Vietnam at Easter: Ha Long Bay and Phong Nha recommendations

[nervytraveller]

So I’m booking a trip with my teen DS at Easter - and leaving it late. We want to do a cruise on Ha Long Bay where we sleep on the boat and also kayak (DS loves kayaking) and we want to kayak at Phong Nha (probably in the caves and ideally with a guide). Does anyone have any recommendations for specific cruises/kayak companies? I was hoping to book from the UK because I worry it will be busy in the school Easter holidays.
Also does anyone know if it’s feasible/fun to do all this in 12 days: Hanoi and Ha Long Bay/ Train to Phong Nha for a couple of days, train or bus onto Hue then finally Hoi An, then an internal flight back to Hanoi to fly home? Neither of us wants to do a tour but I’m struggling to plan… anyone who’s done any this, I’d love your advice

I haven't been to Ha Long Bay - that's for 2025 when we go back. Last year we travelled by train from Hanoi to Saigon, via Hue, Hoi An and Dha Trang (with overnight stops in hotels) and it took 12 days in total, that included an internal flight from Saigon back to Hanoi. We then stayed a further couple of weeks in Hanoi before flying home.

I'd say your plan is doable, and once you're in Hanoi, there are lots of travel companies who will arrange everything for you, for a lot less than booking it from the UK.

We plan to fly to Hanoi next year and stay there for a night or two, then take the train and do the islands.

Thank you @MaggieNextDoor! I guess my fear is that these things ‘sell out’ and there won’t be places on the boats. The things I can check - internal flights and overnight trains - still seem to have availability.

There will be places, don't worry. Easter isn't a big event in Vietnam. You could prebook your flights and trains but everything else you can sort out when you get there.

We went to Vietnam in Jul/Aug 2016 and flew into Hanoi (Oriental Suites Hotel), planned to go to Ha Long Bay for an overnighter but were thwarted by a typhoon, then overnight train to Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park (Phong Nha Farmstay - they collected us from the station) where we did a day trip, then train to Hue (Saigon Morin Hotel) and then train to Da Nang for Hoi An (now Bel Marina Hoi An Resort) by taxi for a few days lazing about and taking the hotel bikes to the tailors for our made to measure clothes. We then took a taxi back to Da Nang airport to fly back to Hanoi for our international flight home (it was much cheaper than pushing down to Saigon). I think we did in in 11 days as commitments at home dictated that. I would go back to all of the accommodations and Seat61 had most of the information we needed for the train.

From what i remember Halong Bay is swamped with boats, but some of them can be dodgy safety and pest wise so if thats important to you and you have the flex I would encourage you to book ahead for Halong Bay. I think the boat we booked but never got to, goes off the beaten track a little but I cant remeber the details.

But, I'd say yes your plan is doable in 12 days - we did it in slightly less.

You should stay the night/ day in Hanoi before flying home due to flight delays.
Drive back Hanoi for a flight/ train Hanoi to Dong Hoi (Phong Nha) after Halong Bay or the other option is drive to Cat Bi airport (Hai Phong which is close to Halong Bay) for a flight Hai Phong to Danang (Hoian) and make your way up back to Hanoi via Hue and Dong Hoi (Phong Nha).
It is your plan!

I’ve not been on it, but lots of people I know have booked Stella of the seas for ha long bay and raved about it

Just watch the weather. We were in northern Vietnam in mid March one year and it was a bit chilly.

Yes, I went on a great cruise in Ha long bay - just for one night. I’m posting here to remind me to find the name of it!

We used Bhaya Cruises for Ha Long Bay and had a really good experience with them- organised it all from the UK and then communicated via WhatsApp while we were out there. They have a cruise centre at the departure point and I'm pretty sure they did a transfer option and picked us up from our hotel in Hanoi.

This is brilliant @Specialnameforanoutingthread - I’m going to look up all the hotels and the boat etc thanks so much

@Bootoagoose123 thank you! Looking it up

@hungry123 so maybe not the caves/national park and more time further south? I’m hoping for proper beach weather in Hoi An (Hope I’ve got that right) but don’t want to spend a week kayaking in the cold beforehand!

It was 20 years ago I was there but recall being cold and it was raining. We’d spent a few months before that on Thai beaches so maybe I wasn’t acclimatized. I think we were on the beach in Hoi An after that though.

Anyway I remember another backpacker pointing out in a very know-it-all-stylee that “Ha Long Bay is quite far north, in the northern hemisphere so what did you expect?” 🙄

We went about ten years ago and used a local independent travel agent who arranged everything for us, liaising with an in-country specialist. I'm usually fairly happy being independent, but to be honest I found this great and it relieved a lot of stress. They organised all the transfers, with a car from Hanoi to Ha long bay etc. I'm sure we could have done it more cheaply but when you are trying to pack in quite a bit it helps.

We stayed at the Victoria in Hoi An and really liked it. The first night we had to stay at the Riverside which was nowhere near as nice - being near the river felt mosquito-ey.