vietnam or china

doinkthemonkee

looking to go on hols to celebrate wedding anniversary & hubby's birthday. looking around Sept 2015. Thinking either vietnam or china (tours not static).

Any tips, suggestions, advice, etc?

pendragon_arther

My son went to vietnam and loved it. He said North is better.

littlereddevil

Both totally different so it really depends what you like

blindman

doinkthemonkee wrote: »

looking to go on hols to celebrate wedding anniversary & hubby's birthday. looking around Sept 2015. Thinking either vietnam or china (tours not static).

Any tips, suggestions, advice, etc?

How long ?
Budget?
Likes\dislikes?
DIY or with a TA :eek: (Both are easy DIY)
Type of hotels (Hostel\5* chain)
Type of domestic travel (train\plane\rickshaw)

I did a 3 week "golden triangle" trip a few years back-All DIY.
Ended in Shanghai for the F1 race

All relatively easy to organise.
Domestic travel between cities was by train, with domestic buses in cities or taxis if need be.
Accomodation varied from IHG chain (used points) or hostel\B&B

Simple.
Weather should be OK in Sept.

Doshwaster

I went to Vietnam for the first time last year (been Thailand many times though and have also been to Malaysia and Cambodia) and had a great time. I did 2 weeks split between Hanoi and Hoi An with a 2 night stopover in Hong Kong on the way out. Hoi An is one of the most relaxed places I have ever been to. Hanoi on the other hand is overwhelming to start with but once you adjust it was great fun too.

I had a fantastic time. It is incredibly cheap (12p for a beer in some places!), the people are extremely friendly and the food was amazing. Within the next few years I plan to go back and do the south of the country.

China has never really appealed to me. The impression I get from talking to other travellers is that it is a harder country to do independently so you might be better off going as part of an organised tour.

doinkthemonkee

How long ? between 9-16 days

Budget? up to £4k (but that would include trips, accommodation, flights)

Likes\dislikes? Neither of us are very sporty. I have slight mobility issues (I walk a little slow & can be a bit limpy but WILL walk for miles if I have to. I've even climbed Chichen Itza pyramid).
We like seeing cultural side of things, history, architecture etc (e.g. when we went to thialand we did the usual floating markets & temples, but we also stayed on a floating hotel & visited river kwai, hellfire pass, rode the train & visited the war cemetry at Kanchanaburi).

DIY or with a TA I'm up for either but leaning towards TA as such a big holiday, for major celebration, I'd be so upset if it went wrong. TA would give me that extra bit of confidence I think.

Type of hotels Don't mind wee local hotels or chains. Think 3*+. My only main things are clean, comfortable & ensuite

Type of domestic travel (train\plane\rickshaw) Again I'm easy on this

PompeyPete

Unless you're on an organised tour I don't think that 9 to 16 days is long enough to travel round very much. You might be able to put ticks in boxes and get a snapshot by skooting around, but these places deserve to be seen at leisure and to loiter when somewhere really takes your fancy.

pollypenny

We did Vietnam with Saga. Although we saw a lot, too much time was spent in airports, as we flew between places.

totallybored

doinkthemonkee wrote: »

How long ? between 9-16 days

Budget? up to £4k (but that would include trips, accommodation, flights)

Likes\dislikes? Neither of us are very sporty. I have slight mobility issues (I walk a little slow & can be a bit limpy but WILL walk for miles if I have to. I've even climbed Chichen Itza pyramid).
We like seeing cultural side of things, history, architecture etc (e.g. when we went to thialand we did the usual floating markets & temples, but we also stayed on a floating hotel & visited river kwai, hellfire pass, rode the train & visited the war cemetry at Kanchanaburi).

DIY or with a TA I'm up for either but leaning towards TA as such a big holiday, for major celebration, I'd be so upset if it went wrong. TA would give me that extra bit of confidence I think.

Type of hotels Don't mind wee local hotels or chains. Think 3*+. My only main things are clean, comfortable & ensuite

Type of domestic travel (train\plane\rickshaw) Again I'm easy on this

I did 2 weeks in Vietnam on my own a couple of summers ago. I started in Hanoi and worked down to Ho Chi Minh. I organised everything myself and it was easy and straight forward. I emailed hotels in advance to arrange taxis or cars to pick me up from airports and stations and my Hanoi hotel booked my Halong Bay trip for me as well as my train tickets. I found all hotels were happy to do this as they'll make a small commission for themselves (my bus ticket to Cambodia cost an extra $1 for the hotel to book for me).

I loved Hanoi and quite enjoyed Halong Bay (it would have been better if I'd taken hubby as I was the only solo traveller on the boat). I loved Hoi An and wish I'd spent more time there. Hated Nha Trang and wasn't overly keen on HCM. The war museum was worth seeing there but that was about it. I did over night trains which was an experience. If I did it again I'd get internal flights and possibly a train to Sapa.

doinkthemonkee

PompeyPete wrote: »

Unless you're on an organised tour I don't think that 9 to 16 days is long enough to travel round very much. You might be able to put ticks in boxes and get a snapshot by skooting around, but these places deserve to be seen at leisure and to loiter when somewhere really takes your fancy.

unfortunately we are limited to a certain amount of cost & time we can get off work

totallybored

doinkthemonkee wrote: »

unfortunately we are limited to a certain amount of cost & time we can get off work

If it helps I found 2 weeks enough for Vietnam. I spend a few days on the beach, bored out of mind, in Nha Trang that was wasted. I found 3 nights in Hanoi about right, I could have possibly done another if I had to. A couple of nights for Halong bay if you're a couple (I did 1 night which was enough for me). I did 3 in Hoi An. It's a small place but beautiful so I'd happily do more there. Not sure how long Sapa would take. You could do overnight trains there are back and a couple there.