We first visited Vietnam as a couple back in December 2010. Back then we were travel novices and felt we didn’t get a true impression of Vietnam. So we have been keen extremely keen to return. You’ve probably seen Vietnam in the background of many movies including recently in Kong Skull Island, but nothing can quite prepare you for the epic adventure of traveling there. Vietnam can be a challenge for family travellers (forget change rooms, stroller friendly paths etc), but it has a lot to offer and is an experience filled with natural beauty and delicious food.
For our ninth family travel adventure we chose Vietnam because:
- In 2018 we twice visited Europe: Netherlands, Belgium & also Italy. So this time we wanted to go back exploring Asia.
- Central Vietnam, specifically Hoi An, is somewhere we have been wanting to visit for a while.
- Incredible food options – the Phos, the Banh xeos, the Cao laus, and the Bun chas!
- Incredible coffee (elixir of travelling parents) – from the traditional Vietnamese coffee, coconut coffee, egg coffee – so much to try!
- We wanted to go there again before it becomes too touristy.
- We didn’t want to deal with jet lag (there is only 1 hours time difference between Vietnam and Perth)
- This is also our Babymoon! Our 2nd child is due in late December.
Da Nang
We spent 2 nights in this rapidly growing central Vietnam city. It is nowhere near as hectic as the other cities in Vietnam. With miles of pristine white sandy beaches and modern restaurants it was the perfect first stop of our holiday. We absolutely loved relaxing at My Khe beach and at our beachfront Hotel Monarque, who was kind enough to upgrade our room! They also gave us complementary buffet afternoon tea. During our stay we visited Marble mountains, the fire and water breathing Dragon Bridge and SOS Children Village.
We also did a day trip to Hue, which is home to the imperial citadel, impressive pagodas and royal tombs.
Hoi An
Hoi An is only about 30 minutes from Da Nang. The traditional old town architecture and yellow coloured walls make Hoi An a picture perfect place to visit especially when the lanterns are lighting up the town. We spent a relaxing 4 days here! Though we are not much of a foodie we have to say the food in Hoi An is amazing! – fresh, tasty and delicious.
Luckily we were once again upgraded to a river view room at Little Riverside Hoi An. We picked this place as it is only 10 minutes walk to the old town and we loved the old-style decor and the amazing infinity rooftop pool.
Hoi An does get overly crowded at night. So we prefer to do our exploring early mornings. During our 4 days stay we went on a relaxing river cruise, went on a buffalo ride (our son’s highlight of the trip), ride on the basket boat and of course explored the old town to enjoy the yummy food mentioned. Morning Glory is our favourite restaurant – we came back twice!
Hanoi
Hanoi is one of the first cities we ever visited as a couple. Least to say we were paranoid novice travellers back then. This time around we explored much more of the old quarter, wake up early with the locals to dance around Hoan Kiem lake area and revisit Thanh Long water puppet show. We can certainly see the rapid changes in Hanoi. From the new airport, freeways, tall observation decks, Hanoi monorail system in CBD area, many trendy cafes and convenience stores popping up in old quarter.
Ninh Binh
This was our highlight and most frustrating part of our Vietnam trip (more on this in future post). 2 hours drive south of Hanoi, Ninh Binh is your picture perfect Vietnam. Relatively new to tourism, it is like Halong Bay on land. Sailing along Trang An for 3 hours on a small paddle boat was certainly our highlight. While hiking up Mua Cave view point is certainly a massive achievement for 4 months pregnant Tara. Bai Dinh and Bich Dong pagoda were also sights worth visiting in this beautiful region.
We splurged with a suite room at our hotel: Ninh Binh Hidden Charm Hotel & Resort. The views and the room is absolutely breath taking. However we had series of unfortunate events here..
SO WOULD WE GO BACK TO VIETNAM?
YES but not in a hurry. We absolutely loved our trip but for family travellers – Vietnam does get very hectic. It is definitely not stroller friendly, the busy crowds, plus endless traffic honking can get a bit too much.
HOW MUCH WAS THE FLIGHT AND HOW LONG?
After a few years, we finally get the chance to once again fly Singapore Airlines. For this trip we flew Singapore Airlines from Perth to Da Nang. Later we took a domestic flight from Da Nang to Hanoi before coming home. For the 3 of us, the tickets for the whole trip cost $2,000 – great value! Flight from Perth to Singapore took 5 and half hours. And Singapore to Da Nang took just 3 hours.
As always the Singapore Airlines crew was amazing from check in to leaving the aircraft. Berlin certainly enjoyed the hospitality, although he much prefers Emirates’ entertainment system (more movie selections). This time we were also looking forward to once again transiting at Changi Airport. Jewel Changi Airport retail complex just recently opened and it is an amazing place to visit.
WHAT WAS THE WEATHER LIKE?
We visited Vietnam at the end of July. Prior to the trip we were concerned with 2 weeks of forecasted rain and thunderstorm! During our trip there was only one day of rain – guess Google weather doesn’t work in Vietnam?! Having said that it was HOT, super hot! 40 degrees celcius plus temperatures and extremely humid. The weather we must admit was the biggest challenge of the trip. The handheld fans, umbrella for shade and light clothes didn’t help much. During our trip we would start early in the day, come back to the hotel around midday to relax and cool down in the pool, and start exploring again just before sunset.
WAS IT EASY TO GET AROUND?
Vietnam is not the easiest country to explore, though in the last few years, new roads have improved travel times between cities.
For family travellers visiting Vietnam we recommend organising private transfers. Transfers are affordable and can easily be organised easily via your hotel. Otherwise Tripadvisor will have many pages recommending reliable local drivers. They can be easily contacted via Whatsapp and are generally lightning fast in responding with their availability and rate.
For shorter trips Taxis are very affordable in Vietnam, and they are usually metered. Though do note, during busier times they will be on fixed rate and you will have to bargain. Green coloured Mail Linh taxis should be your go to company.
Booking.com
HOW MANY LUGGAGES DID WE BRING?
As always we tried to travel as light as possible. For the three of us, we had 1 big luggage, 1 medium and a backpack. This is our first time running out of clothes to wear. Normally we would try to get 2-3 days out of each piece. However, since we perspired excessively, even after air drying the clothes overnight the smell was too off-putting. Luckily laundry service in Vietnam is cheap! We paid $18 through our hotel in Hanoi for 6kg for laundry – although we later find out the laundry place across our hotel only charge 90 cents per kg!
WAS VIETNAM CHEAP?
Super cheap! We are talking like half price of Bali cheap. There were plenty of accommodation options. For this trip we choose hotels with nice pools, comfortable bigger rooms, some even comes with nice views. Our accommodation cost on average $150 per night. We stayed mainly at 4 stars locally managed hotels.
HOW ABOUT FOOD AND DRINKS?
We came for the food and Vietnam certainly didn’t disappoint. It barely resembles the usual MSG laden Vietnamese food we have at home in Australia. There we tasted perfect balance between sour and sweet, between fresh vegetables and meat. In general ingredients were very fresh wherever we went. You can get a bowl of pho or a rice dish for less than 1 AUD! More fancier sit-down restaurants are also inexpensive at around 5-6AUD.
Every city we visited has its own favourite local dish. Our son certainly enjoyed it. For parents the coffee was amazing too! There are numerous local cafes popping out across Vietnam. Coconut coffee and egg coffee is a must try.
One thing to note, a lot of the restaurants we came across only had fans. We couldn’t really get much break from the heat.
AND HOW ABOUT THE PEOPLE?
Vietnamese are generally very friendly, hotel staff especially will get out of their way to make sure you are attended properly. English is not widely spoken outside tourist areas, so brush up on your sign language.
But when it comes to driving on the road it’s a different matter completely! These seemingly normal people turn into beasts! Road rules are there for reference only, driving too fast, in an opposite direction and pressing the horn every 5 seconds is normal. Motorbikes are everywhere! On the road, markets, footpaths they are so in love with motorbikes that they don’t want to get off them! LOL.
IS VIETNAM SAFE?
Vietnam is surprisingly safe place to travel. Generally people are honest. There are some common small scams around, giving incorrect change (lots of zeros in Vietnamese Dong), inflated taxi rates or locals asking tourists to pay “entrance fee” for otherwise free attraction. But these are common like in many other countries.
WiFi is accessible everywhere! Just about every hotel, shop, restaurant, and convenience store for free – decent speed too!
Health concerns travelling visiting Vietnam include dengue fever and tummy bug. Before going make sure you prepare diarrhea tablets and hyralyte as precaution. And stay vigilant while you are there and use protective spray (or in Tara’s case use 2 Parakito mosquito bands, a mosquito patch, a spray, ultrasonic mozzie repeller).
