A TRAVZ STARTING POINT
Hanoi to Hoi An, the long way
A considered 10-day shape for Vietnam, ready to be adapted around your dates, pace and people.
THE IDEA
A route with room
for your story.
Vietnam is long and thin, and the mistake is treating that as a problem to be solved with domestic flights. Some of it should be, and this itinerary flies the leg that is genuinely dull. The rest is done at ground level, because the country between the cities is the point.
You start in Hanoi with two full days, which is the minimum for a city where the good parts are found by walking the same three streets until they start making sense. Then the bay — but Lan Ha rather than Ha Long, on a boat small enough to get into the coves the large ones cannot.
The middle section is Ninh Binh, which most itineraries skip and which is the quietest, strangest landscape on the route: limestone karsts rising straight out of flooded rice fields, seen from a rowing boat propelled by someone's feet.
You finish in Hoi An with four nights, enough that the town stops being a place you are visiting. Cycle the rice fields at dawn, learn one recipe properly, and leave at least one day entirely blank.
DAY BY DAY
The shape of
the journey.
Every day has intention, with enough breathing room to follow a recommendation or change your mind.
- 0101—02
Hanoi at street level
Arrive and stay in the Old Quarter. A guided food walk on the first evening, which is the fastest way to stop being intimidated by the plastic stools. Day two is yours, with a list of six places worth the walk.
- 0203—04
Lan Ha Bay
Drive to the coast and board a small ship — twelve cabins, not forty. Kayaking into the coves in the late afternoon, swimming off the back, and a night at anchor somewhere quiet.
- 0305
Ninh Binh
South to the karst country. A rowing boat through the Trang An caves in the afternoon, when the day groups have left. The boats are rowed by foot, which you have to see.
- 0406
Cycle, then fly
A morning cycle through the villages between the karsts, then the transfer to Hanoi airport for the short flight to Da Nang and the drive to Hoi An.
- 0507
The tailor, and the town
A fitting in the morning if you want clothes made, which is worth doing on your first full day so there is time for alterations. The old town in the evening when the lanterns come on.
- 0608
Cook one thing well
A market trip and a cooking session focused on two or three dishes rather than a survey. You leave able to actually make them.
- 0709
Blank
Nothing scheduled. Cycle to the beach, read, go back to the tailor, or do none of it.
- 0810
Home
Transfer to Da Nang for the flight out.
A SENSE OF PLACE
The look
of it.
THE PRACTICAL PART
What's in.
What isn't.
INCLUDED
- Nine nights: Hanoi, a small-ship cabin on Lan Ha Bay, Ninh Binh and Hoi An
- Domestic flight from Hanoi to Da Nang
- All private ground transfers and the bay cruise with full board
- Guided food walk in Hanoi and the Trang An boat
- Bicycle use in Ninh Binh and Hoi An
- Hoi An market visit and cooking session
NOT INCLUDED
- International flights into Hanoi and out of Da Nang
- Vietnamese e-visa, which we will help you apply for
- Meals not listed, and drinks throughout
- Tailoring costs in Hoi An
- Travel insurance
THE NEXT CHAPTER IS YOURS
Keep the route.
Change everything else.
Your dates, your people, your pace — one thoughtful brief is enough to begin.
Personalise this trip