Vietnam rewards the traveler who moves through it north to south — not because the south is better than the north, but because the journey itself is the point. You arrive in a city that still feels like a capital under construction and leave from one that runs at full commercial throttle, and in between you pass through some of the most dramatic landscapes and most distinctive food cultures in Southeast Asia.

Ten days is enough to do it properly. Not every village, not every island — but the essential spine, done well.

Before You Go: Vietnam Basics

Visa: Most nationalities can enter Vietnam visa-free for 45 days (expanded in 2023). Check the official list; e-visa is available for those who need one (~$25, processed in 3 business days).

Currency: Vietnamese Dong (VND). Budget roughly 25,000 VND = $1 USD. ATMs are everywhere. Avoid airport exchange counters; banks and ATMs in the city give far better rates.

Getting around: Domestic flights are the efficient choice for longer distances — VietJet Air and Bamboo Airways often have tickets for $20–50 if booked 2–4 weeks out. The Reunification Express train is slower but scenic. Grab (Southeast Asia's Uber) is the go-to for city transport; negotiate fixed prices with xe ôm (motorbike taxis) for short hops.

Best time to visit: November to April for the north and central regions. The south is relatively dry year-round. Avoid July–August for central Vietnam (typhoon risk) and September–October for the north (heavy rain).

The Route: North to South in 10 Days

Day	Location	Main Activities
1	Hanoi	Arrive, Old Quarter walk, Hoan Kiem Lake
2	Hanoi	Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Temple of Literature, street food evening
3–4	Halong Bay	2-day cruise, limestone karsts, kayaking, cave tour
5	Hoi An	Fly south, Ancient Town arrive
6	Hoi An	Ancient Town deep dive, beaches, tailors
7	Da Nang / Hue	Day trip to Hue's Imperial City and Thien Mu Pagoda
8	Ho Chi Minh City	Fly south, Reunification Palace, Ben Thanh Market
9	Mekong Delta or Cu Chi	Day trip from HCMC
10	Ho Chi Minh City	Final district walk, departure

Days 1–2: Hanoi — Chaos with Character

Day 1: Arrival and Old Quarter

Land at Noi Bai International Airport; the taxi to central Hanoi runs about 300,000–400,000 VND (~$12–16). The new Metro Line 3 (opened 2021) now runs from the airport extension to central stations for a fraction of the cost, though it takes longer.

Check into the Old Quarter — staying here isn't just convenient, it's essential to understanding what makes Hanoi tick. A good mid-range option is the Hanoi La Siesta Diamond Hotel; budget travelers do well at hostels along Ta Hien Street for $8–15/night.

Walk Hoan Kiem Lake at dusk. The red The Huc Bridge leading to Ngoc Son Temple is quintessential Hanoi. Sit on one of the lake benches and watch the evening ritual of joggers, families, and old men playing chess.

Dinner: Bun Cha is Hanoi's signature dish — grilled pork patties and slices of pork belly served in a sweet fish sauce broth with rice noodles and fresh herbs on the side. The most famous spot is Bun Cha Huong Lien on Le Van Huu Street — this is where Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate in 2016. It's worth the cliché; the bun cha really is excellent and costs about 45,000 VND ($1.80).

Day 2: History and Egg Coffee

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex opens at 7:30am and queues form early. Dress respectfully (covered shoulders and knees). The mausoleum itself is quick — you shuffle past the embalmed body in a temperature-controlled room — but the surrounding complex includes the Presidential Palace grounds, Ho Chi Minh's simple stilt house, and a large courtyard worth seeing. Free entry; full complex about 2 hours.

Lunch near the Temple of Literature (Van Mieu, 30,000 VND entry) — Vietnam's first national university, founded 1070. The stone stelae bearing the names of doctoral graduates from 700 years ago are oddly moving.

Late afternoon: Find Cafe Giang (39 Nguyen Huu Huan) and order an egg coffee (cà phê trứng). Invented in 1946 when milk was scarce, a barista started whipping egg yolks with sugar and condensed milk into a thick custard-like foam on top of strong Robusta coffee. It's rich, sweet, and unlike anything else.

Street food evening on Ta Hien Street (Bia Hoi Corner): sidewalk plastic stools, bia hoi (freshly brewed draft beer, about 7,000 VND per glass), and snacks like nem ran (fried spring rolls) and bánh mì from sidewalk carts.

Days 3–4: Halong Bay Cruise

Halong Bay is one of those places that lives up to the hype. 1,600+ limestone karsts rising from emerald-green water, fishing villages on floating platforms, caves with chambers the size of cathedrals. The only way to experience it properly is a 2-day/1-night cruise — day trips just reach the outer bay and turn back.

Choosing a Cruise

Tier	Cost per Person	What You Get
Budget (Dragon Pearl, etc.)	$80–120	Basic cabin, meals, 1 cave, 1 kayak session
Mid-range (Indochina Junk, Paradise Elegance)	$180–280	Better cabin, smaller groups, cooking class, more kayaking
Premium (Genesis Regal, Apricot)	$350–600	En-suite cabin, private terrace, fine dining

Most travelers do well at mid-range. The experience is primarily about the scenery and kayaking, not the boat; a decent mid-range vessel is enough.

Day 3: Bus from Hanoi to Ha Long City (3.5 hours, included in most cruise packages, departure ~7:30am). Board your junk boat by noon. Afternoon: caves (Thien Cung Cave is spectacular), kayaking through floating villages, sundeck views. Sunset dinner on deck.

Day 4: Early morning Tai Chi on deck. Final kayak or swim. Disembark and return to Hanoi by early afternoon; catch your evening flight to Da Nang.

Days 5–6: Hoi An — The Most Beautiful Town in Vietnam

Da Nang is the transportation hub; Hoi An is the destination. Grab is 30–40 minutes south from Da Nang airport (about 150,000 VND). Hoi An's Ancient Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — an almost perfectly preserved 15th–19th century trading port where Japanese, Chinese, Dutch, and Vietnamese merchant architecture all coexist on the same street.

Day 5: Arrive and Settle In

Check in — Hoi An has some of the best accommodation value in Vietnam. Anantara Hoi An Resort sits right on the Thu Bon River (from $120/night for something genuinely lovely); budget travelers are well served by guesthouses in the An Bang Beach area for $25–40/night.

Evening: Walk the Ancient Town just before sunset. The Japanese Covered Bridge (Chùa Cầu) is the symbol of Hoi An — built in the late 16th century, repainted many times over, still crossing the canal that Japanese merchants once used. The surrounding lanes are lined with yellow-walled merchant houses, silk lanterns, and open-air restaurants.

Dinner at Morning Glory Restaurant (106 Nguyen Thai Hoc) — run by chef Trinh Diem Vy, who has been cooking Hoi An's street food recipes in a restaurant setting for 25 years. The white rose dumplings and cao lau noodles are exceptional. Dinner for two: around 400,000–600,000 VND.

Day 6: Beach, Tailors, and Night Market

An Bang Beach is 5km from the Ancient Town (bike there — rental is 50,000 VND for the day). Cleaner and quieter than Cua Dai, with plenty of good beach shacks serving seafood.

The other Hoi An ritual: custom tailoring. The town has hundreds of tailors who can make suits, dresses, shirts, or anything else in 24–48 hours. Yaly Couture (multiple locations) is respected for quality. Expect $80–150 for a well-made suit from reputable shops.

Evening: Hoi An Night Market along Nguyen Hoang Street and the famous lantern release over the Thu Bon River (every new moon, but small lanterns can be released most evenings for 10,000–20,000 VND from riverbank vendors).

Day 7: Day Trip to Hue

Hue is 120km north of Hoi An — a 2.5-hour drive along the Hai Van Pass, one of Vietnam's most scenic coastal roads. Easiest as an organized day trip ($25–35/person), or rent a motorbike if you're comfortable on one.

Imperial Citadel (200,000 VND): Vietnam's Forbidden City, built in 1804 for the Nguyen emperors. The outer walls and moat are intact; the interior was heavily damaged during the 1968 Tet Offensive and is still being restored. Fascinating regardless.

Thien Mu Pagoda: A 7-story tower on the banks of the Perfume River, with a complex religious history. Free entry; peaceful and undervisited.

Bun Bo Hue: The city's signature noodle soup — spicier and more complex than Hanoi's pho, with a thick broth made from pork and beef bones, lemongrass, and shrimp paste. A bowl costs about 30,000–50,000 VND.

Days 8–10: Ho Chi Minh City — The Engine Room

Fly from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City (Tan Son Nhat Airport). A domestic flight runs $20–50 if booked in advance; 1 hour 15 minutes.

Day 8: Reunification and the French Quarter

Reunification Palace (40,000 VND): The former Presidential Palace of South Vietnam, where North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates on April 30, 1975, ending the war. Entirely preserved from 1975 — the war room with its maps, radio equipment, and telephones is surreal. Essential.

Ben Thanh Market: A tourist market, yes, but useful for buying Vietnamese coffee, dried goods, and cheap textiles. The surrounding streets have better food than inside the market.

District 1 evening: HCMC is a very different city from Hanoi — faster, more commercial, noisier. Wander Dong Khoi Street (the old French colonial boulevard), find a rooftop bar (Chill Skybar has the famous views, from around 200,000 VND cover charge), and try banh mi from Huynh Hoa (26 Le Thi Rieng) — widely regarded as HCMC's best, thick with pork, pâté, pickled vegetables, and herbs.

Day 9: Mekong Delta or Cu Chi Tunnels

Option A — Mekong Delta (My Tho or Can Tho): A day trip to the Mekong Delta shows you a completely different Vietnam — boat trips through narrow waterways, coconut candy factories, floating markets, dragon fruit orchards. Can Tho's floating market is the most atmospheric; it requires an overnight to see it at dawn. My Tho (1.5 hours from HCMC) works as a day trip.

Option B — Cu Chi Tunnels: The vast network of underground tunnels used by Viet Cong guerrillas during the war. You can crawl through original tunnels (very narrow; not for the claustrophobic), see booby trap displays, and learn the extraordinary detail of underground life during the conflict. Half-day tour from $15; most include Ben Duoc and Ben Dinh sites.

Day 10: Final Hours

Spend your last morning in District 3 or Binh Thanh — residential neighborhoods where HCMC life happens at its most normal. Vietnamese iced coffee (cà phê sữa đá) from any plastic-stool café, fresh baguettes from street bakers, the quiet of a morning market.

Tan Son Nhat Airport is 20–30 minutes from central District 1 by Grab ($3–5). Allow 2.5 hours before international flights; the immigration queues can move slowly at peak hours.

Budget Breakdown: 10 Days in Vietnam

Category	Budget Traveler	Mid-Range	Comfortable
Accommodation (9 nights)	$90–130	$250–400	$500–900
Domestic flights (2)	$40–80	$60–100	$80–120
Halong Bay cruise	$90–130	$180–280	$350–600
Food (10 days)	$80–120	$150–250	$250–400
Transport (Grab, etc.)	$30–50	$50–80	$60–100
Activities & entry fees	$40–60	$80–120	$120–180
Total	$370–570	$770–1,230	$1,360–2,300

Vietnam remains exceptional value. Even the mid-range budget buys genuinely good hotels, excellent restaurant meals, and all the major experiences.

What Makes This Route Work

The north-to-south direction has a logic to it. Hanoi is older, slower, more traditional — it eases you into Vietnam. The Halong Bay interlude breaks the city pace before Hoi An, which is the most visually spectacular stop. HCMC at the end can feel overwhelming after the gentler central coast, but by then you'll have enough Vietnam context to navigate it better.

This is also the direction that follows Vietnam's history: from the ancient capital in the north, through the Cham ruins and imperial city of the center, to the commercial south that tells the story of the war's conclusion and the country's economic transformation since Đổi Mới in 1986.

Plan Your Vietnam Trip

The north-to-south route sounds clean on paper; making it work with real flights, cruise bookings, and accommodation requires sequencing everything correctly. Faroway can take your specific travel dates, budget, and interests and build a complete personalized Vietnam itinerary — with flight options between cities, vetted accommodation picks, and day-by-day timing that accounts for travel between locations.

A decade of people doing this trip means the playbook is refined. Ten days is exactly right for the essential route. Use them well.

10 Days in Vietnam Itinerary: Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City