Northern Vietnam
Northern Vietnam
Hanoi
A thousand-year-old capital that still runs on plastic stools, motorbike horns and the smell of charcoal — and the natural first stop for the north.
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29 results for “northern Vietnam”
Destinations
Northern Vietnam
Lao Cai Province, Northern Vietnam
Sapa
Terraced valleys under the Hoang Lien Son range, and the easiest place in Vietnam to spend two days walking between highland villages.
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Northern Vietnam
Ha Giang Province, Northern Vietnam
Ha Giang
The northernmost province in Vietnam, and the country's best road trip: three or four days of limestone plateau, hairpin passes and border villages.
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Northern Vietnam
Ninh Binh Province, Northern Vietnam
Ninh Binh
Ha Long Bay's limestone towers, but standing in rice fields instead of the sea — and only 90 minutes from Hanoi.
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Islands & Beaches
Quang Ninh Province, Northern Vietnam
Ha Long Bay
Around 1,600 limestone islands in the Gulf of Tonkin, seen properly only from a boat that stays out overnight.
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Islands & Beaches
Hai Phong, Northern Vietnam
Cat Ba Island
The largest island in the Ha Long archipelago, with a national park, a climbing scene and the beaches Ha Long Bay does not have.
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Northern Vietnam
Thanh Hoa Province, Northern Vietnam
Pu Luong
A nature reserve of terraced valleys, bamboo waterwheels and Thai stilt villages — the quiet version of Sapa, four hours from Hanoi.
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Northern Vietnam
Hoa Binh Province, Northern Vietnam
Mai Chau
A flat green valley of Thai stilt villages three hours from Hanoi — the easiest overnight escape from the city.
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Northern Vietnam
Son La Province, Northern Vietnam
Moc Chau
A high plateau of tea terraces, dairy farms and plum orchards that turns white with blossom in January and February.
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Guides
Ha Giang Travel Guide: The Loop, Costs, Logistics
Ha Giang is the far northern corner of Vietnam and the reason people go is a single loop of mountain road. This guide covers getting there from Hanoi, the three ways to ride the loop, what a trip costs and everything to sort out before you leave home.
5 min readRead more
Hanoi Travel Guide: What to Sort Before You Fly
For most people arriving in northern Vietnam, Hanoi is the first city and the base for everything after it. This guide covers the practical layer: the airport transfer, visas, money, how long to stay and how to use the city as a launchpad.
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Ninh Binh Travel Guide for First-Time Visitors
Ninh Binh is one of the easiest places in northern Vietnam to organize yourself: two hours from Hanoi, everything within a short ride, no tour required. This covers getting there, boat tickets, transport, timing and what it all costs.
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Sapa Travel Guide: Planning It Yourself
Everything you need to arrange a Sapa trip independently: getting up from Hanoi, how long to stay, moving around once you are there, what it costs, and a straight answer on whether the town lives up to the photographs.
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Where to Stay in Sapa: Town or Valley?
The real decision in Sapa is not which hotel but which side of it you sleep on. Town puts you next to the buses and the grills; a valley homestay puts you in the terraces at first light. Here is how the areas compare, with price bands.
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Articles
Best Time to Visit Sapa: Season by Season
Sapa has no single best month, only months that suit different things. Gold terraces in late September, mirrored water fields in May, cloud seas through the winter, and a rainy stretch that turns the trekking paths to clay.
27 August 20267 min read
Sapa Itinerary 3 Days: Trekking, Fansipan, What to Skip
Three days is the shortest Sapa trip that repays the ride up from Hanoi. Here is how to spend them, with a full day walking the Muong Hoa valley, a morning on Fansipan, and an honest look at how built-up the town has become.
27 August 20265 min read
Things to Do in Sapa: What Is Worth Your Time
Sapa town has been built up hard, but the valley below it has not. Here is what is genuinely worth doing, from the village walk through Muong Hoa to Fansipan and the passes, and what you can safely skip.
27 August 20267 min read
What to Eat in Sapa: Mountain Food, Explained
Sapa eats nothing like Hanoi. It is cold-weather mountain cooking: offal stew from the market towns, small free-range pork, black chicken, salmon farmed in stream water, and a night market that runs on charcoal.
27 August 20267 min read
Best Time to Visit Ninh Binh, Month by Month
Ninh Binh is open all year, but the difference between June and October is enormous when you are sitting in an open boat for three hours. This is what each stretch of the year is actually like, including the short rice harvest window everyone chases.
27 August 202610 min read
How Many Days in Ninh Binh? An Honest Answer
Hanoi hotels sell Ninh Binh as a day trip, and it works, but you give up the best hour of the day to do it. Here is what one, two, three and four days each buy you, and where the place fits in a two-week Vietnam trip.
27 August 20265 min read
Best Time to Visit Hanoi: Season by Season
Hanoi is one of the few places in Vietnam with four genuinely distinct seasons, and the difference between them is wide enough to change your trip. Here is what each one is actually like, and which window is worth planning around.
27 August 20265 min read
How Many Days in Hanoi? An Honest Answer
Two days covers the center, three is the number most people should book, and anything beyond that depends on where you go next. Here is how to decide, including how Hanoi fits into a two-week Vietnam itinerary.
27 August 20267 min read
Ninh Binh Day Trip From Hanoi: How to Do It
Ninh Binh sits about 95km south of Hanoi, close enough for a long day trip and dramatic enough to be worth one. Here is how to get there, which of the four big sites to pick, and the timings that keep you ahead of the crowds.
27 August 20265 min read
Best Time to Visit Ha Long Bay, Month by Month
Ha Long Bay is a seascape, so weather changes the trip more than it would inland. Autumn brings the calmest water and clearest air, early summer is bright but crowded, and July to August is storm season when boats get canceled.
27 August 20265 min read
Best Time to Visit Ha Giang, Month by Month
Late September through November is the strongest window for Ha Giang: dry roads, clear air, gold rice terraces and then the buckwheat flowers. Here is what each season actually looks like up on the plateau, and which months are worth thinking twice about.
27 August 20268 min read
Ha Giang Itinerary 3 Days: The Classic Loop
Three days and two nights is the standard way to ride the Ha Giang loop, and this is the route almost everyone follows. Quan Ba and Yen Minh on day one, Ma Pi Leng and the Nho Que river on day two, the long ride back on day three, with rough costs and what to book ahead.
27 August 20266 min read
How Many Days in Ha Giang Do You Need?
Three days on the loop is the standard answer, but that is four nights out of your Vietnam trip once you count the night buses at either end. Here is what you get at two, three, four and five days, and how Ha Giang fits into a two-week itinerary.
27 August 20267 min read
Best Time to Visit Cat Ba Island, Month by Month
Cat Ba is busiest exactly when its weather is least reliable. This breaks the year into four honest stretches, with what each one gives you and what it costs you.
27 August 20266 min read
Cat Ba Island Itinerary 3 Days: Beaches, Bay and Forest
A session-by-session plan for three days on Cat Ba. Day one gets you onto the island and up to Cannon Fort, day two belongs entirely to Lan Ha Bay, day three is forest or caves before the bus home.
27 August 20266 min read