Vietnam Tours and Itineraries

Vietnam is best travelled top to bottom and its three regions have three climates. These are the six itinerary shapes we start from; the month you can travel decides the direction, and the rest is built around your party.

Ways to travel Vietnam

These are the shapes we build trips around, not fixed departures. Every itinerary is quoted individually in Australian dollars with international flights, internal flights, drivers, accommodation and guides on one booking. Tell us your dates and we will send a draft.

How a Vietnam itinerary is built

Vietnam is 1,600 km long and its three regions have three climates, so the itinerary is built around the month before anything else: the north in autumn and spring, the centre from February to August, the south from December to April. The route runs top to bottom (or the reverse in the northern winter, warm end first), flies between regions rather than driving or training with the party, puts Halong or Lan Ha on an overnight junk rather than a day boat, gives Hoi An three to five nights because it is the town everyone wishes they had stayed longer in, and uses guides where they change the day — Hue’s tombs, Cu Chi, the Mekong. Open-jaw flights into Hanoi and home from Saigon cost no more than a return. A private car and driver covers each region; the food is done from a plastic stool with a guide who knows which stool. The Vietnam travel guide has the practical layer and the things to do page has the regions.

When to go

There is always a good region. The north (Hanoi, Halong, Sapa) is best in October–November and March–April, cold and grey in January–February, hot in July–August. The centre (Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An) is dry from February to August and floods in October–December. The south (Saigon, the Mekong, Phu Quoc) is dry from December to April and wet in bursts from May to October. A top-to-bottom trip in October–November or March–April catches the north and the south well and the centre at its edges; a February–April trip is the safest all-round. Tet, the Lunar New Year in late January or February, closes the country for a week. The best time to visit Asia page has the calendar.

What every itinerary includes

• Return airfare from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, open-jaw where the route allows; other cities via those three
• Every internal flight, train, boat and transfer, ticketed
• Accommodation chosen by district and by what the night is for, bed configuration confirmed in writing
• A private driver where the country runs on drivers, and licensed guides where a guide changes the day
• Entry and visa checks for every traveller, a pre-departure pack and a day-by-day document
• A quote in Australian dollars, Australian consumer-law protection, and a Cooee contact in Brisbane

Pricing

Quoted per departure in Australian dollars with everything above included. We do not publish from-prices for international itineraries because the season and the accommodation tier move the total by thousands; the country guide and the South-East Asia guide set out the underlying daily numbers.

How to book

Choose a shape above or tell us what you want. Send your dates, departure city and the party through the enquiry form or on 0409 661 342; we check the season against the route, confirm the beds that matter, and send an itinerary and a quote within two working days. A deposit holds it under our booking conditions; travel insurance is required.