather. We headed for shelter in a café nearby and then got a taxi to the Monastery – the bad weather had cleared out all visitors apart from another couple so it was just the 4 of us and a few monks walking around there. The leftover haze from the rain also added some atmosphere.  We walked up to Tuyền Lâm Lake too, that was beautiful.

>>>> easy rider day long trip to Nha Trang

There are so many people stopping you on the street asking if you want an easy rider trip. We ended up going to the Easy Riders Vietnam office, 71 Trương Công Định. The guys were great, had interesting stops on the way, and so much fun to travel by motorbike!

Nha Trang (3 nights)

It’s a Russian holiday destination, people will be speaking to you on the streets in Russian. It’s a small seaside town - 3 nights were possibly a little too long, but we had a nice hotel with a pool as the beach was so hot in the day.

We got up at 6 one morning to go running to a temple along the promenade and the whole area was heaving with the residents of Nha Trang of all ages doing some sports, from swimming to tennis, outdoor zumba and aerobics classes. It was the best opportunity to see Nha Trang residents doing their thing and we were the only tourists to be seen. From 7:30/8am the visitors take over and the locals stay out of the sun. The temple (Ponagar Tower) was cool too.

Had 2 great meals here: barbeque at The Livin Collective…..just yum! And Thai food at Ngò ri Coriander.

>>>> overnight bus to Hoi An (The Sinh Tourist) & taxi to An Bang Beach

We wanted to try an overnight bus and an overnight train. I preferred the bus journey, my partner preferred the train. Either way, this is a reputable company, seats were comfy and went back nearly all the way, and you felt like you had some privacy. Just don’t get left in a petrol station in the middle of nowhere like someone from our bus did…

An Bang Beach / Hoi An (2nights)

Hoi An was beautiful and you can easily see why it’s high on everyone’s list. Although we stayed outside the town, we still felt like we saw enough of it – during the day and night. Made friends in 11 Coffee too, the guys there are great.

We stayed in an airbnb near An Bang Beach – The Hippy Hostel. Had great hosts and the beach was a 5 minute walk away. There were people on the beach to greet you, provide a parasol or sun lounger at a cheap price, and they’d go to get drinks or food for you. The location of the airbnb meant we were a bit of a walk away from the main restaurants and shops, so it was perfectly tranquil. Loved it here. We also organised to rent a moped for an afternoon and drove to My Son Sanctuary. 

>>>> afternoon train to Hue

Few hours in Hue to visit the citadel and have dinner. Left bags with Mr Pho, a very nice man with a café by the train station. He’ll also give you food and a map! Had Dinner at at Nina’s Café, food was good.

>>>> overnight train to Ninh Binh

As mentioned earlier, this wasn’t my favourite journey. A room with 2 bunks for 4 people. I took the top bunk – it was boiling up there, and unfortunately didn’t sleep much at all.

Day cycling around Ninh Binh –

This was AMAZING, one of the best things we did! We left our bags and hired bikes from a place outside the train station called Dong Minh Restaurant. Super friendly and helpful. Visited some pagodas, caves, went up a mountain. Views were fantastic everywhere.

>>>> evening train to Hanoi (3 hours from Ninh Binh)

Hanoi (1 night)

>>>> early morning transfer to Ha Long Bay

Ha Long bay Cruise (2 days, 1 night) with Paradise Cruises – our little bit of luxury on this trip. Rooms were immaculate, private balcony, great hosts, decent activities, amazing food and plenty of it, comfy bed and quality bedding. A little bit pricey for us, especially seen as there were so many cheaper options, but worth it!

>>>> Return to Hanoi

Hanoi (2 nights)

Again, so much to do! Go on a street food walking tour. We did this one of the last nights, wish we’d done it at the start of the trip to know what to order when we went places! Ate loads of gorgeous food and met interesting people.

 Drink Bia Hoi (super cheap beer) on tiny little plastic chairs on the pavements/streets…do that all night!

General

All the trains, and the bus, was booked through baolau.vn – really useful website and easy to search routes to work out what works best for you! There is a service fee but it was quicker than going somewhere to book them in person in each city. Everything went smoothly.

We used uber a bit after being scammed in taxis a couple of times. Managed to not pay what they were saying both times, but still an uncomfortable situation to be in. Uber was safe, ridiculously cheap and lots of the drivers were fun to talk to. The cars were also in generally much better condition that taxis!

Having only been through Da Nang in a car to get to the train station to go to Hue, I wish we’d stayed 1 or 2 nights in Nha Trang and had some time in Da Nang as it just looked a bit cooler. We wanted to have 3 nights to relax and not be moving all the time, but Nha Trang wasn’t necessarily the best place to do this.