Visiting Vietnam

This is the most accurate post.
NORTH
1) Ha Noi is a nice city with many places to visit.
2) Sapa is recommended by people who went.
3) Ha Long bay is good for a day with a boat tour in the bay and visit some caves. You have time to swim if you go on a tour of your own. This is true everywhere and it's not that expensive to ask them to organize a tour for just your family. The beach at Ha Long is not that impressive though.

CENTRAL
4) Hue is an old city with many places to visit. Should go cruise the river Huong at night. Each boat has a singing group to entertain you, very relaxing.
5) Da Nang is a nice, clean city, maybe the cleanest of them all. Not many places to visit but the beaches are probably close to the best in VN. The locals only swim in early morning and later afternoon. During the day, there are only a handful.
6) Hoi An is a nice old Chinese town with a few places to visit.

SOUTH CENTRAL
7) Nha Trang has good beaches but more crowded than Da Nang. There is a World class resort and a small but good modern theme park off shore. You take the cable car over the water to the island, very nice view, or you can take the boat, part of the $15 (I think) 1 day ticket. The theme park is 1/4 size of Six flag + 1/2 Schlitterlbahn together. Some rides have no line. We went on one ride, finished it, stayed in the car and asked them to run again. No problem. You can go snorkel or dive in Nha Trang.

8) Da Lat is a nice city on the highlands with many hills, lakes, great golf course. Good cool weather.

SOUTH
9) Sai Gon of course, tons of things to do and many, many people to do it with!
The tunnels are at Cu Chi, north of Sai Gon. Just some holes in the ground in a jungle with lots of bamboos. It's an experience.

Food is good everywhere but you can get sick easily if you eat the uncooked stuffs like lettuce. Fruits are ok. Bring your own medications.

The weather will be hot in Sai Gon in April, low 90s. In the North, hi 70s, lo 80s.

Last but not least, a 18 month old on this trip? You better bring everything you need and it's best to stay away from the South. It's just as hot as summer in Houston, except you don't always have AC where you go.

 

7) I think what you're talking about is the Vin Pearl in Nha Trang. A great great great place to stay. It also didn't hurt that the Miss America Swimsuit pageant was held there at the same time we were there .

Anyways, our family did a 3 week trip across then entire country of Vietnam to see the sights and visit family. It was an absolute amazing trip. Halong is just ok for 1 day. Just a boat ride and a canyon trip should suffice there. After touring north, middle, and south, we loved staying in the South, Nha Trang and Sai Gon, the best since there were more bars, clubs, etc to see. Plus in my opinion the food is 10x better in the south than anywhere else we went. Ill try and look up the place we went to, it was pretty much an all you can eat buffet of the best Vietnamese food ive had in a while.

Best of luck to you. Hopefully you can get a great deal and see some amazing things there.

 

If you don't do the South, you can fly into Ha Noi , visit Sapa and Ha Long Bay by train/ bus but stay over night.

Fly from Ha Noi to Da Nang, you can do the beach at Da Nang and visit Hoi An and/ or Hue. I haven't been to the beach at Hoi An. I was told it is ok, not as good as Da Nang or Nha Trang. Hoi An is only an hour drive South of Da Nang. Hue is 2 hr north of Da Nang. Again you can make it a 2, 3 night thing.

Nha Trang, I believe is 10, 12 hr drive south of Da Nang. Sai Gon is another 10 hr drive. With a child, you have to fly but flying to do a 1-2 day trip is not worth it.

You can ride an elephant in Da Lat, Komtum, the cities in the Highland but they are far from your other destinations.

 

Don't forget to look up "Dat Ho" in a phone book. Take a picture and post it for us to snicker...

 

I traveled to Vietnam once before when I was younger and Vung Tau was the place I stayed and it was so nice over there. Last summer some of my family went back and they said it was way nicer than before and they also went to Nha Trang but they said it wasn't as great as everyone said it was. You have to go check out Vung Tau when you're over there. It's such a pretty place with great beaches. Maybe you can post pictures when you're back?

 

That looks good but I am not sure what you can do in Halong Bay for 3 days. As far as boat companies go, you have to check with your contacts there, the hotel, your bus driver ... I imagine there are more reputable companies than others but there are noone stand out that I know of. What I would suggest is you rent a boat exclusively for your group. If you go with a big tour group, you have to go on their schedule. When I went 3 yrs ago, we had 5 people in our group, rent a boat (that they usually use for 20) for ourselves for ~$20 a day I think. You can tell (or at least ask) them where to go and when to stop. You can take your time out in the water, when u r out there, there will be smaller (tiny) restaurant boats that come by and cook fresh seafood for you. Try that.

 

Vung Tau (~60 miles ENE of Saigon) is a good beach and it is much better than it was 20, 30 yrs ago (back then it was like Galveston). Nha Trang is and has been a good beach forever. Maybe the expectation makes people think Vung Tau is better but it's not.

 

The boats all seem identical, you book them through your hotel/travel agent. Unless you speak vietnamese I don't think you're going to be able to investigate and differentiate. Be careful, one of the crewmen stole an mp3 player out of my bag when i was there.

 

When I went, in the morning we drove from Ha Noi to Ha Long bay, that took ~3-4 hrs, (I can't remember for sure). In the afternoon, you went to the beach, ate, a little tour around town (but there wasn't much to see). Stayed overnight in a hotel. The next morning we went on a boat around the bay, visited a few caves. Ate lunch on the boat. Drove back to Ha Noi in the afternoon.

When my sister went, she did the same thing except they stayed overnight on a boat one more night. I am not sure what else to do there.

You can still do that or use the extra night to see if you want to go to Sapa. I didn't go there but a few people I know say it's a different experience to go there.

 

You do have to be careful when you go, there are pickpockets and thieves around. They are also some who would just ride up to you on motorbike, grab your purse and flee. Not all the time but I have seen them. A guy tried to grab my wife' purse when she was on a motorbike with a friend in Saigon but she held on to it. They go after easy preys, women or those who are not alert, mostly. Luckily, they don't stick you up with weapons. They are there but they don't go after small stuffs.

 

In Singapore, be sure to check out Sentosa. It's a very relaxed setting, and has a day's attractions. The zoo, night safari, and Jurong Bird Park in Singapore are all worth a visit. Given your time in Singapore you probably won't get a chance to, but do try to at least fit one of those in there. The Bird Park was my favourite personally.

For a single city Singapore has tourist attractions that some countries can't even match.

 

Smeggy,

If you like beaches, my bud who is a professional travel photographer, told me that Phu Quoc has the most beautiful beaches he's ever seen.

 

I think I stayed for about two nights in Bai Chay (sp?) at the Bach Dang hotel, IIRC. It was ok, pretty bland though.