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Hey fellow travellers!
We’ve decided on Vietnam as our next family trip (2 adults, 2 older teens) … normally we travel in the summer school holidays but having settled on Vietnam we think December offers us the best opportunity with decent weather all round. We have a rough schedule as below – we reluctantly dropped Central Vietnam – Hoi An specifically from this due to ‘not being able to do everything’ and also saving it for another trip when we can go when the weather is better. It would be great to get views on how sensible or not it looks and any tips on the places welcome 🙂
Been looking at hotels and no issues with most – in fact surprised at how reasonable rates are. However, Phu Quoc seems super expensive and would love to get recommendations for where to stay with comfy rooms ideally family rooms, swimming pool, near the beach but doesn’t have to be on the beach front and near local restaurants. Ideally looking for something with a bit of character as opposed to the large mega resorts. I don’t have hotel status so not wedded to a hotel chain specifically.
day 1 – travel day, fly London to Hanoi
day 2 – arrive Hanoi mid-morning, Hanoi settle in
day 3 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 4 – Halong Bay day cruise
day 5 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 6 – drive to Ninh Binh, Hang Mua
day 7 – Ninh Binh, Trang an boat trip,
day 8 – drive to Hanoi, fly to HCMC
day 9 – HCMC sightseeing
day 10 – HCMC Mekong Delta day trip
day 11 – HCMC sightseeing
day 12 – fly to Phu Quoc
day 13 – Phu Quoc
day 14 – Phu Quoc
day 15 – Phu Quoc
day 16 – travel day, fly to HCMC and then fly to London
Day 17 – arrive London early morningWe’re doing Halong Bay, followed by Ninh Binh the next day and then going to Hanoi a couple of days later, rather than going back & forth.
There are some private drivers that will do a one way transfer. We found someone who will do the 3.5 hour journey from Tuan Chau jetty to the accommodation in Tam Coc for $85 USD (for the whole car).
He is also arranging motorbike tours for us around Ninh Binh for $25USD or $48 USD depending on whether we need a guide, entrance tickets and food etc
I reckon this will save half a day on your itinerary, if you swap days 4 & 5.We’ve decided to drop the Mekong Delta. Many people advised us it isn’t worth going for a day trip due to the lengthy travel time, leaving very little time to do anything once there. We’ve been told to do ideally 2 nights, or 1 night at worst, but forget about a day trip. So we’ve reassigned that day to visiting the chu chi tunnels and such.
Hey Aston – thanks for the reply!
I was thinking as we are doing a day cruise we’d return back to Hanoi for that evening to the same hotel. Are you suggesting doing the Ha Long cruise on day 5 for me and then driving that evening to Ninh Binh? So …
day 1 – travel day, fly London to Hanoi
day 2 – arrive Hanoi mid-morning, Hanoi settle in
day 3 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 4 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 5 – Halong Bay day cruise, drive to Ninh Binh
day 6 – Ninh BinhAlso – yeah wasn’t sure about Mekong as well … but then 4 nights in HCMC seems too long!
@tygerbright – while everyone needs to choose their own holiday destinations, it’s worth researching Phu Quoc quite thoroughly; it’s quite literally a tip – see the comments on the attached review. The rubbish in the sea and which lands on the beach every day is gross and as for the box jellyfish… Pre-Ukraine it was rather over popular with Russians. I’m sure other can advise better beach locations.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/07/24/review-regent-phu-quoc-hotel-resort-vietnam/
day 1 – travel day, fly London to Hanoi
day 2 – arrive Hanoi mid-morning, Hanoi settle in
day 3 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 4 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 5 – Check out of hotel; Halong Bay day cruise (suitcases aboard); drive to Ninh Binh; overnight Ninh Binh
day 6 – Full day Ninh Binh; overnight Ninh Binh
day 7 – Full day Ninh Binh – drive directly to an airport (21:50 departure from Thanh Hoa THD maybe?)This gives you an additional full day to allocate somewhere. Seems to be several daily flights from THD which is quicker to get to than back to Hanoi.
Bear in mind I’ve not visited Vietnam, but my itinerary is set and is based on lots of research and input from knowledgeable people.
@tygerbright – yes four nights in HCMC is quite a lot. In fact, personally I would question going there at all. Most interesting stuff has been bulldozed and badly rebuilt. Hanoi has been somewhat better preserved and the setting is so much better.
Cheers @JDB!
Yep Phu Quoc seems massively overdeveloped and I’ve read some hotel reviews where rubbish is mentioned. Thing is where else in Vietnam would work for a bit of a chill beach break in December? I was struggling with alternatives – e.g. Con Dao seems nice but wrong time of year to visit?
@Aston100 – I didn’t even think to fly out from near Ninh Binh itself! … according to flights from website there are 12 daily direct flights from THD to SGN so I’ll check this for sure. Also – any thoughts on Hoi An in December? What’s you itinerary looking like if you don’t mind sharing that is!I wonder I should add Hoi An back into the trip now as well …
Hoi An is somewhere we went for a day and wished we’d stayed longer. We will be at the IC Phu Quoc in just over a week for 8 nights, I don’t intend to leave the hotel much, it just fits nicely with our itinerary. I’ll provide an update a few days after we check out. I do understand @JDB point of view and having read the reviews of the island I considered switching, but finding something similar would have probably involved a flight to Thailand. Fingers crossed the IC is OK, especially as Diamond Ambassador with lounge access.
@strickers if you stay in the hotel you should be fine but for us staying inside the hotel or regularly eating there when in interesting places is total anathema! Also don’t like being by the sea and not being able to swim in it.
It’s quite sad how badly Vietnam is managing tourism. In Phu Quoc they have just built far, far too much without the corresponding infrastructure – roads, water, sewage, rubbish disposal plans etc. My wife was fortunately very forgiving for the first ever major holiday booboo in 25 years, but said we should perhaps have been on notice with the Phu in the name.
Yuck! – didn’t like what I read there @JDB about the rubbish on the beaches 🙁
Here’s a totally mad switch up with Khao Lok as an alternative for the chill part of the trip and added Hoi An in!
day 1 – travel day, fly London to Hanoi
day 2 – arrive Hanoi mid-morning, Hanoi settle in
day 3 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 4 – Hanoi sightseeing
day 5 – Halong Bay day cruise, eve drive to Ninh Binh
day 6 – Ninh Binh sightseeing
day 7 – Ninh Binh sightseeing, overnight train to Da Nang
day 8 – arrive Da Nang midday, drive to Hoi An
day 9 – Hoi An sightseeing
day 10 – Hoi An sightseeing, late flight to HCMC
day 11 – HCMC sightseeing
day 12 – fly to Bangkok, fly to Phuket, drive to Khao Lok
day 13 – Khao Lok chill
day 14 – Khao Lok chill
day 15 – Khao Lok chill
day 16 – fly to Bangkok, fly to Londoncould even drop HCMC entirely and split extra days across Ninh Bin/Hanoi/Hoi An
what thinks ye?
Isn’t there a daily non-stop Vietjet flight from Saigon to Phuket?
@JDB It’s a tricky one and I agree, heading out to family run restaurants for food in SE Asia is what makes it fabulous. Hopefully between the lounge and Grab we will have a relaxing time and still enjoy some local grub.
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