Vietnam Experience

Sapa, pearl of Vietnam

Advantages: Beautifull landscape
Disadvantages: moisty

...of night, first day in Sapa and visit of the surroundings, lodging in the city, the following day trekking and return the after noon on Lao Cai to take the return train of night to Hanoi. Price 80 Dollar US. 10h of journey from the departure of Hanoi till Lao Cai by the TULICO TRAIN. Departure Friday 20h30 from my room at the rear of a motorcycle and finish at the railway station of Hanoi. I got there of a rustic train with a nice Filipino journey ...
...distance of about 40 km Sapa appears in the clouds. Entered in the muddy main avenue and landing of the vehicles in search of our hotel in a fog to cut to knife. One can says san Sapa is said to have all four seasons in one single day. The weather changes Indeed very quickly; the morning little clear and sunny and in some minutes, the clouds appear and rain begins to fall. You must always be prepared for all kind of time. We have been accommodated ...

krakakoutas 17.10.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sapa (Vietnam)

Da Lat--city of thousands flowers

Advantages: beautiful scenery and atmostphere
Disadvantages: need some local people as a guide

...go on a bit fast, Dalat is completely different .Peaceful, romantic is what Dalat actually is. = How to?? and the weather= Located in Lamdong province, Dalat is just about 300 km away from Ho Chi Minh city, which usualy takes 4 hours to get there. If it's misty, you may have to spend some more time on the bus, but , in fact that's what the tourists usually like. Especialy in summer , when almost all other region is Viet Nam is fairly hot(from ...
...of places to visit around Dalat ,and might take time to see them all, so it's time to choose which one should you go for. For me, in my opinion based on my own experience, I would recommend some names : 1. Thac Cam Ly--- Cam Ly waterfall. Such an amazing, gorgeous waterfall, honestly I haven't seen any as beautiful as this one. Also, right behind the waterfall, there is a small cave so they built a wooden bridge there. So that allow you to stand ...

minhhon 12.07.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dalat (Vietnam)

Hoi An, Vietnam

Advantages: Quaint, cheap tailors, fabulous food
Disadvantages: none

...ugly high rise buildings. Today, Hoi An is still a small city, you can easily walk around the whole town and you do have to walk as cars are banned in the main town centre which makes it much easier though no less crowded as motor bikes are not banned and go quite fast round the little streets. There are a fair number of tourists but somehow they do not dominate the place. The tourist take on the attitude and atmosphere of Hoi An rather than Hoi ...
...taxi from the airport to Hoi An costs about £7 as they have a monopoly but it is far less for the return journey . By train:There is no railway station in Hoi An and the nearest is in Danang, which has several trains a day from Hanoi, Saigon, Hue, Nha Trang etc. We flew to Danang which is near China Beach ( where the Americans had their Rest and Recreation) and then drove to Hoi An. Fortunately despite the fact the Americans used this area for R&R ...

catsholiday 17.07.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Hoi An (Vietnam)

Halong Bay - Almost paradise on earth

Advantages: Somewhere very special
Disadvantages: none that I can think of

...invasion. Location and History: Halong Bay is in North Vietnam, 170 kilometres north-east of Hanoi (about 3 and a half hours driving) in the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with China. It was listed by UNESCO as a World heritage site in 1994. Description and geography: The bay is a mass of limestone islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation sticking out like random lumps from the ocean. Some of the islands have enormous caves. Hang Dau ...
...Halong area. It has three chambers with large stalactites and stalagmites. There are many steps to climb to reach the grottos but they are lovely and cool after the heat of the sun outside. Inside the rock formations are quite splendid and you follow a sort of path through the chambers coming out to a splendid view of the junks in the bay beside the inevitable souvenir/ice-cream shop. Some of the islands have floating fishing villages surrounding ...

catsholiday 13.08.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Halong Bay (Vietnam)

Nha Trang, over developed.

Advantages: clean beaches with white sands
Disadvantages: High rises, over-development

Nha Trang is located on the south central Vietnam coast and is one of the country's largest and best known beach resorts-for foreign and domestic tourists alike. However, whilst the beaches are still beautiful strips of white sand unfortunately the town has given into large scale development and can feel like any other international beach resort with high rises running along the coastal front. Reaching Nha Trang is simple with a domestic airport ...
...the high concentration of tourists, Nha Trang has become quite dangerous. Theft and pickpocketing are very common so always be careful of your belongings particularly on the beaches. There are also numerous scams (a common one being pretty girls enticing men into bars where they are robbed or forced to pay ridiculous prices for a beer) and moto drivers taking tourists home after a night out have been known to drive into a set up where the tourist ...

flyingllamas 28.06.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Nha Trang (Vietnam)