We had a long journey from An Bang Beach to Dalat, so we decided to break it up with a one night stopover in Bai Xep on the south-east coast.
When we got to An Bang, we realised it was a long way to the next place we really wanted to go to. I had read a lot about how amazing Bai Xep is so
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After 2 nights in Hoi An itself, we made the decision to get out of the city and head for the beach. But first we took a morning trip to My Son.
After 2 nights and a full day in Hoi An itself, we made the decision to get out of the city and head for the beach. The weather forecast was also (finally) looking good, so
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We visited Hoi An during the monthly light festival and spent a day exploring the Old Quarter’s sights. We even escaped without having to buy a suit.
We stayed 2 nights in Hoi An at An Hoi homestay which was fantastic. It allowed us to get some laundry done and their breakfast was awesome (best banana pancakes so far....) They were also
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We took a private transfer for 59 USD from Hue to Hoi An, stopping at Lap An Lagoon, the Hai Van Pass and Marble Mountain.
We left Hue in the direction of Hoi An. There's a few choices of how to get between the two cities - the simplest is just to take the train (to nearby Danang) or bus
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Hue’s Imperial Enclosure is a citadel-within-a-citadel, and our UNESCO site number 3 of this trip. It costs 120,000d to enter.
We had one full day in Hue so after breakfast we set off (in full rain gear) across the bridge and into the citadel. You don't need to pay to get into the citadel, but
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We took a daytime ‘sleeper’ bus from Phong Nha to Hue, a journey of about 4 hours. We found this the most direct way to transfer, but not the most comfy.
We took the daytime 'sleeper bus' from Phong Nha to Hue. We'd heard of sleeper trains, but not of buses (especially not ones that run through the day), so we weren't quite sure what to
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In Phong Nha, we explore Hang Tien cave with Oxalis.
Caving isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about activities in Vietnam. It is, however, a prime location for it - the area in and around the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park is
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It takes 8 hours to get from Ninh Binh (near Tam Coc) to Dong Hoi on the train. Then it’s a 45-minute car journey to Phong Nha.
We decided to take the train leaving Ninh Binh at 08.17 and arriving in Dong Hoi 8 hours later, and then a private transfer to our next destination – Phong Nha. You can also get
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On our second day in Tam Coc, we hire a scooter to get around Van Long reserve and Hang Múa viewpoint.
Transportation upgrade Having had a go at the push bikes the day before, it was time to upgrade to Vietnam's preferred form of motorized transport: the scooter. We rented one from our home stay for
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We rented bikes from our family-run hotel and explored the paddy fields near Ninh Binh, stopping at Tran An for a boat ride around this UNESCO-listed site.
The ‘disco bus’ from Cat Ba dropped us at Tam Coc lake at around 5.30pm. We thought we’d only be able to get as far as Ninh Binh but the driver offered to take us
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