When people ask me to name my favourite country that I’ve visited, sometimes I hesitate, overwhelmed by the choices. Spain, for its beaches and delicious food? Italy, for its fabulous history? Norway, for its stunning natural beauty? More often however, the answer tumbles straight out – Vietnam. It combines all of these factors and that, coupled with the fact that it was one of the first countries I explored as an adult, means it will always hold a very special place in my heart. I’ve mentioned before my pinch me moment in Ho Chi Minh City, and my memorable night aboard a train to Sapa. But this time I wanted to not only outline my two week itinerary, which saw me head from north to south, but also try to evoke a little of what placed Vietnam at the top of my list.
Hitting Hanoi (12 hours)
First stop was Hanoi, for just a short space of time. We wandered around Hoan Kiem Lake, tried to come to grips with the huge amount of traffic and hustle, and concluded the best way of achieving that was heading to a bia hoi. I perched on a colourful low plastic seat, sipped my crazy-cheap beer, and watched the city pass by. Before we knew it, it was time to hop on our night train to Sapa.
Watching northern Vietnam go by on the way to Sapa
Sapa (1.5 days)
After an anticipation-filled night train ride, we arrived in the charming town of Sapa. A hill town, Sapa was established by the French in 1922, with several nearby tribal villages. It’s a popular base for trekking, and while we didn’t have enough time for a multi-day trek, we enjoy a couple of half-day walks in the hills. I also like wandering around the town taking in the mix of pretty colonial architecture, and breathing in the air that felt crystal-clear after Hanoi.
A little hill-tribe girl trying her best to sell me jewellery
Ha Long Bay (1 day / overnight)
The early speed of our itinerary continued as we caught another night train back from Sapa to Hanoi, and on arrival jumped straight into our mini-bus to Ha Long Bay. This beautiful World Heritage area is an area of the Gulf of Tonkin studded with towering white and green karsts plunging into waters that approach emerald (when the sun shines!). As it was cloudy for much of our trip, the low white billows added an air of mystery as we cruised between bays. There are junks of all sizes plying the routes around the Bay, and you can do 1-3 night overnight cruises of varying degrees of luxury. We took kayaks into hidden inlets, and gazed at huge caves lit red and green. Next time, though, I would head straight to Cat Ba Island, where you can stay longer or visit further away parts of the Bay.
Hanoi (2 nights… plus 1 more)
Hoan Kiem lake lit up for Tet
Back in Hanoi we celebrated Tet with new friends from our boat cruise. Tet is the Vietnamese New Year and we enjoyed walking around town looking at all of the beautiful light displays, performances and parades. We also visited Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, and enjoyed delicious meals of banh mi (fresh, light baguettes) and bun rieu (crab and noodle soup). However it was pretty chilly in the north and I was looking forward to heading south where hopefully temperatures would climb. Thus it was extra disappointing that we managed to miss our train on to Hue, and ended up having an extra 24 hours in Hanoi. We decided to make the most of it by visiting the Perfume Pagoda, a huge complex of Buddhist temples.
To visit the Pagoda you have to take a bus for a couple of hours to the river that leads to Huong Tich Mountain, where local women row you to the base. From there, you can either walk up to the temples or take the cable car. We decided to take the cable car for the views, a decision that epically backfired when another tourist suffered horribly bad motion-sickness (despite the fact that the ride was pretty smooth) and proceeded to projectile-vomit over the whole floor of our very small six-person car. It’s safe to say this particular excursion is indelibly etched in my mind, for all the wrong reasons!
Apologies for the blurriness, but to give you an idea of how busy it was!
The path from the cable-car to the main temple entrance wound along the cliff edge, giving us some beautiful views over the surrounding countryside. When we reached the temple I was astounded at the crowds, but given most Vietnamese take holiday over Tet, we shouldn’t have been surprised – this is an extremely popular pilgrimage. The carvings and icons inside were beautiful, with gold and red decorating all available surfaces of the shrines. And yes… we walked back down rather than taking the cable-car!
Hue (2 days… or 1 and a bit!)
Vietnam’s imperial capital, Hue is located towards the middle of the country, so a long train-ride later we were finally walking in the footsteps of the emperors around the ruins of the massive palace complex that is such a big attraction for visiting the city. Another hugely impressive World Heritage sight, its walls stretch over 2.5 kilometres around. It has been badly bombed in the various French and American wars so only a few of the buildings survive, although we saw others being reconstructed. The scale was amazing and it was incredible to imagine what it might have looked like at its peak in the early 19th century.
A very fetching poncho, I’m sure you’ll agree
Hoi An (3 nights)
And on to what ended up being my favourite place in Vietnam, Hoi An. What makes it so special to me? This “Town of A Hundred Tailors” is famous for its tailoring industry, with shops of all shapes and sizes set up to make everything from suits of outrageous colours to the perfect winter coat (in my case) to shoes to ball-gowns. But it wasn’t just the shopping – it has a beautifully preserved Old Town, with the river flowing through, delicious food, and the Cua Dai beach a short bike ride away. I talked quite seriously one night to an Australian guy working as a bartender about the logistics of living in the town! Although that hasn’t quite worked out, I did appreciate the relatively relaxed pace so much that I returned a year later for a few more days of shopping and serenity.
Pick a pattern, a fabric or a style and go from there!
There are two speciality dishes that are basically only found in Hoi An, cao lau and white rose. The first is a noodle dish with pork and local greens, that can only be made with water from a particular well near the town. The second (above) is a type of prawn dumpling made only be one family, that when cooked crinkles up to resemble a rose. Both are delicious and another factor in my considering whether I could live in Hoi An!
Nha Trang (2 nights)
Nha Trang was our treat accommodation of the trip, as we stayed in a beautiful resort just outside town, with these incredible white sand beaches and luxurious rooms. By that stage, it was nice to be staying away from the hustle of the centre, as Nha Trang is well-known as a bit of a party town. Many come to dive the crystal-clear waters of the bay – we just snorkelled but still saw a huge amount of colourful fish and even a small shark, well below us! There are also floating villages out in the bay, and our diving tour briefly explained how many now farm fish right below their houses.
Saigon – Ho Chi Minh City (2 nights)
The final part of our holiday was 2 days exploring the capital Ho Chi Minh City. After the smaller, slower-paced towns of Nha Trang and Hoi An it was a bit of a shock to be back in a big city, but we quickly adjusted to the vibrant energy and buzz. A visit to the Reunification Palace, still preserved exactly as it was when Communist tanks rolled over the gates, was fascinating, especially coupled with a visit to the deeply-sobering War Remnants Museum which uses photography and personal stories to attempt to convey some of the most shocking stories of the War. Our military theme continued with a visit just out of town to the Cu Chi tunnels, where you can see and even venture down the tiny tunnels used by the Viet Cong. I got massively claustrophobic! The small taster of HCMC was fascinating – I’ve written more about it in ‘ My Pinch-Me Moment‘ in the city.
And then it was back home, with an entirely new appreciation for Vietnamese culture, history and people. Along the way we had enjoyed chatting with generally friendly locals to learn more about everything from the fine points of white rose preparation to what Sapa hill tribes do in a modern economy. That was definitely one of my highlights of my first visit to Vietnam – it’s definitely not my last!
Have you ever visited Vietnam?
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