Vietnam......A Beautiful Experience!!

Captivating, mysterious and welcoming – Vietnam is all at once!

It is UNEXPLORED and provides ULTIMATE LUXURY ON A BUDGET! 

Halong Bay....The natural wonder of the World!

With new experiences, incredible natural beauty, delectable local cuisine, warm people, and immense value for money, Vietnam’s tourism is luring travelers worldwide.

For us, it was three nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia followed by a week in Vietnam and yet, it was hectic!! Read below and set your itinerary as per your travel goals! Do keep an eye on the “DOs and DONTs” at the end!

Each part of 1000km long Vietnam offers something different and unique: Buzzing city life of Ho Chi Minh City, beautiful beaches of Nha Trang, fascinating culture in the port town of Hoi An, intriguing walk down history lane in Hanoi, enormous jaw-dropping caves in Halong Bay and exciting shopping fiesta! It is an unparalleled tropical experience packed with delightful attractions for all travellers.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCM- 3 nights)

Day 1 - This is Vietnam’s commercial centre offering ample sight-seeing, new experiences and innumerable party options!

Nguyen Walking street;
Notre Dame Cathedral

We started our evening at Nguyen Hue Walking Street. With Christmas round the corner, the beautifully lit and decorated town hall, statue of the president Ho Chi Minh, surrounding shops, restaurants and hotels, all seemed like a carnival.

We then visited the iconic “Notre Dame Cathedral” and “Saigon Post Office” influenced by Renaissance architecture. With people singing carols and the brilliant play of colorful lights, the atmosphere was indeed merry and festive.

Bui Vien Walking Street

Our next stop was Bui Vien walking street! It was lined up with bars, restaurants and massage parlours. With people selling snakes, squids and other unexpected things on their bicycles and tables set on the road, different music at every 50metres, with literally no place to walk, this was a crazy paradise for sea food lovers! For busy nightlife seekers, Pham Ngu Lao and De Tham Street, backpacker district of HCM with very similar vibe to Khao San Road in Bangkok is also a good place to be.

Day 2- Full day tour to Cu chi Tunnel and Mekong Delta

Lucky enough to have an excellent guide Ducn and wonderful company of a family from Sweden and two solo women travellers from Netherlands and Switzerland. (Yes, Vietnam is quite safe!!), the 2 hour drive (60kms) to the tunnel was quite interesting.

Cu Chi Tunnel

Our first stop, the incredible network of 220km long Cu Chi Tunnels built by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War was mind-boggling. We took the opportunity to shoot AK47 with real bullets, crawl through tiny tunnels and got an insight into how Vietnamese soldiers managed a life under-ground.

Mekong Delta

After a 2-hour drive, we reached our next destination - The gorgeous Mekong delta. As we boarded here the boat to Ben Tre, it felt like a welcome change from the energy of HCM city. It is amazing how simple and small experiences like tropical fruit tasting over live Vietnamese local music, sporting the Vietnamese hat, taking pictures with python and honey bees, travelling in a horse cart, doing a sampan ride in tiny waterways,can be so refreshingly enchanting.

After a long yet not-so-tiring journey of 2 hours, we concluded our night at the popular Chilli Sky Bar, a vibrant rooftop club and lounge bar.  

Day 3– We went to see War Remnant Museum which has display of exhibits from Vietnam War. It is indeed intriguing and sorrowful how Vietnam fought for its Independence for 19 long years. It is like literally watching a country rebuild itself and you can’t resist giving your heart and soul to the country.

Rest of our day was dedicated to spending money on good food at “Benaras Indian restaurant”, shopping at Saigon Square and Ben Thanh market, relaxing massage at Cat Moc Spa and playing in a casino at Hotel New World Saigon. (Shopping in Hanoi is better and more reasonable!!)

If time permits, you may see the A O Show featuring live acrobatics and Vietnamese music at the historical Saigon Opera House, Vinh Trang Pagoda and Chinatown.

Nha Trang (2 nights)

View from the room

Day 4 - Nha Trang boasts its beauty with incredible blue beaches with the long, white sand banks that stretch gracefully along the city. With rich aquatic life, active night life, splendid beach resorts and entertaining recreational activities, Nha Trang has the perfect holiday vibe.

We stayed for two nights at Muong Thanh Luxury Hotel located right across Nha Trang Beach in the VIP suite having a fabulous ocean-view at an unbelievable price of Rs.7000!! With an agenda to relax, we strolled by the beach, pampered ourselves with a massage and satiated our hunger pangs at “Vandana Indian Restaurant”(It was all at walking distance!!)

Day 5- As suggested by a local Indian, we visited Po Nagar Cham Towers, a well-preserved Hindu temple that is truly a masterpiece representing Cham culture. Beautiful views, Champa dance performances every hour, religious significance and architectural beauty makes it crowded with tourists.

Just like that!

To pamper us more, we headed to Thap Ba Mud Bath. We spent here ~3 hours indulging in mud bath, mineral bath, hot swimming pool, Jacuzzi, etc. It was a fun and relaxing way of therapeutic cleansing of the body. One can choose from the multiple common/private packages.

Z Club!

There is no dearth of party places in Nha Trang, but we chose to walk to the best ones in our vicinity, Z Club and Hawana which were both pretty good.

Depending on one’s interests, there are plenty of other interesting and must-go-to places in Nha Trang -

* Interested in water activities? Opt for a boat tour from Nha Trang to visit four pristine islands of Nha Trang Bay and do snorkelling to see the colourful coral reefs at Hon Mun Marine Protected Area, visit to aquarium and a fish farm

* Travelling with kids? Take them to Vinpearl Land, also called “Disneyland Of Vietnam” to enjoy indoor and outdoor games, golf course, aquarium and a water park. To get there, take the Vinpearl Cable Car – the world’s longest oversea cable car

* Longing for more sightseeing? Located within 5 kms of Nha Trang city center, visit “Long Son Pagoda- the 24m high white Buddha statue”, take pretty pictures from the white spiral stair in Hoang Phu Residence and witness the sunset at iconic Hon Chong

Hanoi (2nights)     

Day 6 - The capital city of Vietnam is like a mini Asian version of Paris. It is a city of contrasts with its pagodas and monasteries, karaoke bars and dance clubs.

At the Hanoi Lake Palace
(lake in the background)

 We stayed at the luxurious “Hanoi Lake Palace and Resort”. It was almost on the lake and even had a golf course. It was cold (unlike rest of Vietnam) and we had reached before the check-in time, so they offered us to use the steam, sauna, Jacuzzi services and believe me, it was sheer bliss.

Hoan Kiem Lake
Water Puppet Theatre

Great thing about Hanoi is that all the sightseeing is concentrated within 3kms of radius. One can book a half day city tour which typically include attractions from Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to see the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh, One Pillar Pagoda, Hoa Lo prison, Hoan Kiem Lake, Thang Long Water puppet show, Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - A UNESCO World Heritage Site concluding with free time at the Old quarter. One can also visit the Presidential Palace, the Temple of Literature, and watch Bamboo circus at Opera House.

On a time crunch, you can alternately take a 60-minute tour around the Old quarter starting from the Hoan Kiem Lake. Once the sightseeing is done, delve into shopping spree at the famous Night Market – a shopper’s paradise with amazing products at unbelievable prices.

It is difficult to leisurely enjoy all the attractions and shop in one day, so I would suggest 2 days in Hanoi in addition to Halong Bay. If craving for Indian food, eat your heart out at “Namaste Indian Restaurant”, it is a dreamland.

When you just can't stop clicking!

Day 7- This was dedicated for excursion of Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The day is systematically planned with first stop at the Pearl factory wherein one can witness pearl in-the-making and buy its beautiful jewellery. Then embark on the cruise at Tuan Chau Harbour, savour on-board Vietnamese traditional lunch and appreciate the extraordinary scenery of thousands of limestone islands and islets in Ha Long Bay. Soak in the real beauty of Ba Hang by kayaking or bamboo boat. Believe me, this storybook, ethereal paradise will pamper and captivate you in ways like no other.

The stunning caves!

Get mesmerised by Thien Hung Cave, one of the most beautiful caves in Ha Long Bay. It’s impossible not to fall in love from the get-go with this unique and magnificent museum of natural arts elaborately created by the magic hands of Mother Nature. Later make a stop at the legendary Dau Go Cave to relish the labyrinthine maze of stalactite and stalagmite structures inside this grotto.

VIETNAMESE FOOD – Slurp a bowl of Pho, the hot noodles, Vietnamese style! Whether you are a coffee person or not, you must try Vietnamese Coffee! They have so many versions of it, with egg, condensed milk and what not!

Vietnamese love their food and practically eat everything under the roof and beneath the sea; crocodiles, snakes, and a lot more!! You can relish Vietnamese flavour in vegetarian and vegan dishes too at Liu Riu.

We had to return to Jaipur after these three beautiful cities, but if you are in for more, here are the places you can add -

o   Danang – Visit Marble Mountains, Son Tra Peninsula, and Thuan Phuoc Bridge

o   Hoi An – Overnight journey from Danang, is Hoi An - Wander around the local market, Japanese Bridge, Tan Ky Old House and Fu Jian Assembly Hall. Take part in a cooking class, get tailor-made clothes, roam the markets, explore the countryside and bike through the rice fields

Take a day trip from Hoi An to explore My Son sanctuary. Similar to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, My Son features many Hindu temples and is designated as a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site.

o   Phu Quoc – With mostly unexplored, clean and uninhabited beaches and grand luxurious resorts, it is just the perfect getaway for honeymooners!

Don’t just listen to what I say, go see!! Vietnam is the place to be!!

Cambodia

Cambodia is a charming union of experiences and emotions; right from the ancient ruins of the Angkor Wat complex and riveting stone architecture to the affable locals, plush hotels and a rapidly advancing modern lifestyle. Read more about it in the next post.

DOs and DONTs –

o   Language can be a barrier, always have google translator. Pre-ask the estimate fare at the hotel for any particular place and have name of your destination in Vietnamese on your phone

o   For any meal-inclusive tour, pre-mention your food preference… vegetarian or anything that you don’t want

o   Start the day early as most of the museums and historical sites close up early in the evening.

o   For local transport, use Grab/Uber or reputable taxi companies like Mai Linh and Vinasun or motorcycle taxi Xe Om

o   The visa is on arrival but it is always better to pre-apply. Check all the requisite documents and whether you need single entry or multiple entry visa depending on your itinerary

o   Insanely shop but Bargain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

o   Fixed fare of taxi from Khanh Hoa airport to Nha Trang City center is ~350,000VND and airport minibus is 65,000VND per person.

o   Halong Bay – Opt for a day/ 1N2D/2N3D cruise. Choose wisely from plethora of cruises and service providers. Look out for cruise with seating arrangements on the upper deck to absorb the beauty and take classic photos

o   You may use services of

a.      Kim Travels in HCM City – +84 936362240

b.      Hanoi Airport transfer - +84 921262222

A special Thanks to beloved Ankit, an amazing life and travel partner!!
Shruti