2026 Trip to Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Hanoi

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March 10, 2026

2026 Trip to Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Hanoi

2026 Trip to Vietnam - 9 days - Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Hanoi

Flight CCU - SGN: 5-Jan. IndiGo Airlines

Flight 6E1641 :: 3h 45m.

CCU Mon, Jan 5 · 9:45 PM SGN Tue, Jan 6 · 3:00 AM

Was looking for an Esim VietTel at airport but the vendor lady kind of forced me to a regular physical SIM.

Grab taxi to hotel Buivien

~~ Accomodation -

Jan-05 morning of Jan 06, Jan 06 .

Saigon Downtown - Buivien Party street

phone +84 911 792 968

35/7 Đường Bùi Viện, 700000 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

another hotel stay

Wed Jan 07 - Fri Jan 09

Nanwa House ; 15a/53 Lê Thánh Tôn, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

phone +84 934 102 105

Sightseeing HCMC

Original Plan ::

- Hop on off bus -

- Ben Thanh market

- War Remnants Museum - must see

- Bui Vien St

- reunification palace

- Ben Nghe street food

- coffee apartments

- water puppret,,f4

- - Walking around Ben Nghe

- - Cu chi tunnels

- ⁠independence Palace- the S.Vietnamese Presidents residence and site of many meetings with US dignitaries. Great for history buffs.

- ⁠Saigon sky deck

- ⁠Ben Thanh market

- ⁠Ho Chi Minh City hall

- ⁠Rex Hotel

- ⁠Union Square

- ⁠Ben Nghe - Hotel district good for walking around. I covered all of the above by walking from this area.

- ⁠

Jan 6th Tue

Day-1

Started walking around HCMC from BuiVien street to get coffee etc

While walking around a Motorcycle tour guy approached me and said he will take me around for 3 hours for VND 300 K around $12 USD.

Went to

HCM Bunker

Monk statue

War remnants museum

Jade emperor pagoda

New apartment coffee

Opera house

HCM statue n building

Independence palace

-- HCM Bunker

Monk statue

War remnants museum

Jade emperor pagoda

New apartment coffee

Opera house

HCM statue n building

Independence palace

Lunch near Independence palace

Union Square

Ben Tanh market. Bought a couple of T-Shirts. Market is only Full of foreigners . Not a good place to negotiate or purchase I later realized after a couple of days.

Bui Vien street

Walk + dinner Pho with fish

Jan 7 Wed Day-2

All day Tour - 1.2 M. - Cu chi + Me kong river delta

Bui vien street pub

Evening in Kanwa house hotel move

, Japan town lanes , dinner

Thurs Jan 8 Day -3

Walking , coffee shops near river

Union square area shopping malls

Opera house, union square area ,

Coffee. Garden type

ben gnhe food lunch

Post office

Coffee at famous Trung Nguyen

Flight from SGN to HAN ; ; VIETJET AIR ECOM

~~~

Fri - Jan -9 to Mon Jan -12

Hanoi stay

Hanoi Prime Garden Hotel & Spa ; conf 5223622732 ; pin 3408

36 Ngõ Hàng Hương, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam

phone : +84 24 3747 6265

Jan 9 fri

Flight HCM to Hanoi. 9 am till 4 pm , 2 hours flight

PLANNING FOR HANOI

Hanoi

- old quarter

- Hoan Kiem Lake

- night market

- museum of ethnology

- - Day tour $35 ?

- - hop on hop off bus $18?

- train street

- river tour

- Flag tower of Hanoi

- Noam Kiem Lake- turtle tower. Driving from the lake towards the International Center and being, that area seemed to have a lot of tourists walking around, shopping, eating, etc.

- Saint Joseph’s Cathedral Tower

- opera house

- temple of literature

- Hcm maosoleum

- one pillar pagoda

- Ethnology museum

- Temple of literature

- Hoa lo prison

- French quarter

- HaLong Bay overnight

cruise UNESCO heritage site - 6 hour tours available

Afternoon flight - Evening walked around:

Hoan kiem lake

Night market

Dinner fried noodles veg

Street of pubs

Jan 10 sat

- old quarters (night market area )

- HCM Mausoleum and house

- egg coffee near Hcm mausoleum

- temple of literature , walk , pics

- train street : lunch and yogurt coffee , train 1:30 pm video

- one pillar pagoda

- museum of ethnology

Jan 11 Sunday

- Ha long bay all day tour 8 am to 9 pm ; 3 stops; kayaking ; cave with water erosion stalactites etc ; hiking … met Bengali couple , Korean woman and mom from LA, Spanish ladies from Seville , spain, NewZealander guy

Jan 12 Monday

- leave at noon for flight at 4 PM to HCM city

- Walked around the Hoan Kiem lake ; coffee

- grab taxi to airport around 260k vnd , had first class service and priority security and check in etc , lounge food , seat 3a complimentary van etc service

- Evening boring as the hotel Nexus house is not walkable much . Coffee shop across Kita