3 weeks in Vietnam with kids in December/ Jan. recommendations please!

[MrsC09]

So we booked flights in & out of HCMC a few months ago and are still trying to work out the itinerary. We’ve done a full circle of wanting to do it all (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa, Trang An, train to Hue, Hoi An, Phu Quoc & then back to HCMC) to completely scaling it back (HCMC with day trips, Hoi An, Phu Quoc) to now feeling like we don’t have enough.

A few considerations:

1. kids are 10 & 12 which should be a great age to travel but my 10 year old is very difficult at the moment. She’s developed a germ phobia over the past year which is very hard work. Also vegetarian and a fussy eater (although thankfully loves Vietnamese food). So as much as I would love to go and stay in a beautiful home stay in the hills and live off street food this isn’t really an option right now. We figured we can always go back for a part 2 when things are easier for her.

2. daughter gets very car sick. We won’t let this stop us from doing things but it does rule out 12 hour bus journey to Sa Pa (for example).

3. we’ll be there over Christmas and New Years! We live in a tiny beach town in Australia where neither is celebrated very well (by our European standards anyway!) and we’re missing the Christmas vibe. So would love to be somewhere amazing for Christmas (happy with totally OTT tacky for the kids!). We were planning on Christmas in Hanoi but that might now be dropped so might spend it in HCMC instead. Any suggestions welcome. NYE is very likely to be spent in Hoi An but please share if you have any other ideas!

4. can someone please help me decide on Phu Quoc? We decided on it because the photos looked amazing and would love to take the kids on snorkelling trips etc (no deadly sharks like in Oz 😅) and was going to finish it off with a trip to Vin World as a cherry on top for kids. BUT I’ve since read mixed reviews about Phu Quoc, that it’s really filthy, polluted water etc. To anyone who’s been recently, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Would love to hear if any great day tours from HCMC & Hoi An too. Definitely doing Mekong Delta (is it worth spending a night or 2?)

sorry that was longer than I planned! Thanks in advance for any advice!

We really liked the Chen Sea Spa resort in Phu Quoc. The trip to the theme park with the cable car was actually fun and good snorkelling there. We spent about 5 nights chilling out on Phu Quoc in the middle of our trip. Taxis to town for night markets were cheap or to the nearby restaurants were cheap.

first, internal flights are cheap and easy. Buses aren’t great and there’s ALWAYS someone who vomits on them. We went to HCMC then flew to Hanoi (try and go here at a weekend when some of the roads are closed to traffic) and then we booked a trip to Ha Long Bay in an amazing boat overnight. I’ll see if I can find details and send them to you. The boat company arranges a car to collect you. Then we went to Hoi An by plane (I think) which was really beautiful and then back to HCMC. We spent a night in the Mekong Delta - again I’ll PM you with details - and back to HCMC. Again, the hotel arranged transport in a 4x4. The journey isn’t for the faint hearted.

I absolutely love Vietnam. It’s one of my favourite places, but it’s not the cleanest place abd there are lot to firsts abd roaches. We are street food most nights and we’re absolutely fine, but I’m thinking of your daughters germ phobia. Some of the toilets are stomach churning….

Excuse the typos. Rats and roaches, that was meant to say.

@MrsC09 I went in 2018 over the same time but did a few nights in Cambodia in the middle of it to visit Angkor Wat which I highly recommend and was easy to visit in and out but that was pre covid, exceptionally clean and pleasant.

we did a tour out of HCMC to Mekong and the tunnels and highly recommend that though my poor DH just ate plain rice as everything was fish / fish sauce

I also spent a week in Phu Quoc and personally didn’t rate it, the visibility is poor in terms of snorkelling / diving and unfortunately a lot of litter in the sea, was heartbreaking to see. It also wasn’t as ‘cheap’ as many other places in Vietnam and agree with PP Vietnam especially PQ isn’t generally ‘clean’, I’d steer clear of the markets with pig heads and the smell. We did a tour around the island with a private driver which we enjoyed and seeing the camps etc were interesting but it’s not a place I would revisit and much prefer other areas / Cambodia.

No where was very ‘Christmassy’ either, which we preferred to be honest other than the odd Christmas music played around the pool in PQ mixed in with some Russian techno music.

Watching with interest, especially for a recommendation for a chilled week on the beach with a 14 year old DS. We will be travelling arrive but would love a week out. Same time as OP. Thought Phu Quick would be it so sorry to hear not so great.

Me and DH did 10 days in Vietnam over Xmas & NYE in 2018

Flew into HCMC, 3 days there, 3 days in PQ, flew to Hanoi, 3 days there & flew home from there

Vietnam is not a very Christmassy place so I'm not sure you'll get the vibe you're after!

We spent Xmas day in PQ. I think we stayed at the Shells. We're not watersports people so I can't comment on the snorkeling but I know from my research that the water around south Vietnam isn't particularly great for visibility.

I think if you're going for 3 weeks you could easily fit in a 4th destination. What about the North of the country? See some mountains and natural landscapes. I would love to go there but it just didn't work for us logistically.

It was one of the best holidays we've ever had though. Would definitely go back.

I’ll type a longer message tomorrow S I’m shattered, but def an overnight on a boat in Hanlong bay, def Phu Quoc, and new year in HCMC will be fab

I went to phu quoc 10 years ago and it was absolutely beautiful and unspoilt. I really hope it's still like that

Mine were 10 + 8 when we went.

A friend recommended Dalat as kid friendly. It wasn't. My 2 couldn't wait to leave.

Bana hills was a fun place to visit.

Internal flights are dirt cheap and a great way to travel about. We still occasionally sing the Vietjet song that was on loop when loading and taxi-ing the planes!

Our halong bay cruise of 2 nights was amazing. They loved it.

There was an immense water park they loved in HCMC. Your children are still young enough to enjoy a water puppet show there too.

Hoi An was stunning. Lots to enjoy there.

And I agree with PPs who say there will be little of Christmas there to celebrate.

Thanks for all the replies! Just to clarify, by “Christmas vibe” I meant more in the hotel. The hotel we were looking at in Hanoi has a Christmas dinner buffet (a nice 5* one) with a show. I’m assuming there will probably be a Christmas tree somewhere too! Even that would be an improvement on the Christmas vibe we’re used to 😂

I looked at this hotel, it looks really beautiful! Unfortunately they don’t seem to have family sized rooms so would need 2 bungalows which is over our budget.

Out of interest, which part of the island did you stay on? I’ve generally heard that the north side is cleaner than the south.

Hoi An is a must in my view - lovely place. Some lovely organised trips which were slightly touristy but brilliant for our children who were similar ages. Shopping in the market and then cooking lesson at Mama Vi(? I think) was fabulous. Traditional fishing trip - brilliant. Marble Mountain is beautiful.

A vespa tour of HCMC was one of the best things I've ever done. Each of us was on the back of a vespa and whilst it was hair-raising in parts, it was honestly incredible and a real insight into the city and their favourite mode of transport.

And if you can possibly stretch to a trip to Con Dao island and stay in the Six Senses hotel there it is epic! They may be a good shout for Christmas being an international brand.

Enjoy - I'm jealous - Vietnam was one of my favourite family holidays ever.

Enjoy - I'm jealous - Vietnam was one of my favourite family holidays ever.

@VeronicaVanHoopen I'm glad that was your experience. I can honestly say that I couldn't wait to leave and neither could my children.

As a western mum travelling alone with 2 children, every one seemed to take that as an opportunity to try to fleece me.

1 taxi driver drove past 3 landmarks more than once and my hotel twice before finally stopping. He only stopped because I started shouting (which I didn't want to do in front of my kids). I gave him half the metered fare so he chased me into the hotel. I explained what had happened to the reception desk, and left them to sort it out.

A bakery doubled the price of cakes at the till from the advertised price on the display.

A Dalat tour guide with lots of positive reviews on Tripadvisor organised a day trip for us, taking us to places out of the town we wanted to see. At lunch time, he told us the new plan for the afternoon. His new plan was to take us to places in the town we'd already seen. I asked about the places we'd arranged to go to. He said they were all closed. So again, I paid for half, had to march the children off and ended up getting yelled at in the street by him.

My 10 yr old son had a man try to pull him away from me as we were walking the streets of HCMC. Son was savvy enough to stay close to me, but it all started with an offer to my son to clean his shoes.

This was about 7/8 years ago, so I truly hope things have changed. And I'm glad others have had a more positive experience than me. It wouldn't have been hard 🤣

@Jumpking Oh no! That's rubbish. I'm sure it has the potential to be like that so maybe we were lucky. Some South Korean tourists took a huge shine to my fairly cute ginger daughter and took her on to their coach for pictures before I realised what was happening which was supremely random but that's probably the only bad thing that happened to us.

Now, Gambia and Ghana I could tell you a lot of stories about but I'd still recommend them on balance...😂

Oh yes, I forgot about that one. My kids were swamped in one of the places by locals as they wanted my kids to pose for pics with them.

Hong Kong...a stranger on a public bus kept taking shots of my then 6 yr old daughter. I had to keep positioning myself between her and his camera.

Light hair and skin is definitely a photographable thing in Asia.

Recommend anything over then letting your kids get kidnapped by those vicious monkeys in the tree, ice cream & food is the least of your worries!
Definitely would recommend a tuk-tuk or rental car as the taxi prices are extortionate.

My little contribution from travelling there (pre kids) many years ago;

You sound like you've got Xmas day sorted, which is great. We discovered that in Vietnam they tend to "celebrate" Xmas on Xmas eve, not Xmas day. So in the eve there were tonnes of locals out on the streets, on their scooters, whole families on motorbikes dressed in Santa outfits, and the bars and restaurants had parties on. Xmas day was quiet and low key.

We were in HCMC for NYE. That was fascinating because the locals stood in crowds watching the tourists celebrate . There had been some kind if celebration earlier in the day (it's so hazy as this was a looong time ago), but the whole midnight thing was a spectacle for them to watch rather than participate in.

It is a truly amazing country and I hope to go back one day.

@MrsC09 We stayed at Amarin Resort & Spa which as a hotel I couldn’t fault, that was spotless and was an easy walk / cheap taxi into the centre for the night market / restaurants. We had a lovely curry on Xmas day. I just found it slightly more expensive than the mainland.

We did a few water excursions as were scuba divers so travelled around and there was a LOT of litter in the sea by the cable car, polystyrene containers / plastic cups etc.

I feel like I’m perhaps judging a bit too harshly because I did enjoy it and the temples etc, the waterfall tour but I think with the amount of tourism on there and the amount of construction that was on going it didn’t feel overly authentic / unspoilt.

Thanks for all your input! Not too concerned about PQ being a bit more pricey than the mainland. Certainly won’t come close to the cost of life in Australia anyway!

@MrsC09 how did your trip go to Vietnam? We're looking at doing a pretty much identical trip with our 3 kids over Christmas - any 'must dos' / places to avoid?

@Adventureringmum We had a great holiday! How old are your kids? We ended up breaking it up into 2 holidays instead of trying to squeeze it all into one.

We flew into HCMC and went straight to Da-Lat. We stayed in a very basic/rustic but charming bungalow on a lake there. I think we were there 3 nights which felt like plenty. There’s an excellent treetops there if that’s your thing! Da-Lat itself is a bit odd but the old parts are charming.

We then went to Hoi An where we spent Xmas. Hoi An is lovely but I’d say 4 nights is enough as it’s not really swimming weather and my kids got bored of all the shops & markets by then. The food is fantastic!

We had a few nights in Da Nang which I probably wouldn’t go back to. Possibly a good one without kids but I didn’t really get it. Maybe we went to the wrong parts.

We then flew to Phu Quoc and were there for 10 nights. Phu Quoc is great. There’s a fun vibe along the main beach with lots of beach bars / restaurants etc. We enjoyed the snorkelling trip around the smaller southern islands and the theme park is definitely worth A visit. It was completely empty when we were there so the kids went nuts not having to queue for rides! If you need a break from Vietnamese food (it gets very sweet after a while) Home Pizza is amazing.

just let me know if you need any more info:)

@MrsC09 thank you so much for all the info - super helpful! Our kids are 8, 11 and 13. I think we'll go to Mekong Delta straight out of HCM and looking at Christmas in Hoi An. In terms of Phu Quoc - any advice on where to stay on the island? Was litter etc an issue. Trying to decide between a flight to Phu Quoc or Nha Trang / Mui Ne for the beach part. Thank you!