Vietnam with children: what works, what does not, and what we change
Vietnam is one of the easiest countries in Asia to travel with children, and family trips here go wrong for one reason above all others: the route is too long. Parents book the full length of the country because that is what the two-week itineraries show, and then spend four of fourteen days moving.
The fix is not a shorter holiday. It is a shorter route with the same number of days in it.
The three rules we apply
One. Fly the long legs, without exception. Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is two hours in the air and 32 to 35 hours by train. On a family trip we fly the regional hops and drive only within a region. Two internal flights on a two-week route is normal and it buys back three days.
Two. One hotel change every two days at the very least, with a beach in the middle. Road speeds here are low, so transfer days are longer than the map suggests: Hanoi to the bays is two and a half hours, Hanoi to Pu Luong four, Hue to Hoi An three. A family route of four bases in twelve days works. Seven bases does not.
Three. Outdoors before ten, pool or shade after two. Vietnam is hot for most of the year in most of the country, and children lose their tolerance about two hours before adults notice.
What genuinely works
The water puppets in Hanoi. Forty-five minutes, live music, puppets on a flooded stage, an art form that came out of the flooded rice fields of the north. No language needed. The best first evening in the country for a family.
The Museum of Ethnology, out in the Hanoi suburbs, where the outdoor section has full-size houses from around the country that children can walk into. Better than any temple for holding attention.
Two nights on the bay. Kayaking, swimming off the boat, caves, and a cabin with a window onto limestone. One night is mostly transfer, two is a holiday. Lan Ha and Bai Tu Long carry a fraction of the traffic of the main Ha Long route.
Ninh Binh by rowing boat. Someone rows you through flooded caves at Trang An while your children trail their hands in the water. Around two hours, and the boats are rowed with feet, which is worth the ticket on its own. Go early. Mua Cave next door is 500 steps and a good ask for over-tens.
Hoi An, which is the family capital of Vietnam. Bicycles on flat lanes, An Bang beach fifteen minutes away, lantern making, a cooking session that starts at the market, and a tailor who will make a child something absurd in a day. Three nights. Our article on Hoi An and the centre covers how to use the town at the right hours.
A rice and buffalo morning, near Hoi An or in Mai Chau: planting, a water buffalo, a basket boat. Muddy, funny and the thing they talk about afterwards.
The Mekong Delta on small canals. A night at Ben Tre or Can Tho, a sampan through the narrow channels, and the Cai Rang floating market at six in the morning from a small boat.
Pu Luong or Mai Chau for a mountain interlude with terraces, water wheels, short walks and lodges with pools, four hours from Hanoi and no flight needed.
The beaches. Phu Quoc for resorts, Quy Nhon for a coast that has not been developed yet, An Bang for a beach attached to a town.
What does not work
The full north to south route with under-eights. Something has to go, and we would rather tell you which. Hanoi, a bay, Hoi An and a beach is a better twelve days than the whole country compressed.
Overnight trains with young children. Romantic in principle, four berths to a compartment, and a broken night for everyone. The one train stretch we do use is Hue to Danang, two and a half hours along the coast over the Hai Van Pass, in daylight, on the seaward side.
Ha Giang with under-twelves. Long hours in a vehicle on mountain roads. Wonderful for teenagers, punishing below that.
The city day trip to the Mekong at My Tho. A conveyor belt. If the delta is in the plan, sleep there.
Late night markets. Most of them run past a child’s usable evening, and the good street eating starts early anyway.
Motorbikes. We do not put children on the back of one, and we will not organise a self-drive motorbike trip for anyone.
The War Remnants Museum, and how we place it
The museum in Ho Chi Minh City is one-sided by design and still essential. It is also graphic: photographs of injuries, of chemical weapon effects and of civilian deaths, presented without softening.
With younger children we do not include it. We build an alternative morning, and where the adults want to go we arrange for one to visit while the other is with the children. With teenagers we brief them honestly beforehand and let them opt out on the day without pressure. Either way we keep the afternoon after it light and unstructured rather than following it with a transfer.
The Cu Chi tunnels are a different question. The tunnel sections are genuinely narrow and hot, which some children love and others find frightening, and there is a firing range on site that we do not book and would ask you to walk past. Go early, and to the quieter Ben Duoc section.
By age
Under 4. Two bases, ten days, mostly the centre and south. Pushchairs are difficult on Hanoi pavements, which are parked on and cooked on, so bring a carrier.
5 to 9. The best age for this country. Boats, bicycles, buffalo, beaches, and food they will actually eat. Four bases in twelve days.
10 to 13. Add Ninh Binh’s climbs, a Pu Luong walking day, the caves at Phong Nha and a cooking class they can take seriously.
Teenagers. The full route, Ha Giang on the back of a bike with an experienced rider, an overnight cave trek, and the twentieth-century history handled properly.
The safety conversation, honestly
Traffic is the real risk, well ahead of anything else. Teach the road-crossing method on day one: walk out slowly, keep a constant speed, do not stop, do not run, do not step back. Hold hands and cross as a group.
Car seats are not standard. We request them and they are not always available in the size you need, so tell us the ages early rather than on arrival.
Boats. We use operators who carry child-size life jackets on the bay and in the delta, and we check it rather than assume it.
Stomachs. Bottled or filtered water only, including for teeth. Ice in established places is fine. Build up over two days rather than eating four unfamiliar meals on day one.
Mosquitoes. Dengue is present in the cities and is a more realistic risk than malaria on standard itineraries. Repellent morning and evening, and a travel clinic conversation before you fly.
Medical care. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have international-standard clinics. Provision thins quickly outside the cities, which is part of why we are cautious about the far north with small children.
Swimming. Central beaches have real currents in the winter months and flags are not always flown. Swim where the hotel says, and ask.
Would we send a family to Vietnam at all?
Yes, frequently, and it is one of our most-booked family destinations. The food is mild and easy, children are made a fuss of everywhere, the country is affordable enough to travel comfortably rather than carefully, and there is water in almost every day. Twelve days, four bases, two flights and a beach at the end is the shape that works, and it is what our family route does.
Plan this trip
Tell us your children’s ages and your dates, and a specialist will build a Vietnam route around drive times, heat and what will actually hold their attention. Free first outline, no obligation.
Keep reading
- Vietnam with children, 12 days
- Vietnam, the complete guide to planning your trip
- Hoi An and the centre, honestly
- Vietnam month by month, region by region
- What does a trip to Vietnam cost?
- All our Vietnam trips
Frequently asked questions
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