Hanoi – Vietnam 2023 – Planning – Part 2

We were initially planning for a nine day trip to Hanoi, and had prepared an itinerary for that and did a soft booking for our stay at Lucien Hotel in early February. However, the trip length was extended to ten days a few weeks ago when we made our flight reservations: the lower tier of fares for SQ that would be arriving at our preferred timings were no longer available at our initial planned date of arrival. So, we brought forward our date of arrival by a day. Just as well, since being able to spend a bit more time in a country we’re visiting is always good. However, our booked accommodation did not offer the same rate for the extension. So, we had to pay a significantly higher for that extra day. Not quite as good!

That aside, here’s the draft itinerary so far:

Apart from the 3D2N Halong Bay cruise and accommodation, the activities in the itinerary are still soft as we’ve yet to make the necessary reservations. More notes too:

There is a large number of companies operating cruises to tour Halong Bay, but most visitors would opt for the Deluxe-category of cruises. Depending on the class of cabin you’re opting for, the cost per day in this category of cruises seems to be roughly around SGD200 to SGD300 per person per night. Also, the other big decision to make is how long a cruise period you want. Few visitors would opt for the one full day cruise, as getting from Hanoi center to the eastern end of the city where the cruises depart from would take 2 hours already one way already. From what we read, Halong Bay can be covered in a 2D1N cruise, but it’s also widely recommended to extend it to 3D2N if you can afford the time. So, we opted for that.

It was hard for us to tell apart the Deluxe category cruise companies that were offering 3D2N cruises. They were all invariably given glowing reviews from guests who’d sailed with the company, the activities were broadly all the same – e.g. kayaking, visiting Cat Ba island, local cuisine cooking class, swimming in the bay. OK; the ships were sometimes a little differentiated in what their onboard facilities were – a couple of ships had jacuzzi-sized mini-swimming pools for example. We also checked out a large number of YouTube videos done by visitors who traveled with different companies, but that also didn’t give us a better idea if one company was better than the other. We eventually settled on Mon Chéri Cruises and ponied up the SGD2,020 to reserve a family-sized cabin. It was roughly in the middle of the pricing bracket for Deluxe category cruises, and I liked the exterior look of the ship. No, we don’t have any idea if this company is distinct from the others, but we’re reasonably sure we’d be getting a great time.

With the cruise booked, we next decided which land-bound region to visit in the northern region. Many visitors do set aside time for another 3D2N to Sapa, north-westerly and near the Chinese border, and reportedly one of the most pictureseque places in the country with its mountainous range. Some bits held us back though: including that a trip there would involve a fair bit of hiking, and that it’d take us a fair bit of time on the road to get there. There was also the overnight train option to Sapa so that you can start the first day of a trip early in the morning. But what finally swayed us into dropping Sapa from the itinerary this trip was some visitors’ remarks that the Sapa ethnic villages of late feels really touristy.

For many travelers to north Vietnam, the alternative to Sapa is Ninh Binh – which gets described as Halong Bay on land. Unlike Sapa, Ninh Binh is more accessible than Sapa with a shorter drive distance to get there. The general comments from visitors also reveal that the Ninh Binh region is much less visited by international tourists, less crowded, and well worth a visit if you’d like to see the real countryside of Vietnam. We haven’t quite decided whether to go with a tour group or engage a private driver for the 3D2N we’ve set aside for this area. The cost difference between the two options is not small!

For the remaining and free days we’d have in Hanoi – which is approximately about four days duration – we’ve listed down a bunch of things to do that we’d book as necessary closer to date of departure. These include city tours with private guides, and half-day tours around the Old Quarter for foodies. We won’t likely be opting to try their train/subway/bus options to get from point to point, and instead intend to rely on Grab. Assuming it works as intended, we’d be visiting a couple of important landmarks in these free and easy days. But all in all, it looks to be a pretty laidback couple of days we can explore Hanoi.

One thing though: with this itinerary, we’d not be staying overnight at our reserved Hanoi property for four nights. We’d already reserved our stay at Lucien for the entire period of nine nights. A bit of a waste, and I did give some thought to whether we should just break up up our Hanoi accommodation into different segments. But doing so would mean a lot of repacking and re-checking in/out of properties: something I dread! So, for the additional expense of paying up to four nights where we’d not be spending the night in Hanoi, I thought it still worthwhile. And it’d also allow us to bring along a smaller day bag for our the Halong Bay and Ninh Binh trips.

As these things go, there’d likely be changes and tweaks along the way from now till our date of departure. So more to come along the way!