Classic Vietnam in 16 days: Hanoi to the Mekong
The first-visit route, built north to south so the country unfolds in the order it makes sense in: the old capital, the karst, the imperial centre, then the noise and the delta. Sixteen days rather than fourteen, because the extra two buy a night in Ninh Binh, a second night on the water and a delta
- Duration
- 16 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 6
- Best months
- Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov
- From
- $2,880 per person
Who it suits: first-time visitors to Vietnam and to Asia, couples and independent travellers who want the country done properly rather than ticked off.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive in Hanoi. Private transfer, a hotel in the Old Quarter or on the quieter edge of the French Quarter depending on how much noise you want outside the window. Nothing scheduled beyond an early dinner five minutes’ walk away.
Day 2: Hanoi, the old city. Out early while jet lag has you awake anyway, when the Old Quarter belongs to people doing tai chi by Hoan Kiem Lake rather than to visitors. A guided morning through the 36 trade streets, the Temple of Literature, and a bun cha lunch. Afternoon free. The water puppet theatre in the evening if you want it: 50 minutes, unashamedly for tourists, and a genuine thousand-year-old delta art form.
Day 3: Hanoi, the wider city. The Museum of Ethnology, which explains the country’s 54 ethnic groups better than anything else in Vietnam and which almost nobody makes time for. Hoa Lo Prison in the afternoon, then the French Quarter on foot and a bia hoi on a plastic stool at the end of it.
Day 4: Hanoi to Ninh Binh. Two and a half hours south after breakfast. Afternoon at Trang An, where flat-bottomed boats are rowed through a chain of flooded limestone caves, some of them long enough to need a head torch. We use Trang An rather than the busier and pushier Tam Coc, and we go after three o’clock when the coach groups have gone.
Day 5: Ninh Binh to Lan Ha Bay. Early climb up Mua Cave, about 500 steps, for the view down over the whole valley. Then three hours east to Haiphong and aboard a small vessel in the afternoon. Kayaking among the karst before dinner.
Day 6: Lan Ha Bay. A full day on the water. Swimming off the boat, a floating fishing village, an empty beach on Cat Ba, and the part of the bay where you can go an hour without seeing another vessel. This is why we send people to Lan Ha rather than to central Halong, which carries several hundred boats on the same route.
Day 7: Lan Ha Bay to Hue. Disembark mid-morning, drive back to Hanoi, then the early-evening flight south to Hue. A long transfer day, and the only one on the trip. We keep the evening free and book dinner near the hotel.
Day 8: Hue. The Imperial Citadel in the morning, which needs a guide to be more than walls, then two of the royal tombs in the afternoon: Minh Mang for the setting, Khai Dinh for the strangeness of it. Hue cooks the most refined food in Vietnam and we book accordingly.
Day 9: Hue to Hoi An by train. A slow morning, then the two-and-a-half-hour train south along the coast and over the Hai Van Pass, on the seaward side of the carriage. Car from Danang station to Hoi An, arriving in time for the Ancient Town in the evening.
Day 10: Hoi An. Out at seven, when the Ancient Town is a working Vietnamese town rather than a lantern-lit stage set. Guided walk through the merchant houses and the Japanese bridge, then the whole afternoon free. This is the day to start a suit or a dress if you want one, because a good tailor needs 48 hours and two fittings.
Day 11: Hoi An, free. Bicycles through the rice fields to An Bang beach, a cooking session that starts at the market, or the Cham ruins at My Son, which are small, hot and best at the 6.30am opening. Our document sets out all three and you choose on the day.
Day 12: Hoi An, free. Deliberately unscheduled. Most people spend it on the beach.
Day 13: Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City. Late morning flight from Danang, an hour and a half. Afternoon walk through District 1 and the old central post office, then dinner somewhere loud.
Day 14: Ho Chi Minh City. The War Remnants Museum in the morning, which is one-sided by design and still the most important two hours in the city. Cu Chi tunnels in the afternoon at the quieter Ben Duoc section, or Cholon and its temples if you would rather stay in town. Evening food walk.
Day 15: The Mekong Delta. Two hours south-west to Ben Tre, away from the tour buses at My Tho. A sampan through the small canals where the coconut palms meet overhead, lunch cooked at a canal house, and a night in a simple lodge on the water. The best sleep of the trip.
Day 16: Delta to departure. Morning on the canals, drive back to the city and your flight home.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast throughout, two nights full board on a small-vessel Lan Ha Bay cruise, both domestic flights with a real baggage allowance, the Hue to Danang train in reserved seats, a private air-conditioned car with English-speaking driver on every transfer day, licensed local guides on four days, all entrance fees on guided days, the Mekong homestay with meals, a day-by-day document with drive times and flight numbers, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant in Tel Aviv and our Hanoi office for the whole trip.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling in October or November? The centre floods. We flip the route and run it south to north, so Hoi An sits early and has somewhere to move to if the water rises.
- Short on time? Cut it to 14 days by dropping the Ninh Binh night and one Hoi An day. We would not cut the second night on the bay, because day one is mostly transfer.
- Want the north’s mountains? Add four days for Pu Luong or Ha Giang. Two weeks will not carry both the mountains and the south, and we would rather say so than compress it.
- Not interested in the delta? Replace days 15 and 16 with two nights on Phu Quoc between November and April.
Honest notes
Day 7 is long: a boat, a three-hour drive and a flight. There is no way around it that does not cost you a night on the water, and the night on the water is worth more.
Vietnam is louder, hotter and more chaotic than most first-time visitors to Asia expect, and the first 48 hours in Hanoi can feel like a lot. That is why days 1 and 2 are light. By Hue you will be crossing roads without thinking about it.
Built by Osnat Angerman, our Southeast Asia specialist, and checked by our Hanoi office before it goes out.
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