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Thai Nguyen
Hello
I would genuinely appreciate any guidance regarding the provisional travel plan for our debut trip to Vietnam.
I will be traveling alongside my husband and son. We have secured Jetstar flights arriving into and departing from Ho Chi Minh City – landing on the first day at 9 PM and leaving 12 days later on a late flight.
My husband is eager to see both Hanoi and Halong Bay, while my preference is to allocate some time for relaxation at a resort in Hoi An.
Our tentative schedule currently involves:
Landing in HCMC at 9 PM $\to$ immediately connecting to Hanoi (Will a late-night arrival pose difficulties for hotel check-in in Hanoi?). Alternatively, would departing the following morning be advisable?
Two full days exploring Hanoi.
Then moving on to Halong Bay for an overnight boat trip.
Flying to Hoi An for approximately five days.
Flying back to HCMC on the 23rd and spending one day there before our late evening departure on the 24th.
My primary concerns are:
Are we attempting to include too much travel time and moving between locations? If so, which segment should we remove?
This involves numerous flights. Is there a more efficient or superior transportation alternative?
Any recommendations for must-do activities while we are visiting?
Thank you in advance for your kind assistance!
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Danielle0000
There was an 11pm flight to Hanoi and we have a direct flight Melb to HCMC, so less risk of delays.
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Always assuming it leaves as scheduled. Even direct flights get moved, one, two hour or even in my case, 12 hours. if you are intent on flying to Hanoi, why go via HCMC? Maybe you have no choice. You also have the extra issue of which domestic terminal is the flight going from. Terminal 3 is further away from the international terminal and as such will add time for the transfer to a domestic flight. For extra calm, make sure it is all one ticket. Given the hour (2am) you’ll be arriving in Hanoi, it isn’t something I’d be doing.
Fwiw, If the weather does deteriorate, boating on Ha Long Bay tends to get cancelled anyway.
Hi Danielle,
FWIW, there’s no way I would choose to try to make a domestic flight to Hanoi the same evening as arriving to SGN International at 9pm, for all the reasons mentioned above by others. I’d say you need to spend that first night in HCMC then fly to Hanoi the next morning. I know that feels wasteful when you have so little time but pushing through the evening before is asking for trouble, IMO.
As for your general plan, I’ll make this suggestion – head up to see Hanoi and Halong Bay (and anything else from Scott’s list) and then instead of heading to a resort around Hoi An for your relaxing time, consider a nice hotel with a lovely pool in HCMC, for the end, or second half, of your stay. You can split your time each day between poolside with cocktails and doing as much or as little exploring of HCMC as you like. More efficient use of your time and eliminates one domestic flight.
You can spend a night at the hotel close to the airport and fly to Hanoi next day.
When is this happening?
Replying to scottj765
Hi,
Arrive there on 12th at 9pm and depart on 24 September.
Cheers
Danielle
Replying to Danielle0000
Okay, well September is the start of the wet / storm season in the central region (Hoi An).
You should be alright, but just be aware it could go all pear shaped.
All that said, l just don’t know about three regions and three domestic flights in the short time you have.
You could easily spend your entire time in / near HCMC, plus some of the central region (with fingers crossed) OR the North.
But that’s just my opinion.
Scott
Replying to scottj765
Thanks for your help and info Scott.
I am a little concerned about the weather, hopefully it holds out for us.
I was thinking if I can transfer through to Hanoi when we arrive that might make it easier.
Replying to scottj765
Thanks Scott. It really helps.
I’m wondering if we spend our time up near Hanoi. That way we can do Halong Bay as well. I’m just wondering about weather in that area at the time. .
Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this m.
Cheers
Replying to Danielle0000
Well, you get in at 9pm, so you’d be looking at a domestic flight around 11pm, at the earliest.
Then two hour flight, plus collect luggage, then ~40 minutes into the Old Quarter.
And then before all that, you have to hope your international flight is on time.
Replying to scottj765
There was an 11pm flight to Hanoi and we have a direct flight Melb to HCMC, so less risk of delays. However, it all does seem a little hard and that’s not what I want for our holiday.
Thanks again!
Replying to Danielle0000
No problem.
“However, it all does seem a little hard and that’s not what I want for our holiday.”
No, l don’t want that either.
And planning stuff to the minute in Vietnam, often ends in disappointment.
Scott
Hello
I’m going to go out on a limb and say go for it. If you only have a short amount of time and those places are your priority you’ve got to work with what you’ve got.
I would not try to get a flight to Hanoi same day. Land, check into a nice hotel in hcmc and have the morning and a nice lunch there then head up to Hanoi on an early evening flight.
To accommodate the extra night in HCM I’d reduce Hoi An to 4 nights. Still enough time t od some relaxing and have a look round.
Whatever option you choose you’ll almost certainly have a great time and however long you’ve got is never enough!
Replying to MsLulu80
Thanks for your information.
Jetstar only flys in and out of HCMC. I booked as the flights were on sale and now I’m starting to regret that!
Ideally I should have flown in one city and out of another and had a few extra days.