Vietnam or similar in August for 11 days- are we mad

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Are we mad considering taking nearly 7 year old DS to Vietnam for 10 days in August? We are pricing up package holidays and for things that we like it’s looking like £2700 for us. For that price we could do a long haul flight and give him an amazing experience of a totally different culture. DS is a good traveller- he’s not flown before but is an angel in the car when we drive to France.

With travel we would lose 2 of the 11 days, but unfortunately that is all we can take off due to work commitments. Would we be mad flying out doing 4-5 days in Ho Chi Minh and then doing 4 days at a seaside resort? The flights look a PITA and as we are in Manchester it’ll be 3 flights (it looks easier from London). A lot of them go through Bangkok. We thought of them going there and then spending some time at Hua Hin but both DH and I have been to Thailand before and fancied somewhere different. I also thought Vietnamese food is easier for kids as it has less spice than Thai.

We’d be staying in simple accommodation (but with air con and private bathrooms whilst we are there to keep costs down.

On Sri Lanka, we used one driving firm and it was either £200 or £250 in total - they had new people carriers, air con and spoke English and turned up on time! We went last April - our summer is their rainy season and it’s usually recommended you go to the East Coast then - so not Kandy, Colombo, Galld etc. The PP can give you a much better idea of what the weather is actually like in Sri Lanka on the Western side in the summer and whether it’s really that bad!

We did Colombo for a day (missable), 4 days in Kandy then 5 days down in Tangalle on the South Coast. We did trips from Kandy to Sigiriya, Dambulla, Minneriya National Park and Nuwara Eliya. Kandy is a bit marmite but evening time with the monks chanting piped from the trees around the lake it’s lovely! DD loved seeing wild elephants and the beautiful beach down in Tangalle turtle spotting. After the umpteenth Buddhist temple she got a bit bored!

Sri Lanka is beautiful with lovely people, decent food and really reasonably priced accommodation (we did 4/5 star hotels). Getting anywhere does take forever on the roads so if you go, expect that! The towns are mostly grotty and the sea down South was too rough to swim in (though there were a few natural sand enclosed sea pools that were fine) but they were the only negatives I can think of!

We went to Vietnam last August with our DC's for 3 weeks. We went first to the north independently, then toured our way south with a family tour from intrepid travel. They were amazing and it was great fun travelling with other families. It was 40 degrees and humid in HCMC and 32 degrees in the North but so wet!. Take your pick.

Personally I wouldn't go for only 11 nights. You'll be wiped out the first day and will probably only have 7 days when you're up to doing much. In the heat you need to go slower. Early starts to avoid the sun if you want to explore. I'd save it for when you have more time.

Have you thought about Jordan? Its much nearer, very safe and our DS loved Petra, Camels, Bedouins and the Dead Sea. it will be hot, but no hotter than Vietnam and dry heat.

The OP is from 2018 though probably still useful to others.

Just back from 14 nights in Vietnam.

Would recommend Hoi An and Ha Long Bay. Hanoi nice but mental busy, HCMC is like any other big city. If you want amazing beaches head to Phu Quoc, it’s an internal flight from Hanoi, beautiful and very chilled