Vietnam Travel Journal
Insider tips, hidden gems, and travel stories crafted by our local specialists to help you plan the perfect journey.
Featured Article
Best Places to Visit in Vietnam: A Local Operator's Guide
Written by the Vietnam Tours team, based in Ho Chi Minh City, running tours across Vietnam since 2012. Every destination below has been visited by our own guides within the last 12 months.
Latest Articles
Best Places to Visit in Vietnam: A Local Operator's Complete Guide (2026)
Our Ho Chi Minh City–based guides have visited every destination on this list within the past 12 months. Here is what we actually found — including the things the tourist brochures never tell you.
The Ultimate 14-Day Vietnam Itinerary: A British Guide to Going Private
The Ultimate 2-Week Vietnam Itinerary: A British Guide to Doing It Right
Vietnam by Fork: The Ultimate Culinary Tour from Hanoi to Saigon
Vietnamese cuisine is not one cuisine — it is three. Hanoi's food is austere and precise. Central Vietnam's is fiery and ceremonial. Saigon's is abundant and influenced by the south's sugar cane and coconut milk. A culinary tour connecting all three is one of the most rewarding ways to travel this extraordinary country.
Hoi An: The Complete Guide to Vietnam's Most Beautiful Town
Hoi An's Ancient Town is a UNESCO gem of perfectly preserved merchant architecture, lantern-lit streets, and extraordinary food. But the secret Hoi An — the bicycle rides through the rice paddies, the fishing villages, the uncrowded beach — is just as rewarding and far less photographed.
Hanoi: The Essential City Guide for Discerning Travellers
Vietnam's capital is often dismissed as a transit stop to Halong Bay. It is a serious mistake. Hanoi rewards slow exploration: its French colonial architecture, lake-side temples, extraordinary food scene, and quietly ferocious art culture deserve at least three days of genuine attention.
The Mekong Delta: How to Do It Properly (Without a Group Tour)
The Mekong Delta is the rice bowl of Vietnam — a vast, flat, river-threaded landscape where life has moved by sampan for centuries. Most visitors do it on a day tour from Saigon and see almost nothing. Here is how to do it in two days, properly, with a private boat and a guide who actually lives here.
What Does a Truly Luxury Vietnam Tour Actually Look Like?
After a decade of designing luxury itineraries in Vietnam, I have a clear answer to the question I am asked most often: what separates a luxury Vietnam tour from an expensive one? The difference is almost entirely in the details — and the details are everything.
First Time in Vietnam: Everything You Need to Know Before You Go
Vietnam rewards those who arrive prepared. After years of taking travellers here for the first time, I have distilled the essential knowledge into one guide — visas, money, health, etiquette, and the one mistake every first-timer makes.
Ha Giang: Vietnam's Most Spectacular Landscape (and How to Reach It)
Ha Giang Province, in Vietnam's far north, is 300 kilometres of limestone peaks, river gorges, and Hmong villages that most tourists never see. The road here is extraordinary. The food is memorable. The silence is absolute.
2 Weeks in Vietnam: The Definitive Private Tour Itinerary (2025)
I spent two unforgettable weeks travelling Vietnam from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with a private guide. Here is every destination, every hotel, and the exact route that worked brilliantly — so you can replicate it or tweak it to your tastes.
Halong Bay vs Lan Ha Bay: Which Should You Choose (and Why Not Both)?
I have slept on a junk in both Halong Bay and Lan Ha Bay. They are 20 kilometres apart and worlds different in character. Here is the honest comparison — including the version that gives you the best of both in a single voyage.
Phu Quoc Island: Vietnam's Most Refined Beach Destination
Phu Quoc has transformed from a forgotten fishing island into Vietnam's leading beach destination in a decade. Done correctly — with a villa property rather than a resort block, private beach access, and time for the island's still-excellent fish sauce trail — it is genuinely extraordinary.
Trekking in Sapa: A First-Hand Guide to Vietnam's Mountain Kingdom
At 1,600 metres above sea level, Sapa's terraced rice paddies and ethnic minority villages create one of the most visually extraordinary landscapes in Asia. I trekked here in October — the best month — and discovered a region that rewards those who choose a private guide over a group tour.
Vietnam Private Tour Cost: How to Compare a Tailor-Made Quote
A useful Vietnam tour price identifies the dates, party size, route, room category and included services. Compare the total holiday cost, not just a headline price per person.
Choosing a Vietnam Private Tour Operator: What to Check Before Booking
Check who is providing the trip, what the written proposal includes and how changes are handled. A specialist title, star rating or polished itinerary is not enough to verify an operator.