Vietnam itinerary

[bumphousebump]

Thinking of Vietnam in September/October. 10 days.. husband would like to see the war tunnels, I’d like to see scenery, boat trip, trains the food. Any suggestions for an itinerary?

Watching this as planning a trip too

It’s likely to be rainy in Hoi An and anywhere south of there at that time of year. I’d stick to the north - Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Ha Long Bay and maybe Sapa.

Why not go with a tour company? We went with Riviera (others are available) and did the lot including flying to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat.

I also recommend this.

We live around there. The rain tends to only be part of the day (we used to find it was in the afternoons like clockwork, but now it seems to appear at random any time of day or night). In 2025, the rainy season went on and on and on until late November, everyone was very surprised as it's usually over by October. The north might maybe be less intense, but it will still be rainy.

I was shocked by the scale of the flooding, even in October https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2025/oct/31/vietnam-floods-hoi-an-tourist-spots-submerged-pictures

My son is just back from Vietnam. He really enjoyed the war tunnels but didn't really rate the Mekong delta trip. He stayed in HCM city but wants to go back and see more of the lesser known parts.

He did say that he felt he was taking his life in his hands on any taxi or bus tour journeys!

We are in Phan Tiet now as a bit of RnR after travelling around. The issue with Vietnam is the weather is never good everywhere.

we decided to skip the middle due to weather and visited Hanoi, mai chau (with a trip to a nature reserve elsewhere), Halong Bay, flew to Saigon and visited the cu chi tunnels, now at the beach.

My top recommendation is www.saigonfoodtour.com it was amazing. Felt safe in the crazy traffic, but again time of year would matter.

loving it here and want to return if we can.

I just got back from a trip to Vietnam - I spent three weeks there with my daughter (9 at the time) a couple of years ago - I did it independently - there is a well worn tourist path from Hanoi to Saigon or the other way round so didn’t need a tour. Another friend did the trip at the same time did go for a tour which included Vietnam and Cambodia - I think he enjoyed not having to plan anything! I sat down for a couple of hours one day and planned a trip - plenty of hotels and air travel is very easy and cheap. We did take a train from Saigon to Nha Trang but decided afterwards to fly to Da Nang.

I just spent a few days in Phu Quoc which is a short flight from Saigon. It was beautiful and great to chill for a few days but very touristy. I wanted to relax in the sun over Xmas so it was fine for that.

Vietnam is amazing - you will love it!

As others have suggested, I’d strongly recommend visiting Cambodia as well (or even instead of) Vietnam, it’s an amazing country with beautiful temples, glorious islands and the loveliest people you’ll find anywhere.

As far as Vietnam goes, a good way to travel between Hanoi and HCMC is by train, stopping off at Hoi An and maybe Mui Ne en route - it’s a very characterful journey.

What city are you flying into? Hanoi or Saigon?

im going next month so interesting to read the thread .

Fly in one city and out the other, that’s what we did

Haven’t decided yet. Did think about flying into one and out the other.

I’ve been to Cambodia, a few years ago, and it was fascinating, particularly the temples, but I think I want to see somewhere different. I did a fair bit of SE Asia years ago but travelling with husband who hasn’t been at all.

If you go on tripadvisor there is a forum for Vietnam trips, and one useful one is the JBR (just back reports I think). I went in Feb / March so escaped some of the weather, 10 days is not much for Vietnam in total, but it is doable if flying / or getting toured around. I did 15 days. My favourites were Ninh Binh, Hanoi and I liked Da Nang (Hoi Ann was fine but SO touristy). Halong was fine enough, you sort of have to do it. I liked some bits of HCMC and Hue (Champ temples at dawn). I did not go to Dalat or Sapa. I suspect the weather could really cause an issue if you took no notice of the warnings for the area you were hoping to visit.

My ds solo travelled there flying into massive storm and flooding in September. He stayed for 4 days and just wanted to chill in Hanoi, just wandering around with no agenda. He really enjoyed himself and felt very safe despite the weather.

He'd flown in from Japan after visiting a friend and enjoyed the contrasting chaos.

Due to limited travel time, 10 days only.