After years of holidays spent campervanning around Europe, our finance wizard, Jo, decided to take her teenagers (aged thirteen, fourteen and seventeen) on a 2-week family holiday to Vietnam. Easy to get around and with lots to see and do, Vietnam is perfect for families.
We helped Jo create a personalised itinerary using some of our favourite bite-sized trips in Vietnam, here’s what she got up to, in her own words…
Flavours of Hanoi & Bai Tu Long Bay, 3 nights
Stepping off the plane and into the heat, humidity and bustle of Hanoi was a big culture shock for our family. But we soon got into the swing of things as we explored the streets near our central hotel; captivated by the mopeds as they hooted and weaved past us.
On the second day, we met our local guide who taught us our first Vietnamese words (“xin chào” is “hello”) and showed us how to cross the busy roads. This involved stepping out into the throng and trusting the riders to avoid us! What seemed like chaos at first sight, was in fact a harmonious system of patience, trust and intuition. And somehow it worked perfectly.
We visited Hanoi’s Old Quarter, where artisans have built their trade and it was fun for the kids to walk down each of the ‘36 Streets’ whilst guessing its speciality, from brass to kitchenware to bamboo.