10 Places to Visit in Vietnam

1.  Hanoi

  Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam and would be described as big and busy. I remember experiencing slight culture shock when I first arrived. I was warned beforehand by a traveler I met in a previous country about how crazy the roads were. So, I’m here to let you know that you need not be afraid. If you need to cross the street, then just walk in a normal fashion. DON’T RUN. That’s a free tip for Vietnam. You probably won’t spend a lot of time here but here are a couple of things you can do while you are in the area.

I suggest you take a walking tour, a food tour, and visit Train Street. Train Street is an alleyway between two buildings where there are railroad tracks. The locals have set up little cafes along the “street” with tables and chairs set up on the train tracks (see photo). A few minutes before the train comes, the cafes move the tables/chairs out of the way. When you go to Train Street, they will have a “schedule” of when the train is coming but be warned, the train doesn’t come on time. I kind of think they do it on purpose to keep business around. Once the train comes and goes, all the tourist basically vacated the area.

2. Ha Long Bay

Visiting Ha Long Bay is a must do if you are visiting Vietnam. You can take a day trip there from Hanoi. I booked my experience through my hostel for $50-$60 which I still think is very steep for Vietnam standards. The tour included transportation, lunch cruise, kayaking, and cave tour. You can also book multiday trips to Ha Long Bay as well, but I only had two weeks in Vietnam, so I just did the one-day trip. I don’t regret booking the tour, I definitely recommend anyone who visits at least book a day tour.

3.  Ninh Binh

Ninh Bihn is where you nature junkies get your fix. I unfortunately didn’t hear about this place until I was already making my route through Vietnam, so I haven’t actually been here. Pretty much everyone else I met in Vietnam (who actually planned their trip) recommended going to this area. Attractions in this area include temples, national parks, boat rides, kayaking, hiking, and biking. When I return to Vietnam I will be for sure making my way here.

4.  Hue

In Hue you can find the Thuy Tien Lake Abandoned Water Park. Its supposedly “not open to the public” but if you pay the security guard around 20,000VND ($0.86USD) he will let you in to walk around and take photos. This is another place that I didn’t get to visit because of time constraints but I will be back for my cool abandoned water park photos! Don’t be like me and just make sure you make it here on your first trip to Vietnam.

5. Da Nang

Da Nang is smaller metropolitan area than Hanoi. It’s a good place to spend a few days before heading to your next destination. One really cool thing they have in their city is the Dragon Bridge. It actually breathes fire! That’s only on certain days though. While you are staying in Da Nang you can take a day trip to #6 on the list of places you need to visit in Vietnam.

6.  Ba Na Hills/ Golden Bridge

While you are visiting Da Nang, you might as well book a day trip to the theme park, Ba Na Hills aka Sunworld. It’s basically this big theme park on top of a mountain. You have to take a cable car up to the mountain and once you are there you have to take more cable cars to get to the different sections of the park. Ba Na Hills is also the home to the Instafamous Golden Hand Bridge (as seen in thumbnail photo). I definitely recommend booking a tour to this place because it is BIG and you can get lost. If I went alone I would have definitely felt overwhelmed.  It cost me around 1.2mil VND ($50) for the day trip including lunch, transportation, cable car ticket, and entrance fee to the theme park. 

7.  Hoi An

Hoi An is a beautiful small town/city that comes a live at night when you can see lanterns hung above the streets and lanterns in the water. Hoi An is also a great place to get clothes or shoes tailor made. I actually had a bikini made here for about $30 with my strong haggling skills. Another fun thing you can do in Hoi An is go to the beach. There’s actually an island that you can visit that’s not far from Hoi An, called Cham Island. If you want to visit Cham Island, make sure you know what time the boat leaves in the morning. I think there is only one boat and if you miss it then they will charge you a lot for a private boat to the island. I actually never made it to Cham Island because we missed the only boat going there. While visiting Hoi An I highly recommend going to the night market to check out the lanterns. If you feel the urge to do so, you can actually purchase the lanterns for yourself.

8. Da Lat

Da Lat is a small city in the mountains of Vietnam. It’s my favorite place I visited during my time there. There’s actually no traffic lights in the city which I found quite interesting. I paid $4 a night for a hostel and booked a countryside motorbike tour with the front desk for about $28. During the tour we visited a farm, a look out point, a weasel coffee farm, a few temples, a flower farm, a waterfall, a silk farm and the Crazy House. It was definitely a fun filled day. Another fun thing you can do in Da Lat is get lost at Maze Bar. I went to Maze Bar in the middle of the day and basically had the place to myself. The best thing about visiting Da Lat, is that unlike the rest of Vietnam which literally was “hot as hell”, this city is in the mountains, so the temperature was 55-65 degrees when I visited in August. Other than the 4 people I met at my hostel; I didn’t see any other foreigners in the area when I visited.

9. Mui Ne

Did you know Vietnam has sand dunes?! You can find them in the coastal city of Mui Ne. This is another location I didn’t get to visit. I was shocked when I found out that there were sand dunes in Vietnam. How did I miss this?! I would definitely recommend checking this part of Vietnam out even if it’s just for a day or two.

10.  Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City is similar to Hanoi. Its big and busy. I spent a few days here before I left the country, but I didn’t do too much due to the weather. Some popular options you have for things to do are walking tours, food tours, and the War Remnants Museum. A fun day trip you can take from Ho Chi Minh is to the Cu Chi tunnels outside of the city. I haven’t gone myself, but from what I have seen, it looks pretty interesting.

**BONUS**

Just google The Duck Stop.

Thank me later.

Unless you don’t like ducks…if that’s the case just don’t google it.