7 DAYS exploring Hanoi Ha Long Bay Hoi An

Vietnam. Land of banh mi, shockingly good craft beer, breathtaking landscapes, and fascinating, if complicated, history. And of course, a classic stop on any Southeast Asia trip. But how should you plan your trip? North to South or South to North? I don't think there's really a wrong answer here and we decided to go North to South in a little over a week. We spent most of that time in the northern and central parts of the country so stick around to see what you can do over seven days in Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, and Hoi An. We started off our Vietnamese journey in the bustling capital city of Hanoi, which is located in the northern part of the country. While it is also ancient, with history dating back to the 11th century, it's not to be confused with the even more ancient Hoi An in central Vietnam. I may or may not have confused the two in the initial planning stages of our trip, but both are well worth your time. So let's start at the beginning, at least for us, in Hanoi. So we flew from Siem Reap because we want to see Angkor Wat and subscribe for that because we are going to have a video of Angkor So we didn't have a ton of time in Hanoi because the next day we were going to Ha Long Bay so we wanted to have a good experience of Hanoi and we stayed in the old quarter. Basically everything around has a ton of different things that you can do and see and for that reason was really smart to stay there and also because our tour was going to pick us up there the next basically to go to Ha Long Bay. We have arrived really really late that day so we couldn't exchange money that was our main goal but instead we went to find a good beer and a good place to eat. We found a really good beer place like just five minutes from our hotel that was called Hanoi Craft Beer and they just have some small tables with benches like small benches that you can sit and we really enjoyed that corner with a good cold beer in the heart of Hanoi and was really cold. The next morning we were heading to Ha Long Bay for one of the famous cruises but first we had two important errands to run. Coffee is always a priority but especially in a place that's so well known for its unique styles of coffee and so we popped into a place right across the street called Blackbird Coffee and it was open at 7am thank you Blackbird and grabbed our first Vietnamese coffee and it was just as strong and delicious as expected. While you can use a credit card in a lot of places in Vietnam like restaurants, cash is definitely still king and Vietnam is one of those places where you'll get a better exchange rate going to an unofficial right unofficial exchange house in this case stores that sell gold so we went off in search of one of those recommended by our well I guess it was just the street the street was recommended by our hotel so we went in a little nervous always a little nervous the first time you do this in a new country but everything worked out really well we were happy with the rate we got and then we hustled back to our hotel. We'll include the address of the particular gold shop we used below in the description for you guys so you can give it a shot see if it's still good there's many but super recommended. Then it was time to start our drive to Hanlon Bay which was included in our Indochina junk one night and two days cruise. Evan picked us up and then they drive like three hours was a really really long drive then we were dropped off at after seeing a ton of videos and photos of that area we were with high expectations really high and unfortunately the weather was not with us weather was like really cloudy a little bit cold a little bit rainy and all that expectations drowned in the sea. A dramatic way to put it but yes like we say was really foggy the two days that we were on board of that boat and we definitely didn't have the full experience that we were waiting for but we still did enjoy the activities the food and everything that the Dragon Legion offered us and a good thing that I really really loved was the room was huge it had a huge bed a huge bathroom and a really really nice view from the window and so was not all bad. So the first day of activities we did kayak and was kayaking around all these formations that the Hanlon Bay is known for it was really amazing but was really foggy too. You will see the footage it's like a little bit spooky but at the same time was a really good exercise and we love it and that night they serve us a multiple course dinner and what so much food so much oh my god they keep like bringing food and and different plates and everything was quite good and and how was the veggies? The veggie food was good yeah I was happy so you definitely will not go hungry in that cruise. So the next morning I peeked out the curtains of the window our enormous window hoping for a miracle and it was just as foggy as it had been the day before but nonetheless it was time for an activity and so we got ourselves ready and headed out to visit a local tiny floating fishing village. A local rode us around the area in a traditional wooden boat and it's still a pretty magical place and a nice experience despite all of that being said apparently people no longer live in the village full-time. The government forced them to move on to the mainland so that theoretically they would have more economic opportunities and their children could attend school because when you're out there there is nothing close you can't see anything you're just surrounded by these beautiful cliffs but with nothing else no resources no nothing and apparently tourism plays a big role in supporting the local economy. Also near the same area there they also farm pearls so again we got to walk through a little shop that was selling pearls and they also demonstrated you know how to how they remove the pearls from the oyster which if you haven't seen it before is kind of interesting. I managed to escape without buying anything but I did get close but I think we hadn't brought our wallets so fortunately I didn't buy anything but the pearls were beautiful. Then it was time to head back to the ship for a buffet lunch so even more food which was also delicious and this time we could serve ourselves so you didn't end up eating maybe quite as much or maybe more I don't know but it was great and then it was already over and time to start cruising back to the port and on our way back finally the sun came out and we got to see the water. I mean it was blue before but it really was even prettier with the sun and we got a little bit of that experience that that we were expecting. So the question is was it worth it? If our boat hadn't been so nice I'd say probably not. In our particular case with the weather not working out if we hadn't had such a huge room that was really beautiful we probably would have been really disappointed but we still enjoyed the activities it was nice to go relax in our room so in the end we enjoyed it so if it's in your budget to do like the luxury version I'd say it's worth it. After we disembarked we hopped into the van that took us back to Hanoi. We have a little surprise in the middle we were not expecting more surprises but apparently they have at home so they took us to see the famous water puppet show in a little village while part of us wished to be in Hanoi like right away the puppet show ended up being pretty charming and really funny. It was, it was. Plus we got to tick off a traditional Vietnamese culture activity that we were not planning to do so once we finally got back to Hanoi we headed out to explore a little bit more. First we went back to our trusty gold shop to exchange a little bit more money so we would be prepared for our next stop in much smaller city of Hoi An. We weren't sure how easy it would be to exchange or what rates would be so we decided we'd just do it in Hanoi. Then it was time for a treat for me. I had discovered during our trip that it was extremely affordable to get your hair washed in a salon in Southeast Asia in general and of course in Vietnam too and it happened to be hair washing day so I did a bunch of you know reading google map reviews and things and found a place pretty close to us and so we headed over there he dropped me off and I started my hair washing experience. I decided to go for a hair wash, a Olaplex treatment and oh and also an undercut trim and even better a like upper back and neck massage was included in the whole thing. I was in heaven. It was amazing. You must do this if you go to Vietnam. And you were wondering what I was doing? I took a nap. And even better afterwards they blow-dried my hair and curled it so then it looked great when we went to Train Street which was our next stop so it was cute for photos. Really a win-win. Speaking of Train Street, this is one of those touristy things that is actually worth your time. It was actually pretty cool. We really enjoyed it. We asked at the front desk at our hotel when the train was supposed to come by because apparently it should come at certain times but it doesn't always come. But we walked over there anyways and got lucky the train came when it was supposed to come. But first this whole street is lined with all these little cafes and so we just walked down the street a little bit found one that had some space ordered a drink and settled in and did a little people watching before the train arrived and it was pretty funny watching all of the locals get all the tourists organized and out of the way and it was a whole thing but it's a good time and then suddenly people started yelling it's coming it's coming and they pushed everybody back even further away from the tracks and there it was zooming past us much faster and closer than we expected but it was really cool it was a lot of fun and I would definitely honestly go back and so we'd be a little bit more prepared uh for you know the photos and the videos because we were like oh it was a pretty scary experience but it really worked definitely recommended you should go but pay attention so the next morning we hop on to the next flight to Da Nang and from there we needed to drive from Da Nang to Hoi An so Hoi An was our home for the next three nights after many early mornings and a ton of rush in the different cities before Hoi An we were waiting for a moment to stop pause and relax so first things first we dropped our bags at our homestay which was great we'll put some info about that in the description and headed out in search of banh mi we saw so many videos about banh mi and we wanted to try it in real life obviously you can get banh mi in many cities in Vietnam but Hoi An is probably the most famous thanks to the late great Anthony Bourdain who visited there in one of the episodes of his show No Reservations for our first banh mi we didn't go to the place Anthony Bourdain recommended we went to one of the other most recommended and famous banh mi shops called Madam Khan the Queen of Banh Mi and joined the line because of course there was a long line a long line and so you're probably wondering was it worth it yes it was so worth it it was really good and something interesting about this one was the vegetarian version had cheese in it which I ended up discovering was really the only place I saw that but it was delicious and how was your traditional more traditional meat one it was really good really good and I would come back to Hoi An just for that banh mi yeah it was great definitely a then it was time for the main reason that we traveled to Hoi An why we put Hoi An in our Vietnam vacations was because we wanted to do clothes and Hoi An is one of the main cities inside of Vietnam that make custom clothes we've made a whole video talking about our experience so you can like see it right here right here or I don't know somewhere but right now I will say that Bebe Taylor's or Bebe Taylor is the best we really love the process with them and we basically encourage you if you go there to Hoi An and you don't know where to go go there because they're really really professional after getting measured for our various pieces of clothing we went out to enjoy the old town it's truly one of the cutest places that we ever seen touristy yes but for a good reason everywhere you turn is like a really good picture it's a really good shop it's a really good coffee everything looks beautiful and also it's really peaceful we really recommend this experience after exploring for a while it was then late afternoon it was hot we were thirsty and so you can imagine what that might mean it was time for me to do my truffle pig magic as he likes to call it and find a great craft beer place for us to cool off and boy I'm gonna toot my own horn here I hit the nail on the head I found a great place called Seven Bridges this was probably the best beer we had in all of Vietnam it was delicious and the place itself was super cute the inside was cute they had a little um like back terrace area and we went and sat out there we ordered a flight so we could try a little bit of all their different beers so good I think our favorites were the Dragon IPA and their Imperial IPA if I remember right really tasty lovely experience yeah we really really like it so later the night if Hoi An was really cute in the afternoon or in the early morning at night is a hundred times better because has a ton of lanterns and we just went to this market they have like a huge market where you can buy souvenirs and we bought some them and we were not going to say goodbye to Hoi An without trying Cao Lau so Cao Lau is a noodle dish and the noodles are supposed to be or maybe the flavor is a little bit different because it uses some special water from a special well and it's you can only find it in Hoi An so that's what makes it really special the water that's used I believe so let us know in the comments if you try Cao Lau at some point in your life and have recommendations for another great places in Hoi An the next morning we went for another style of specialty Vietnamese coffee before we headed out to our first activity and then we headed to a lantern making workshop if you like doing crafts or just like pretty lanterns we definitely recommend this experience it was really fun I booked it through Viator and it was totally worth the $15 per person the guy who was running the workshop was so funny like he was hilarious and he did a great job of guiding us through the whole thing of like how to glue everything together it does involve a lot of glue and glue fumes but it was really fun we got to put together the like frame part that's made out of bamboo and then we glued on fabric that we had picked and they have a million kinds of fabric so you'll find something you like and the lanterns are foldable so they're easy for you to take home with you you'll go home with something like that and it unfolds after you're back in the states or wherever it is that you're from do this and you can even put like a light bulb inside it was a lot of fun and you've got a great souvenir because you're definitely going to want to take a lantern home after being in Hoi An because they are everywhere after finishing our lantern making workshop clearly it was banh mi o'clock and so we stopped at a tiny little just like a cart that was I don't know this big or something of this adorable little old lady that was selling only vegetarian banh mi which were delicious so if you see her when you're in Hoi An my fellow veggie people get one so good and then we continued for a banh mi for both of us and this time we were trying banh mi from the holy grail the famous place that Anthony Bourdain went to called Banh Mi Phuong and this was another one where there was a really long line but considering how many people were there it was pretty efficient it was moving pretty quick we got a coconut to have in the meantime and pro tip they have a bathroom upstairs if you can sneak your way inside after you order or while one of you is ordering and one of you is waiting you can go up to the bathroom upstairs and as Anthony Bourdain said they're delicious the banh mis they're so good it I don't know if this was our favorite to be honest I think maybe the first one was my favorite but I think maybe you love this one the most I love the competition and this one was really really good oh yeah oh yeah yum so with our full bellies we were like basically walking and strolling around the old square but was really hot and the sun was really aggressive and we didn't have any hat so we decided to buy something that we don't regret and were really helpful honestly a game changer the only pain of just buying these hats is that after that you need to carry them everywhere in airplanes in airport everywhere they are not really collapsible so in no way are they collapsible so you just need to like put it in your backpack and just deal with it but honestly there's a reason people still use these things like you'll see locals wearing them all over Vietnam and they're so effective they like made a huge difference to the heat we were so much more comfortable after we bought them truly and they're really cute and so to cool down a little bit more we went to drink something that we saw in instagram and was really really everywhere it was this ice herbal drink topped with a single pink or at least in our case pink lotus petal and a little leaf or a little pop of color was gorge and really tasty and we actually like it so much that we came back the next day and order more it was really that good the next morning we finally slept in past like eight o'clock and then went for breakfast before another one of our various clothing fittings after that it was time for a surprise for Frodo so we've started a tradition on our trips of planning surprises for each other at some point during the trip it can be something like a fancy experience at a fancy restaurant or something special maybe it's something more low-key maybe it's an experience maybe it's food it could be anything but in this case i had found another creative experience for Frodo in Korean and this time we were making sterling silver rings so we headed to the tiny very crowded workshop that i had secretly scoped out the day before and started looking through all of the various designs once we had picked out a design i decided on like a kind of a wider band with texture and some little flowers and Frodo picked out a super cute little like wraparound fish design the employees started kind of guiding us through the process showing us the different techniques and how to do them and in some cases doing them for us because time was limited but overall it was a really fun experience learning all the different you know ways of making textures polishing the rings which was harder and more time consuming than i expected but we ended up coming out of it with two really nice rings that we love so this was our last night in Hoi An and we decided to give to another touristy experience a shot and that was lantern festival it was one of their lantern festival nights and we had heard and saw lots of videos of people taking a boat along the river for a really like magical kind of fairy tale experience and optimum lantern viewing we had also hear that you need to be really careful with the scams because you could pay or overpay the boat and so one way to avoid that is don't get a boat right on the main busy busy road cross the bridge walk a little bit further away from the bridge and find a boat there so that's what we did and we hopped aboard our cute little boat complete with lit up lanterns and lights and set off along the river we definitely enjoyed it and we got a really cute photos that our driver or our skipper skipper took for us and they were really cute and the next day it was time to say goodbye to Hoi An but first of course we had a salted coffee i think that turned out to be our favorite form of Vietnamese coffee the salted kind okay yeah oh so good and of course had to have a pastry before we headed to the airport for our flight to Saigon so northern Vietnam amazing the banh mi's oh life-changing honestly beautiful scenery and Hoi An like devastatingly cute honestly it's so cute touristy yes fun also all of those places i would say we would recommend it was a great first week in Vietnam so thanks for joining us to see our recommendations for northern and central Vietnam and subscribe to see what we get up to next and how to spend two days in southern Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh or Saigon. See you in the next one. A van picked up and unfortunately and unfortunately an unfortunate for to none calo is a noodle dish that i don't have more information because i didn't research anything about oh i'm tired damn boy