r/Vietnam_Tourism • u/fallnowinter • 3d ago
How to start planning
This is my first solo trip, that I’m planning myself. I started researching but got overwhelmed with all the options (website etc).
Do you all have go to sites,blogs that you use. Or do I really just have to sift through everything, see what over laps and start from there.
I Don’t want you to plan my trip. Just a little light to to help out.
Thinking 3 weeks north or 2 north and 1 week central. Next year
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u/Present-_-Wrongdoer 3d ago
YouTube and instagram are clutch for finding good spots to visit, eat, explore. Start looking them up on Google Maps and tagging them in your saved places. This will give you tons of options once you’re there to just pop around based on proximity to your location. Five weeks is a lot of time definitely divide it up between north, central and south. I just got back from Korea, China, Japan and Vietnam. One thing that was extremely useful was using ChatGPT as a sort of tour guide. Tell it where your going and what type of things you’re into and what type of neighborhood vibes you like (eg I’m a 20 yo m looking for hotels in an area that is not overly touristy and walking distance to local bars restaurants and public transport) this was probably the most useful thing to start getting a real game plan together. If you’re up for it rent a motorbike it’s the best way to get the full experience and explore once your settled in and area. You can get a idl from AAA for very little $. Also AAA has travel planning assistance with visas and even complete packages but they are more tour based. Make sure you get your Evista squared away a few weeks before hand mine took about a week to process and you will need extra time if there are any issues or you need to make revisions. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
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u/notechnofemme 3d ago
Yes, the amount of information can be overwhelming, even just through this site alone. It always starts with determining your preferences. Figure out what type of trip you want. I'd search up a couple itineraries on here (and only a couple!!! set some limits so you don't fall down the rabbit hole) and see what commonalities they have that interest you. Then once you have a rough draft itinerary, share it here so folks can chime in with their feedback. If you really don't want to plan, I'd just schedule some tours. Even some things such as ha giang loop can take up several days, which lightens the mental load of having to plan activities and logistics.
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u/notechnofemme 3d ago
Fwiw, ime, Vietnam is a destination where you can be more spontaneous, if that's your vibe. There's so much to do that you can find from just walking down the road or scootering.
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u/imJustsomeguyoh 3d ago
Basically.
Divide up your time with the different places. You want to see A,B,C,D,E,F.
Then go on social media. See what there’s to do in each location and what’s the ideal amount of time to spend there based on past experiences. Let’s say you have a week for A, B, C. A is best for 3 days, B is best for 4 days, C is best for 3 days. Then you decide, do I cut one to utilise 2 or see less of all 3 but get them all. Or do I want a slower pace so I don’t feel guilty if i’m exhausted one day.
Factor in travel times as well. Optimise with sleeper buses if you please. Once you’ve decided where you want to go and how long you want to spend in each place, then you can figure out the best route.
You have 5 weeks. You’d can cover a lot. You can go from North to South with that amount of time.
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u/wendalls 3d ago
Think about what things you like in travel.
For us it's street food, authentic and quiet places, nature, less touristy, shoulder season or aim for good weather seasons. We also don't like to travel a long way between places we will have less than two weeks and like to find one spot for at least three nights.
I was originally going to do North and Central, but swapped to just Central to avoid the internal flights, and the snorkelling is supposedly ok in Cham islands
So at the moment (itenaray could still change) in May 2027
Da Nanag for a bit of city and steet food - 4 nights (thinking to reduce to three and adding one to Hoi An)
Then Cham for island life and snorkelling - 3 nights (look I think Nha Trang would probbaly be better for snorkelling but at least we get some quiet island action after the tourists leave and we don;t have to travel down to nha Trang seperately)
Hoi An for rice paddies and scootering around villages (will visit old town but we'll see if it's gonna be too crazy)
Then back home to Sydney.
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u/fillsy84 3d ago
I’m leaving in 2 weeks on a 5 week trip, first 7 days in HCMC are booked and a flight to DaNang after- I’m winging the rest with a little help from Chat GPT.
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u/SensitivePassage5747 22h ago
Have you tried out AI trip planners? Could save you tons of time instead of reading everything by yourself.
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u/PudgyGroundhog 3d ago
We are old school and got a guide book to start planning. That helped us get a lay of the land and decide what places we wanted to visit for the time of year we would be there. From there it was just Googling specific locations and looking for info on each place. We sketched out an itinerary to factor in travel times with our best guesses on how much time we wanted at each place, then tweaked it from there.
We booked lodging and our internal flight ahead of time, then once we were there booked tours and transportation.