Last Updated: June 27, 2022
Some of the best activities we’ve done travelling were in the wonderful country of Vietnam. There is so much to see and do here for both kids and adults. With a blend of French, Japanese and Chinese influence, in addition to the Vietnamese, it really is a country you can’t help but fall in love with.
So many fond memories come from Vietnam, but the community feel of the country is definitely the thing we warmed to the most. We especially loved the way the older generations seemed to take over the streets in the evenings as it started to get a bit cooler.
Pavements would be transformed into da cau courts, a game similar to badminton, but with the body used instead of rackets to hit the shuttlecock. And buckets and bins (or whatever the locals could find) would be turned over to make a table and chairs for people to have a game of co tuong (also known as xiangqi or Chinese chess).
On top of the awesome activities and great community feel, there are also incredible sites and flavoursome foods for families to enjoy.
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Best Time for Visiting Vietnam with Kids
Whilst the country isn’t that huge (being only around 330,000km²) because of the shape of it, being thinly stretched from North to South with over 2,000 miles of coastline, the climate can vary pretty drastically by region.
This makes it particularly difficult to choose the right time to visit Vietnam if you are intending to travel around the country. You could have a sweltering heat in the south at the same time as snow in the north! And with monsoon seasons typically being opposite ends of the year for the North and South this adds another tricky element.
Generally speaking, if you want to hit the whole country, March/April is usually a good time to visit. It probably won’t be perfect, but it’s your best bet for fair weather in all areas. We went in July/August and although it was very hot and humid, with a few monsoon showers here and there, we still felt it a reasonable time to go to see the whole country.
Our Suggested Vietnam Family Itinerary
We spend an incredible 3 weeks in Vietnam and found this a really good length of time to stay in the country. But we do like to take rest days and work days. So if you’re a bit more pushed for time you could chop down a few days from each area and squeeze it in a fortnight if preferred.
Below is our suggested 3 and 2 (in brackets) week itinerary that should hopefully help you construct your own for your time visiting.
We travelled South to North, but you could easily reverse this dependent if your moving into or out of another country such as Laos or Cambodia. As both are then reachable by coach if you’re in the right region to get across.
1. Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) – 2. Mui Ne – 3. Da Nang – 4. Hoi An – 5. Hue – 6. Hanoi
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) – 4 (3) Nights
Ho Chi Minh City, formally Saigon, is the biggest City in Vietnam and a great starting point. We did a great day excursion to the Mekong River from here which was beautiful and a great way to get us familiar with the country. There are lots of tours that operate from Saigon, which can easily be booked when you get there. Your accommodation will often be able to point you in the right direction if not actually doing it themselves.
And internally, the city also has some great sites. We did a self-guided family walking tour and squashed a surprising amount of sites in a day on foot. Just watch out for the mopeds as they are absolutely everywhere!
Mui Ne – 3 (2) Nights
Mui Ne is a small coastal fishing town on the south eastern coast in the Phan Thiet region. It used to be more of a quiet stop off the beacon track, but is quite a popular one for visitors nowadays.
Some of the main drawers here include the stunning, but windy beaches. Due to the wind, kite surfing is very popular here. So a great place to try it out if you haven’t before.
Another good reason for visiting is the Sand Dunes. The two famous ones being the simply named White Sand Dunes and Red Sand Dunes. Each with their own different appeals and looks. The Red Sand Dunes is a particularly good one to visit with kids, as you can partake in some sand dune sledging whilst there.
Da Nang – 2 (2) Nights
The biggest city in Central Vietnam, Da Nang is a common base for tourists to explore the surrounding area. With Ba Nah Hills a popular tourist site. Taking the long high cable car up to the top and seeing the Golden Bridge (also known as the ‘hand bridge‘) which is an Instagrammer’s dream.
Also on offer at Ba Nah Hills is the French Village, Alpine Coaster, Wax Museum and a small indoor Theme Park. Entrance is around 750,000 VND (£23) per person.
Da Nang itself is also a great city. We loved the river area, particularly in the evening. With boats lit up with neon light passing by. And the famous Dragon Bridge is great to witness.
With a show of it breathing fire, usually from around 21.00 Saturday/Sunday, it’s great fun for the kids.
Don’t stand too close though! As well as fire, the Dragon breaths out a huge jet of water. Not everyone realises this and it’s hilarious to watch the people who have stood too close try to run away as they’re getting soaked by the beast!
Hoi An – 3 (2) Nights
Just down the road from Da Nang is Hoi An a charming coastal city with a beautiful and well preserved ancient town. With dozens of lanterns hanging everywhere. Numerous canals cut through it where you can watch many colourful boats passing by.
Hoi An is very pedestrian friendly, particularly the old town and it’s also one of the best places to go for a cycle. There are lots of great cycle routes and you can cruise around the quiet, winding streets and the surrounding rice paddies for hours.
Bike hire is common, so you’ll easily be able to pick one up around the city and some accommodation offer it complimentary. Lot’s offer the chid seats at the back if required.
From Ha Noi we also did a trip to the Marble Mountains. A set of mountains mainly made out of limestone and (you guessed it) marble!
Whilst exploring you will get to experience ‘Heaven and Hell’ in Am Phu Cave. With the upper levels being peaceful and picturesque with numerous beautiful sculptures representing heaven. But down in the depths lies hell. Full of dark and disturbing sculptures. Our eldest found it quite eerie.
Kids Quote: “This is the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen!”
Laith, Age 9
Hue – 4 (2) Nights
Hue is the place to see Royal Tombs. There are no less than 7 tombs of the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty in Hue. Depending on how much time you have you may struggle to see all 7. So if not choose your favourites. The three considered the best to visit (but by definition also the busiest) are Ming Mang, Tu Duc and Khai Ding.
Away form the tombs another great site to hit is the Imperial City. Similar to the Forbidden City in China, this is a huge walled enclosure that was used as the base for the most important people during the Nguyen Dynasty.
Entrance is around 150,00 VND (£5), but even if you don’t fancy heading in, a stroll around the wall and moat is also a great walk in the early morning or cool evening.
Hanoi – 6 (3) Nights
Our final destination is the capital, Hanoi. We stayed for a quite a few nights, mainly because we were doing a 2 day excursion to Ha Long Bay.
Ha Log Bay is a very popular tourist area and for good reason as it is incredible. Cruising past the never ending limestone islands (of which there are over 1,500) on the calm tranquil waters in this huge bay was one of our Vietnam highlights.
As it is very popular with tourists there are many types of tours available from multiple night cruises to day trips. Most will include activities such as kayaking around the bay as well as visiting some of the many caves.
Back in Hanoi itself there is also great activities. With a hop-on-hop-off bus tours available to get your bearings and then you can choose which sites to jump off at for a closer look. Such as the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Temple of Literature, Hoan Kiem Lake and many more.
Getting Around Vietnam with Kids
National Transport
You’re choices of travel will probably vary depending on which direction of the country you’re going. As it’s a long thin country, the journey times across are relatively short where as up and down they can be quite lengthy.
For the shorter journey, coaches are a good way to go. There are a lot of sleeper coaches and even though we didn’t take any overnight, we ended up one some for some of our day journeys. They were very comfortable with a unique design of seats we hadn’t come across before being stretched out with upper and lower levels.
For longer journeys, the overnight trains are great. You can go for 4 Berth Soft Sleepers or 6 Berth Hard Sleepers.
4 Berth Soft Sleeper carts are split into rooms with four beds. So if you are a family of four like us it works out perfectly as you get a room to yourselves for the trip.
Unsurprisingly, the 6 Berth Hard Sleepers are basically the same, but with six beds to a room. So if you’re are a larger family of 6 this could be the way to go.
If you are a family that’s not of 4 or 6 people, theoretically you can book out a whole room by paying for each bed. But conductors will often try to put people in with you even if you have booked it. So be aware of this and you may have to be firm if you don’t want any additional passengers in your room.
The sleepers we took were really great both from Mui Ne to Da Nang and Hue to Hanoi. The room was clean, comfy and reasonably spacious and we all slept pretty well with the journey being pretty smooth. So we would definitely recommend this mode of travel for the longer trips.
You pay by the bed, with some additional admin fees thrown in there, with it being roughly 1,000,000 VND (£30) per bed in first class. So when you consider this is accommodation and transport in one go, it’s reasonably economical.
Domestic flights are also available, if the sleeper trains don’t take your fancy. VietJet Air and Vietnam Airlines are the two main domestic options.
Local Transport
Much of the areas in Vietnam, even some of the areas in the big cities, are pretty compact and walking is a great way to get about. But when you do need to go further there are lots of options.
Taxis are very common. The official ones come in a few colours but are pretty obvious, usually with a roof light on top. Some won’t have metres so you may need to agree a price up front.
There are also Xe Om (motor cycle taxis) that you can get by hopping on the back of a motor cycle and be whizzed through the busy streets, although these aren’t really ideal for large families.
Uber and Grab are also available in most of the major areas if ride sharing apps are your preferred choice.
You also get Cyclos in some areas. Which are basically cycle driven carriages. These usually only carry individuals. But you can sometimes find a few in one place, so a novel way of getting about with maybe the kids on your lap in a couple following each other.
The bigger cities also have some good bus networks, which are very cheap and pretty comfy so these can be a great choice for specific journeys.
Eating in Vietnam with Kids
Vietnamese food is amazing! Our youngest in particular loved the food here. He couldn’t get enough of the beef noodles!
Pho is one of the most common dishes. A thick noodle broth with chicken, beef, pork or tofu for vegetarians, with ginger and coriander flavourings and spring onions to top it off. Mostly eaten for breakfast by the Vietnamese although it can be found on most lunch and dinner menus as well if you want it anytime of day.
Another dish we really loved was the Vietnamese White Rose. Mostly found in Hoi An, although you will find it in other places. It is a dumplings dish, usually stuffed with shrimp, but other options are sometimes available for the stuffing.
Food is generally pretty cheap, and it’s often cheaper to eat out at street venders or small cafes than it is to self-cater. You can splurge on the more fancy restaurants if preferred. But wherever you eat the food will be delicious. The stereotype of all the Vietnamese being amazing cooks seems to be a true one, from our experience!
Staying in Vietnam with Kids
We found hotels to be generally cheaper and easier to find rather than self catered accommodation in Vietnam. But all types of accommodation are generally available.
You can find hotels, apartments and hostels on the usual comparison websites. Booking.com seemed to work best for us, but we also found a great Airbnb in Hanoi as well. But whichever website is your preferred method, they generally all have a good selection in the popular areas.
We stayed in mainly budget-moderate accommodation with the one exception being the Ha Long Bay cruise, which was a bit of a splurge. But well worth the price.
But more generally we spent around 500,000 VND (£15) per night on family rooms or self catered apartments on average. All of which were great value for money and a lot included breakfast, which is always a bonus!