Vietnam

Exclusive guide to the best holiday destinations in Vietnam, independent reviews from award-winning travel writers

Ho Chi Minh City insider travel guide smiling Vietnamese girl

Ho Chi Minh City insider travel guide. 6 unforgettable things to do.

My Ho Chi Minh City Insider travel guide has, for me, put even more colour on a city reborn after such a turbulent past. Yes you can visit Saigon’s typical tourist hot spots, but uncovering the real Saigon is an experience not to be missed.

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Silk Path Boutique Hotel review

Hanoi is a real gem of city, not least because of its thirty two lakes and one of the grandest of them, Hoan Kiem, right in Hanoi’s centre and just a stone’s throw from the old quarter, is right on the doorstep of the delightful Silk Path Boutique Hotel.

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Ha Long Bay Cruise review

It’s almost midnight, and Ha Long Bay is ink-black and still. Her ancient limestone pillars have me surrounded. I can’t see them now, but I can feel them, watching me like silent sentinels. All I can hear is the boat creaking, singing its nautical lullaby as gentle waves lap at the wooded hull. This is beautiful. Perfect. Just how a Ha Long Bay cruise should be.

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Ha Long Bay by Seaplane

“My background is flying sea planes in Canada but this one has so many bells and toys I couldn’t turn it down” says pilot Mike at the wheel of Hai Au Aviation’s impressive Cessna Grand Caravan Amphibian, as we make our way from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay by seaplane in north east Vietnam.

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Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort and Spa

“Motorbikes with sidecars are my passion” remarks Claude, just as well really as I’m very snugly inside one as we bounce across the muddy tracks that crisscross the Hoi An countryside. This is an experience well and truly off your typical tourist treadmill as we trundle along by the side of rice fields and shrimp farms, negotiating the odd water buffalo and a few errant hens. Claude is the General Manager of the luxury Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort and Spa but doubles up as an unusual biker tour guide for hotel guests who want to a peak at daily local life in Vietnam’s central region.

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Caravelle Saigon Hotel

Caravelle Saigon Hotel. The Perfect Stopover

Saigon Saigon the rooftop bar of the legendary Caravelle Saigon Hotel is buzzing with the early evening cocktail crowd, a far cry from its former life during the Vietnam war as the war correspondents’ briefing room. Back then, it was the hotel of choice for all the war media and today, the photos lining the walls are a reminder of those heady days. I’m here en-route to Australia and with ten hours to kill before my next flight, I’m enjoying a few hours hospitality at Caravelle Saigon Hotel the perfect Saigon stopover.

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