Vietnam -all the tips please

[Redtartanshoes]

Off to Vietnam for 2 weeks after Xmas. First week is a tour, Hanoi, Han Long, HCMC, 2nd week is free to either spend on a beach Having r&r or exploring other places.

Any ideas/suggestions most welcome

Hoi An is lovely, but may not be the best time to visit in January - will be cooler than HCMC, but perhaps fewer tourists. The old town is a UNESCO site and great to wander around.
If you want to stay in the Mekong Delta area then I recommend the Island Lodge hotel - beautiful hotel and great food
www.hotels.com/ho524644/the-island-lodge-my-tho-Vietnam
Phu Quoc is an obvious choice for beach and sunshine. Loads of hotels to choose from.
Sapa is great for trekking, but will also be cool (but dry ) and easy to get there from Hanoi - there is an incredibly slow overnight train, but now also you can go by coach - takes about 5 hours I think.

I second the Island Lodge.
Spent 4 wonderful days there over the summer and was the highlight of my 3 weeks in a Vietnam.

Hoi An was amazing when we went. We stayed at the Hoi An historic hotel, absolute bliss! Though the hotel is in the town they do have a beachfront hotel and do shuttle buses back and forth so you can use the facilities there too. The area is brilliant for tailoring too so make sure you have plenty of space! We went before we got married and had all the mens suits and bridesmaid dresses made out there - all were perfect and a fraction of the price we'd have paid back home. For context, the tails, waistcoat and trousers was roughly £65 each for a cashmere blend and an awesome dragon print lining! We went out with a massive spreadsheet of everyone's measurements and they weren't fazed by that.

Can you not spend longer than a week on your tour? We went in May and spent 3 nights in Hanoi, 1 Ha Long Bay, 2 Hue, 2 Hoi An and 4 in HCMC and it didn’t feel enough! Danang has beautiful beaches but you would be travelling north again. I don’t think we really appreciated how long Vietnam is until we looked at travel times between the cities.
Enjoy, it truly is a beautiful country!