I want to preface this blog by saying because of the time of year that me and my friends could get time off of work we visited in the shoulder season meaning there wasn’t a huge amount of backpackers in vietnam at the time and the weather was hit and miss at we went right at the start of the dry season so we didnt get the best of what the country has to offer. It was also towards the start of the trip, the first trip for my friend, and so we were still adjusting to hostel life and probably werent as proactive or outgoing as we were by the time we reached the north of the country. With that said I still found the north of the country to be incredible but was a little underwelmed with the south compared to what other people had told me beforehand so take my reviews of the south with a pinch of salt as I’m definietly going to have to go back in the peak months of March/April to fill in some of the places we missed out and give places like Da Nang and Hoi An a second chance.
Ho chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City is probably the busiest city you will visit in all of Southeast Asia. It is smaller than Bangkok but with a larger population and a far worse public transport system. Add to this the moped culture in Vietnam, and the result is a perpetual swarm of mopeds on almost every street. A lot of the time, there are no crossings on these roads as well, and so you are just expected to walk across and trust that everyone will steer around you. It is a crazy culture to be immersed in, and one that leaves you questioning how there are road accidents of any kind in England if this is how people can navigate in other areas of the world. Unbeknownst to us, the day we arrived was the day Vietnam won their first asian cup, against their rivals Thailand, in 7 years, and we just so happened to have been eating dinner next to Bui Vien walking street as it happened. Pure carnage. Tens of thousands of locals filling the streets, beeping their horns, setting off flares, and singing – a warm welcome to the country for us to say the least.
Ho Chi Minh City is a great place to start in Vietnam because of its historical significance in the Vietnam War. There is the War Remnants museum in the city, which for just £1 gives access to see a lot of the vehicles and weapons used in the war, as well as some of the brutal traps and punishments used by both sides; the most memorable being the ‘cell’ prisoners were kept in. It was a coffin-sized box made from barbed wire, which would house 4-6 prisoners at a time. Those on the bottom were crushed by the prisoners on top, and those on top were pierced by the barbed wire any time they moved at all. To make it even worse, the prisoners were not allowed to leave this box for any reason, meaning this box was also their toilet.
To add to this, you can also take a day trip from the city to visit the CU Chi tunnels. While the original tunnels are no longer accessible, some tunnels have been made to replicate those from the war, which you can crawl through. These tunnels are tiny and for most people can only be traversed on your hands and knees; turning aorund would be almost impossible and so it is inconceivable to think of a war being fought in them; and as we were coming to this conclusion our tour guide informed us that these tunnels were made 30-40% larger than the orginals to be more accessible for tourists. This site also has a collection of the traps used in the war with active demonstrations of how they work, and of course, at the end, there is the shooting range where you can test out some of the weapons used in the war.
With this being our first experience of Vietnam, it was also the first time we were exposed to the staples of Vietnamese cuisine. Our favorite was the Banh Mi, which is sold all over the country and is always incredibly cheap and so delicious. Have a water bottle to hand, though, as the bread they use takes all the moisture in your mouth with it and leaves your mouth feeling like you haven’t drunk in days.
Of course, the Vietnamese are also famous for their coffee culture, something I was very excited to try, and it did not disappoint. At first, their creations sound weird and wonderful, but they taste incredible. You have to try egg coffee, coconut coffee, and, my favorite, salt coffee. They are to die for, and I’m still experimenting with how I can recreate them at home.
In a high-rise city like this, there is only one place to head for sunset, and that’s a rooftop bar, and what better place to go than the tallest building in Vietnam, Landmark 81. We were amazed that this is free to enter, with a very reasonable menu. The bar is on the 75th floor and is accessible by an elevator in the main reception. Amazed at how cheap it was to eat here, we started having a look at how much it would cost to stay here, with its incredible views, 41st story infinity pool, and full gym and spa. This is where we learnt our first lesson in Vietnam: if it looks too good to be true, it’s probably a scam. We booked a room for just £40, which said it was in landmark 81; had a picture of the amenities listed above, and when we arrived, we were greeted at the main entrance… and taken to a completely different building; landmark 4. While this was a huge disappointment and a complete waste of a day, we used it as a recharge from hostel life before moving on to our next stop, Da Nang.
Da Nang
With this still being very early in our travels in SE asia we started off our time in Da Nang with some temple hopping and there are some fantastic ones here; specifically the Chua linh Ung Pagoda which is located on a peninsula just a couple of kilometers from the city Center and also offers fantastic views back to the city and coastline if you are here for sunset. This can also be combined with the Son Tra Marina, which is like a little bit of Greece has been transported to Vietnam; however, this was shut when we visited.
We also visited Marble Mountain, which has a collection of shrines, temples, and viewpoints both underneath and on top of the mountain. Which is well worth the visit. Of course, Da Nang is also home to Ba Na hills, which is where the Instagram-famous giant hand bridge is located. We chose not to go and visit this, as, after a bit of research, this seemed to just be one huge tourist trap with everyone paying an extortionate amount of money just for a photo, which makes the bridge seem a lot better than it is in reality; just a couple of meters above the ground.
If you’re here for Vietnam’s summer, the beach here is incredible, but we came just at the end of spring, and so we were not treated to anything resembling beach weather.
Overall, Da Nang can probably all be done in a little over a day, or could easily be skipped in favour of going straight to Hoi An.
Hoi An
Hoi An gets a lot of hype online with lots of people saying to spend 4,5 or even 6 nights here, and while I can see why it would appeal to some people, we didn’t rate it that highly.
It is most famous for its lanterns, which are everywhere and are lit every night. This includes the streets and, of course, on the river, where you can go for a boat ride and release your lantern. This is stunning to walk through, and combined with the night market, creates a great atmosphere.
Hoi An’s other famous quirk is its clothes markets and tailors. Here you can get almost anything tailored and made for you within a couple of days at very reasonable prices, and many people rave about how good the results are. To say I’m uninterested in clothes, though, is an understatement, and so this is something we completely skipped.
There is also the coconut boat trip, which is about 20 minutes outside of Hoi An old town. You get into a little oceangoing boat with a local who paddles you around the water coconut farms. Along the way, there are shows where some of the locals spin the boats as fast as they can, and you can pay to be spun yourself. There are even vendors with speakers playing local music, and karaoke at some of them. It’s a bit of fun, but also very odd, and another Instagram trap, to be honest.
Again, the beaches here are supposedly very good in the summer with some very cheap yet luxurious beach clubs, but this wasn’t something we could do with the weather. Instead, when we went to visit, we seemed to stumble across various ghost towns and half-finished and abandoned hotel complexes along and close to the beachfront. This is because, as Vietnam was experiencing increased tourism, they simply started building way too many resorts compared to the number and type of tourists they are attracting, and so these resorts lay dormant and unfinished.
Other people also use Hoi An as a stop to take classes in just about anything. Whether that is making your lantern to release later, pottery, coffee, cooking etc etc. However, we chose to leave Hoi An a little early so we had some more time in the North, where we had heard great things about. I feel like we missed the best of Hoi An, and southern Vietnam in general, and so this is somewhere I’ll head back to at some point to give a second chance, as many others rave about these locations. With that said, the north of Vietnam certainly lived up to the expectations we had, and that started with our next stop…
Ninh Binh
I think we got to Ninh Binh at the perfect time. Enough backpackers know about it for there to be some unreal hostels (make sure to stay at Tam Coc central bungalow) and a decent social atmosphere, but nowhere near enough for it to lose its charm of being well… just a village in rural Vietnam. Most hostels have bikes to rent, and spending a day cycling between the mountains and through the rice fields from temple to temple is as relaxing and beautiful as it gets.
There is also Dragon Mountain, which is a pretty easy 30-40 minute hike with some great views at the top throughout the day and for both sunrise and sunset. The highlight, though, is the Trang An boat tour. This is the first real taste of the stunning scenery and landscapes Vietnam has to offer. You’re paddled out in a little rowboat around the national park past various shrines, valleys, and through tiny caves.
While hear, make sure you stay in Tam Coc and not Ninh Binh town; this is where all of the hostels, bars, and activities are. There are some temples and a night market to visit in Ninh Binh town, which would be worth it if you rent a moped, but probably worth skipping if you’re on bikes.
With that said, our bike trip in Ninh Binh town was inadvertently one of the best days while we were here, as we stumbled across some locals playing 6-a-side and ended up joining in with them for an hour on our way to the night market. The cycle home on the side of a dual carriageway after sunset was sketchy, to say the least, and not something I’d advise anyone to try. If you’re going to cycle there, make sure you’re back during daylight.
Cat Ba
Cat Ba is the biggest island located within the Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba archipelago; a UNESCO World Heritage site formed by over 2000 karsts and islands, and attracts millions of visitors every year for its insane natural beauty. There are several ways of visiting the bays, and we chose to do it by staying on Cat Ba Island and taking a boat trip through the bay from here. This is significantly cheaper than the luxury cruises, which run from Ha Long city and can last for 1/2+ nights. Both are incredible options and something you can’t skip if you are coming to the north of Vietnam, as the bay is unbelievable. Our boat trip cost just £20 from Cat Ba bay, which included pick up, drop off, lunch, snacks, a couple of hours kayaking around the islands trying to spot monkeys, and a full cruise around Lan Ha bay, some of Ha long bay, and to some of the floating fishing villages. The cruises are far more expensive, starting at around £100 for the 1-night options, and I’ve heard hugely contrasting reviews of these. As Ha Long Bay is far more well-known and with larger areas of open water, there tends to always be several big ships around at all times, which detracts from the experience. Being on a smaller boat with a far less known and smaller company meant we were often by ourselves and could be completely emersed in the area despite being there for less time.
Hanoi
Hanoi is, for me at least, just another big city. In the future, the kind of place I’ll try to completely leave out of my itinerary, or use solely to stop off as a hub in between the other locations. For example, you’ll likely have to stop off here if you’re going to do the Ha Giang loop, go to Sapa, or to get to Ha Long if you’ve not come from there. Of course, there are some positives here with the markets being incredibly diverse and ridiculously cheap. The saying is that if you don’t come to Hanoi with a full backpack, you’ll leave with one, and it’s completely true; we used this to pick up some warmer clothes and gloves in preparation for the Ha Giang loop, but could easily have picked up a whole wardrobe of clothes for next to nothing. Of course, it wouldn’t be a hostel in a city without a bar crawl as well, and the one run by Central Backpackers was pretty good, to be fair.
Of course, there is also Train Street, which is pretty cool to go and visit to sit and have a coffee while the train brushes past – quite literally centimeters from your legs. When the waitresses come around to take away tables and tell you how to sit, pay close attention, as there are some painful videos online of people who haven’t and then get their legs smashed out of the way as the train rolls on by.
This seems a great place if you’re working remotely and want to cafe hop for a week or need a base for any reason, but in terms of activities or things to do, Hanoi isn’t somewhere I’d go back to in any rush.
Ha Giang Loop
I can’t quite put into words just how good the Ha Giang loop is; it’s incredibly difficult to put into words as it’s an experience that has no right being as good as it is. You sit on the back of a moped for six hours a day – uncomfortable by anyone’s standards – stopping every hour or so to look out over viewpoints or to eat lunch. You then stop at a hostel which is about as basic as it comes – often with dorms of 20+ people (the worst I’ve heard of was 56) with no privacy curtains and few showers. Just to relax in the evening with only a deck of cards as entertainment, get drunk on happy water over dinner, and sing karaoke into the night. Just to wake up at 6 am hungover, to jump on the moped with your, also hungover, easy rider, and do the same for 4 days, 3 nights. Doesn’t sound like fun. And yet it’s in literally everyone’s top 2 or 3 experiences from Southeast Asia.
There are two main aspects that make the Ha Giang loop so good. The first is the scenery. This area is stunning to say the least and my only regret is not getting my camera out that much (cameras aren’t built to be thrown around on the back of a moped and your bags are usually wrapped in plastic to stop them being ruined and so you cant get anything out of them while out on the bikes for the day). There are very few places in the world that are still left as untouched as this area of Vietnam. You are riding around dirt tracks, roads along cliffsides with no safety barriers, and even roads that are under construction as you go over them. There is almost no infrastructure besides the small villages dotted throughout the region, which means the only people here are the locals and you. All be it there are now a fair few companies which run moped tours, and so there will be several groups of mopeds you run into every now and again, it still feels like you are experiencing the untouched beauty of this region in Vietnam.
The second is the company. You’re put into groups of 6-8 people, usually all from the same country, and you spend almost every second of the loop with them. From stopping at the viewpoints, to eating 3 meals a day, to sleeping 2 feet away from them on a mat in a lodge. Every person who goes on the loop is at some point on the same trip as you. Whether they have done the same route, are heading in the opposite direction or even continuing to the same places as you its so easy to connect by sharing all of the stories of your trips so far, tips for places one of you has been that the other is going to etc and so I’ve heard of so many people who end up meeting people that they then continue to travel on with for periods because of how close they have become on the loop.
There are two main considerations when planning the Ha Giang loop, and those are which company you choose to go with and whether you choose the 3 days 2 nights or the 4 days 3 nights. The second decision is the easier one, and that is you have to do the 4-day 3 3-night tour as it just adds so much value to the experience. You get to complete the tour at a slower pace and have some extra areas and activities added in. When it comes to which company to go with, there are pros and cons to all of them. I went with Mama’s homestay and had an incredible experience. All of our easy riders were great, the food was always really good, and while the accommodation was basic, it could have been a lot worse. The only downside is that it is one of the bigger companies, and so we were in a group of 8 during the day, but also a larger group of about 40 in the evenings, so if you’re not so interested in the party/social side of the tour, it may not be best for you. If you choose to go with anyone else, just make sure you thoroughly research them, as some companies have reputations for being a lot less safe than others, which, of course, should be the top priority.
