A jampacked month-long adventure through Vietnam – the best parts worth doing

Due to the visa situation with UNSW meaning that my time in Australia had to come to an end slightly earlier than people at some other universities, I wanted to spend more time travelling before coming home. Choosing Vietnam as the place to do this was not a very difficult choice for me. Jetstar (the Aussie budget airline) fly to Ho Chi Minh City directly for a pretty reasonable price and the costs in Vietnam are very affordable, a very important aspect for a budgeting student traveller. As a UK citizen, I was allowed 30 days visa-free travel within the country and I made sure to extract every moment I could from this time. This blog is going to summarise my favourite activities that I cannot recommend enough to any of you thinking of making the trip (which you definitely should).

My trip began in the South, as I was thrown into the deep end of Vietnam’s biggest, busiest city. Immediately after landing, I understood why the middle of summer is normally not the best time to travel to Vietnam… it was crazy hot and humid, even at 11pm. I scheduled just a few days here as I only wanted to do a couple of trips outside the city, as the city itself is mostly just incredibly busy with not much to do. One of these trips was to the Cu Chi tunnels, displaying the vast network of tunnels built underground by the Vietnamese soldiers during the war with America. It was highly informative, going past the simple propaganda that the US has spread through movies and news. The War Remnants Museum further informed me of the realities of this war that tore the country apart and I believe it is a must-visit for anyone as you cannot be unaware of the impact it had on the country as you travel through.

After Ho Chi Minh City, there weren’t many places in the South of Vietnam that I wanted to visit. I travelled by bus through Da Lat to Nha Trang before flying to Central Vietnam but some friends of mine skipped both of these towns completely. Da Lat was very pleasant and much cooler than the rest of the country which was a nice change but I can’t say that you have to visit. Nha Trang even less, it was pretty weird, expensive and busy but travelling overland by bus is certainly cheaper and you get to see more of the country.

My next stop was Hoi An which ended up being arguably my favourite place of the whole trip. I travelled with my girlfriend, so we were sharing accommodation along the way and we stayed in a lovely homestay called Nu Ni, which I would say is defintely an affordable and accesssible option. We also booked a lovely tour to the My Son temples just outside of town which was incredible, but it can get very busy. I am a big foodie and this town was a dream for me. I made sure to schedule enough time here to fully enjoy it all. Each day, we had incredible meals which are unmissable, most importantly the banh mi. If you have seen my previous blogs, you know how I feel about them and my standards were high for Hoi An, the birthplace of these miracle sandwiches. I tried a couple of different places, including the most popular banh mi phuong associated with Anthony Bourdain, but I’ll save you some time, go to Madam Khanh instead it will blow your mind. Other places you have to visit are:

• Pho Xua – local My Quang and Cao Lau noodles were unreal and they serve up the best fried spring rolls in the entire country
• Com Linh – wonderful roast duck and crispy pork belly that I still think about today

My next stop was Hue, the old imperial capital of the country. There isn’t too much to do here besides visit the imperial city and some other tombs and shrines dotted around the country. However, these activities are quite beautiful and nice to see in person. Hue is also known for its local noodle dish Bun Bo Hue, which I had to try but I was very dissapointed. It has a variety of beef and pork parts in it which I have never eaten before and I can’t say I would like to try again. However, I did have an incredible Thai meal twice here at Chaleng Thai Food as I couldn’t find much else of note despite extensive research. We stayed at a very nice homestay/hotel with a lovely river view and breakfast ironically called Four Seasons Hue. I would certainly recommend it here as the family owners were so kind and we even got a room upgrade that had the comfiest bed I have ever slept on.

My next stop was Phong Nha as any other stop was very far by bus and would have taken even longer than the 6-7 hours it took to get there. This was a valley town known for its caves but I was unlucky with the weather and was not able to fully experience the caves. However, it is also known for having a duck farm where you can go and play around with hundreds of cute ducks just outside of town, called the Duck Stop. We hired a motorbike for the afternoon from the hostel we were staying at for less than £2 and drove there and around the gorgeous valleys surrounding the town afterwards. We only stayed here one night and left on an overnight bus the day after, as that was the only time the buses left to go to Ninh Binh/Tam Coc where we went next.

If you go to the Ninh Binh region, I would definitely recommend staying in Tam Coc as it is the largest town in the area. The food options were certainly lacking here, despite it being a touristy area so don’t expect the world. Suprisingly, the restaurant attached to the Bannana hostel was very nice and pretty cheap considering the hightened prices of the town. The best views we had in the region: the viewpoint atop Lying Dragon Mountain, the pagoda on the lake and the towers in Hoa Lu were magnificent, Thung Nham bird park in the sunset, the mountain views aboard a boat in the Trang An Landscape Complex (we were recommended route 3 by our homestay and it was great). Hiring a motorbike was extremely easy and definitely recommended as these sites are all pretty far apart from each other.

Cat Ba island is the alternative to the very busy and touristy Ha Long Bay yet offers the same, if not better, activity in a wonderful cruise around Lan Ha Bay. We ended up being the only western tourists at the whole boat port that day. Nevertheless we were given our own tour guide and the rest of the Vietnamese tourists on our boat were very friendly and chatty (as much as they could) towards us. I do admit that it is less convinient to get to than Ha Long Bay but it had the quieter feel that we were looking for.

The month ended in Hanoi where there is more than enough to eat, drink and explore but I will list my favourite things briefly:

• Bun Cha Dac Kim may have been my favourite food of the entire trip and whatever you do, you have to try it and you will understand.
• Cha Ca Thang Long was a very unique eating experience. A delicious fish dish is cooked at your table and you eat from the frying pan it is cooked in so it stays perfectly hot.
• Banh Cuon Gia Truyen offers some very unique and delicious dumpling-esque dishes. Do be warned they offer steamed water bugs on the menu so be sure to steer clear.
• Banh Ran Cao Lau (Hai Xe) sell these delicious hot, cheap, sweet doughnuts. Hai Xe is just the one closest to our accommodation but they are everywhere and amazing.
• Pho Thanh met our high standards for beef pho which had been lackluster the whole of the trip. Very lowkey and authentic experience away from any English menus and tourists.
• Apron Up cooking class was a load of fun and pulls back the curtain to show how the best dishes in Vietnam are made. You make five dishes and get to keep a highly useful recipe book afterwards.

I didn’t have time, sadly, to reach the Northernmost parts of the country like Lao Cai, Sa Pa and the Ha Giang Loop due to time restrictions and poor weather.

My final tips are:

• Lychee and Jasmine flavour C2 iced tea is the greatest and most refreshing drink I have ever had and you have to appreciate it while you have it
• Get Grab as taxis are super affordable and available around the country, bring lots of electrolyte tablets/sachets as the humidity is going to dehydrate you very quickly
• Bring a wide rimmed hat as the sun gets very intense
• Use 12GoAsia and BaoLau for finding sleeper buses and avoiding scams
• Figure out how you are going to get cash as most places only take it and all ATMs charge a foreign card fee and bad exchange rate. Get a Revolut/Wise card to avoid this. SACOMBANK does not charge foreign fees so always look out for it.
• Agoda and booking.com were the best websites for accommodation I found

Enjoy your travels and hope this helped! 🙂