Vietnam in July with teens

[Holidayaddict123]

Has anyone done this kind of trip? Thinking of starting in Hanoi, boat trip in Halong Bay then work our way down to Hoi An stopping in one or two places. Where would you recommend? Was the weather ok? We don’t mind rain as long as it’s not constant!
Hotels seem very cheap - are they too good to be true or is it actually that affordable?

Thanks!

I’ve been to Vietnam recently and think my teens would love most of it. Food is fab but they’d need to be ok with Asian food.

i think July will be pretty hot - I was there in Jan and it wasn’t great for beaches (fine for what I was doing). Suspect the rain will be short but tropical - but I’m not sure.

I liked Hanoi as a city more than HCMC, Hoi An was amazing. Hué and the forbidden city definitely worth visiting. If I go back I’d love to see more of the mountains and the north. Sa Po and around Da Lat. overnight trains are good while road travel takes time.

enjoy!

I went with Exodus (they were great) and the hotels they booked were all clean, comfortable, with air con but not particularly exciting. They were about £30/night. Perfect for what i wanted.

loved Hanoi! Food tour is a great way of getting your bearings. Insta favourite Train Street. HCM Mausoleum. Nightmarkets.

Hotels are really that cheap 😂

Oh this is exciting! From my research it sounds like North and central are ok weather wise but not the South so we probably wouldn’t go to Ho Chi Min city. Teens live on spicy ramen so I think they would be fine food wise!
I think we would do a few cheaper hotels then splash out on something lovely at the end. Exciting! Thanks x

Can I also recommend a mornings cooking course… get shown round the market (some very different veg!) and taught new skills. I used Viator and Get My Guide.

We went with 2 teens a couple of years ago in August . Started at Hanoi , Halong , Hoi An , Ho Chi Minh .
It’s one of our favourite holidays - so interesting so much to see . Everyone enjoyed .
we used trailfinders who booked everything all transfers , trips , guides etc . Very good .
weather was supposed to be rainy - only saw a little bit of rain in Hanoi.

Have been to Vietnam many times. The central area is dry in the summer, but can be hot as Hades, it was 45 degrees when we were there a few years ago. We were living in Asia at the time, but found this extreme heat quite debilitating.

In answer to your question, lots of decent hotels for a decent price. We stayed in Hue and paid about $50 per night for a double room in a central location. Paid $100 in Hanoi for a suite with two bedrooms, lounge and two bathrooms.

We have also visited Vietnam many times, staying upto 3 months at a time and the hotels are very good quality for the prices charged.
You will not be disappointed, food is wonderful, great markets, lots to see and do.
Make good use of the trains, book in advance and they are also a bargain, unlike the prices charged in other countries. We have travelled from top to bottom of the country by train both cabins and upright seats, during the day and overnight and never had a problem.
Enjoy your holiday.

Between Hanoi and Danang/ Hoian, there are Ninh Binh, Dong Hoi/ Phong Nha cave and Hue so check them out to pick one that suits you.
As for the Northern part, it is still in the rainy season (Typhoon/ landslide season).

We went a few years ago with DCs who weren’t quite teens and their favourite place was Ninh Binh, but they loved Vietnam. We also went in July/August and I don’t recall any major rainy days.

I love Vietnam, always visit Hanoi then out to Ha Long Bay and CatBa Island for a few days. Getting the sleeper train to Da Nang and visiting Bana Hills was amazing too. Have fun!

Love Vietnam, it’s a beautiful fascinating country. Yes hotels (and food for that matter) really are that cheap. July will be HOT and humid and potentially wet especially in the south so probably wise to avoid that area, although Saigon is a lovely city. Central coast (Hoi An etc) best for weather at that time of year.

Definitely do a food tour that takes in Train Street in Hanoi your kids will love it. We did a really good one from Get My Guide. Don’t plan too much in a day is my advice. The humid heat really is energy sapping.

Best holiday we have had in years. Spent weeks planning everything, then decided to ask ChatGPT to plan me an itinerary (told it what we liked, how long for, etc) and it came up with the same thing in seconds!!

We went to Vietnam in August last year and had a great time. Hanoi- Quy Nhon- Ho Chi Min.
Loved everywhere we went. Hanoi was actually the rainiest. One afternoon and evening it was torrential and we couldn’t really go out, but just sat and watched the storm from our balcony.
We used an app which lets you download maps and different walking routes to view main tourist sites which we found really useful, or you can plan your own routes to download. It was called “GPS my city”

Our teenagers loved the food. In Hanoi they liked the prison, wandering around the old town shopping areas and markets, walking round the lakes and the Temple of Literature.
In Quy Nhon they lived just being by the beach, relaxing and snorkelling. We also did a marker tour and cooking class here.
In Ho Chi Minh we liked just wandering round the city, and the war museum.

We’ve been back five weeks now. It was the best holiday we ever had. Loved Hanoi, don’t miss train street, get a street food tour that includes it to practically guarantee seeing a train. The HCM mausoleum was my favourite part, Hanoi jail was fascinating too, and the temple of literature. Bana hills from Hoi An was fun too.

We took 3 teens to Vietnam last Nov, they loved it. The food, the coffees, the sights/history (all quite history buffs).

They also enjoyed the bike riding tours, kayaking on Halong Bay, Meekong delta boat trip and lots of war history stuff as well.

But shopping, sightseeing and eating were their main things I think.
We all loved the World Heritage site called My Son (behind Hoi An), like Ankor Watt, but smaller (but this site is older). Was half day trip from Hoi An, definitely worthwhile.

We are hoping to go to Vietnam next summer. I think we will fly into Hanoi and out of Da Nang. I want to include Ha long bay and then a few beach days before we fly home. I'm trying to make a plan but would be grateful if anyone could share their itinerary please.

We loved Vietnam - have done 2 different routes from Hanoi to HCMC. Halong Bay is a must, and we also loved DaLat which is up in the mountains inland from Nah Trang.

What month?

We took our then 9 year old dd to Vietnam for a month and she had an absolute blast; it’s been one of her favourite trips. Hanoi was great fun; I’d definitely recommend a street food tour. Halong Bay and Ho Ain are spectacular. We stayed in some excellent hotels for less than £100 per night; it’s extremely good value all round. We finished the trip with ten days on Phu Quoc which is just stunning and very reminiscent of Thailand about 25 years ago. Internal flights are frequent and again, cheap. Very jealous, we often talk about going back there! The food is some of the best in the world imo.

I am so grateful for all your replies! I’m so excited about going now that I contemplated cancelling the holiday I’d already booked for this summer to go there instead - I need to be patient!
I have taken notes and started drafting an itinerary - trip planning is my favourite thing! 😃

Ninh binh!!!!

You are thinking the same as me! I'm more excited about planning for Vietnam than I am for the holiday we already have booked for this year! We will be travelling at the end of July because we are tied to the school holidays. This thread has given me lots of ideas. I also like the look of an Intrepid tour which is very reasonably priced. However it goes from north to the very south of Vietnam and I'd quite like to stop in the middle for a few relaxing beach days.