Two adults. Two weeks in Vietnam in April

[ErinAndTonic]

Has anyone been around this time of year or have any tips or highlights to share?

I'm thinking of something like this. But could do with adding another place or two.

Ho chi Minh city - possibly visit the Mekong Delta
Mui ne - might swap this one out
Dalat or Nha Trang or Hue
Hoi an
Halong Bay
Hanoi

Any good food recommendations or fun tours/day trips would be fab!

Oh I’m so jealous! DH and I went 3 years ago (May/June) and it is definitely the best holiday I’ve ever had.
We flew to Hong Kong for a couple of days the on to Hanoi, from there we had an overnighted at Halong Bay.
Flew to Hue, then had a private car take us to Hoi An would have loved to stay at Danang, the beach looked beautiful but would have been a bugger to walk on as it was so hot. We had a day trip to Bana Hills, google it! It’s bonkers! Then we took another flight to Ho Chi Minh.
The history of the country is fascinating and the people are wonderful.

Nin Binh- you can't go to Vietnam without seeing it. It's stunning. We stayed at the Nin Binh Valley Homestay and it was basic but so beautiful. I wouldn't stay anywhere fancier now I've been there. This photo was taken from our hut.

I have been to Hoi An and Hue, we did Central Vietnam as we could only go in July and it was rainy season elsewhere. Check the seasons for North and South, it really makes a difference.

Anyway, absolutely loved those places. We stayed at the beach at Hoi An and got the shuttle into the town for the evening. Brilliant good at beach cafes, and wonderful restaurants in the evenings. Lots of good day trips which we arranged via the corner shop next to the hotel. My Son, an Eco fishing tour by boat, Ba Na Hills, marble mountain, Da Nang (can get the bus), hire cycles to explore the herb growing villages. Plus days chilling by the beach, swimming.

Hue (we took a taxi over the Hai Van pass) is good for the Citadel, Night Market, trips to the tombs, and we went into the Bach Ma national park.

In HCM take a trip to see the Ci Chi tunnels, Mekong River and the Reunification Palace. We booked whilst there quite easy to do and got picked up at our hotel.

We did two weeks in February. We went to Phu Quoc island for a few beach days first, stayed at Mango Bay resort, so nice. Then flew back to Ho Chi Ming city, and went overland on the train all the way up to Hanoi with various stops. The trains are great and SO cheap. Loved Hoi An, Hanoi and Ho Chi Ming. Was quite underwhelmed by Halong Bay but the weather was grey/foggy that day.

Wouldn’t recommend nha Trang, it’s a bit soulless although a nice beach. Our hotel in Hanoi gave us a list of local places to eat which was amazing so would recommend asking locally. Loved Vietnam though, such a great place!

This was one of the best things we did on our trip. So much fun. www.lefamilyriders.com/

Do a cooking school - This was excellent - greenbamboo-hoian.com/

Eat all the street food

Drink egg coffee (seriously amazing)

Our trip was a looong time ago so things will have changed.

But we loved Phu Quoc - great place to rent a moped and bike around exploring the various beaches.

Floating market early in the morning - I think somewhere in the Delta but not sure. We chose a non touristy one which was very memorable (we got stared at a lot, fair enough!)

I don’t think we spent much time in the central region maybe due to weather (we were there in autumn) mostly N and S. I agree check the weather patterns carefully and plan to spend most of your time in the drier areas, especially if you are spending time on beaches or doing outdoorsy stuff.

Came on to say Na Trang is a bit meh but I've been beaten to it. If you're beach people you may like it though. I agree with a pp about Halong Bay too - it's a bit hit or miss as it can be so grey.

Hoi An was my favourite place in Vietnam. It's just lovely.

Thank you, sounds like you saw so much! How long was your trip? Bana hills looks like some kind of quirky Disneyland haha, the buildings look pretty!

I'd like to but I'm not sure we will have time to fit it into our itiniterary. I wish we had 3-4 weeks!

Thanks so much for this. I was on the fence about hue as I'm not big into history but sounds like it has other stuff going to it.

Hoi An was my must do place, so thank you for all of this info, I will take note of all of it 😊

Good to know you managed to fit Phu Quoc in two weeks, I'd really like to go there but wasn't sure we would have time. I love the idea of the train travel too.

Thank you, I'm leaning this way on Nha Trang. Apparently it's very Russian (though not sure so much now) and artificial and just not Vietnamese at all. Could see an average beach resort anywhere in the world so will take this one off 😊

Perfect post for me, all about food and drink! I'll definitely check all of that out, thank you. Vietnamese is my favourite food so I'll definitely be doing a cooking class, even if my boyfriend has to find something else to do 😅

Thank you, I think April isn't too bad everywhere and is one of the rare months that is, but I'll double check for individual destinations.

Ugh so jealous. Years ago for us. Hanoi was our favourite, stay in the old bit (silk quarter?). Halong Bay was beautiful but pick the cruise carefully, some parts are quieter than others.

Definitely recommend both a cooking class with a tour of the markets and a street food tour.

We did a day trip to the Mekong Delta from HCM which was good.

We stayed in Hoi An for a few days of beach holiday, it was lovely but didn't compare to the other locations for us. If you're there, make sure you time it for the festival - possibly a monthly full moon festival? Like I say, memory is hazy at this stage!

Now you've sent me down memory lane...

This is the cruise company we went with, in the 4 cabin Prince Junk www.indochina-junk.com/halong-bay-bai-tu-long-bay-cruise-3-days-2-nights/

Highly recommend XO tours in Ho Chi Minh - sightseeing and food tours on the back of a scooter, so much fun and great food.

xotours.vn

I'd like to but I'm not sure we will have time to fit it into our itiniterary. I wish we had 3-4 weeks!

We were there for 12 days when we included Nin Binh. We mostly travelled by road but also an overnight train and an internal flight too. We went Hanoi > Halong bay > Ninh binh > overnight train from Ninh Binh to Hoi An > early morning flight from Hoi An to HCMC > Mekong Delta> cu chi tunnels> HCMC.

Your first route of HCM, Dalat, Nha Trang , Hoi An,Hue,Hanoi was the route that I did 20 odd years ago. Sinh Cafe bus and the bus ticket was $ 20.
April is hot and humid and for two weeks I'd fly HCMC to Danang (Hoi An) and then another flight to Hanoi.From Hanoi you can do trips to Halong Bay and Ninh Binh.
There are beaches just outside of Hoi An if you need a beach.
Have a fantastic holiday OP.Vietnam is a fantastic country.

This isn't the first recommendation for this one - on my list it goes! 🍜

Think I am now going to add this into my itinerary as my boyfriend loved the look of it!

Thanks so much. We love the heat so don't mind if it's really hot. Did Ko Tao and around in Thailand in June before and the shallow sea actually burnt our ankles 😂

My route is roughly this but I'll reshuffle the route to hit the lantern festival at Hoi An on the 4th. Thank you so much for the suggestions everyone - first time I've checked out the travel section of Mumsnet but I'll be back 😀

Phu Quoc
HCMC + Mekong Delta
Hoi An
Ninh Binh
Halong Bay
Hanoi