Vietnam tours

Vespa Adventures offers some great Vietnam tours. A vespa tour around Ho Chi Minh is up there with the most popular tours in the city. Each night a fleet of Vespas takes to the streets under the charge of charismatic locals. Meals, snacks, live music and rather a lot of alcohol are included in the approximate $93 price. There’s also plenty of booze on offer on the nightly craft-beer tour (around $89), though dry daytime options are available too.

Why not take some Vietnamese cooking skills home with you? In Ho Chi Minh City, you could start by trying the half-day classes with Saigon Cooking Class, which can cost around $45 and include a market visit and allow you to whip up three dishes and a dessert. Alternatively, visit the Vietnam Cookery Center, which runs two three-hour sessions each day for around $37 (or roughly $42 including a visit to the market for provisions), as well as twelve-dish three-session marathons for around $180.

Seventy kilometres out of Ho Chi Minh City lies My Tho, an amiable market town that nestles on the north bank of the Mekong River’s northernmost strand, the Tien Giang, or Upper River. The bulk of visitors to My Tho arrive on a tour from Ho Chi Minh City. These usually include the bus rides in and out, boat rides to some nearby islands, a village walk, lunch, and a boat trip to a sweet factory in the nearby Ben Tre area - figure on around 220,000đ/head, all in. Looking for Vietnam holidays? Note that the country has a tropical monsoon climate, dominated by the south or southwesterly monsoon from May to September, and the northeast monsoon from October to April.

Cai Be Floating Market has long been one of the most popular spots in the Mekong delta, and also the most distinctive because of its backdrop of a slender cathedral spire. Tours can give you a simple, charming view of trade being conducted from a sparse array of small boats.

Most people opt to visit the DMZ on a guided tour - guides usually do a good job of relaying the essential historical information. Most tours come straight from Hue, usually costing around $15-20 per person and including visits to Doc Mieu Firebase, Hien Luong Bridge, the Vinh Moc tunnels, the Rockpile, Dakrong Bridge and Khe Sanh combat base. It’s a long day out starting at 6am and returning to Hue around 6pm, so an early night is needed the day before!

Asia Outdoors pioneered rock climbing in Vietnam and it still remains the best operator for adventure activities (prices from around $58/day). They take climbers on a phenomenal network of routes and can incorporate boat trips (necessary to access some of the climbing sites), deep-water soloing, stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, trekking, and the occasional beach party into their highly recommended, tailor-made packages. Experienced climbers can also hire gear here. Cat Ba is certainly full of adventure.

There is a wide variety of Ha Long Bay tours available, including day-trips, though since the bay is an eight-hour round trip from Hanoi these can feel very rushed. Most opt for a two-day, one-night tour, with the night spent at sea - this can be a delightful experience.

The Museum of Vietnamese Women has undergone a complete overhaul and is now one of Hanoi’s most interesting attractions. There are good audio tours available as well as detailed video presentations on each floor about different aspects of the lives of Vietnamese women.