At the end of 2024, I was lucky enough to travel to Vietnam for two weeks. Vietnam is vast and has so many amazing things to see and experience, so the issue with being on a time limit, was fitting everything in. This two week itinerary for Vietnam is based on flying into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Minh, but you can of course do the trip in the reverse direction. It includes many of the things we did, with a few additions based on what we learned during our trip in each place.

What should you book in advance?

The great thing about Vietnam is it’s super easy to travel around and geared up for tourists. This means that most of the time it’s probably not necessary to plan and book every part of your trip before you leave. As we were on a time limit and wanted to pack as much in as possible, I did plenty of research beforehand about the stops we wanted to make and had a rough itinerary and idea of how long to spend in each area. However, we only actually booked our flights, Hanoi hotel and Ha Long Bay trip (we didn’t want to risk missing out on this) before we left London. We booked the rest of our accommodation and onwards travel usually just a couple of days ahead of time. This gave us the flexibility to stay longer in one place if we found there was more we wanted to see there.

Two week itinerary for Vietnam

Days 1-2: Hanoi

Hanoi was far and away my favourite city in Vietnam. In fact, if you’re even shorter on time than us, I’d prioritise the north of Vietnam over any other part of the country. Hanoi is bustling and loud and chaotic but also a really exciting place to be. The food is fantastic, the people are great and there’s a lot of cultural things to see and do. Take a stroll around the Old Quarter and visit beautiful temples like the Temple of Literature and Ngoc Son Temple, which you reach by crossing the bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake. No trip to Hanoi is complete without a visit to Train Street – I’d recommend going in the evening when it’s all lit up and try to coincide your visit with when the train comes through. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is one of the most important places for Vietnamese people and worth the long waiting times (the queues move quickly but try to go when it first opens to avoid school groups). You also can’t miss seeing a traditional water puppet show at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.

Days 3-5: Ninh Binh & Ha Long Bay

Does anyone who visits Vietnam not go to Ha Long Bay? For most people, this is a key moment in their Vietnam itinerary. When we were looking at which Ha Long Bay boats were available, we found a 3 day 2 night tour that combined Ha Long Bay with Ninh Binh. It was a bit of a last minute decision, but we were so glad we did, as the day we spent in Ninh Binh, turned out to be my favourite part of our whole trip to Vietnam. It included a boat ride through Trang An, which was honestly better than the boat ride in Ha Long as it was far quieter and more spectacular and a hair-raising climb up Núi Ngoạ Long (Lying Dragon Mountain) for an unmissable view.

Following our tour, we were dropped back in Hanoi in time to catch the overnight train to Hue.

Days 6-7: Hue

Hue is a place for the history buffs as it’s full of old palaces and temples, that you could easily spend days looking around. I’d recommend spending two days in Hue to explore it leisurely, but you could easily spend more. The Imperial Citadel is what most people come to see – and it’s really worth it! It’s so huge that you can spend a whole day there. When they give you a map, there are several different routes you can take around to see the main highlights, based on how much time you have. One of them is one that takes all day (for reference, the half-day was enough for us). I’d definitely recommend getting an audio guide, which is an extra cost but worth the money as there’s not much signage so otherwise you’ll be wandering around not really knowing what you’re looking at.

On your second day in Hue you may want to explore some of the Royal Tombs. These are dotted around in the surrounding countryside just outside Hue so you might need to take a cab to reach them (but this is inexpensive). Alternatively, you can reach a couple by taking a Dragon Boat along the Perfume River. The most popular and spectacular tombs are Minh Mang, Tu Duc and Khai Dinh. Most of the tours will visit these three and all of them are really different and worth a visit.

Days 8-10: Hoi An

Hoi An is another unmissable stop on your two week itinerary for Vietnam. Known as the City of Lanterns, it’s one of the most well-preserved examples of a Southeast Asian trading port from the 15th to 19th centuries. We arrived on a Saturday night and headed straight into the town, where we were greeted with hundreds of boats on the river lit up with lanterns. It might be touristy, but it’s still a spectacular site, and a lantern boat trip is a must-do activity in Hoi An.

Hoi An’s Ancient Town is a UNESCO world heritage site and it’s like walking through a living museum. I’d recommend buying an Old Town Ticket at the entrance to get entry into five of Hoi An’s 22 heritage buildings, including Tan Ky and Duc An houses, Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, the Hoi An Museum of History and Culture and the Museum of Trade Ceramics, plus many others. The ticket is valid for a period of time and technically you’re only allowed to enter five of the buildings listed on the same ticket (although whether this is enforced is up for debate).

Hoi An itself is a small little town but I’d recommend staying for at least two days to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the slower pace. If you find yourself at a loose end, there are also plenty of day trips you can take from here, including to the Marble Mountains and My Son (we did both of these on one day trip). If you’re blessed with good weather you can also visit the Cham Islands, which has great snorkelling trips, or enjoy more of the beaches near Da Nang.

Days 11-12: Nha Trang

Speaking of the beach, this is where the weather may play into your itinerary. When researching online, I found a lot of people will head from Hoi An to Nha Trang when planning a two week Vietnam itinerary. Due to the time of year we were travelling and the weather being warm, but not amazing in the middle of Vietnam, we opted out of going to Nha Trang and took a direct flight from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh. Do I regret this? Honestly, a little.

If I was going to change one aspect of our itinerary it would be to take a few days off our time in Ho Chi Minh and visit Nha Trang instead. I’m not the sort of person who wants to sit on a beach for days but it would have been nice to relax a little and see a side to Vietnam that we mostly missed on our trip – we had originally planned to go to the Cham Islands while in Hoi An but didn’t end up going as we had some rain. So, in this itinerary, I’ve shaved off some of the time we spent in Ho Chi Minh and added Nha Trang in – I’d tell others to go!

Days 13-14: Ho Chi Minh City

Throughout our time travelling through Vietnam we were told not to expect much of Ho Chi Minh. We’d actually been told this so many times that, by the time we got there, I had very low expectations. To an extent, people were right, it is a just another big city, and when you come from London, that’s not that exciting. However, I still enjoyed Ho Chi Minh more than I thought I would and there are some things definitely worth visiting. We loved the War Remnants Museum and Independence Palace, which are both fascinating historical sites. Personally, my favourite experiences were having a beer in The Cafe Apartments, with an amazing view overlooking the city, and stumbling upon Book Street – a charming, little pedestrianised street lined with bookshops and cafes, tucked away from the main area.

There are also a couple of day trips you can take from Ho Chi Minh. We opted for the trip to the Mekong Delta, which visited the villages of My Tho and Ben Tre. Many people also go to the Chi Chi War Tunnels, and you can combine both trips in one day if you’re short on time.

How to travel through Vietnam

Bus

Vietnam is frequented by backpackers, which makes it super easy to get around. There are long-distance buses between the major towns and cities and sometimes you can opt for one that will let you see the sights along the way – we did this between Hue and Hoi An, stopping off at the Marble Mountains and Lady Buddha.

Train

You can also get the train all the way from Hanoi to Da Nang. We got this overnight from Hanoi to Hue and it was great for us as it saved time when we were on a tight schedule. We had a four-person cabin and the train was fairly comfortable and I actually was able to sleep (unlike my train experience in India!)

Fly

If you’re not a fan of the local transport options, it’s pretty each and inexpensive to fly between the north, middle and south of the country. Da Nang airport offers internal flights and connects to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. From Da Nang, it’s easy to pick up a connection to Hoi An or Nha Trang via bus or taxi.

Money

A quick note on Vietnamese Dong. Before we went to Vietnam, we researched online and found that it said most places take card payments in the main cities. We mostly found this not to be the case. The only places we were ever able to pay by card was when we went to a particularly fancy restaurant or on our 5* boat in Ha Long Bay(!) Everywhere else, even the tourist attractions, always wanted us to pay in cash. Cash machines are abundant so it’s not an issue, but just so you know, you should expect to pay cash in most places.

Have you been to Vietnam? I’d love to go back one day and explore more, particularly in the north of the country. Let me know in the comments what areas and activities you’d recommend that I might have missed.