Vietnam travel guide: north to south in ten days

Vietnam is long. Trying to cover it by road in ten days is the most common planning mistake — use two internal flights instead and keep your ground time for the places you actually came to see.

A workable route: three nights Hanoi with an overnight Ha Long Bay cruise, three nights Da Nang and Hoi An, three nights Ho Chi Minh City with a Mekong day trip.

The north is cool and misty from December to February; the centre gets heavy rain around October and November. March to May suits the whole country reasonably well.

Group fixed departures to Vietnam usually price better than independent travel on the same dates — ask us which departures are open.