I was on their boat and wrote: I was on probably the nicest day boat in the whole bay, it was stunningly beautiful and the staff were incredible. I was impressed by the amount of different dishes they made for the buffet lunch. I was paired with another solo traveler from Phoenix who didn’t eat seafood and they made him grilled pork skewers and a 2nd beef dish even though there were plenty of other meat and chicken dishes already on the buffet. They did the same for other dietary needs.

they seem very professional
they already answered me regarding the price of the transfer as we don't want to use the limousine which accommodates 8 pax

a private sedan would be $160 and a SUV 180 R/T

Good point
Thanks

You can consider doing 1 night stay in the Mekong Delta.

As we decide not to include a stay in Siem Reap this time, i'll extend our stay in Thailand by a night instead of doing 1 more night in VN as a tour to Ayutthaya will take us a full day.

I guess that i'll keep the mekong delta for another trip.

I have already planned a day tour of Halong bay from Hanoi and I have seen beautiful videos of Ninh Binh.

Should I also include a day tour of Ninh Binh or is it too much for the same trip ?

Ninh Binh day tour would include Bai Dinh pagoda, Trang An and mua caves

How many days are you currently planning on spending in Hanoi? I wouldn't do a day tour of both Ninh Binh and Halong Bay with less than 4 or 5 full days in Hanoi. It is an extremely long day trip to Ninh Binh.

initially, I was planning 3 days/3 nights in Hanoi, but if needed i'll try to add one more night to include this day tour to Ninh Binh.
I have no plan to return to Vietnam soon after this trip, that's why I was wondering if it is worth it to include both Halong and Ninh Binh

As with your prior questions, while you do not plan to return to Vietnam, you should make sure that you have time to actually experience the country, rather than spend your trip traveling from place to place in vans just to check off boxes.

I actually know the country very well, but my wife and my daughter don't. I already know most places except Ninh Binh.
I am trying to find the good compromise between enjoying the places where we'll stay and making them discovering great places too, that's why i am also planning 3 days in each city and not covering a lot of cities during this trip.

You asked for advice. 3 days in Hanoi but one day in Ninh Binh and 1 day in Halong is not actually 3 days in Hanoi.
But if you want to check out as many places as possible, that's your choice. In my experience "making [others] discover great places" by constantly moving from place to place doesn't go very well.

Friend just got back from Vietnam and loved this place. Note there are two locations near each other and they accidentally went to the wrong one from where they made a reservation.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura..._Province.html

Melia Hotel was nice. Rooms great. Pool a little weird, but considering it was so brutally hot, it was good.

The restaurant Ancient Hue was nice - good service, good food, wine so so. The offer for full Vietnamese regalia for dinner kindly declined and we were not subject to anything like that. The small boutique hotel where the restaurant was located seemed very nice too.

Nice to see this thread is so active! We are planning a trip for this December and wanted to get some feedback on our itinerary:

• Arrive Hanoi AM, 4 nights at Capella
  • Ha Long bay cruise with Jade Sails? (Day trip or overnight?)
• Fly from Hanoi to Siem Reap, 2 nights at Park Hyatt
• Fly from Siem Reap to Saigon, 4 nights at Park Hyatt
• Fly from Saigon to Cam Ranh, 4 nights at Amanoi
• Fly from Cam Ranh to Hong Kong then home

We want to concentrate the "adventure" part of travel at the front and basically do nothing at Amanoi except enjoy the hotel. Also considering doing 3N and 3N in Hanoi/Siem Reap instead of 4N/2N.

Does anyone have any recommendations from Hanoi and Saigon that is not walking around and eating? We'll be doing plenty of that of course but wanted to see if there were any off the beaten path experiences. We are 2 travelers in our 30s from the US but Asian (one of us is half-Vietnamese but does not speak Vietnamese). I know this is not the Cambodia thread but any recommendations for Siem Reap for a private guide?

Any specific reason why going to Cambodia in the middle of the trip rather than start or end?
Jade Sails is only day trips, friends went on 1 night cruise https://www.catherinecruise.com/ for honeymoon and loved it.
I did 2 nights in Siem Reap, before the new airport opened, and it felt about right, more to do in/around Hanoi. I used Affinity Angkor for everything, private guide and driver, only had dinners alone.