Vietnam suggestions

[justacey]

My BiL's flights are in reverse but that sounds a great plan.
An author "friend" of mine did Vietnam on the cheap and nasty. I shall have to read that bit of his book again (Shave My Spider). I recall his Halong Bay was a nightmare and so I don't fancy that so much.

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by justacey

My BiL's flights are in reverse but that sounds a great plan.
An author "friend" of mine did Vietnam on the cheap and nasty. I shall have to read that bit of his book again (Shave My Spider). I recall his Halong Bay was a nightmare and so I don't fancy that so much.

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That's a shame - we've been to Halong Bay twice and it's stunningly beautiful.

[PrincessBower]

Hi,

We did Hanoi and Hoi An as well as an overnight trip to Halong bay. We absolutely loved Hanoi and Hoi An (despite the heat! - we were there in April and we were on fire!), however, we felt Halong bay was ...meh... Don't get me wrong, its beautiful, but it just wasn't amazing and the transfer there and back from Hanoi was long. There were also too many boats allowed in the area, i think they should restrict numbers. As others have said, the people of Vietnam were wonderful; some of the best we encountered during our whole year out.

[mitch84]

I'd cut your Hoi An down slightly (although was my fave place in Vietnam its quite small, and schedule an overnight Halong Bay trip from Hanoi.

Check out the Hanoi Elegence hotels in Hanoi, really reasonably priced and they'll help plan your Halong Bay trip for you.

In Hoi An book a day at the Red Bridge cooking school, fabulous!

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by mitch84

I'd cut your Hoi An down slightly (although was my fave place in Vietnam its quite small, and schedule an overnight Halong Bay trip from Hanoi.

Check out the Hanoi Elegence hotels in Hanoi, really reasonably priced and they'll help plan your Halong Bay trip for you.

In Hoi An book a day at the Red Bridge cooking school, fabulous!

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Thank you I will check the hotels out. We were wondering if we were staying too long in Hoi An but its difficult to judge how long in each place.

[justacey]

This week we booked our flights to Vietnam. I wished I'd done them back when I posted in July as the prices have gone up. We're flying direct (with Vietnam Airlines) to Hanoi and returning from Saigon (with Air France changing at Paris). We considered cheaper flights but the timings weren't so good. We can have a shorter stop over at Paris as if the flight is late, there'll be loads of flights back to Heathrow, where if we were changing in, say, Hong Kong, I'd want a much longer gap.
Our plan is for 4 nights in Hanoi and 4 nights in Saigon with the remaining nights in Hoi An for some relaxing.
We've decided on Hoi An Essence hoianessencehotel
I think we're going for The Myst Dong Khoi in Saigon themystdongkhoihotel
We're still arguing about what hotel to have in Hanoi. Our short list was The Light Hotel hanoithelighthotel, The Lapis thelapishotel, La Siesta Trendy hanoilasiestatrendyhotel and The Chi Hotel thechihotel
I like The Light. It's only a year or so old and states it offers "sleek and modern accommodation" It looks like a Blackpool bed and breakfast!

If anyone has been to any of these places and can recommend a tour company for organising trips, I'd be very grateful.

[mitch84]

I stayed at La Siesta Trendy, and loved it!

[thebig40]

I love Vietnam, literally one of my favourite countries in the whole world!

I’d plan a tour if the country if I were you, it is long and thin so very different from the north to the south. It is easy to travel around with sleeper trains etc.

I’d want to visit HCM, Nha Trang for beautiful beach, Halong Bay, Hanoi and Hoi An. There are beautiful beaches near Hoi An too.

Such a wonderful place!

[debs2028]

I travelled Thailand , Vietnam and Cambodia this summer with my 15 year old son . It was wonderful . Hanoi is the maddest city I've ever been to . I much prefer it to Ho Chi Minh
Although we were keeping to a budget we pushed the boat ( joke in there somewhere ) on our Halong bay cruise and I can heartily recommend indochina junk cruises.
Unexpected highlights or our trip .. Phong nah caves truely exceptional . The Hue tombs , if you decide to go I recommend hotel la Perle inexpensive and wonderful .
Hoi an beach , stay late and watch the local people swarm down and set up what looks like whole kitchens . All the families make a party atmosphere.
If you are in Ho Chi Minh it's only a short plane ride to Cambodia and the amazing Angkor wat ... Honestly I could go on and on .

[justacey]

Thanks Debs, I'll look into those day trips.
We just booked our first Hanoi hotel - decided on Chi.
We are 3 couples and we decided we wanted Deluxe rooms and would book direct with the hotel website separately. Unfortunately I was a little behind the others, so they got rooms for £285. The deal had gone by the time I was there. Then I faffed and missed the next deal and so my price would have been £75 more. So I went to booking.com and got it for practically the same price as them. Oooo I was a bit stressed.
For the next 2 hotels, we'll do it as one booking.