In 2018, I travelled 2 weeks in Vietnam and absolutely loved it. I have to admit though I’m not really into temples or pagodas so sorry if this is more food-based than you’d hoped!
HANOI
We used Hanoi as our base for visiting Sapa and Halong Bay. We flew into Vietnam pretty late on our first night and stayed in Hanoi. We woke up early the next morning to head to Sapa (spent two nights there) and then returned to Hanoi for three nights. We had about 1.5 days for Hanoi itself though looking back, I wish I had a little more time to not feel so rushed. Our
Where to visit: we went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the one-pillar pagoda – worth visiting once. The highlight of Hanoi is the beer corner (it is absolutely insane on this stretch, especially on a Friday or Saturday night).
Where to stay: we stayed at the Oriental Central Hotel and it was great – pho for breakfast, fantastic location, and excellent customer service. The room was on the smaller side but this is standard for anything in the Old Quarter.
Where to eat: Hanoi was a foodie heaven ! The best Northern Vietnamese dishes are bun cha, banh cuon, and egg coffee
⁃ Bun cha Huong Lien (24 Le Van Huu) – this place was made famous by Obama and Bourdain, come here and order the bun cha
⁃ Banh cuon nong (71 Ho Hoan Kiem- open from about 5 pm) – really good banh cuon here
⁃ Banh Mi no. 14 (in front of a yogurt place – 14 Hang Buom Street) – this is easily the best Banh Mi we had the entire time we were in Vietnam
⁃ Cafe Giang (39 Nguyen Huu Huan) – this is the birthplace of egg coffee, but egg coffees are pretty good from other cafes. By the way… I now love egg coffees
⁃ Bun Bo Nam Bo (89 Hang Dieu) – gotta try the bun bo from here!
SAPA
I really enjoyed our side trip to Sapa. It was a 5 or 6 hour bus trip up the mountains. This area is great for trekking, visiting local Vietnamese villages, and seeing the tiered rice paddies. I just loved the vibe of a sleepy mountain town and it scratched an adventurous itch.
We took Sapa Express (the soft seats, not the sleeper… definitely liked the soft seats over the sleeper… just something weird about a bus sleeper) which was super comfortable.
Where to visit: you can do Cat Cat village on your own. Hire a guide to take you to Lao Chai and Ta Van. The scenery is amazing.
Where to stay: we stayed at Freesia Hotel and it’s a bit out of the way. The room wasn’t as clean as we’d have liked and the WiFi was shoddy, but otherwise great customer service and a good breakfast buffet.
Where to eat: Little Sapa (ate here 3 times…)
HALONG BAY
My ex was not a fan of sleeping on boats. We looked into overnight cruises but just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. Everyone recommends doing an overnight cruise because it’s a 4 hour bus ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay one way, but we found a company that does the drive in just 2 hours! We went with Estella Cruises and it costs twice as much as any other Halong Bay cruise, but it was worth it just for the time savings alone.
Maybe it was the day, or maybe I have been spoiled by beautiful water areas, but Halong bay was not as exciting as it had been built up to be. The water was dirty and filled with trash from over tourism. If you want beautiful limestone cliffs in pristine waters, you should go to Coron and El Nido in the philippines. I’m sure you’re still going to go to Halong bay because you have to, but I was not all that impressed.
HOI AN
Such a picturesque city! We stayed here for four nights. We spent that amount of time in Hoi An mainly to get custom-made clothes, otherwise it can be done in 2-3 nights. Highly recommend getting custom-made suits, dress shirts and dresses here. I got 2 suits and 2 dress shirts for $400 USD. AND THEY FIT LIKE A GLOVE. If you’re interested, I highly recommend Kimmy’s (70 Tran Hung Dao) – say you’re from Canada and you know me. We highly recommend Hannah (she knows exactly what she’s doing!).
Where to visit: An Bang beach and the Ancient Town (you can spend hours wandering around here)
Since Hoi An was much less crazy than Hanoi or HCMC, so I was emboldened to rent a scooter which was an awesome experience. I loved zipping around the vietnamese countryside and it was the best way to get to An Bang beach to chill for one of the days.
Where to stay: Pham Gia Homestay – very reasonably priced and the people are great – highly recommend!
Where to eat:
⁃ Pho Xua (35 Phan Chau Trinh) – really enjoyed the mi quang, pho and com ga (chicken rice) from here
⁃ Happy hours – Green Mango and The Hoianian
⁃ Phi Banh Mi (88 Thai Phien) – decent Banh Mi
⁃ White Rose Dumplings (533 Hai Ba Trung) – I’d say come here once just to try the white rose dumplings
⁃ CocoBox (all over the city) – really good Vietnamese coffee and cold pressed juices
⁃ Mi Quang/Cao Lau (272 Hung Vuong) – this spot is out of the city, but has amazing mi quang and cao lau (signature dishes of Hoi An)
⁃ Madame Khanh – The Banh Mi Queen (115 Tran Cao Van) – arguably just as good, if not better, then the Anthony Bourdain Banh Mi spot
⁃ Banh Mi Phuong (2B Phan Chau Trinh) – this is the Anthony Bourdain spot – he says it is a symphony in a sandwich!
HO CHI MINH CITY
This was my least favorite of the cities I visited in Vietnam. It didn’t have the character of Hanoi and just felt like a crowded 3rd world city. I will admit though, this is the place to get Pho which … we did… a lot.
You can google all the spots to eat in HCMC, but I will agree that Phở Hòa Pasteur was the SPOT… we went there for dinner, lunch, then dinner again before we headed to the airport.