Vietnam Discovery Guide

Vietnam offers more variety per day of travel than most countries twice its size, and does it at prices that remain among the lowest in Southeast Asia — a full meal for the price of a coffee elsewhere.

The friction is the length. Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is 1,700 km, and the climates at either end are on opposite cycles: the north is cold and drizzly in January while the south is dry and hot, and the centre floods in October and November when both ends are pleasant.

Choose one region and go deep rather than running the whole country in two weeks. If you must do both ends, fly rather than take the 35-hour train, and check the central forecast separately — Huế and Hội An have their own wet season that catches people who only checked Hanoi.

If you travel slowly

A month in the north: Hanoi, the karst inland at Ninh Bình, and the mountains around Hà Giang, which take time to reach and reward it.

If you want to see the essentials

Hanoi and Ha Long, then fly to the centre for Hội An and Huế, then Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta. Two weeks, with two internal flights.

If you seek local character

Breakfast phở at a pavement stall before seven, a Hanoi bia hơi corner in the late afternoon, and a northern market town on its rotating market day.

If you want to go beyond the obvious

Phong Nha, which holds some of the largest caves on earth, and the Hà Giang loop through the far northern mountains — now the most rewarding multi-day route in the country.

Ha Long Bay is under real pressure from the volume of boats. Choosing a licensed operator with proper waste handling, and considering neighbouring Lan Ha Bay instead, materially reduces the impact of a visit.

In the northern mountains, homestays run by ethnic minority families keep money in the community in a way that a day tour from Sapa does not. Ask before photographing people, particularly at markets, where visitors routinely photograph Hmong and Dao women without a word.

Unexploded ordnance remains a genuine hazard in the former DMZ and parts of the centre. Stay on marked paths and never handle metal debris.

Buying antiques, ivory, or products made from turtle shell, pangolin or bear is illegal to export and drives real trafficking. Avoid "traditional medicine" containing wildlife.

There is no single best month for the whole country. Pick the region first.

The north (Hanoi, Sapa, Ha Long) is best October to April: dry and clear, though January and February are genuinely cold and often grey. Summer is hot and humid with heavy rain.

The centre (Huế, Hội An, Đà Nẵng) is best February to August. Its wet season runs September to January, and October and November bring typhoons and real flooding — Hội An's old town floods most years.

The south (Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong, Phú Quốc) is dry December to April and wet from May to November, though southern rain is usually a short heavy afternoon burst.

Tết, the lunar new year in late January or February, closes much of the country for a week and books out all transport.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost index vs country average