Vietnam 3 Week Itinerary: Hanoi, Ha Giang, Hoi An, Phu Quoc

Vietnam 3-Week Itinerary: The Route I Took, and What I’d Change

I broke a tooth an hour after landing in Hanoi. Three weeks later I left Saigon, having crossed Vietnam with eight flights, two night buses, a motorbike loop and a rainy scooter ride.

So, can you see Vietnam in three weeks? Yes, if you accept two things: you will fly between regions, and you will sleep on a bus at least once. This is the exact route, with dates, and with the things I would change.

The route in one line: Hanoi → Ha Giang loop → Hanoi → Da Nang and Hoi An → Saigon → Phu Quoc → Saigon.

When: 5–28 October 2024, from Slovenia, with friends at the start and alone at the end.

How I moved: 8 flights (4 of them inside Vietnam), 2 night buses and 2 short taxi rides.

Who it suits: friends, couples, families and solo travellers. For families or older travellers, I would swap Ha Giang for Sapa.

The honest bit: you will not see everything. I skipped Sapa and Hue, and I only scratched the surface of Saigon.

The stories behind each stop are linked as we go.

Vietnam is long, three weeks are short, and flights are the peace treaty.

The route at a glance

Hanoi, where it all started

I landed in Hanoi on 5 October, after flying from Ljubljana via Istanbul, and was one tooth short about an hour later. A new one took two days, start to finish, at a dental clinic in Hanoi, and it ate into the first week.

The rest of the week was sightseeing: Hoan Kiem Lake, Hoa Lo prison, Tran Quoc Pagoda and the best sunset over West Lake, the Old Quarter, and a lot of the city from the back of a Grab scooter. I also made it to Train Street, and to Ninh Binh on a day tour booked through the hostel. If you want to compare before you book, here is a Ninh Binh day tour online.

The full story is here: Broken Tooth in Hanoi: How My Vietnam Trip Started. More practical details are on the Hanoi destination page.

Ha Giang loop: four days on the back of a motorbike

On the evening of 10 October, four of us (Pookie, Fefe, Flaco and me) boarded a sleeper bus, the “royal cabin”, and woke up in Ha Giang. Then came four days on the back of a motorbike, behind a local easy rider, on the loop through the mountains of the far north. I booked the group tour with Odyssey Ha Giang and the sleeper bus through Odyssey’s booking page. On the evening of 14 October, another sleeper bus took me back to Hanoi.

The loop comes with karaoke (here is the local song), a drink called happy water, Pookie’s fall, and a pair of knee protectors we left behind. (Take the knee protectors.) The full story is here: Ha Giang Loop: Four Days on the Back of a Motorbike.

Hanoi again, and Lan Ha Bay

I came back from Ha Giang with a bag of dirty clothes and a very tired body, and Hanoi welcomed me with rain. I arrived late on 14 October and had three nights in all. The next day was for laundry, sleeping in and comfort food at Pizza 4P’s.

Then came Lan Ha Bay, thanks to an Italian guy from my hostel room. He told me to go there instead of Ha Long (less crowded, less touristy, same views, he said), and how to negotiate a better boat for the price of a basic one. I did, and spent the day on a sun deck like royalty. After that, I explored Cat Ba island by bike, where you could still see the damage from Typhoon Yagi, a month after it hit northern Vietnam. The story is in this one: Lan Ha Bay, Da Nang and Hoi An: What I’d Do Again.

Da Nang and Hoi An

On 17 October I flew from Hanoi to Da Nang, where Pookie and Fefe had gone ahead. Da Nang gave me a beach to myself while they worked remotely, a dragon on a timetable (the Dragon Bridge breathes fire at certain hours) and an Argentinian steak with a history lesson from Fefe.

The next afternoon, we took a taxi to Hoi An, my favourite city in Vietnam: lanterns, a free walking tour from our hotel, hand fans, a river boat with beer, two pairs of custom shoes (I still wear them) and one night at the Tiger bar. I spent two nights in Hoi An and one more in Da Nang, where the group split: Fefe flew to Hong Kong, Pookie stayed on, and I flew south. The whole story is here: Lan Ha Bay, Da Nang and Hoi An: What I’d Do Again. More practical details are on the Hoi An destination page.

One warning about this stretch: October is typhoon and flood season on the central coast. See the weather section below.

Saigon, before and after Phu Quoc

I flew from Da Nang to Saigon on 21 October, and that is where the solo part of the trip began. I landed in heavy rain, ordered dinner on Grab and stayed in. Over my two nights, I took a day tour to the Cu Chi tunnels (I went into a small part: narrow, dark, claustrophobic) and the Mekong Delta (coconut candy, and a canal ride with a rowing lady). Then I flew to Phu Quoc, and came back to Saigon for two more nights.

Cu Chi is also where I suspect I picked up my second souvenir. My last day in Saigon was a rainy scooter tour, with a rider named Rae, a helmet with cat ears and a flowery raincoat, and I would never have said that a scooter in the rain could be so much fun. Both are in the story: Saigon and Phu Quoc Solo: How My Vietnam Trip Ended.

Phu Quoc, an island for doing very little

Phu Quoc is an island off the south-west coast of Vietnam, and the one stop where my plan was to relax. I flew there from Saigon on 23 October for three nights of beach time, pool time and good food, with sunny mornings and rain in the late afternoon.

If I went again, I would stay in the south-east of the island, where there are better hotels and a beach. My happy place was Istanbul Beach Club (my third Istanbul of the trip, after two layovers), and the sunset at the Kiss Bridge in Sunset Town, with classical music playing all over the bridge area, is something I won’t forget.

Where I stayed and what I booked

Here is what I used, with the links from my stories. Prices change, so check them yourself.

• Hanoi: Old Quarter View Hanoi Hostel. I compared Booking.com with the hostel’s own website, and the cheaper one wasn’t always the same. The Ninh Binh day tour I booked through the hostel; to compare, see a Ninh Binh day tour online.
• Ha Giang: the Odyssey Ha Giang group tour and the sleeper bus through Odyssey’s booking page.
• Lan Ha Bay: I negotiated my boat on the street. If you would rather book ahead, you can browse Lan Ha Bay boat tours on GetYourGuide.
• Da Nang: Seahorse Hostel & Bar.
• Hoi An: Hoianese Tranquil Heritage Hotel.
• Saigon: Meander Saigon, a full-day Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta tour on GetYourGuide, and the Saigon Adventure scooter tours on GetYourGuide.
• Phu Quoc: Bauhinia Resort & Spa.

The 8 flights and 2 night buses

Flight times are approximate and come from airline and route schedule pages, checked on 26 October 2026. Schedules change, so check your own dates.

Why fly? Vietnam is long and thin. Hanoi to Da Nang, and Da Nang to Saigon, are each about an hour and a half in the air, and doing the same distance overland takes far longer. Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City by train, for example, is more than a day.

On the way home, I used a long layover in Istanbul for the city tour that Turkish Airlines offers. That deserves its own story.

Vietnam in October: three countries in one

Vietnam’s weather runs on different calendars in the north, the centre and the south. In October, the north is generally at its best. The central coast (Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue) is in typhoon and flood season. The south is still in its rainy season, though it improves through the month. I checked this across several tourism sources on 26 October 2026, and it is the pattern, not a promise.

My own trip: the weather did not change my plans, but a typhoon had been there first. Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam in early September 2024, a month before I arrived, and on Cat Ba you could still see the damage. I had rain in Saigon, afternoon showers on Phu Quoc, and one very good scooter ride in the rain. If you would not be sad about skipping something because of the weather, you will be fine.

Plan the route. Then leave room for rain.

What I would change

I loved the plan, but with hindsight:

• More Hanoi in week one. Without the tooth, I would have seen more of the city and done more day trips, like Lan Ha Bay. (Blame the tooth.)
• Straight to Da Nang after Ha Giang. I would move on faster, and use my Hanoi days earlier in the trip.
• Add Sapa. I did not go, but it looked amazing.
• More Da Nang, and Hue. I would see more sights in Da Nang and add Hue.
• One train ride. Next time, I might try the train instead of one of the flights.
• More of Saigon. I only scratched the surface.

Who this route is for

Vietnam is for everyone: families, older travellers, couples, groups of friends and solo travellers. This route works for most of them.

The one stop I would swap is Ha Giang. It means four days on the back of a motorbike, so for families or older travellers I would look at Sapa instead. I have not been, so check it for yourself.

Before you go

Visa. The rules depend on your passport, and they changed in 2025 when several European countries were added to the visa-free list. If you need an e-visa, apply only on the official portal, evisa.gov.vn, and type the address yourself, because copycat sites charge more. Checked on 26 October 2026.

Mosquitoes. Bring repellent and use it. I got dengue, and my advice is DEET 50. It is not medical advice, just my story, and you can read it here: Saigon and Phu Quoc Solo: How My Vietnam Trip Ended.

The stories behind the route

Start with the tooth. It gets better.

• Broken Tooth in Hanoi: How My Vietnam Trip Started. The tooth broke an hour after landing.
• Ha Giang Loop: Four Days on the Back of a Motorbike. Easy riders, happy water and a fall.
• Lan Ha Bay, Da Nang and Hoi An: What I’d Do Again. The better boat and my favourite city.
• Saigon and Phu Quoc Solo: How My Vietnam Trip Ended. A mosquito, a beach club and a rainy scooter tour.