Active Vietnam: Hill Villages & Mekong — Self-Launched

Fly into Noi Bai and take bus 86 (about £1.20) or a Grab (about £7) to a hostel or budget hotel in the Old Quarter. Spend the afternoon drifting around Hoan Kiem Lake, crossing the famously chaotic streets and figuring out the 36 guild streets. In the evening, join a Hanoi street-food walking tour booked via GetYourGuide (about £22) — bun cha, banh cuon and egg coffee — or just eat your way along Ta Hien street cheaply. Pre-book your Ha Long Bay trip and sleeper train tonight so the rest of the route locks in.

🚌Airport bus 86 (~£1.20) or Grab (~£7)

🛏Old Quarter hostel or budget hotel (private room ~£16-25, dorm ~£7-10)

• →Hoan Kiem Lake wander
• →Old Quarter orientation walk
• →Optional GetYourGuide street-food tour

Take a local bus from Hanoi's My Dinh station to Tan Lac (about 3.5 hours, ~£5), then a short xe om or shared taxi to Xom Chien village. Book a Muong family homestay in advance via a homestay platform or by asking your Hanoi guesthouse to call — expect roughly £10-14 per night including meals. After a home-cooked lunch, walk an easy 1.5-mile loop through the valley, visiting a farm to learn about upland rice and orchard farming. Leave your main bag at your Hanoi hotel and travel with an overnight bag.

🚌Local bus Hanoi-Tan Lac (~£5) plus shared taxi (~£2)

🛏Muong village homestay, Xom Chien (~£12 incl. meals)

• →Scenic bus to Hoa Binh province
• →Village orientation walk
• →Farm visit with Muong family

Set off early with a picnic lunch for a roughly five-hour self-guided or locally guided trek through terraced valleys, palm groves and traditional villages, with panoramic views over the Lung Van area known as the Valley of the Clouds. Routes are marked on Maps.me and any homestay host can point out the loop or arrange a village guide for about £10-15 shared. Back at the homestay, share dinner with your hosts and ask about a traditional music evening — many families perform for guests for a small fee.

🚌On foot

🛏Muong village homestay, Xom Chien (~£12 incl. meals)

• →Five-hour village trek
• →Picnic lunch with valley views
• →Traditional music evening (optional)

Bus back to Hanoi in the morning and reclaim your main luggage. Spend the afternoon self-touring Hanoi's headline sights: the Temple of Literature (~£2.50), Hoa Lo Prison museum (~£2.50) and deeper wandering in the Old Quarter. Buy a water puppet show ticket at Thang Long Theatre (from about £4) for the early evening, then eat dinner near the lake.

🚌Local bus back to Hanoi (~£5)

🛏Old Quarter hostel or budget hotel (~£16-25 private)

• →Temple of Literature
• →Hoa Lo Prison museum
• →Water puppet show
• →Old Quarter stroll

Book a budget overnight Ha Long Bay cruise in advance via GetYourGuide or Klook — 3-star junk boats with kayaking, meals and a cabin run roughly £75-110 for the one night, including the Hanoi transfer. Spend the day cruising among the limestone karsts, kayaking into hidden lagoons (weather permitting) and eating a seafood lunch and dinner on board. A good mid-range option keeps you in twin-share cabins with kayaks included.

🚌Shuttle bus Hanoi-Ha Long included in cruise package

🛏Overnight on a Ha Long Bay junk boat cabin (included in cruise price)

• →Ha Long Bay cruise
• →Kayaking between karsts
• →Seafood dinner on board

Cruise back to port after breakfast and return to Hanoi, collecting your main luggage from the hotel. In the evening, board the Reunification Express sleeper train to Hue — book a soft-sleeper berth directly on dsvn.vn or via a booking agent, roughly £25-35 depending on berth class. The 13-hour ride is the classic way to do this journey and a good chance to meet local travellers.

🚌Overnight train Hanoi-Hue (~£25-35)

🛏Reunification Express soft-sleeper berth (~£30)

• →Morning on Ha Long Bay
• →Overnight train journey

Arrive in Hue in the morning and check in near the Perfume River. Visit the Imperial Citadel and Forbidden Purple City (~£6) and Thien Mu Pagoda, either on foot or by hiring a bicycle or Grab. A combined-entry ticket covers the main imperial sites. Spend the afternoon relaxing by the river with a bowl of bun bo Hue.

🚌Bicycle hire or Grab (~£2-4)

🛏Guesthouse or budget hotel in Hue (~£14-20)

• →Imperial Citadel and Forbidden Purple City
• →Thien Mu Pagoda
• →Riverside evening in Hue

Cycle or Grab to Tu Duc's Mausoleum (~£5 entry) in the morning. Then take the local bus, a shared minibus (~£6) or, if confident, a motorbike-taxi day tour over the Hai Van Pass to Da Nang — the Pass of the Ocean Clouds. Stop at the Marble Mountains (~£2) to explore the caves the Viet Cong used as a hospital. Continue to Hoi An and check in for two nights.

🚌Shared minibus or local bus Hue-Hoi An (~£6) plus Grab transfers

🛏Hoi An guesthouse or boutique budget hotel (~£16-22)

• →Tu Duc Mausoleum
• →Hai Van Pass drive
• →Marble Mountains caves

Take a self-guided walk or join a small GetYourGuide/Urban Adventures walking tour (about £15) through the Japanese Covered Bridge, old merchant houses and assembly halls — one old-town entry ticket is around £5. The afternoon is yours: hire a bike (~£2) and ride to Cua Dai or An Bang beach, boat on the Thu Bon River, or get something tailor-made in the silk shops.

🚌Bicycle hire (~£2)

🛏Hoi An guesthouse or boutique budget hotel (~£16-22)

• →Hoi An old town walking tour
• →Cycle to An Bang beach
• →Thu Bon River boat trip

Fly Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City on VietJet or Bamboo (30-60 days ahead fares from ~£35). In the afternoon, take a half-day Cu Chi tunnels tour — book the Ben Dinh section via GetYourGuide or Klook for about £18-25 including transport — and crawl through the widened sections of the tunnel network. It's warmer and more humid down south, so pack light clothing.

🚌Flight Da Nang-HCMC (~£35) plus tour transfer

🛏Riverside or District 1 budget hotel/hostel in HCMC (~£15-22)

• →Domestic flight to HCMC
• →Cu Chi tunnels half-day tour

Take a local bus or shared minivan from HCMC to My Tho (about 3 hours, ~£5). Hire a bicycle locally or join a small private cycling day trip (~£30-40) following the Mekong through backroads to Cai Be, roughly 25km of flat, quiet riding past fruit orchards and coconut groves. Visit a handicraft or coconut-candy workshop en route. Transfer by bus to Can Tho (~£6) and check in near the riverfront.

🚌Bus HCMC-My Tho (~£5), local bus to Can Tho (~£6)

🛏Can Tho riverside guesthouse/budget hotel (~£14-20)

• →Mekong Delta cycling
• →Handicraft workshop visit
• →Fruit and coconut tasting

Hire a small boat (about £10-15 per person shared, or join a GetYourGuide tour ~£20) at dawn for the Cai Rang floating market — the biggest and busiest in the Delta, where sellers hang their produce from long poles. Then cycle onward to Vinh Long (about 32km, ~£4 bike hire) through rural villages. At day's end, take a ferry/motorboat to a Mekong island and stay at a local homestay guesthouse (~£15 including dinner).

🚌Boat, bicycle hire (~£4), island ferry

🛏Mekong island homestay guesthouse (~£15 incl. dinner)

• →Cai Rang floating market boat trip
• →Mekong cycling to Vinh Long
• →Island homestay evening

Cruise through the canals back to Cai Be for a market wander and a final look at the Delta before catching a bus up to Ho Chi Minh City (about 3.5 hours, ~£7). Back in the city, reclaim your main luggage and self-tour the highlights: Notre Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office, the War Remnants Museum and a walk around Ben Thanh market by night.

🚌Bus Cai Be/My Tho to HCMC (~£7)

🛏Riverside or District 1 budget hotel/hostel in HCMC (~£15-22)

• →Mekong canal cruise
• →War Remnants Museum
• →Notre Dame Cathedral and Central Post Office
• →Ben Thanh market

Check out and either fly home from Tan Son Nhat or carry on — an easy add-on is a bus to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap for the Angkor Wat extension, bookable locally from the backpacker area.

🚌Grab or airport bus to Tan Son Nhat (~£3-6)

🛏—

• →Departure or onward travel to Cambodia