Vietnam Backpacking Tour Package from India | 9N/10D with Domestic Flights

A long full day and one of the best on the trip. The morning is at Cu Chi, where the Viet Cong dug a network of tunnels that ran for hundreds of kilometres under the ground you are standing on. You see the hidden trapdoors, the cooking chambers vented metres away so smoke would not give them away, and you can crawl through a widened section yourself — it is hot, black and very tight. The afternoon is the Mekong: a wooden boat into narrow palm-shaded canals, coconut candy pulled by hand, honey tea and lunch of river fish.

Top Places to Cover

• Cu Chi Tunnels — trapdoors, chambers and a crawl section
• Mekong Delta — sampan ride through the canals
• Coconut candy workshop — watch it made and taste it

Why These Places Matter

Cu Chi — the network ran for roughly 250 km and held living quarters, kitchens and field hospitals. Whole families lived underground for years.

The Mekong Delta — Vietnam's rice bowl, growing over half the country's rice on land made entirely of river silt.

Day's Facts

• The tunnel sections open to visitors have been widened. The originals were far narrower.
• The Mekong runs nearly 4,900 km through six countries before fanning out here.

Helpful Info

• Skip the tunnel crawl if you are claustrophobic. There is no way to turn around once you are in.
• Wear clothes you do not mind getting red dust on.
• It is a 12-hour day. Leave by 7.30 am and expect to be back after dark.

A short morning flight to the central coast, and the change is immediate — wide roads, sea air, and none of Saigon's noise. Da Nang is where you slow down for four nights. The afternoon is at My Khe, a beach that runs for kilometres with water warm enough to stay in until your fingers wrinkle. In the evening the riverside cafés fill up and the Dragon Bridge lights the water. On Saturday and Sunday nights it breathes fire, then sprays the crowd with water, which everyone pretends not to expect.

Top Places to Cover

• My Khe Beach — the long city beach
• Dragon Bridge — evening viewing
• Han River waterfront — cafés and night market

Why These Places Matter

My Khe — American troops called this China Beach and used it for rest during the war. It has been completely rebuilt and is now one of Vietnam's most popular beaches.

Day's Facts

• The Dragon Bridge breathes fire on Saturday and Sunday nights, usually around 9 pm.
• Da Nang lies almost exactly halfway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Helpful Info

• Watch the fire show from the far side of the bridge — the near side gets soaked afterwards.
• Your hotel here is beachfront. Ask for a sea-facing room at check-in.
• Swim only between the flagged sections; the undertow is strong in some months.

The cable car up to Ba Na Hills runs for close to twenty minutes over forest and waterfalls, and the valley keeps dropping away beneath you. At the top is the Golden Bridge, a curved walkway held by two huge stone hands that look pushed out of the mountain. Above it sits a rebuilt French village with a square and a church, and Fantasy Park with indoor rides. It is around ten degrees colder than the beach you left this morning, and cloud often rolls straight through the village, which is the whole point of the place.

Top Places to Cover

• Ba Na Hills cable car — included, about 20 minutes each way
• Golden Bridge — the walkway held by two stone hands
• French Village and Fantasy Park — included

Why These Places Matter

Ba Na Hills — began as a French hill station in 1919, built so colonial officials could escape the coastal heat. The village at the top recreates that period.

The Golden Bridge — opened in 2018 and photographed so widely it changed Da Nang's tourism overnight. The hands are steel frames covered in moulded fibreglass, aged to look like stone.

Day's Facts

• The cable car holds several world records, including one of the longest non-stop single-track rides at about 5,800 m.
• The summit usually runs 8 to 10°C cooler than Da Nang city.

Helpful Info

• Carry a jacket. People arrive in beachwear and regret it in minutes.
• Get to the Golden Bridge early — the photo queue is long by mid-morning.
• The Alpine Coaster is paid separately at the top.

A free morning, then down to Hoi An. On the way you stop at the coconut palm water village and get into a thung chai, a round bamboo basket boat that spins if you lean wrong. The rowers whirl them on the spot to show off. In the evening you walk into the old town and the lanterns come on — yellow, red and orange strung across every lane, doubled in the river below, with paper candles floating past. It is the single prettiest evening in Vietnam and worth staying out late for.

Top Places to Cover

• Cam Thanh coconut water village — basket boat ride
• Hoi An Ancient Town — UNESCO World Heritage site
• Japanese Covered Bridge — the oldest landmark in town
• Riverfront lantern lanes — in the evening

Why These Places Matter

Hoi An — a working trading port from the 15th to the 19th century where Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Dutch merchants all traded. It survived intact because the river silted up and business moved to Da Nang.

The basket boats — local story says they appeared when the French taxed boats, so fishermen built round bamboo ones and called them baskets. They are still fished from today.

Day's Facts

• Hoi An was listed by UNESCO in 1999 and has more than 800 protected historic buildings.
• On the 14th night of each lunar month the town turns off its electric lights and uses only lanterns.

Helpful Info

• Most of the old town is pedestrian-only through the day.
• Hoi An is the cheapest place in Vietnam for tailoring, but good work needs 24 hours. Order early, not on your last evening.
• Meals today are on you.

A speedboat takes you about fifteen kilometres offshore to the Cham Islands, and the water changes colour on the way — from the brown of the river mouth to a clear green blue. You snorkel over coral reefs where the fish are used to people and come close, then eat seafood on the beach and spend the afternoon doing very little. Bring reef-safe sunscreen and leave plastic behind: the islands banned plastic bags years before most places thought about it, and they enforce it.

Top Places to Cover

• Cu Lao Cham — the main island, reached by speedboat
• Coral reef snorkelling — equipment provided
• Bai Chong or Bai Ong beach — lunch and free time

Why These Places Matter

The Cham Islands — made a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2009, with coral reefs that are among the healthiest left on this coast. Fishing here is restricted to protect them.

Day's Facts

• The islands banned single-use plastic bags in 2009, long before the mainland did.
• Around 165 species of coral have been recorded in these waters.

Helpful Info

• This trip is weather dependent. The sea is usually too rough from around October to February and the coastguard closes the route. If that happens on your dates we will arrange an alternative on land.
• The speedboat crossing is bumpy. Take a tablet beforehand if you get seasick.
• Use reef-safe sunscreen. Ordinary sunblock damages coral.

You fly north and the weather changes with you — cooler, greyer, older. Hanoi does not feel like Saigon at all. The Old Quarter is a knot of narrow streets where each lane once sold one trade, and many still do, so you walk from the street of tin to the street of silk to the street of paper. The evening ends at Hoan Kiem Lake, where families walk laps, old men play chess on the pavement and a red wooden bridge leads across to a temple on a small island.

Top Places to Cover

• Hanoi Old Quarter — the 36 trade streets
• Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple
• Ta Hien beer street — optional, paid locally

Why These Places Matter

The Old Quarter — laid out more than 600 years ago with each street given to a single guild. The names never changed even when the trades did.

Hoan Kiem Lake — the name means Lake of the Returned Sword, from the legend of a king who was given a magic sword to drive out invaders and handed it back to a turtle in these waters.

Day's Facts

• Hanoi was founded as Thang Long in 1010 and has been a capital, on and off, for over a thousand years.
• Egg coffee was invented here in the 1940s when milk was scarce and whipped egg yolk was used instead.

Helpful Info

• Hanoi is much colder than the south from December to February. Carry a jacket.
• The Old Quarter is best walked. Traffic there moves slowly enough that you can.
• Meals other than breakfast are on you.

People call Ninh Binh the Halong Bay on land, and once you are there you see why — the same limestone towers, only rising out of rice fields and river instead of sea. You start at Hoa Lu, which was Vietnam's capital a thousand years ago and is now two quiet temples among the hills. Then comes the Trang An boat ride, and it is remarkable: a woman rows you for two hours, often with her feet, threading the sampan through caves so low you have to lie back flat while wet rock passes inches above your face.

Top Places to Cover

• Hoa Lu — the ancient capital, temples to the Dinh and Le kings
• Trang An — the two-hour rowed boat route through caves
• Rice fields and karst hills — the drive in

Why These Places Matter

Hoa Lu — Vietnam's capital in the 10th and 11th centuries, before the court moved to Thang Long, which is now Hanoi. Choosing these hills was a defensive decision.

Trang An — a UNESCO mixed World Heritage site listed in 2014 for both its landscape and its archaeology. People have lived in these caves for over 30,000 years.

Day's Facts

• The Trang An route passes through around nine caves, some barely a metre above the water.
• Many of the rowers here row with their feet, which is easier over a two-hour trip than using arms.

Helpful Info

• You must lie flat inside the low caves. It is not suitable for anyone who cannot bend easily.
• Take a hat — there is no shade on the boat for two hours.
• Carrying small change to tip the rower is customary and appreciated.

Two and a half hours to the coast, then you board. Halong Bay looks unreal the first time — grey limestone towers standing straight out of green water, hundreds of them, going on past the horizon. You sail between them all day, kayak into a lagoon that can only be entered through a low rock arch, and climb into a cave whose inner chambers open out far larger than the entrance suggests. Lunch is served on board while the boat keeps moving between islands.

Top Places to Cover

• Halong Bay day cruise — included
• Kayaking — into an enclosed lagoon
• Sung Sot Cave or similar — the large show cave

Why These Places Matter

Halong Bay — a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1994, with around 1,600 limestone islands formed over 500 million years. The name means descending dragon.

The caves — cut by water when sea levels were far lower. Some served as shelters and field hospitals in wartime.

Day's Facts

• Most islands in the bay are uninhabited, though a few floating fishing villages remain.
• The limestone here is roughly 500 million years old, far older than the Himalayas.

Helpful Info

• Kayaking is optional and life jackets are compulsory.
• Cave steps are wet and slippery — closed shoes, not sandals.
• Cruises are occasionally cancelled in bad weather by the coastguard, not by us. Refunds follow the operator's policy.

A last breakfast and a free morning before the transfer to Noi Bai. The Old Quarter is the place to spend it. Coffee is the obvious buy — Vietnam grows more robusta than any other country and a kilo costs a fraction of what it does in India. A metal phin filter costs almost nothing, and lotus tea, cinnamon and dried mango all travel well. Bargain politely in the markets; the first price is rarely the real one.

Top Places to Cover

• Old Quarter markets and Dong Xuan — last shopping, paid locally
• Noi Bai International Airport — private transfer included

Why This Matters

Vietnamese coffee — the country is the world's second largest coffee producer and the biggest grower of robusta, which is why the coffee here tastes stronger and more bitter than at home.

Day's Facts

• Coffee was brought to Vietnam by the French in the 1850s and is now among its largest exports.
• Noi Bai is about 45 minutes from the Old Quarter outside rush hour.

Helpful Info

• Reach the airport three hours before an international flight.
• Vietnamese dong cannot easily be exchanged outside the country. Spend or convert it before you fly.

Before You Go

Ten days at this pace covers the country properly and still leaves four nights in one place on the coast. If you want to add Sapa in the north or Phu Quoc in the south, send us your dates and we will rebuild it.

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