Spring rolls fried in front of your eyes, draught beer for 50 cents served fresh as you sit on tiny plastic stools, and so many motorbikes that it’s intimidating to cross the road at first (to be honest, it never gets less terrifying). These are some of the memories as I reminisce on my trips to Vietnam over the years.
It’s easy to spend the whole day eating – whether it’s warm bowls of pho (which I will one day pronounce correctly) or cold vermicelli with grilled pork. But luckily you can work some of it off by walking the streets lined with colourful shops in the cities or hiking through the lush green jungles in the mountains. Or you can just accept that holidays are for relaxing and spend your days lazing on the beach.
Vietnam was overlooked as a tourism destination for a long time, but that has changed dramatically over recent years (there were 18 million visitors in 2019, compared to just 3.7 million in 2009). The pandemic was an unfortunate arrest for a country that had finally found the travel fame it deserved, but Vietnam has reopened this month with no need for quarantine. And a new airline, Bamboo Airways, will connect Sydney directly to Ho Chi Minh City from this Tuesday, while direct Melbourne flights will start in late April. The airline will use modern Dreamliners for the very reasonably-priced flights (a family of five can fly for less than $2800 return), so it’ll be interesting to see what travellers think of this new entrant to the Australian market.
One of the nice things about visiting Vietnam is that its long and thin geography makes it easy to see the whole country – you just go north from Ho Chi Minh City and then fly out of Hanoi at the end. I would recommend a two-week trip, which will give you enough time to enjoy all the highlights.
A couple of days in Ho Chi Minh City gives you a sense of this frenetic metropolis, which makes up for a lack of tourist sites with an endless immersion into the energy of local life. Take a food tour or join a local motorbike guide on an exploration of markets and neighbourhoods. Trendy cafes are a sign the hipster gentrification has reached Vietnam, but side streets reveal the heritage. Ho Chi Minh City is also a good base to do day trips to the Mekong or the (rather touristy) Cu Chi Tunnels once used by the Viet Cong soldiers.
The southern half of Vietnam has less tourist destinations than the north, and some visitors will skip the next 1000 kilometres and head straight to Hoi An. But you could choose to stop along the way in Dalat, a city in the highlands that’s the closest you’ll get to a European alpine town (many of the buildings are in French colonial style), where there’s a large lake, lovely hiking, and other adventure activities. On the coast, Nha Trang offers a holiday beach vibe with plenty of resorts and hotel skyscrapers.
The historic town of Hoi An is one of Vietnam’s highlights, a trading port for centuries that declined in the 19th century but was never redeveloped, meaning it retained its heritage. The quaint streets of timber buildings with flags and lanterns strewn between them are filled with cafes, art stores, and cooking classes. Nearby, Hue has the impressive Imperial City, an enormous compound that was the political centre of the country for almost 150 years. Although much of it was destroyed during the Vietnam War, it’ll still take a few hours to explore it.
While the cities are alluring for their vibrancy, make sure not to miss Vietnam’s natural sites. As you head north from Hue, you might like to stop at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, a natural World Heritage Site that’s home to the world’s largest cave, so big you could apparently fly a Boeing 747 through it. Only a handful of people are allowed to visit this cave each year, in what’s a long and expensive expedition, but there are other caves in the national park that are also impressive and make Phong Nha worth the detour.
But it’s a few hours further north that you’ll find Vietnam’s most famous natural sight – Ha Long Bay. Limestone islands rise out of the water like the tips of Neptune’s trident. Some are sheer rock cliffs, while others are covered in jungle. Most visitors spend at least a night on a cruise through the emerald waters, with sunrise and sunset creating picturesque landscapes amongst the 1600 stone pillars.
The most logical place to finish a trip through Vietnam is its capital Hanoi, which I think is the country’s most charming city. There’s an interesting variety of tourist sites, including the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where the embalmed body of the former leader is on display, but again it’s the streets that offer the most amusement. Eating and drinking spills onto the footpaths amongst the market stalls of the Old Town, while the nearby French Quarter has a slightly quieter and leafier atmosphere, where you’ll find coffee and croissants for breakfast. It’s easy to spend a few days exploring the dynamism of Hanoi.
For those who have time, there’s the option of going even further north for hiking amongst traditional villages in the mountains of Sapa. But all along the length of Vietnam there are side trips that will reveal the country’s depth. Yes, you can see the highlights in a fortnight, but luckily these new flight routes mean it’s easy to go back and see what you missed the first time.
You can see details of a Vietnam travel itinerary on Michael Turtle’s Time Travel Turtle website.
