Vietnam, 1,650 kilometres of it

Vietnam is not one destination that happens to be long. The north is a cool-winter country of limestone, terraced hills and a capital that still behaves like a collection of villages. The centre is a narrow strip of imperial history, beaches and a typhoon season. The south is flat, hot, commercial and river-shaped. Travelling the whole thing in ten days means you fly over most of it.

The honest part: the famous places have taken a beating. Ha Long Bay's main channel handles hundreds of boats a day and the anchorages are crowded enough that the silence people come for has gone. Sapa town is now a hillside of concrete hotels — the valleys beneath it are still remarkable, and that is where a trip there has to be spent. Hoi An's old town between ten in the morning and nine at night is a shopping street with lanterns; at six in the morning it is a town again. Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 is a construction site with good bars.

None of this means avoid them. It means the difference between a poor trip and a good one here is almost entirely timing and a short drive. Lan Ha rather than the Ha Long channel. Pu Luong or Ha Giang rather than Sapa. Hoi An before eight and after nine, with the middle of the day spent out by the river. That is the whole trick, and it is the reason our routes look slower than the standard fourteen-day circuit.

There is no month that is good everywhere in Vietnam. The chart reads left to right from January, and the three rows are the three climates. The useful conclusion: October to April works for the north and the south, February to May is the reliable window for the centre, and September to October is the month to keep the centre out of your plans.

What the bad months actually mean. June to August in the north is 33 to 38 degrees with high humidity in Hanoi, and heavy afternoon rain in the hills — but it is also when the rice terraces are green and flooded, when prices drop, and when the bays are warm enough to swim. September and October in the centre bring the typhoons; Hue and Hoi An flood most years, sometimes to knee height in the old town, and this is the one risk we ask people to take seriously. March to April in the south is 34 to 37 degrees and dry, which is easier than it sounds if your days start at seven.

Tet, the lunar new year, moves between late January and mid-February. For about a week the country closes, domestic flights sell out, hotel rates rise sharply and many family-run restaurants shut. It is a remarkable thing to witness and a difficult week to travel in. We will tell you the exact dates for your year and let you decide.

These are the prices you pay yourself, not tour prices. They are what a trip feels like in the hand, and they are the reason Vietnam still reads as good value even though hotel rates have risen since 2023.

Four of our six routes run in Vietnam, and they solve different problems. The twelve-day north to south route is the thorough first look. The ten-day walking route in the north stays above 800 metres and skips the coast entirely. The eleven-day family route cuts drive times and early starts, and is built for children roughly six to fourteen. The fifteen-day Indochina route takes the northern and central sections and joins them to Laos and Cambodia.

Four situations in which we would point you somewhere else, or at least to a different month.

• You have seven nights or fewer and want to see the whole country. You will see airports. Do one region, or choose Cambodia or Laos, both of which fit a week.
• You are locked to late September or October and the centre is the part you want. Hue and Hoi An flood in most years in those weeks, and no operator can plan around a typhoon. The north in October, by contrast, is the best month of its year.
• You want empty beaches in high season. The good stretches of coast in December to March are busy and priced accordingly; quieter coastline exists, but it is in the months when the sea is rough.
• Crowds are the thing you cannot tolerate at all. Vietnam received more than twelve million foreign visitors in the year before this page was written, and the headline sites feel it. Laos is the honest alternative.
• You need step-free access throughout. The citadel, the tombs, the caves and almost every temple involve uneven stone and stairs without handrails, and we would rather say so now than on day six.