vietnam or china

globalds

excuse me for jumping in on a thread ..


But what is the best hub airport to aim for to get cheap flights to Vietnam ?

I am think of going away in October and would like to go somewhere new.

Snozzle

My husband & I took a tour from Beijing to Shanghai for 9 days and I would say it is the best holiday we have had. We had a couple of days in Beijing before the tour and a couple in Shanghai after and it made us appreciate the tour so much more. Other work colleagues were in China at the same time and they did it themselves and after admit they should have taken a tour.

There was only 12 of us in the group and one guide that was with us 24 hours. At the start we had all given him a small kitty which he then used to 'sort' everything for us. He stopped the minibus a the side of the road and bought the local fruit for us to try, he ordered our meals in the evening so we tried different food (he had checked at the start what people couldn't eat) - all wonderful. We travelled on the train which was a great experience to the Terracota (?) Warriors, we took a boat trip and went to places that we would never had found. He booked tickets for us in the evening to shows that he told us about (at Chinese prices) and even sorted transport for us.

Couldn't recommend China more. Enjoy whereever you go.

rubytuesday

My daughter absolutely loved Vietnam.

My son has been to China a couple of times for work and hates it!

sazaccount

Hi,

I did 2 1/2 weeks in china (just over 5 years go, sounds really long writing it down lol) as a back packer with a couple of friends, I loved it. As we were back packing we stayed in hostels and DIY,

we arrived into Shanghai stayed for a couple of days and the hostel put on daily shuttle buses into the local attractions, temples in the middle of the high rise city was an amazing experience. once we knew which stop the hostel was near we would get the shuttle out each day and then wonder around. We then got the sleeper train to xian to see the terricotar (sp) worriers, we booked the day tour though the hostel (which was around £2.50 a night per person)

I have to say the hostels we stayed in in Shanghai and xian were amazing they were YHA ones, we ended up staying a day longer in xian as we loved the city and how relaxed it was there before getting another sleeper train to Beijing, the hostel here wasn't as clean/nice etc but the staff were brilliant and had mandarin lessons in the afternoon (very basic stuff lol) we did a day tour to the great wall. One day I went on my own to see the Olympic stadium and was happy to wonder around. We saw the forbidden city and lots of tourist places, one of my friends got a dress hand made for her and I managed to get one of the shelf (I'm not a little person so was slightly surprised)

We did like china there were people trying to scam tourists but all of the hostels were really good at making us aware when we checked in on what the latest one was. In Shanghai, it was an invite to go to a tea show and then not letting you leave unless you paid an exorbitant amount, we even had someone try in the street to get us to go

I don't know if this helps as we were on a tight budget :T

Have fun and an amazing time where ever you decide to go

xx

Doshwaster

globalds wrote: »

excuse me for jumping in on a thread ..


But what is the best hub airport to aim for to get cheap flights to Vietnam ?

I am think of going away in October and would like to go somewhere new.

I went via Hong Kong but you'll probably find cheaper flights via Bangkok where you will find plenty of budget airlines flying to destinations in Vietnam. I did a stopover in HK as it was a place I'd always wanted to go to and I'd been to Bangkok several times before.

Vietnam Airlines also fly direct to HCMC - currently from Gatwick but they are moving to Heathrow in a few weeks.

I went in October last year and it was a pretty good time to go as it avoids the peak season in the winter and most of the rainy season is over. You'll still get some rain but you will anywhere in SE Asia.

If you want to go somewhere "different" then Vietnam is a great choice. Everyone goes to Thailand these days so it is a chance to see a country before the rest of the world starts going there.

rosielover

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?

I'm living in Hochiminh city, South of Vietnam. If you are going to Vietnam, I can guide you some interested places.
The time you plan to go is very beautiful in Vietnam, especially in Phu Quoc island where almost couples select for their honeymoon. if seafood is your favorite, then it is the place you can enjoy all kinds of Vietnamese specialties.
Beside PhuQuoc island, you can go to West, the countryside in Vietnam, it is quite peaceful. There are a lot of kinds of fruit, and fields. Local people's life is so quite simple as you can see a lot of cottages located in lakes.
if you'd like to know more, you can inbox me or add me in fb (rosielover.le@gmail.com). I'm very happy to share what I know with you.

doinkthemonkee

we've decided on vietnam in oct/november time. def want to do a tour. Just trying to figure out who to go with now

DUKE

doinkthemonkee wrote: »

we've decided on vietnam in oct/november time. def want to do a tour. Just trying to figure out who to go with now

I spotted this last week, not sure if it's any good for you but I thought it was a great deal & was considering https://travelbird.co.uk/order/45075/vietnam-round-trip/

I'm sure people will let me know if it's not :cool:

Doshwaster

doinkthemonkee wrote: »

we've decided on vietnam in oct/november time. def want to do a tour. Just trying to figure out who to go with now

I much prefer doing a few short one or two day tours while I am there rather than being stuck with the same bunch of people on a fixed itinerary for the whole trip. Most of them can be booked a few days in advance while you are there so you can leave your options open.

For somewhere like Halong Bay there are literally dozen of tour companies to choose from cheap backpacker day trips to 3 night 5 star all inclusive cruises so you need to choose carefully. I did a mid-market 2 day, 1 nighter and have a really good trip with a friendly mixed group though it depends if you are looking to relaxation, activities or just want to party.

pollypenny

Beware, OP, October is typhoon time. We had one which scuppered a lot of our plans.