I don’t know about you, but when I travel to a new country I get super excited about seeing “ALL THE THINGS” that you’ve heard about or researched.  With this being said, in my experience, you need to make sure that you weigh the pros and cons of each place you want to visit.  Consider factors such as budget, time, weather, and order of importance to you and your travel mates.  I’m an over organized person, and I know how to fit a lot of activities into a day, but sometimes this can ruin your experiences while visiting these amazing places.  It’s a hard balancing act - this may be the only time in your life that you visit this foreign land, but is it worth being exhausted the entire time?

In the past I would have advised people to jam as much into one day as you can.  Just ask my husband about “The day of London!”  After many years traveling now, we’ve become much better at learning how to be a tourist, have a relaxing holiday and experience the culture all in one trip.  

We’ve just recently visited Vietnam for the first time, and when we were planing our travels I read a lot and spoke to people who had visited to get an idea of the things that were worth our time.  Vietnam has a lot to offer, so we split our time between the north and the south.  If you’d like to hear about our travels in North Vietnam, please read my journal post regarding Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa.

Traveling half way down the coast we flew from Hanoi to Danang to start our southern tour of Vietnam.  When you’re trying to see a lot of a country my favourite formula is three nights and two days in one place, with a travel day on each side.  If you know that there is more you’d like to do in an area, tag on one day, or less you’d like to do, subtract a day.  We love traveling mid morning or early afternoon for a few reasons.

1. You don’t have to wake up too early and rush out the door.

2. If you’d like to plan something in the last morning of your stay you can.

3. You don’t arrive before you can check in at your new hotel.

4. When you do arrive at your new location, you have time to settle in (shower, nap, unpack)  and there’s still enough time to do a little exploring and planning for your upcoming stay.

Here’s how we divided our time in South Vietnam feeling refreshed and renewed before leaving and not feeling like we missed out on anything.

Hoi An 

Though many people choose to stay in Danang, Hoi An is a nice get away from the city and if you like the beach, it’s a beautiful place to hang out for a few days.  In the past couple of years, since the Golden Bridge was built in 2018 at BaNa Hills, this area has become a popular tourist destination.  To save a little money, we didn’t stay right at the beach, but luckily our hotel was within walking distance to the ancient city (and it had a pool to cool off in!). The Danang/Hoi An area has a ton of attractions, but we wanted to be a little more low key, so we narrowed it down to three activities over the two days.

1. BaNa Hills

Like I said, this has become a huge attraction in Vietnam, especially for the Vietnamese themselves.  Perched up at the top of a mountain is a fairytale theme park that the locals like to escape too for a holiday.  The easiest way to visit BaNa Hills is to book with your hotel.  This way a bus picks you up, a guide walks you through the entire park giving you lots of free time to explore, lunch is provided as well as a ride back to your place in the evening.  

Many reviews forms said that it was an unusual place to visit, and that it was!  It’s not unusual in a bad way, it’s the fact that there is no consistency throughout the park.  All in all, it was a lovely place to visit and see some pretty spectacular sights.  The cable car ride up the mountain was my favourite part of the day.  Being able to look down on the jungle, seeing waterfalls and rivers was breath taking.  The rest of the park consists of the Golden Bridge (which is pretty cool to see - although packed with people!), a village trying to replicate France, a few rides, games, restaurants, shops and different places for worship.  

They are still adding more to the park and working to replicate the feeling you get while in Disneyland.  If you’re in the area, it’s worth taking the time to visit.  If you have children, they have a huge arcade where most of the games are free with your admission!  Having visiting multiple Disney parks, it’s no Disney, but an interesting way to see how the Vietnamese themselves like to travel.

2. The Beach

The beach at Hoi An is very beautiful.  After visiting Halong Bay, I was worried that the water would be murky and we wouldn’t enjoy ourselves.  Boy was I wrong.  It was stifling hot the day we had planed to spend at the beach so we made our way there early in the morning to make sure we could secure a good spot.  All along the sandy shore there are loungers and umbrellas set up for anyone to use, with the purchase of food or drink from the restaurant or bar.  We decided to walk a ways down before picking our place.  We didn’t have to worry about going to early, there was hardly anyone else at the beach until later that day, but I imagine in peek season, it’s pretty busy.  The water is shallow, warm and crystal clear, lending itself to lots of play time.  It was so hot even in the shade, we spent most of the day wading in the water.

3. The Ancient City

We were so lucky that when we were in Hoi An, it was a full moon, which meant we were able to take part in the Lantern Festival.  The unfortunate thing was that this meant thousands of people would also be joining us!  We walked down to the old part of town, taking in the sights and dining by the river.  Make sure you don’t miss the Japanese Bridge which was built in the 1500s.  The streets were absolutely packed with people, which made the experience a little less enjoyable, but it was pretty to see the lanterns all lit up under the bright full moon.

Dalat

Dalat is located up in the mountains and is the perfect place to retreat for some cooler weather.   If you’re on a tight timeline, I wouldn’t suggest trying to fit this location in, but we did choose to retreat to the mountains for a couple of days.  Out it in the country there are many resorts with golf courses, hiking trails and some lakes with different activities.  Unfortunately it rained the day we planned to hike, so it was a mandatory rest day!  We also spent a day in the city itself, and walked around the downtown area.  We visited “The Crazy House” which is an interesting hotel created by an architect who is also an artist.  The hotel made me feel like I was part of Alice in Wonderland with a Gaudi twist!  You can actually rent a room here, or just pay an admission during the day and walk around the twisting staircases and unusual spaces.

Mui Ne

We almost skipped over this part of the country, but we were feeling like we wanted to explore this interesting area of the country.  However, as there is no airport, you need to take a bus, which we normally don’t mind, but this was the bumpiest ride of my life!  I was surprised when we arrived that this area of the country seemed to be a little less taken care of, with more trash and rubbish thrown about.  The people in the tourist industry also seemed a little more pushy and not as forwardly helpful.  

The entire coastline is full of resorts, restaurants and shops, similar to many other tourist destinations.  I much prefer staying in a smaller location, but if you’re just looking for a place to hang out on the beach, Mui Ne will do the trick.  We spent three days here, giving us two days to soak up the sun and one day to explore.  I have to say that I was turned off by the ocean water in this area of the country.  It was warm and many people enjoyed jumping the huge waves and kite surfing, but I could help but notice that there were a lot of dead fish.  After seeing that, I limited my time in the water, as I wasn’t sure what the cause of this was.  

The cool thing about the Mui Ne area is the natural sand dunes that occur here.  There are red and white sand dunes to visit, as well as a neat little river that cuts into a red canyon.  For $5 we rented a motorbike for the day and drove down to hike the fairy stream and climb the sand dunes.  No other part of Vietnam has this type of landscape, so it was interesting to see.  I especially enjoyed walking through the Fairy Stream.  It’s easy to find, located at the small bridge at the main road.  Reading other blogs they said that you did not have to pay to walk the stream, but there was a booth set up and security guards that said we did.  It only cost around a dollar, so we decided it wasn’t worth an argument.  You walk this river bare foot with the silty sand between your toes.  The water gets about knee deep near the end and there is a surprise waiting for you before you turn around to come back - a small waterfall.  It was defiantly very hot when you climb the sand dunes, so you don’t need to plan a long visit to them.

Ho Chi Minh City

This was our last stop in Vietnam and we weighed the pros and cons of how long we wanted to stay in the city.  You could easily occupy a few days visiting museums and checking out all the important landmarks, but for us, we weren’t feeling like we wanted to spend our time with these activities.  We chose to walk around the city, go to a spa, eat at the food market and for our big adventure we took a tour to the Củ Chi Tunnels.  

The tunnels at Củ Chi are a part of a network of connecting tunnels located in a district of Ho Chi Minh.  The Viet Cong used these tunnels as part of their defence for many years.  Eating, sleeping, working, etc. was all done underground, hidden away from the Americans and South Vietnamese.  The tunnels were pretty interesting to visit.  If you don’t know about the Vietnamese war, I suggest doing some research beforehand, as this tour will be more of an addition to your education.  The tunnels have become a major tourist attraction now and you will be guided through the grounds to get a glimpse into how these soldiers lived.  There are a few exhibits set up in the old bunkers, but the highlights of the tour include: fitting yourself into a small entrance that was used for the entrance (not everyone can try this, as everyone won’t fit!), you can pay an extra fee if you’d like to shoot a machine gun, and the biggest highlight is going down into the tunnels themselves.

If you’re claustrophobic, I don’t suggest you attempt the tunnels.  They are pretty tight and hot.  With that being said, I am just over 5 feet, and I could walk the entire tunnels system in a hunched over position, with one spot where I had to slide on my bum down to the next level.  My husband who is 6’2 had a bit of a harder time, but he made it through walking on all fours.  He’s a fairly lean man, so if you have broad shoulders, you might find it pretty tight.  We almost weren’t going to worry about going on this tour, but I’m really glad we did.

For me, Vietnam was an amazing country to visit.  We spent just under three weeks touring around, but you could easily see as much as we did in two.  If we had a month, there are definitely a few more places I would have added to my list, but I’m happy with all the choices we made.  We left the country without feeling overwhelmed, rushed or tired.  I’m not sure if we will cross paths with this place again, but the people definitely made a great impression!