Stop 01 · about 3 nights
Hanoi
Lake water and narrow tube house streets in the Old Quarter, with the flat Red River plain spreading out beyond. Two metro lines now cut across the city.
Good for · First landing, street food, museums, onward trains
Signature route · Vietnam
The full spine
HanoiNinh BinhPhong NhaHueHoi AnNha TrangHo Chi Minh City
18 nights, 7 stops. This is one of the routes we actually run across Vietnam. It is the spine of a trip, not the trip. Tell us how you travel and the plan reshapes it into yours.
Make this route yours5 questions · about 3 minutes · nothing to pay
¶ 01 · The stops, in order
Where this route actually goes.
Each stop earns its nights. The quiz decides how long you stay in each, and whether a stop drops off entirely because it is not you.
Stop 02 · about 3 nights
Ninh Binh
The same limestone as Ha Long, standing in rice paddy and river instead of sea. Rowed boats thread through flooded caves under the peaks, and Hoa Lu, the 10th century capital, sits inside the same complex.
Good for · Day boats, cycling, temples, an easy first stop out of Hanoi
Stop 03 · about 3 nights
Phong Nha
Jungle river valleys punched full of holes. Around 300 caves, including Son Doong with chambers over 5 km long, and Paradise Cave at 31 km.
Good for · Caving, treks, river swims, national park
Stop 04 · about 3 nights
Hue
Citadel walls and moats along the Perfume River, royal tombs upstream, and the Nguyen court kitchen that gave the country its most chilli forward cooking.
Good for · History, food, rain season culture, slow city days
Stop 05 · about 2 nights
Hoi An
A long city beach, then a preserved trading port of 1,068 old houses lit by lanterns at night, then Cham brick towers standing in a jungle valley 36 km inland.
Good for · Beach, tailoring, ruins, easy walking
Stop 06 · about 2 nights
Nha Trang
Stop 07 · about 2 nights
Ho Chi Minh City
A dense southern city that opens into canals, orchards and rice within two hours. Boats trade fruit at dawn under tall poles hung with samples of what they sell.
Good for · City energy, war history, river days, delta homestays
¶ 02 · Along the way
Picks that sit on this route.
From the Vietnam file. Real places, filed by people who went, not scraped from a Top 10 list.
Do · The north · Ninh Binh
Trang An by rowed boat
6,226 hectares of karst, river and wetland listed by UNESCO in June 2014, taking in Hoa Lu, the ancient capital, and the Tam Coc area. The boats go through the flooded caves rather than past them.
Do · The centre · Phong Nha
Phong Nha cave country
Around 300 caves in karst that has been forming since the Palaeozoic, 400 million years. Son Doong is the largest cave on earth with chambers over 5 km, Paradise Cave runs 31 km, and Dark Cave is 5,258 m long and 83 m high.
Do · The centre · Hue
Hue Imperial City
The Nguyen citadel on one ticket: the Ngo Mon gate, the nine holy cannons, the nine dynastic urns, Thai Hoa palace, the Truong Sanh residence, the Thieu Phuong royal park and the Duyet Thi Duong royal theatre.
Do · The centre · Hue to Da Nang
The Hai Van Pass
21 km of old road over a spur of the Annamite range between Hue and Da Nang, topping out at 496 m below the 1,172 m Ai Van Son peak. The tunnel underneath is the longest in Southeast Asia and takes the traffic away from the pass. It is a real weather boundary: in winter, wet and cold on the north side, warm and dry on the south.
Eat · The north · Hanoi
Bun cha
Charcoal grilled pork with rice noodles, herbs and a bowl of dipping broth. Northern cooking leans on black pepper rather than chilli, so it reads light rather than hot.
Eat · The north · Hanoi
Pho Ha Hang Hom
A new Bib Gourmand entry in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Vietnam, on Hang Hom street in the Old Quarter.
Eat · The north · Hanoi
Ca phe trung at Giang Cafe
Egg yolk whipped with condensed milk over a water bath, with robusta poured through a phin on top. Giang Cafe is the house associated with it, worked out in the late 1940s when milk was scarce.
Eat · The centre · Hue
Bun bo Hue
Thick round rice noodles with beef, pork knuckle and cha lua, driven by lemongrass and fermented shrimp paste.
¶ 03 · How it becomes yours
The route is the spine. You are the trip.
Five short questions, about three minutes. The plan starts from this route and a library of Vietnam trips we have tested, then reshapes the nights, the food and the days to your pace and budget.
No sponsored stops, no filler days. If a place stays on your plan, it earned the spot.
RouteThe full spine
CountryVietnam
Nights18
Stops7
Sponsored picks0
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