Breaking the Group-Tour Ruts in Vietnam

A former South Vietnamese vet offers a unique perspective of the DMZ area, north of Hue, not given on regular bus tours.

View Photos (2) Image © 2007 Robert Reid

BREAKING THE GROUP TOUR RUTS

Time in Vietnam is time well spent, no matter how or where you go. But the bulk of travelers – whether carrying Samsonite bags or dirty backpacks – tend to go about the skinny thousand-mile country the same way. They bus or train or plane between the main stops – Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City – and succumb to the whirlwind of group day-trips on offer at each. It can be fun, but the danger is piling into the same big buses, taking in only the most well-worn routes, and listening to (often) jaded guides.

Anyone who goes to Vietnam should try to step outside this beaten-track a time or two. It’s easy. It’s usually found around the corner from the traveler’s areas. Here are four suggestions on how to see four areas more independently on your next trip.

MEKONG DELTA
Instead of joining a Mekong Delta trip going to Ben Tre, Vinh Long and Chau Doc, bus down and arrange homestays and boat trips on your own. Even if you go to the same places, you get to slow down and see more. I paid about $5 for a half-day boat trip at Chau Doc, for example, and was able to climb aboard several floating-market boats stuffed with bananas. At one floating-village houseboat, I was offered a noodle breakfast and a bed for the night. Group tours drift by both without stopping.

DMZ
From Hue, I skipped the grueling full-day DMZ bus tour, where guides born after the Vietnam War point out attractions as the bus bounces along. Instead, I hired South Vietnamese vets to take me to old stations, the Ho Chi Minh trail, and a North Vietnamese cemetery by motorbike. It cost about $15 for the day, but unlike bus tours we stopped at a bullet-marked firebase and my personal guide offered first-hand details (eg ‘it was hard to sleep at night, we sent up flares every 30 minutes to see where the VC troops were’). From Hue, you can find them at Stop & Go Café, or from Dong Ha town, a couple hours north of Hue (reached by bus or motorbike).

TAM COC
From Hanoi, many travelers take rushed day trips to Tam Coc (aka ‘the Halong Bay of the ricefields), a couple hours south in the Red River Delta. The problem is that all the Hanoi groups show up at the same time. Instead, you can catch a bus to Ninh Binh (a humble highway town) and get a guide or a motorbike and go out to Tam Coc at 7am when it opens. You’ll be alone. And the limestone cliffs and canal-side villages in the area are a cult favorite for DIY travelers.

HALONG BAY
Many people wonder if Halong Bay is better seen independently. In general, I say no. If you show up at Halong City – where the group tours of the bay depart from – you’ll end up on a group-tour boat anyway. But there is another option. Bus to Haiphong, a few hours from Hanoi, then ferry to Cat Ba Island (Halong Bay’s largest island), where you can hike jungle trails in the island’s national park, lounge on secluded beaches that group tours don’t have time for, then rent a boat for the day for $50 and kayak or beach-hop around less-visited, just-as-beautiful Lan Ha Bay.

See more on DIY trips around Vietnam at my free online guidebook.

Published on 10/2/07