Vietnam North to South with Phu Quoc, 10 Nights

Met at Noi Bai and driven over the Red River into the capital. After time to recover from the flight, a guided afternoon takes in Ba Dinh Square, with Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum seen from outside, the Temple of Literature’s courtyards of stone stelae, and a walk round Hoan Kiem lake. The Old Quarter’s narrow streets, each once devoted to a single trade, are right there for dinner.

An eight o’clock pickup in the Old Quarter for the shuttle to the Ha Long cruise pier. Lunch is served once the boat is under way among the karst islands. The afternoon usually includes one of the large caves and time in a kayak or a bamboo boat in a sheltered lagoon. There is a cooking demonstration before dinner aboard, and the boat spends the night anchored among the islands.

Sunrise over the bay and tai chi on deck, then brunch as the boat winds back towards the pier. From there the road leads back across the delta to Noi Bai airport for an evening flight to Da Nang, halfway down the country. It is the longest travel day of the trip, and the hotel on the central coast is reached in the late evening; the next morning is kept free to make up for it.

A slow morning on My Khe beach. Around noon the coach heads south to Cam Thanh, where fishermen take you through a water-coconut forest in round bamboo basket boats and show their net-casting. Hoi An follows in the softer late light: the Japanese covered bridge, first built in the 1590s, the Chinese assembly halls and the old wooden merchant houses. After dark a small boat takes you out on the Thu Bon river to set a paper lantern afloat.

West of the city a record-setting cable car lifts you through the forest to Ba Na, a 1920s French hill resort at around 1,400 m, rebuilt as a large mountaintop park. The Golden Bridge, a gilded footpath resting in two vast stone hands, is at its quietest early. The rest of the day goes on the flower gardens, the mock-French village square and the great white Buddha at Linh Ung pagoda, with the indoor games park for the young.

A leisurely breakfast and checkout, then the driver takes you to Da Nang airport for the flight to Phu Quoc. From the island’s airport the resorts are twenty to forty minutes away. The afternoon is free, and it is a good one to do nothing with: the pool, the beach, and the sun going down over the Gulf of Thailand, since most of the resorts face west.

North to the attractions at the island’s far end. Vinpearl Safari first, while the animals are awake, with a bus through the open-range section and a walking loop for the enclosures. VinWonders next door fills the afternoon with rides, an aquarium and a water park. Grand World, a canal-side district of lights, shops and food stalls, is at its best after dark before the drive back.

From An Thoi harbour a canoe heads out past a string of islets to four of the islands. There is a long white beach on Mong Tay, rocks and coral to snorkel over at Gam Ghi, and a shallow sheltered lagoon on May Rut, with lunch on an island. The day ends with the Hon Thom cable car back across the water to the main island.

An early breakfast and a morning flight to Ho Chi Minh City, less than an hour. After dropping bags at the hotel, the afternoon trip goes north-west to the Cu Chi tunnels, a warren of underground passages, kitchens and field hospitals used by the Viet Cong during the war. The guide shows the hidden entrances and booby traps, and there is a widened section to crawl through for anyone who wants to.

South to My Tho on the Mekong. Vinh Trang pagoda, with its blend of Vietnamese, Khmer and French design, is the first stop, then a boat crosses to the river islands for orchards, fruit, coconut sweets and southern folk songs. A small sampan rowed by hand slips down a shaded canal, and lunch is served on an island. Back in the city by late afternoon, in time for a last evening on the Nguyen Hue boulevard.

Breakfast and a free morning. If there is time before checkout, the Notre-Dame cathedral and the Central Post Office are a short walk from most central hotels. The airport is close, but Saigon traffic is unpredictable, so allow three hours for an international flight.