Advice for trip to hanoi, vietnam

[hellfire241]

a very warm afternoon forum.. i'm thinking of going to a trip to hanoi this july and need advice on the following.. will be on a budget and travelling with a friend. budget for 5D4N is around $600 for 2 persons - myself included.

1. hotels to go
2. must go places
3. must eat food
4. any tours to recommend
5. best way to go to the MUST-GO halong bay
6. and if you have gone during july i have read that the weather can be a bit wet - would you recommend me going..

thanks and cheers

 

[NoiNoi]

$600 might not be enough. A 2D1N halong Bay is about USD180.00(for 2 person) inclusive of meals. Hotel is USD30 x 3N = USD90.00. Just 2 items alone, you spend about USD270.00(SGD337.00)

Balance SGD263.00 to cover airport transfer(2 ways), over charge taxi fare, food, drinks and etc. Maybe you can try Hanoi Free Tour Guides: hanoifreetourguides.com/ , probably you can save some cost here and there.

If you prefer tour agency, kaganroo cafe : www.kangaroocafe.com

To me, Sapa is must go place but will cost more than your prefer budget! Hope this will help

 

[mayurs74]

My very important advice is on pick pocketing in Halong Bay area. I read this even before I myself had a bad experience while Halong Bay tour. Some one stole away my Nikkor 50mm lens with out a single notice. Be very careful.

 

[klsim]

hey bro, planning a trip up to vietnam as well. ill be doing a Saigon-Danang-Hue-Hanoi backpacking trip by train. give me a shout when you'll be there, always good to have another kiasu singaporean around lol

 

[chisiang]

It's the monsoon season now till October. But most of the time it will just rain for a couple of hours and stop. The air can look really clear after rain. During the dry season there's a lot of haze and pollution.

Flooding is also very common and you may get splashes by traffic so make sure to water proof your gear.

As for budget, you can get by fine, provided you know where to stay and eat.

 

[smilegal]

Be careful of the traffic.
When you are at Halong Bay: do canoe-ing. If possible, bring extra small camera, so you can still snap while canoeing.
Sapa is great! We went to the submit of Fansipan.
Buy ao dai for your loved ladies, I got for around 270,000 I were not wrong.
Have a safe and fun trip

 

[wahlau]

Don't miss the Museum of Ethnology. Life-sized models of the houses of minority races found in Vietnam. You can go into the houses to have a feel of the place.

You MUST have meals by the street sitting on the low chairs. It's an experience.

If you drink, a decent mojito we had at one of its pubs costs about S$6.50! Simply incredible.

 

[xray]

Will be going to Hanoi in October for a week with friends. If we want to go to villages or interesting places on the outskirts of Hanoi (that means rural countrysides), where should we go? Sapa's one of the choices, but other than that? Please recommend!