Vietnam Itinerary
Vietnam is famous for exploring the country as a backpacker or as a biker, doing a road trip in the whole country which is surrounded by beautiful beaches, great adventure, and learning about its war history. Before entering Vietnam you first need to apply E-visa.
Always make sure what will be your entry and exit points which are required for you to fill in the form. In my case, I entered the country from Hanoi and exit through Ho Chi Minh city. I did a road trip from north to south Vietnam, half country by bike & remaining half by bus. Backpackers all around the world visit this amazing country and travel the whole country either by bike/bus/trains which is a cheaper option compared to flights.
You can apply you E- Visa through https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/trang-chu-ttdt
(Waiting Period 7 working days and I got it in 4 days)
Note : You can also enter the country through the sea route or by road from south Vietnam via Cambodia country. Many biker do visit Vietnam and Cambodia on same bike by crossing borders with valid Visa.
I traveled to Vietnam in the month of December 2018. The route I took while riding the bike from north to south is available in this picture with dates. So this way you can make your own plan that how many days are required for you in each city to explore.
This was done within 15 days where topmost north city Ha Giang and south most cities below Ho Chi Minh where left unexplored for next time. To visit the whole country peacefully you need a minimum of 2 months and you can still do it within 30 days.
Halong Bay Cruise : I booked a cruise before reaching Vietnam through https://thechurchtravels.com.vn/ with pick and drop facility from the hotel via bus.
Cruise : https://goldenbaypartycruise.com/
Note : There are many party cruise available which are overpriced but this cruise was good which served a welcome drink, food and free drinks in the evening. According to me, 2D1N cruise is enough where you experience everything and one more extra day is a repeat for all the activities which you already did.
Bikes : For renting a bike please contact https://www.facebook.com/hanoiscootersrental. Even if you want to drop your bike to another city then also he can arrange to do so.
Vietnam currency is very confusing so better you identify them quickly or else you might get mopped. It took us 2-3 days to get used to it.
US Dollars are also accepted in Vietnam but always use local currency so you don’t get up paying more in dollars. Here 1 USD is equal to 23,000 VND and 1 INR is equal to 310 VND. The beer in the streets of Vietnam is one of the cheapest in the world with 15 INR, just do that math. You can even take out money from banks, I did it in one of the city.
Grab is the best option if you plan on taking a taxi to any location. It is very cheap & also if you are traveling solo then a two-wheeler option is also available.
Sim cards are easily available for tourists. Just make sure not to buy from the airport as they are a little bit expensive. Viettel, Vinaphone or MobiPhone are the best options. Also, don’t forget to try Egg coffee in Vietnam which is one of a kind.
Hanoi & Ha Long Bay
Day 1 : Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam which is known for its centuries-old architecture and rich culture which has Chinese and French influences. Mostly tourist stays in the chaotic Old Quarter area which is surrounded by narrow streets.
We stayed at See you at lily hotel which is near to the famous St. Joseph’s Cathedral church. You will also find Indian restaurants in this area. The famous Train street is within walking distance from this hotel. When in Hanoi don’t forget to visit Beer Street which is very famous for the cheapest beer in the world (15 INR / 0.20 USD).
We booked a cruise for Ha long bay which you can book from your hotel or you can find many travel agents in the streets who can help you out. It is better if you go to Ha long bay by bus only. We went through the bus only where the pick and drop facility is available from your hotel/hostel.
Cruise – https://goldenbaypartycruise.com/
Everyone comes to Vietnam to experience The World Heritage Site – Ha Long Bay
It doesn’t disappoint you when you enter Ha long bay and are surrounded stunning view of the bay. We took a 2D1N package which is recommended instead of more days.
Day 2 : It is full of activities that included a bus ride from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. After reaching Ha Long Bay small boat takes you to your cruise and then the fun begins where you are cruising around the bay and enjoying the beautiful scenery along with cliff jumping and kayaking. Later in the evening activities like fishing, karaoke & unlimited free drinks and dinner.
Note : You get to interact with many travelers who are doing the same trip so you can plan something out together. In our case, we met a couple who had the same plan so we decided to do it together but the only catch here was they were doing it by bus and we were doing it by bike.
Day 3 : They will take you to the floating market where you will see Vietnamese Pearls and will also learn how they make it. After this activity, you will be boarded back to Hanoi by bus and you will reach back Hanoi around 3 Pm so you are left to explore the city.
Hereafter reaching back we rented our bikes which we already booked before going to Ha Long Bay and were all set for a Bike road trip
Ninh Binh
Day 4 : We finally started our bike road trip from Hanoi to Ninh Binh which is 95 Kms and takes around 3 Hrs to reach as roads are narrow for a few hrs at the beginning of the highway. This was our first day on Bike so we were getting used to riding on the right side of the road as Vietnam is a Right-Hand drive country.
We stayed in a hostel which was surrounded by great mountain views, click here.
One of the famous movie Kong Skull was shot here in Ninh Binh. Ninh Binh is actually a state and also is a capital of the same state with the same city. So people do get confused. We were staying at Trang An and you can visit Trang AN Boat Trip which is a world heritage site and is famous for boat rides surrounded by beautiful mountains and caves showing its ancient culture. There are three routes available in this boat ride and we took route 2 which almost covered everything including shooting point of Kong Skull movie.
Day 5 : Explore Hang Mua Peak in the morning for sunrise where you will need to climb 500 steps to reach the top where you can have a birds-eye view of the city. We woke at 5 in the morning and we were the first travelers who reached the top. Later came back to the hostel and rested for 3 hrs before leaving for Vinh.
After exploring Ninh Binh our next destination was Vinh which is 201 km away. We left around 11 Pm and till here we were accompanied by a couple who were traveling on the bus and will meet us 2 days later in Phong Nha (So all this can be done by bus also).
On our way to Vinh around 4 Pm, we found a group of 4 Austrian bikers riding in the same direction so all 6 of us joined together as we had the same plan to go towards the south of Vietnam and exploring cities in between. We reached Vinh just before sunset and found a good 5-star hotel to stay as from now onwards we were traveling with Austrians who had even strong currency to travel in Vietnam.
Later all of us became best of friends while eating drinking and exploring Vietnam on bikes together for next 7 days
Phong Nha
Day 6 : Phong Nha is 194 Kms from Vinh and road will take you closer to sea where if you want can take a detour to untouched beaches on the way. We left Vinh were we only stayed overnight and continued our road trip to Phong Nha which is famous for caves. Vietnam has the third-largest cave in the world Hang San Doong which is situated nearby Pong Nha along with many other caves. I wanted to visit Hang San Doong but only one private company runs it and due to no competition, it is very expensive. So as an alternative two more caves are open to the public which has affordable prices.
We reached Phong Nha around 1 Pm and were also joined by our friends who were traveling by bus. So all 8 of us started exploring this city and went to Dark Cave which is again a world heritage site in Vietnam (Are you keeping a count how many world heritage sites we have visited so far)
The route to Dark Cave is one of the best in Vietnam, surrounded by mountains and sharp turns which make it a biker paradise. There are a lot of activities included in the Dark Cave. First, they will take you through Zipline to the edge of the tunnel where you will have to swim to reach inside the cave. The cave from inside is very big and you will have to walk for almost 1 Km to see the magic inside Dark Cave. When we visited we were asked to put off our lights for a minute and damn I cannot describe that feeling. While returning they will take you to another route which is very narrow and you will have to crawl through it which can be quite scary so be mentally prepared. Once you are out of the cave they provide you Kayak and you can paddle and come out by yourself. There are some fun slides for divers and if you are non-swimmer but are not afraid while wearing a life jacket then just trust me and go for it, I did it as well.
Note : Don’t worry about your belonging, they have locker rooms, and don’t forget to take cash as they only take cash. Also, only swimming costumes or shorts are allowed for Men & for Women, only Bikini is allowed to enter inside the cave. They will also provide you a mandatory life jacket. You will have to swim to get inside the cave but don’t worry you will survive as I also did being a non-swimmer.
Later you can party in Phong Nha which is full of travelers hanging out in small clubs with live music. Also, this is the first city where you will start noticing the same travelers which will keep on bumping into you wherever you will be going next.
Hue
Day 7 : Phong Nha to Hue is 215 Kms and this is one of the worst days to ride a bike, as roads are boring and there is not so much to look forward while riding. To make the day even worse one of our friend’s bike got a puncture in the middle of nowhere. We were surrounded by locals who did not know English and we had to manage with sign language but luckily there was a mechanic shop nearby who came to help us with an extra tube.
Now from the last 2 days, we were booking hotels on the spot by checking the area on our own by riding to places which used to feel touristic and then checking prices online as per our budget.
Hue is located at the center of Vietnam and is mainly famous for its historical monuments. But Hue has something unique to offer to all travelers which is Abandoned Water Park. We reached HUE around 12 PM and had lunch and later in the evening visited historical sites along with streets that had the same vibe as Hanoi Beer street.
Note : Hotel in which we were staying offer us a brochure where you get to know tourist places in the city to visit. This is a thing in whole Vietnam so don’t worry if you do not have any plan, Just go with the flow and ask your hotel/hostel to guide you for places.
Day 8 : We went to Abandoned Water Park in the morning around 8 AM. This park is closed since 2006 and getting to an abandoned water park is not that easy because it is monitored by security guards. So you cannot enter from the main gate. But you can bribe security guard and he will let you in from another route. We did the same and entered the abandoned park from another route on our bikes. It is one the best unique experience to have in Vietnam where you are inside an abandoned water park which recognized to be haunted. This place is haunted because it is said to be built on Graveyards and due to certain instances in the past where people got badly hurt and few were even dead. The park remains closed till today.
In Hue, you will get Indian Restaurant – Shiv Shakti
Da Nang & hoi an
After visiting the Abandoned water park and having lunch we left for Da Nang around 1 PM. This was our best ride on the bike in Vietnam. Da Nang is 93 Kms from Hue and the highway is surrounded by mountains that come just before Da Nang city. The highway is one of a kind in Vietnam because from the top of the mountains while riding you can see the sea and this was my first experience as I never saw the sea from the top of a mountain while riding. We reached Da Nang around 6 Pm and gave all our clothes for laundry.
Da Nang is a modern city in Vietnam which surrounded by beautiful beaches and is also famous for Golden Bridge. But to visit the golden bridge you need the whole day and it is also quite expensive so we skipped it.
Day 9 : Today was 25th December so all 8 of us left for Hoi An which is 30 Kms from Da Nang. There are many famous hostel chains in Vietnam and Vietnam Backpackers is one of them. So we stayed in Vietnam Backpackers to celebrate our Christmas which was the best decision of my life as it was my first Christmas in another country. We stayed for three days and travelers whom we met if different cities were all present here so it was like a big party with all the reunions.
Day 10 : There are three major cities in Vietnam which every tourist visits and Hoi An is one of them (other two Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh). Hoi An is an old ancient town that takes you back to the old times. It is famous for old yellow buildings, its beaches along with river flowing inside the town where you can grab a beer and enjoy the night view of the streets.
Day 11 : This was the end of one week of traveling together in a group where all of us went out separate ways. Friends from Austria continued their journey on a bike till south Vietnam and friends from London took the flight to Ho Chi Minh from Da Nang to go back home and we both surrendered our bikes and took a night bus to Dalat via Nha Trang.
Dalat
Travel on a bus is a must if you are visiting Vietnam. Here sleeper bus has a different setup where each passenger has its own single sleeper seat as shown in the picture. We took a night journey bus to save our time and first went to Nha Trang which is 510 km. Our bus left around 7 PM and we reached Nha Trang early morning around 5 and took another bus which was a simple seated bus to Dalat which is another 135 km so overall it was 645 km journey on a bus. All this was booked from Vietnam backpackers hostel only.
Day 12 : We reached Dalat around 11 am got freshen up and without wasting any time rented a two-wheeler and went to Datana waterfalls which have a roller coaster to take you around the waterfall. This waterfall is situated 6 km away from the city. Later we went to the Dalat railway station which is a unique attraction for tourists.
Day 13 : We went to Elephant Waterfalls early morning which is 25 km away from the city but it was worth a visit. Later we visited Crazy House which was really crazy and unique and also visited a mall which was in the center of Dalat city.
In the evening we took another bus for Ho Chi Minh city which is 306 Kms. So this trip was planned in such a way that the first 1000 km was done on the bike and next 1000 km on a bus which included Dalat and Ho Chi Minh. We had an option to choose Mui Ne against Dalat but Dalat being the only hill station between north and south we selected Dalat.
ho chi minh
Day 14 : We reached Ho Chi Minh around 4 Am and took a taxi to our hotel and were out waiting for the receptionist to give us a room early morning. But we got our room around 8 Am. We rented a two-wheeler and directly went to Chu Chi Tunnels which is 60 km from the city. Here in Chu Chi Tunnels, one can witness what exactly happened in the Vietnam America war which started in 1955 and continued for 20 years. How Vietnamese built 200 km tunnel which to date is the largest underground network man-made tunnels. Visiting tunnel was a very good experience where we went inside till level 2 and also witnessed how they used to live and operate inside the tunnel along with all the bombs which were dropped from an airplane but did not explode. There is a separate section where we were allowed to use military guns by paying nominal fees.
Ho Chi Minh is a big city and has a lot to offer but this was our last day so we went to the famous Bitexco Financial Tower which is Tony stark inspired building. Do visit the sky-deck which is handled by Heineken where they charge nominal fees to visit along with beer which is included. They also give one special Heineken beer bottle on which your name is printed. We stayed near Bui Vien Walking Street which is famous in Ho Chi Minh and here you will find Indian Restaurants as well.
So this was my journey in Vietnam where we completed our journey with great memories and made friends for lifetime. I hope I help you out in planning this trip and gave some important tips and experience which might help you out to plan your next adventure. Feel free to contact me for any other information if you need it.