Originally Posted by LaydeeSarah

Thanks for all the replies so far. I'm looking at a spring trip, so March/April time.

If Halong Bay is just not possible then I'll go with the original plan of 2 nights in Hanoi and 2 in Saigon.

No entry/exit times as yet but its likely that I'll need to connect to Bangkok to fly home on one of the two BA flights which both leave BKK after midnight, so depending on local air connections we could have best part of another day which seems better spent in Hanoi.