Pro Tips:

• Get your visa ahead of time!! Americans must have a visa before they arrive (i.e. visa on arrival is not an option). They say it takes 3-4 business days to process, but it can take up to 2 weeks, and even longer during holiday times.
• No need to book ahead in Vietnam. It’s best to go with the flow and book as you go. This is for accommodation and transportation between destinations.
• Your accommodation or any (of the MANY) travel agencies can help you book any transportation or activity needs.
• I always doubled the expected travel time. If someone told me the bus would take 2 hours, I planned water + food + entertainment for it to take 4 hours+. It’s very easy to get around, but it’s never on time haha.
• Don’t drink the water; just use bottled water.

CITY: Hanoi

HOW LONG: 5 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

My friend Jake met me in Vietnam for the first 10 days of my time here. Given it was Têt (Lunar New Year) & we weren’t sure what would be open, we wanted a place with a kitchen. We rented a fabulous airbnb with a pool + gym in the building. It has a nice living space and great views of Hồ Tây Lake. It was very nice to have a big queen bed all to myself and a fancy private bathroom. Living the high life after all these days in hostels 🤣 The only downside was that it was a bit far (30 min walk) from the old town, where we spent a decent amount of our time). 

WHERE TO EAT:

Turns out, even though it was Têt, most restaurants were open in Hanoi (in smaller towns this would not be the case). We loved exploring the streets and eating often. Sometimes big meals, sometimes many small meals throughout the day. My favorite thing was sitting on the tiny, low plastic chairs and getting served a big bowl of pho. Usually there was no menu, you just got served the one thing the restaurant served. Yummy!

I also loved the egg Bahn Mi from T Bread Bahn Mi. 

Overall we mostly ate at street food stands/stalls so no names to report but the food here was excellent all around! 

WHAT TO DO:

Honestly, we didn’t do a ton here because while restaurants were open, a lot of other stuff was shut down. 

We spent a ton of time just meandering around the old town, which was a bit quieter than usual due to the holiday. It made it quite pleasant to walk around without the throngs of people and the honks of millions of motorbikes. Don’t worry, there still was plenty of honking, but it was just in the thousands. 

Our absolute favorite thing to do was get a drink and sit at a restaurant at the intersection of the Hanoi Beer Street. The people watching was fabulous! Also the streets are so narrow so it was fascinating to watch the cars & motorbikes try to squeeze through the throngs of tourists walking around.

We attempted to do a hop on/ hop off tour but it was a disaster with them changing the time and route on us and then wouldn’t let us hop off… pretty bad. 

We managed to watch the superbowl while here, which was fun until the 49ers lost 😫

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I normally don’t like the big cities of Southeast Asia, but Hanoi might be the exception. I think it helped that it was Tet because it was much calmed & quieter than a normal week in Hanoi. Old Town is charming & so fun to walk around! Would definitely come back here.

CITY: Ha Long Bay & Cat Ba Island

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

Ha Long Bay, world famous for the thousands of towering limestone islands topped by rainforests amidst (supposedly) clear waters. Tourists flock to take a cruise through it as either a day trip or a 1, 2, or 3 night cruise. I had heard others speak highly of Cat Ba Island so when we talked to a travel agent (randomly found one as we walked around Old Town in Hanoi), we requested a tour that wasn’t the 5 star (read expensive) but also wasn’t the cheapest option, and that included a day/night in Lan Ha Bay & Cat Ba Island. I am SO glad we did because I honestly liked Lan Ha Bay better than Ha Long Bay. It was less dirty & overall way less tourists. It’s basically the same landscape but with less people/boats.

We went with a boat called Fantasea and overall it was just fine. I wouldn’t really recommend them. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but I definitely there are better options out there.

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed one night on the boat & one night in a hotel on Cat Ba Island. Neither were anything to write home about but wasn’t horrible either.

WHERE TO EAT:

You eat on the boat haha not too many choices while on the expedition!

Our one meal on Cat Ba Island was at Casa Bonita. Very good food & cute vibes.

WHAT TO DO:

As part of the 3 day / 2 night excursion, you do a few activities:

• Explore Hang Sung Sot cave
• Hike to the top of Ti Top island for amazing views of Ha Long Bay
• Learn about the Pearl farms
• Kayak around the bay
• We also explore Cat Ba National Park on our last day

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Ha Long Bay has long been on my bucket list (excuse the pun haha), but if you want my honest opinion, I wasn’t wowed by it. I’m not sure if we got unlucky with the weather, but the air/sky was so polluted that it just completely dulled the views for me. The cave & Ti Top hike were incredibly crowded (almost claustrophobically so) & the kayaking location was not picked because it’s a particularly good spot for it. Rather it was picked because they try to get you to buy a bunch of pearls at the pearl farm before & after you go kayaking. We did enjoy playing cards on the deck at sunset and watch all the boats slowly turn into glittering lights across the bay. Quite beautiful!

CITY: Ninh Binh

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Havana Homestay Tam Coc. It had just opened up so it was incredibly nice and clean! We were literally the first guests to stay in the room we were in. Pretty cool! It’s a great location, fabulous facilities and the family who runs it are incredibly nice. Would definitely recommend this place!

WHERE TO EAT:

Honestly we didn’t eat anything notable here. There are lots of western restaurants catering to the tourists here, but there are some stalls that serve cheaper, quicker food. I had dessert one night from them.

WHAT TO DO:

My favorite thing we did was the Trang An Scenic Landscape boat ride. There are a few routes you can pick, but we chose to do the one with the longest cave and less of the temples (you can decide from the pamphlet they give you when you buy your tickets). Be prepared to spend some time for this as it can take between 1.5 – 3 hours, depending on how long you take while off the boat at the various attractions and just how many other boats are going. We got luckily with the weather and it was glorious!

The other main attraction we hit was hiking up to the Hang Múa viewpoint. This can get very crowded so I’d recommend starting earlier in the morning for this spot.

Jake & I decided this would also be a great place for our first time renting motorbikes on our own! It was so, so much fun. It made me regret not doing it more in Southeast Asia, but at the same time, I am glad I’ve been on the more cautious side of picking when & where to do it. Ninh Binh is relatively calm traffic-wise and the roads were good so it was great to try doing it for the first time here.

Other ideas (that we didn’t do ourselves):

1. Take a bicycle and enjoy lunch at Trang An Lotus lake Homestay
2. Hike through Cúc Phương National Park

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I could’ve spent another day here. I loved that the main thing to do was explore the beautiful landscape and I would’ve enjoyed another day riding around on the motorbikes! Dare I say I think I liked it better here than Ha Long Bay?! This is also where I said goodbye to Jake, who was now off to Thailand to meet up with his sister.

CITY: Ha Giang Loop

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

After a lot of research (and talking to other travelers) I chose to do my Ha Giang Loop with Road Kings. I quickly learned that I wanted (& needed) to avoid the bigger, more well known tours that tend to draw the younger, party crowd (hello Jasmine and Mama’s), since I didn’t want to worry about drunken riding partners and I wanted to be able to get a good night sleep. Road Kings is a newer company and is run by a couple (an American man & Vietnamese woman). This made it very easy to communicate with them as they helped me coordinate my transpiration to/from Ha Giang (the starting & ending point of the loop). They are all about customer service and were quick to answer all the questions that I had! They also cap their groups to 8 people, which means you are able to nimbly move through the loop (it can get crowded), and you also get to know everyone really well! This is great because people are often traveling the same direction as you after and you can meet up again in the next few spots (I ended up doing this with two of the couples in my group). Overall I would HIGHLY recommend Road Kings.

Additionally, people tend to choose between the 3 day & 4 day Loop, and I am SO glad I chose the 4 day. You essentially cover the same amount of miles, but with the 4 day, you can go much slower and stop for my viewpoints and waterfalls.

Lastly, even if you are an experienced motorcyclist, I would I highly recommend going as an Easy Rider. This means you sit on the back of the bike, while a local Vietnamese man rides it. The roads, especially on the second day, are pretty gnarly, and it’s so nice to have an expert handling it so you can just focus on the views and I even listened to music as we cruised through the beautiful landscapes. It meant I was stress-free the whole time!

Pro tip: Wear closed-toe shoes & (depending on the season/weather)a jacket for sun/wind/cold protection.

Make sure you have a smaller backpack or rucksack you can take since you leave your bigger backpack/suitcase at the hostel. You pack just what you need for the 4 days (which is not much: 2-3 days of clothes (I just re-wore stuff) & toiletries) in your small daypack and then you cinch that down at the back of the back for the entirety of the loop.

ACCOMMODATION:

Since I booked a slightly nicer, smaller tour, I was treated to a private room for each of the 3 nights while on the Loop. The ninth before you leave, everyone just stays at the hostel you book the tour through and I was in a dorm room (but it was included in the package so that was nice!). While none of the accommodation could be considered luxurious, the places we stayed were great. After a long day on the motorcycle, a clean room, comfy bed, & hot shower were all you needed! My favorite place was the last night, where we were in a traditional Vietnamese homestay and the rooms were so cool!

WHERE TO EAT:

Honestly I was so impressed by the food provided by the tour. You definitely won’t go hungry!!! The french fries & omelette were always my favorite haha.

WHAT TO DO:

Enjoy the ride! You can read the full itinerary here in detail, but we swam in 3 waterfalls, saw amazing view points, & had lots of coffee (and iced cocoas for me) breaks. We went to the Vietnamese border with China and learned about how it’s changed over the years. We took a bamboo boat ride. We went to a traditional Lo Lo village. And so much more. Honestly, just go for yourself. It was INCREDIBLE!

My group was a British Couple, an Australian couple, and a British/Australian couple. All were lovely!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

All I can say is that this is one of my top three experiences of my trip so far!! The other two are hiking the Milford Track in New Zealand with my family and going up in the hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey. Truly don’t miss out on doing this awe-inspiring journey through Northern Vietnam. I will say we got incredibly lucky with the weather where we got no rain and all sunshine (which I don’t think is typical) so take a look at when weather would be best before you book your trip!

CITY: Hoi An

HOW LONG: 7 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at SacLo Villa Homestay. It was one of my favorite hostels I have stayed at! The main reason is the host/owner, Lyna, is amazing and will go above and beyond to take care of anything you need. The rooms are comfy (I stayed in 3 different types of rooms because I kept extending). After flying from Hanoi to Da Nang, I originally had planned to stay in Hoi An for 3 nights before going to Hue & Da Nang with my remaining 4 days, but I literally couldn’t imagine leaving Hoi An. I ended up staying the entire 7 nights at SacLo in Hoi An. The morning breakfast is one of the best hostel breakfasts I’ve had ever and you can order from 4-5 options! Pro tip: the pancakes are their speciality and aren’t to be missed. Lyna also often organizes hostel dinners around Hoi An at yummy restaurants. Between breakfast and these evening activities, it’s super easy to meet people!! I made some good friends at this hostel.

Unfortunately I did get pretty sick while I was in Hoi An. Luckily Lyna kindly allowed me to upgrade my room to a private room so I could recuperate better (and not get anyone else sick). She also helped me get to a pharmacy for medicine.

The only downside to the hostel is that it’s about a 20 min walk to the center of town, but it’s a pleasant walk (when it’s not too hot), or you rent a bike from the hostel, or it’s a very cheap, quick Grab ride on a motorbike (~$1-2).

Regardless I highly recommend staying here!

WHERE TO EAT:

I was here a week so I went to lots of fun cafes & restaurants. I was very impressed by the food scene in Hoi An!

Lim dining room – This was SUCH a delicious meal! I sat on the front patio and people watched over a delicious pizza. 10/10

Morning Glory Signature – This is well-known restaurant in Hoi An, which meant I thought it might be touristy/overpriced. Lyna had organized a hostel dinner here so we had 20 people rolling deep. Service was excellent and food was delicious! I’d call the cuisine elevated Vietnamese food. It’s not cheap, but was still reasonable for those not from Vietnam.

Avocado cafe – I had delicious pancakes for lunch here as well as dinner with the Australian couple from my Ha Giang Loop group.

Buttercup by Rosie’s cafe – Great spot for a smoothie bowl

Lyn’s cafe – cute cafe for a coffee

Lagom – Lovely cafe around the corner from SacLo. Yummy western breakfast options.

Nourish – Yummy vegetarian cafe. I ordered a smoothie bowl 

The Hill Station deli and cafe– Cute spot to work or read. Quiet & I loved how it was decorated.

Port City Bagels – Honestly one of the best bagels I’ve had in a while! I went a few times haha.

Bahn Mi Phuong– This spot is known as Anthony Bourdain’s favorite place to get a Bahn Mi! It did not disappoint, but be prepared for long lines.

WHAT TO DO:

Hoi An is most famous for being THE place to get clothes made! Known as the “Textile capital of Vietnam,” there are so many tailors in Hoi An where you can have clothes custom made. Here are my best pro tips:

• Go to the tailors on your first day (or the first chance you get). They are miraculously fast, but sometimes you need to have a fitting or two before everything comes out perfectly. Because I had 7 whole days, I actually did about 5 fittings since I figured I might as well get it all 100% right before I left (my pieces were also mostly rompers & jumpsuits so needed some tweaking to have it fall right). At minimum you want 2-3 days in Hoi An to have clothes made
• Have an idea of what you want made before you walk in. I actually had a jumpsuit and a romper with me that I brought in and had them make exact replicas (with a few tweaks, like changing the sleeve on my jumpsuit from a spaghetti strap to a cap sleeve). I also brought in photos from a romper & dress I found on Pinterest. Within 24 hours I had versions to try on! Pretty wild.
• Pick your tailor thoughtfully. Some places are cheaper, but the quality will suffer. Some places are very well known, but therefore are very expensive. I’d recommend not going to the cheapest place, but find a reasonable prices that you don’t have to sacrifice quality. After all you want these clothes to last! I went to Bao Diep Tailor and would definitely recommend them (Lyna from SacLo pointed me in their direction).
• It can be overwhelming once you walk in the door so have an idea of what fabrics or patterns you might want. Alternatively just plan to spend an hour or two at the tailor going through the thousands of different fabric samples in order to choose the one you want!
• Guys often get suits here since it’s so cheap!
• Don’t be afraid to voice any concerns or changes you want made during your fittings. They are amazing at making the changes (either on the spot or in a few hours). Don’t leave unsatisfied if it’s something you could just have them alter for you!
• Don’t be afraid to negotiate, especially if you are buying lots of items.
• Honestly if you love a piece, I’d recommend you ask them to make a second version in another color/pattern. I regret not getting more jumpsuits made (even though I had two made haha).

I happened to be there during the lantern festival (happens every full moon I think). It was magical! All the boats on the river would take people on a 30 min ride and you could light your own lantern. Beautiful. After we went out to one of the many clubs to go dancing, which was fun.

I also went scuba diving, and I honestly wouldn’t recommend it. The visibility was pretty bad, but even if it had been clear, the area is heavily over fished since they don’t have the same regulations/protections that Thailand, Bali & The Philippines have put in place. Not much to see.

I had plenty of massages and even treated myself to a hair treatment!

I got pretty sick so I didn’t do much else besides hang at cafes & get clothes made (when I even had the energy to do this). I did manage to go to the dentist while here. Since I was actually in one place long enough to make an appt somewhere (and given I don’t have dental insurance in the US right now), I thought it would be smart to go for a check up. The check up, cleaning, & X-rays were only $20 total. Pretty wild.

Other popular things to do:

• Go to the beach
• Rent bikes & cruise around.
• Day trip to Golden Hand Bridge & Ba Na hills (I was torn on whether to go because there are mixed reviews on whether it’s worth it. Some say it’s super cool, but others say it’s very Disneyland-esque and doesn’t feel authentic. Getting sick made the decision to skip it pretty easy)
• Cooking class + coconut boat ride
• Day trip to Marble Mountain
• Day trip to My Son Sanctuary

Overall your accommodation can give you the run down on all your options and can help you get it booked!

I found this blog post to be very helpful!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I LOVED HOI AN SO MUCH. I already can’t wait to go back. I really want to go with my sister and just have us bring a huge empty suitcase with us and then spend a week just getting custom clothes made hahah. I think it would be so much fun! Beyond that, Hoi An is just so darn charming and lovely. I loved walking around getting yummy iced cocoas, I loved how colorfully lit up the town is at night, I love how safe it felt. It’s so manageable and pleasant. As you can tell, I just love it, and would highly recommend spending at least 3 days here, but honestly I’d say stay longer, especially if you are backpacking and need a bit of break (like I did). Hoi An is the perfect spot for this!

BUDGET FOR 21 DAYS IN Vietnam:

I’ll caveat this section by saying my friend Jake paid for a lot of our food & accommodation while we were together, but I paid for our Ha Long Bay excursion, which makes the numbers look slightly weirdly weighted.

Accommodation: $252 ($12 per night) – Again Jake paid for some of this so it looks cheaper than it was. For what it’s worth though, hostels tended to be about $10 USD per night for a bed.

Food: $157

Groceries: $21

Activities: $884 – Vietnam known for some epic adventures. My (& Jake’s) Ha Long Bay cruise & my Ha Giang Loop costs are captured in this bucket (which means the food & accommodation are also bucketed here)

Local Transportation: $140 (Lots of busses and one domestic flight)

Clothing: $440 (This an abnormal cost for me but do not miss getting clothes made in Hoi An!!!)

Health: $85 (Dentist visit + medicine from getting very sick in Hoi An)

Visa: $25

Total: $1980 (Daily average: $94)

You can definitely do Vietnam wayyyy cheaper than this, but I didn’t skimp on the companies I did the adventures with, I got 7 new outfits in Hoi An, & I find that traveling with a friend always drives up costs for me since not everyone wants the #backpackerlifestyle haha

Transportation to next destination: $106 (flight to Laos)