Honeymoon - Thailand or Vietnam

maynooth_rules

Getting into booking time for our honeymoon. Wedding is at the end of this year but we will be going on our honeymoon around Patricks day next year.
Anyway Im between Thailand and Vietnam. Problem is, I have little to no clue what part to stay in. No ideas whatsoever for Vietnam and all i know from Thailand is Phuket.
Anyone give me ideas? We are not mad into heavy nights out. We just like to be close to a nice beach and somewhere where there is plenty of opportunities to go exploring or on day trips.
Any help greatly appreciated.

THEIRISHMOB

For Vietnam 2 nights in Ho Chi Minh And then 3-5 nights in Da Nang, stunning beach and Hoi An is 30min away, the most romantic little town in the world with AMAZING food and buzz.

Whats you budget per night for hotel here and i'll recommend?

Hoi An http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attraction_Review-g298082-d4507121-Reviews-Hoi_An_Ancient_Town-Hoi_An_Quang_Nam_Province.html
Some of the best food and nights out ive ever had here: http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g298082-d3724095-Reviews-Ancient_Faifo-Hoi_An_Quang_Nam_Province.html

Somewhere to eat in Ho Chi Minh: http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g293925-d3682545-Reviews-Hum_Vegetarian_Cafe_Restaurant-Ho_Chi_Minh_City.html vegi food but will blow your mind and again very romantic for lunch.

Hidalgo

I'd pick Vietnam every day of the week and twice on Sundays having travelled both countries twice.

Hanoi is a class city and you could do trips to Halong Bay and/or Sapa trail from there.

Hue, Hoi An and Na Trang are all worth a trip, beach in Na Trang is pretty decent.
You can visit some small little islands on day trips from Na Trang.

Few friends of mine did a 7 day all inclusive trip from Hanoi to Hoi An last summer. 'Buffaloe Run' I think was the name. They all thought it was well worth it, but I'm not sure if it's a honeymoon type trip.

THEIRISHMOB

I agree... I was not expecting a lot from Vietnam but it is so cultured and the food is Soooo good. people also genuinely nice.
Food is very good when it comes to price but the really good hotels are still expensive.

Can't think of one bad point to travelling to Vietnam apart from the long haul.

Thailand again I lived there for 4 months so anything you want to know, just ask.

Hidalgo wrote: »

I'd pick Vietnam every day of the week and twice on Sundays having travelled both countries twice.

Hanoi is a class city and you could do trips to Halong Bay and/or Sapa trail from there.

Hue, Hoi An and Na Trang are all worth a trip, beach in Na Trang is pretty decent.
You can visit some small little islands on day trips from Na Trang.

Few friends of mine did a 7 day all inclusive trip from Hanoi to Hoi An last summer. 'Buffaloe Run' I think was the name. They all thought it was well worth it, but I'm not sure if it's a honeymoon type trip.

The Black Oil

THEIRISHMOB wrote: »

Thailand again I lived there for 4 months so anything you want to know, just ask.

If I may jump in, heading to Thailand in November. Is this all I need to do concerning a tourist visa? Will only be there for a little over 2 weeks. http://www.thaiconsulateireland.com/#types-of-visa

THEIRISHMOB

The Black Oil wrote: »

If I may jump in, heading to Thailand in November. Is this all I need to do concerning a tourist visa? Will only be there for a little over 2 weeks. http://www.thaiconsulateireland.com/#types-of-visa

If you are an Irish passport holder and staying in Thailand for less than 30 days you have NOTHING to do but arrive.

You get a form on the flight to fill in for immigration and that's it.
No visa required for Thailand.

maynooth_rules

If I was to pick Vietnam where would my base be. I obviously would like to be at a beach resort of some kind due to it being my honeymoon. Should I fly into Hanoi or HCM?

Hidalgo

maynooth_rules wrote: »

If I was to pick Vietnam where would my base be. I obviously would like to be at a beach resort of some kind due to it being my honeymoon. Should I fly into Hanoi or HCM?

I'd say either or, HCM is getting fairly westernised, quite a few skyscrapers in the city centre. You could do the cu chi tunnels from there and a trek up the Mekong delta.

Hanoi is still more traditional.
I think the main beach resorts are Na Trang and Hoi An. To get to those you're talking catching a flight.

Birdie086

In January for our honeymoon we did four days in Hong Kong and spent just over a week in HCM. It worked out a lot cheaper that way. We stayed in a three star with a rooftop pool in HCM, and used it as a base to do tours which are cheaper booked in one of the many local travel agents, plus you can decide each day what you feel like doing the next day.

Would highly recommend it, our only regret was due to having to return to work our time was limited. Would have like more time and would have visited the north, as it was our honeymoon, we didn't want to be packing and unpacking numerous times.

Vietnam is a fantastic country with amazing people. We loved every second of our time there.

Four days in hong kong was more than enough, it is a very full on experience.

Lemsiper

Seeing as most people are saying Vietnam, definitely Hanoi over Saigon.

Ninh Binh will be amazing at that time of year and Hoi An for sure.

Nha Trang and Hue are full of miserable looking Russians these days, so not very romantic.

Wouldn't bother with Danang and head straight for Hoi An.

Ed_Stephens

A couple of things to consider, if it's your first time in Asia then Thailand is more westerner friendly as in more people will speak English, more western food and comforts available. You also get a visa on arrival where for Vietnam you'll have to post off your passport to their embassy in London to get your visa. It also depends where in Thailand you want to go, there's a big difference between Bangkok and Samui and Chaing Mai and Phuket for example.

It is possible to do a bit of both depending on time, lots of cheap flights from the likes of Air Asia between the two countries.

Hidalgo

You don't have to post your passport to London anymore.
Last yr I got my visa online. Can't for the life of me remember the name of website but it was cheapish.

Ed_Stephens

Hidalgo wrote: »

You don't have to post your passport to London anymore.
Last yr I got my visa online. Can't for the life of me remember the name of website but it was cheapish.

There's lot of unofficial sites that will do it. Any of the online ones aren't the Vietnamese government as far as I know so you take your chances. The embassy in London was quite expensive last time I looked so other sites may be worth a look. I personally hated the idea of posting my passport and it put me off visiting at the time so I went to Cambodia instead.

Hidalgo

Ed_Stephens wrote: »

There's lot of unofficial sites that will do it. Any of the online ones aren't the Vietnamese government as far as I know so you take your chances. The embassy in London was quite expensive last time I looked so other sites may be worth a look. I personally hated the idea of posting my passport and it put me off visiting at the time so I went to Cambodia instead.

Ya some of the online ones seem dodge. I used one that friends used previously so I had something to go on. I'll try and dig it out and post it.

As you say, having to post the passport is a pain. If you were to spend a few days in Thailand before going to Vietnam you could get the visa there. I did that in 2008 in Bangkok. Took approx 24 hours I think bit not sure if that method still operates.

retalivity

Went Thailand/Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia for our own honeymoon last year, and I thought Vietnam was the worst of all 4. The constant scamming and harrassment for money was way worse in Vietnam than any of the others, Hanoi was a kip, ha lomg bay was filthy and nha trang was full of dodgy Russian mafia types. Hue i guess was OK, but we did that in a day.
Didn't bother with hoi an or da nang, and only spent an hr in hcmc as we just wanted to get the hell out of there and go to cambodia

The J Stands for Jay

Been to both, honey moon in Thailand. Vietnam is my favourite of all the countries I've been to. The only criticism would be that it wasn't as 'nice' as the resorts I stayed in on honeymoon.

That said, I did spend a few nights in a nice resort in Mui Me that would be very honeymoon-ish. Hoi An is a good as has been mentioned, Hue was a good trip but the temperature was in the mid 40s during a tour of the local temples and tombs so that affected my enthusiasm. Hanoi is much nicer that HCMC. Ha Long Bay may be a bit dirty in places, but you'd still me mad not to go. Sa Pa was a highlight for me, but there's a lot of walking through mountains.

Thailand was good, but I was only in a couple of fancy resorts on Samui.

Lemsiper

Hidalgo wrote: »

Ya some of the online ones seem dodge. I used one that friends used previously so I had something to go on. I'll try and dig it out and post it.

As you say, having to post the passport is a pain. If you were to spend a few days in Thailand before going to Vietnam you could get the visa there. I did that in 2008 in Bangkok. Took approx 24 hours I think bit not sure if that method still operates.

We used Vietnamvisa.org this year, nothing dodgy about it. $12.50 online fee for the approval letter plus another $35 (1 month) in the airport for the actual visa. Was amazed at the amount of people there that had either not arranged their visa prior or didn't have cash to pay for it.

ThunbergsAreGo

How long do you have?

Just back from doing both, and Cambodia for my honeymoon, flights are cheap enough.

I wasnt as mad on vietnam as others on here and hated Hanoi (Halong Bay was fantastic on contrast)

THEIRISHMOB

retalivity wrote: »

Went Thailand/Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia for our own honeymoon last year, and I thought Vietnam was the worst of all 4. The constant scamming and harrassment for money was way worse in Vietnam than any of the others, Hanoi was a kip, ha lomg bay was filthy and nha trang was full of dodgy Russian mafia types. Hue i guess was OK, but we did that in a day.
Didn't bother with hoi an or da nang, and only spent an hr in hcmc as we just wanted to get the hell out of there and go to cambodia

You must be stone mad!!!
I travel for a living and Hoi An is one of the most amazing if not the most amazing town I have ever seen...
Like something off a movie set with amazing food and small shops.
The Vietnam people are super friendly and very well cultured with great English.

I would love to know what you thought of Cambodia if you did not like Vietnam...

As for scamming, I never saw this once. talk about giving a country a bad impression...!!!

athtrasna

Hoi An is my favourite place on the planet. We stayed in the Victoria resort and it was amazing. Would go back in a heartbeat. We also did Hanoi, Hué and Ho Chi Minh. The only place I wouldn't recommend was Hué. Citadel is impressive but the town is dismal.

I also love Thailand but the charm of Vietnam is that it doesn't have the in your face sleaze that's next to impossible to avoid in Thailand.

retalivity

THEIRISHMOB wrote: »

You must be stone mad!!!
I travel for a living and Hoi An is one of the most amazing if not the most amazing town I have ever seen...
Like something off a movie set with amazing food and small shops.
The Vietnam people are super friendly and very well cultured with great English.

I would love to know what you thought of Cambodia if you did not like Vietnam...

As for scamming, I never saw this once. talk about giving a country a bad impression...!!!

The scamming was constant...from arriving in Hanoi airport and being asked to pay extra to get our passports and visas quicker (had already sorted it out online) to getting chased down the street in Hanoi by 3 guys with glue trying to fix my shoes, to someone trying to charge us $20 each for Pho after we ate it as it was 'special good'...I could go on. The majority of Vietnamese I met too were not friendly at all...a large proportion of them were actually agressive, would never give directions or help without trying to direct you to their shop/restaurant/friend with a bike who will take you anywhere. After 5-6 days of this we were so fed up we cut our losses and got the hell out, skipping everything south of nha trang. Id been to se asia a few times but never Vietnam, and had always wanted to go from stories of friends and family who visited, but it was such a letdown.

Cambodia was fine, had a little trouble at the border again with guards trying to con us, but Phnom Penh was cool and siem reap and Angkor wat were deadly.

ThunbergsAreGo

One of the people we met said someone in Hanoi actually tried to cut his shoes, before offering to fix them

to the OP, you will have a great time wherever you choose. What you do depends massively on what you want

maynooth_rules

retalivity wrote: »

Went Thailand/Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia for our own honeymoon last year, and I thought Vietnam was the worst of all 4. The constant scamming and harrassment for money was way worse in Vietnam than any of the others, Hanoi was a kip, ha lomg bay was filthy and nha trang was full of dodgy Russian mafia types. Hue i guess was OK, but we did that in a day.
Didn't bother with hoi an or da nang, and only spent an hr in hcmc as we just wanted to get the hell out of there and go to cambodia

what was cambodia like?

maynooth_rules

naughtb4 wrote: »

How long do you have?

Just back from doing both, and Cambodia for my honeymoon, flights are cheap enough.

I wasnt as mad on vietnam as others on here and hated Hanoi (Halong Bay was fantastic on contrast)

I really only have at a max 2 weeks.

ThunbergsAreGo

maynooth_rules wrote: »

I really only have at a max 2 weeks.

You could do both in two weeks, I would probably do

Thai Island 3 nights (Jet Lag)
Chiang Mai 3 nights
Bangkok 1 night (its a stop over)
Hanoi (Halong Bay) 2 nights
Hoi An - 3 nights
Saigon - 2 nights

Its is alot of flights, but worth it i think.

I would skip Saigon and do Siem Reap, if it was me tbh.

It really depends on what you want from the trip

Tipperary animal lover

Hi maynooth, as ya have only 2 weeks, you'd be better off picking one country and travelling in it, Thailand I'd go for 3 nights in Bangkok 6 nights ko chang(great island) 3 nights chang mai, Thailand is very over run with westerners most of the southern islands are beautiful but you'll see more tourists sometimes than thais.
Cambodia I'd go with 1 night bangkok fly to siem reap 2 to 3 nights(ankor watt) boat down phnom penh 1 to 2 nights(killing fields etc) bus to sihanoukville(beach).
Vietnam u can fly malaysia airlines for about €610 fly into hanoi and out of saigon no extra cost so no back tracking, from hanoi u go to sapa and halong bay travel down to hoi an(great town decent beach) head to saigon ( cu chi tunnels etc) do a mekong delta tour can be done in half day or a few days up to your time schedule and if you have time left head to phu quoc island to relax after all that.... try book your internal flights asap to get a decent price I always fly vietnam airlines as the others seem to have delays or cancel flights. Hope this helps and have a great honeymoon.

english4490

C

naughtb4 wrote: »

How long do you have?

Just back from doing both, and Cambodia for my honeymoon, flights are cheap enough.

I wasnt as mad on vietnam as others on here and hated Hanoi (Halong Bay was fantastic on contrast)

Hey Naughtb4,

Kind of hijacking this form but heading to Cambodia later in the year, will have almost a week there before heading to Hong Kong for a few days before flying home. would be interested to know what you thought? Will be going to Phnon Penh and Siem Reap for Ankot wat. any input much appreciated

ThunbergsAreGo

english4490 wrote: »

C

Hey Naughtb4,

Kind of hijacking this form but heading to Cambodia later in the year, will have almost a week there before heading to Hong Kong for a few days before flying home. would be interested to know what you thought? Will be going to Phnon Penh and Siem Reap for Ankot wat. any input much appreciated

Only did Siem Reap due to time but loved it. Angkor Wat etc is great, you can get fantastic hotels for very little and the city itself is rather nice.

Pub Street was a bit of craic

retalivity

maynooth_rules wrote: »

what was cambodia like?

Cambodia was fine, everything about sien reap and Angkor wat has been said before. Spent 2 nights in Phnom Penh, I liked it, plenty of bars and restaurants on the River. The killing fields is a mustsee, even if it is heartbreaking and horrific.

Tbh Laos was my favourite of the whole honeymoon. Ill always love Thailand but its changed a lot since I forst went there. Over 10 years ago. Laos though is completely different. The roads are atrocious, getting anywhere takes an age, but the towns are nice and quaint and most of the people are genuine and friendly. Vang vieng has plenty going on in it and luang orabang is beautiful.

uck51js9zml2yt

My niece did Vietnam on honeymoon and took a week to go north to south on a motor bike with guide. They had a ball and saw places off the beaten track.

solerina

I recommend Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, HCMC. Leave the least amount of time for HCMC as it is the least interesting of them all..there are so many amazing places in VN, but these were some of my highlights !!! Like others have said avoid Hue....very dull imo !!!

EJ Aza

Hi....my 2 cents...
If you haven't travelled Asia before Thailand is easier to get around. But, I adore Vietnam. Hoi An is amazing. Good food, great people. After this the further south you go the nicer the people. Didn't like Hanoi did a lot of walking there but didn't warm to it or the people. Preferred Saigon (HCM) .

You could easily do the best of Vietnam and Cambodia in 2 weeks. Fly to HCM as a base. Spend a day or two. Travel to Pnom Penh (if you want to do S21 killing fields (I know it's a honeymoon!) on to Siem Reap for 3-4 days, angor is amazing and sunrise and sunset is very romantic. Nice people and nice restaurants.
Then fly to Hoi An...and just enjoy!

Thailand is good for a first time in Asia - a couple of days in Bangkok then head south to the islands. Koh Phi Phi on the west and Koh Lanta and Mainland Krabi or go East and do the national reserves near Koh Samui etc

jadie

Thailand all the way- would never return to Vietnam. Aggressive rude people, ripped off, assaulted on the street in day light, list goes on.

ThunbergsAreGo

Actually bit left field, but for a honeymoon, the perhentians in malaysia take some beating

enricoh

Looking at langkawi in Malaysia ourselves at the minute, the same person recommended the perinthians too. Gonna get googling.
Done Thailand n Vietnam backpacking before.
I'd recommend ko Tao but Its 10 years since I've been. Hoi an - after a day or two I'd be bored I reckon. Don't bother with the hand made shoes - two pairs lasted a week!

ThunbergsAreGo

enricoh wrote: »

Looking at langkawi in Malaysia ourselves at the minute, the same person recommended the perinthians too. Gonna get googling.
Done Thailand n Vietnam backpacking before.
I'd recommend ko Tao but Its 10 years since I've been. Hoi an - after a day or two I'd be bored I reckon. Don't bother with the hand made shoes - two pairs lasted a week!

Any questions on perhentians ask away

fits

Im just back from malaysia. We visited langkawi and the perhentians. Both amazing in different ways. I would say getting the accomodation choice right is the main thing. Very easy country to get around and reasonably cheap. No hassle.

Hidalgo

jadie wrote: »

Thailand all the way- would never return to Vietnam. Aggressive rude people, ripped off, assaulted on the street in day light, list goes on.

When you say 'assaulted on the street I daylight'
do you mean a physical confrontation/beaten up??
What part of the country?

jadie

happened in Dalat, attacked by a woman for no reason when I was walking down the street.

EJ Aza

Langkawi is lovely, drove around it and spent 3 days there, was also in Koh Taratao before this (not honeymoon destination but Survivor was filmed there, old prison island; lots of monitor lizards).

Lemsiper

Strange that people are actually recommending Halong Bay, it's a huge disappointing polluted tourist trap. Ninh Binh definitely where it's at. Way more flexibility with your itinerary.

But maybe Ao Phang Nga if you want something like Halong, but in Thailand obviously.

athtrasna

fits wrote: »

Im just back from malaysia. We visited langkawi and the perhentians. Both amazing in different ways. I would say getting the accomodation choice right is the main thing. Very easy country to get around and reasonably cheap. No hassle.

Honeymooned there and hated it. Got loads of unpleasant attention as a very very pale blonde woman. Hated Malaysia so much we considered Vietnam the year after to be our real honeymoon.

We did Penang, KL and KK. KK was the best part but give me Vietnam or Thailand any day.

fits

athtrasna wrote: »

Honeymooned there and hated it. Got loads of unpleasant attention as a very very pale blonde woman. Hated Malaysia so much we considered Vietnam the year after to be our real honeymoon.

We did Penang, KL and KK. KK was the best part but give me Vietnam or Thailand any day.

Well, I would completely and totally disagree with you on that. I got no negative attention at all and never heard anyone else complain of same. In fact if anything it was annoying that men wouldnt address me at all. sorry you had a bad time though.

fits

Btw we went to Penang as well, staying in georgetown centre. I loved it there, particularly the food but would have found it fairly hectic as first stop.

athtrasna

fits wrote: »

Btw we went to Penang as well, staying in georgetown centre. I loved it there, particularly the food but would have found it fairly hectic as first stop.

To me it felt like I might as well be in the Costa del anywhere.

fits

athtrasna wrote: »

To me it felt like I might as well be in the Costa del anywhere.

Id say you were in a completely different part then.

athtrasna

fits wrote: »

Id say you were in a completely different part then.

We stayed in the 5* Mutiara Hotel in Teluk Bahang near Batu Farringhi

fits

No idea where that is. We stayed in a cheapish hotel in the centre of the UNESCO world heritage site of Georgetown. It was really cool.

Review of whole holiday is here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96459920&postcount=1960

Stopitwillya

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Getting into booking time for our honeymoon. Wedding is at the end of this year but we will be going on our honeymoon around Patricks day next year.
Anyway Im between Thailand and Vietnam. Problem is, I have little to no clue what part to stay in. No ideas whatsoever for Vietnam and all i know from Thailand is Phuket.
Anyone give me ideas? We are not mad into heavy nights out. We just like to be close to a nice beach and somewhere where there is plenty of opportunities to go exploring or on day trips.
Any help greatly appreciated.

Thailand