9 results for “trip planning”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Three days is the length most people give Hanoi, and it works. This is a day-by-day plan for someone landing at Noi Bai, staying in the Old Quarter and getting around mostly on foot, with a day trip out of the city on day three.
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.
Most people give Ha Long Bay one night on a boat and that is usually the right call. This is an honest look at the day trip, the one-night cruise and the two-night version, and how each one fits into a two-week Vietnam trip.
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.
Two nights is the honest minimum and three is the sweet spot. Here is what each extra night on Cat Ba actually buys you, and how the island fits into a two-week trip around Vietnam.