13 of the best things to do in Vietnam
Vietnam is addictive. From the moment you step out into the traffic to cross the road (yes, really) to the time you taste its tantalising, moreish street food — all herbs, spices, intense flavours and aromas — you’ll be hooked. I first stepped into the eight-million-strong swell of motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City in 2004 and have explored it dozens of times since. The onus rests with the driver to avoid you and not the other way round. It totally works — if you don’t dally or panic. The custom is the closest Vietnam has ever come to true communism, wrote an expat.
On the surface, there’s little else that reveals Vietnam is a communist country. In almost 50 years it has transformed from a land once ravaged by war to a powerhouse of industry and creativity fuelled by fabulous fresh food and coffee. Find glorious beaches, languid waterways, lime-green rice paddies, sugarloaf peaks, ancient temple towns with imperial roots, endangered animals and deep caves. And, after exploring sites of history, religion, ethnic minority traditions and more, tuck into the fragrant food and the new wave of craft cocktails and beer. Here are the best things to do in Vietnam.
If you only have . . .
One week Hanoi, a boat trip to Halong Bay, and the rice paddies of Mai Chau
Two weeks Hanoi, Halong Bay, rice paddies of Mai Chau, Hue, Hoi An, Danang’s China beach or Hoi An’s beach, Ho Chi Minh City
Three weeks Hanoi, Halong Bay, the rice terraces of Mu Cang Chai, Hue, the cave network of Phong Nha-Ke Bang, and the Demilitarized Zone. From Hoi An, the ruins of My Son, then Saigon, Viet Cong tunnels at Cu Chi, Tay Ninh Cathedral, and an extended boat trip in the Mekong Delta
A tight budget Comfortable, cheap and air-conditioned accommodation is plentiful in Vietnam. Eat the country’s pocket-friendly street food wherever you travel and take advantage of the Hanoi to Saigon Reunification Express railway, and the network of minibuses that head to all corners of the country using an “open ticket” with a hop-on hop-off facility
1. Explore old Hanoi
The Old Quarter in Hanoi swells with a dense jostle of temples, shophouses, street food stalls, traffic and pavement wares, all wrapped up in a tangle of electric wires. Its heart lies in 36 ancient streets where makers’ guilds crafted paper, bricks, brushes, gravestones and silks for Hanoi’s imperial city, the nearby Thang Long Citadel. Even though Vietnam’s ruling emperors vanished long ago, some of these crafts are still sold on the same streets. The old town buzzes around the clock. Find small hotels, restaurants, cool bars, funky stores, the local beer corner and serendipitous encounters.
2. Eat street food
Taste your way through Vietnam’s deservedly renowned, fresh, herb-infused food by joining a street food tour. From steaming broths to aromatic seafood dishes, Vietnam’s cuisine is tantalising in its balance of flavours, textures and sheer spread. Start with Vietnamese egg coffee or popular ca phe sua da (iced coffee with condensed milk) before tucking into a steaming, herby bowl of pho (meaty, rice noodle soup). Save room for banh mi, short baguettes stuffed with meat, paté and salad, and bun cha, smoky, charcoal-grilled pork patties accompanied by vermicelli noodles, a dipping sauce and herby greens. Tour wet markets and fruit markets before pitching up for cheap draft beer (bia hoi) at a pavement bar.
3. Cruise the Mekong Delta
The Victoria Mekong is the only vessel on the Mekong River using solar panels and is 99 per cent plastic-free. It also travels slowly to prevent waves, which threaten to erode the delta’s riverbanks. It takes a different route — the Song Hau distributary — from those plied by other Mekong cruise boats. Visit floating markets away from the well-cruised tourist route; the waterbird paradise of Tra Su, meshed in a paperbark forest; an off-the-beaten-track island community; and a rare silk-making business. Learn about Mekong Delta food, coffee and cocktails along the way.
4. Ride through mountainous Ha Giang
Ha Giang is Vietnam’s most remote region. Pushing up against the Chinese border, it’s an otherworldly landscape of soaring sugarloaf peaks and plunging valleys carved with vertiginous rice paddies and ribboned by sky-high roads. In remote corners, you’ll find villages with colourful weekly markets. Travel by motorbike, whipping past fantastically named places such as Heaven’s Gate Pass, and visit ancient towns and the mountain kingdom of a Hmong ruler whose vast wealth was backed by opium. Stay in homestays and eco-lodges in these off-the-beaten track mountains, a world away from buzzy Hanoi.
5. Take a boat to Tam Coc
Tam Coc, aka “Halong Bay on land”, is an exceptionally picturesque area where the wide Ngo Dong River winds through a landscape of flat, green rice paddies framed by round-topped limestone peaks. Board a bamboo boat where local women row down the river towards Tam Coc — Three Caves — with their feet. Amid this striking scenery is Vietnam’s ninth-century capital at Hoa Lu. Climb a nearby mountain for panoramic limestone mountain views. This region is home to rare wildlife, too, at the Cuc Phuong National Park Endangered Primate Rescue Center and the Van Long Nature Reserve, the hideout of endangered Delacour’s langur.
6. Photograph golden rice terraces
Under-explored Mu Cang Chai is home to the most ridiculously beautiful sunlit rice terraces. Find them some 180 miles northwest of Hanoi in northern Vietnam. In the May–June planting season, hills sculptured by rice paddies gleam with water, and in the autumn harvest season, the contours ripple with neon-green rice that flushes to gold. Watch Hmong farmers reap the crop, then explore mineral baths, and stay in eco-lodges, homestays or a restored Hmong fort. Trek the rice paddy terrain and get up close and personal with local customs on a guided photographic tour.
7. Adventure at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
Where jagged limestone peaks thrust up against the Laos border in the Annamite Mountains on Vietnam’s waist, the world’s largest cave, Son Doong, tunnels into the earth. Multi-day expeditions in the Unesco-protected PhongNha-Ke Bang National Park are expensive, but shorter money-saving trips to other caves in the region are packed full of adventure with hiking, camping and cavern swimming for those looking for adrenaline kicks. Above ground, settle in a homestay along the Song Con River and search for hornbills and rare langurs, or wander through landscapes of rice paddies and churches. Find fun for families with easier one-day tours.
8. Experience imperial Hue and the DMZ
The dragon emperors of Vietnam built their Forbidden City on the Perfume River at Hue in central Vietnam in the early 1800s; concubines and eunuchs served the imperial court. But as well as earthly pleasures, Nguyen dynasty emperors were obsessed with their afterlife. They invested in ornate mausoleums with manicured gardens for when that day would come. Explore these elaborate memorials by motorbike or boat before heading back to modern-day Hue, known for its imperial cuisine feasts, vegetarian food and garden homes. From Hue, explore the war sites and relics of the Demilitarized Zone — the two-mile-wide area that separated the communist north from the capitalist south in 1954.
9. Shop in Hoi An
Hoi An is a beautiful riverfront town of ancient buildings, carved temples, Chinese pagodas and markets fronting the slow-mo Thu Bon River. Today, it’s busy with craft shops, silk tailors, hip boutiques, funky bars and restaurants that cater to Vietnamese and international tastes. It’s a great spot for a cooking class, too. Time your visit for the monthly full moon festival when the town is decorated with coloured lanterns. Inland at My Son, and buried in the jungle, are the remains of the thousand-year Cham kingdom’s spiritual empire: expertly carved red-brick towers built to honour kings.
10. Go off-piste in the Central Highlands
Few travellers explore this immense region of hills and plateaus, coffee and tea plantations, fascinating village traditions and dazzling waterfalls away from the well-trodden coastal route. Former French hill station Dalat is a quirky spot settled around a lake and at the heart of flower, strawberry, apple and pear production. Tour the cafés of coffee capital Buon Ma Thuot and take your binoculars to birding havens around Kontum. The Giarai people hold grave abandonment ceremonies, decorating tombs and carving eerie wooden face sculptures that are left to decay in the woods.
11. Cruise Halong Bay
When a dragon spilled a thousand pearls from his mouth in the deepest stretches of time, rocky pillars sprouted from the teal sea. The dragon’s limestone fortress protected Vietnam from invasion. Today, the thousands of stacks scattered across the Bay of Tonkin are a beautiful, ethereal seascape — as intriguing in full sunshine as it is when enveloped in wispy fog. The modern-day cruise boat invasion means spending longer on the water to get to further, quieter areas of the bay. It’s worth it. A leisurely junk or boat trip will take you beyond the touristy caves to the isolated region of Bai Tu Long.
12. Tour Ho Chi Minh City riding pillion on a Vespa or scooter
Downtown Ho Chi Minh City is thrilling. A nine million-strong population rides eight million motorbikes. You’ve no choice but to jump into the thrum and join the locals who zoom around at night for the hell of it along streets blinking with fairy lights. Ride pillion on a Vespa tour through the manic streets past glassy high-rises, French colonial villas, temples and the riverside. Duck into local coffee shops, tap into the street food scene, listen to live music at a couple of hip bars, and drink craft cocktails on rooftop terraces. It’s addictive.
13. Take the luxury train
Vietnam’s first luxury rail carriage, the Vietage, travels between emerging beach destination Quy Nhon and rising city Da Nang, gateway to the ancient river port Hoi An, in central Vietnam. The six-hour rail journey winds along the edge of the East Sea passing fishing villages, rice paddies and mountain scenery. The carriage has sleek bamboo interiors, designed by hotelier Anantara, and guests travel in one of six private booths — enoying spa treatments, cocktails and a three-course gourmet lunch. At Quy Nhon, stay at the beachfront Anantara Quy Nhon Villas or the luxe Zannier Bai San Ho.
