We had 4 days at Ong Lang Beach on Phu Quoc Island which was amazing. The hotel was really quiet with its own private stretch of beach. The island is in the Gulf of Thailand off the South West coast of Vietnam and close to the Southern coast of Cambodia. We decided we'd have a few days on the beach to finish our time in Vietnam and we would have happily stayed there for a bit longer. The island is just starting to take off as a tourist destination so is still rea...

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) on the 17th March after a 1 hour flight from Danang. Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam until 1975 when the country was unified and the name was changed to Ho Chi Minh City. HCMC is the largest city in Vietnam and is considered to be the economic centre of the country. We never really saw a lot of Saigon (they still refer to the centre of the city as Saigon) as it's such a huge city. As soon as we arrived it w...

Hoi An is a really nice little riverside town. It's about 1/2 an hour south of Danang Airport and was once a major international trading port, but is now one of the most popular tourist spots in Vietnam. We had about a 4 hour drive from Hue along the coastal route through the mountains which was quite a nice drive. It was a bit overcast when we got up into the mountains so the view from the high pass wasn't great but on a clear day apparently you can see along th...

We had a couple of nights in Hue which is in central Vietnam on the Perfume River. Hue was the former capital of Vietnam and is home to the ancient Imperial City which was the former residence and offices of the 13 Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The royal tombs of the former emperors are all located within Hue province so there's loads of temples and historical sites to visit in the area. We had a tour of the Imperial City and Citadel and also ...

The night train from Lao Cai arrived into Hanoi at about 04:30am. We eventually found our driver and were dropped off at our previous hotel in the old quarter at about 05:00 to wait for the bus to Halong Bay. Unfortunately, they had no rooms available to get a shower in so we just had to sit and wait in the restaurant as there was just a wooden bench in reception! We were supposed to get picked up by bus from the hotel at 07:30 but they eventually sent a car to p...