Greetings,

I'm planning a trip to Vietnam in early March. This will be my first trip to the country. I'm limited to only 12 days on the ground. I'm not much of beach person and prefer rural areas over urban areas.

I was wondering if hoping that someone could point me in the right direction. I'm thinking about spending a few days in Hanoi, and do a two day one night boat tour of Ha Long Bay. I was then thinking about heading to Sapa. Are there any areas around Sapa that are worth visiting? Anything else anyone would not miss in the area? Is it a mistake to not visit HCMC. I'm in SE Asia often so could always visit HCMC another time.

Many Thanks,

Gpeso8

I'm also planning my trip but, looking at your preferences, you might also consider Hoi An/Hue in your itin.

My own strategy in Vietnam (where I was limited to 2-week chunks of time) involved dividing up the country and then planning return visits, not worrying about the parts I was missing on one visit and deferring to the future. I recommend with only 12 days, you do the same. Since the North is striking your fancy, go with your instincts and keep it all up there if you can find enough to keep you interested. For Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, a week's allocation sounds about right. For the balance of the 5 days, you might want to research exploring the rural hinterlands such as out towards Dien Bien Phu. Another option for those 5 days is the central Hue/DMZ/Hoi An area which could work out well. Likely you'd need a quick domestic flight between Hanoi and central area (Hue or Danang), to speed things up.

On a future visit, you could do HCMC, Mekong Delta, Dalat, etc.

[I was then thinking about heading to Sapa. Are there any areas around Sapa that are worth visiting?]

If you time your visit to Sapa to coincide with a Sunday, I recommend that you arrange a side trip to visit the Bac Ha market, about 2 hours drive from Sapa. Get there early in the morning, and you will enjoy the sight and sound of various ethnic tribes in their colorful traditional dresses, trading and buying everything from farm animals to clothing to tools. A must for any photographer.
If you are an outdoor person, March is also a good period to set on a trek to the Fan Si Pan mountain near Sapa. I believe that this is the tallest peak in Vietnam at 3143m in elevation above sea level. After all it used to be known as "The Roof of Indochina". There are different routes to get to the summit and back, the short one about 2 days, the easy one about 3 to 4 days.

2 weeks is enough time to see only one or two regions in VN, and I do not think you will miss anything by not going to Saigon. I like both rural and urban areas in this country, and Hanoi is extremely interesting. Sapa has to be the single most beautiful/colorful destination. The trouble with the Halong Bay tours is that it's so touristy (do not book the really cheap cruises).

I recommend that you read over on Travelfish - best website for SE Asia. In my opinion, the most interesting thing about Vietnam is the people themselves, followed by the different foods and customs. March is an excellent time to visit - very good weather. Sapa will be cooler than much of the rest of VN, but the fog usually lifts for some beautiful sunny weather there. If I were you, I would also book the Hanoikids free tours of Hanoi City - well worth the effort, and you will be meeting some fine student guides.

Also consider Ninh Binh, a two hour bus or train ride from Hanoi. The town itself is not terribly pleasant, but it is surrounded by natural sites and small villages. I particularly recommend Kenh Ga, a "floating" village where you can take a boat ride. There is also the Trang An Grottos, Van Li Nature Reserve, Bich Dong Pagoda and Phat Diem Cathedral.

Thank you all for the advice.

My general feeling is that I should stick to the north. I can always do the central and south on subsequent visits.

I'm just curious on how you all would suggest I allocate time. I have 12 full days on the ground. I want to spend a few days in Hanoi. Not sure about how much time I should spend in Sapa. I'm not very interested in doing the trek to Fan Si Pan.

I'm also curious to hear whether I should do a 3/2 or a 2/1 trip to Ha Long Bay. I've been getting mixed feedback from people.

The advice you get is superb, I particularly like jiejie's idea of spinning off 5 days and do the centre. HAN-DAD flight with Vietnam air will take a hour or so, and will cost very little. We fly business because it costs only VND2M a sector, good lounges and you get a good earning rate with skyteam. Taxi from DAD airport to a good hotel in town will cost VND300,000. DaNang is a good base, the hotels are all brand new or newish, and the villages like Hoi An are only a short taxi ride away. The taxi will take 15minutes and cost 650,000 for the return ride. We go down there for breakfast with friends some days, or to have another pair of shorts made up ( I love their linen shorts, it's cheaper to have a new pair made than have the old altered). Running up to Hue, you can nowadays go through the tunnel or up over the top. I enjoy the luxury of grabbing a hotel room for 5/6 days, spreading my junk out, then taking taxis to where I want to go. Now you could do it for a tenth of what I pay, instead of flash hotels, try a homestay, instead of taxis, go for bikes buses etc. Whatever you end up doing you will love Vietnam

Very good advice given in here. Stay up north because you said yourself, "I'm not much of beach person and prefer rural areas over urban areas."

Sapa is amazing, but even if you are not interested in the track, you can rent a motorbike and drive around. It's worth spending a couple of days there.

Instead of going to crowded Halong Bay, try Ba Tu Long bay. When I was there (which was about 3 years ago...) my friend and I were the only tourist, which was amazing.

A couple of days in Hanoi may be enough, depending how much you like cities.

Taxi from Danang to Hoi An takes at least 1 hour.

Thanks very much Saigoncyclo, I have been taking a cab each day from Truong sa down to the Dingo Deli, you know, I thought my watch was playing up. Now that I know, it takes me so long, I better sell this place and move somewhere closer

You might want to if you don't want to drive 1 hour from downtown Danang to Hoi An (my wife says its more like 1 1/2 hours from downtown).

What a shame, SaigonCyclo, I do get the impression you haven't been to DaNang, so allow me to enlighten you. Most expats stay/live on the surf side of the bridge, downtown is on the other side of the bridge, so no big deal. So there is a four lane highway from there straight to Hoi An. I imagine it's 20+ kilometres, even call it 30, if you travelled backwards on a pushbike with the brakes half on, yep, you are right it would take one and half hours.

Nah, no enlightenment needed. Seems like a matter of semantics Your original post mentioned using DaNang as a base and staying at a good hotel in town (not where expats stay/live). Sounds like you are calling "town" the surfside of DaNang. I was considering "town" as downtown. Last time I drove from downtown to Hoi An (Cua Dai) it took an hour (hotel car). Oh well, seems like I took the long way