Asia Unseen · 24 October 2026
Ten days in Vietnam: the north, done properly
Ten days in Vietnam is enough for one region, not for a country. Here is the region that gives the most, and why the north-to-south dash is a bad idea.
The most common mistake on ten days in Vietnam is trying to do Hanoi, Hoi An and Saigon. The country is 1,650 km north to south: that plan means two internal flights, three hotel check-ins, and the permanent sensation of being about to leave.
Here is the alternative: one region, the north, in depth.
The itinerary, day by day
Days 1–2 — Hanoi. Arrive, sleep, plan nothing on the first day. The old quarter is best walked without an itinerary. Second day: the ethnology museum in the morning — the only one in the country that genuinely explains the 54 ethnic groups — and a balcony café late in the afternoon. Which district you sleep in matters more than the hotel: our guide covers it.
Days 3–4 — Ninh Binh. Two hours south. The same karst pinnacles as Ha Long bay, planted in rice paddies and toured by rowing boat. Tam Coc is the better known, Trang An the more beautiful. Hire a bicycle: the loop between Hoa Lu and Bich Dong is 20 flat kilometres between the cliffs.
Days 5–8 — the Ha Giang loop. The heart of the trip. A night bus from Hanoi, then four days of mountain against the Chinese border. The full account has the route, the costs and the handlebar question.
One thing to settle before you go: if you have no real experience of riding a motorbike in mountains, take an easy rider and travel as a passenger. You will watch the landscape instead of the tarmac, and you will come back in one piece.
Days 9–10 — Lan Ha bay. Back to Hanoi, then out towards Hai Phong rather than the main Ha Long port. The same landscape, a tenth of the boats. One night on Cat Ba, a day cruise, and an unhurried return to Hanoi for the flight.
The real travel times
| Leg | Door to door |
|---|---|
| Hanoi → Ninh Binh | 2 h 30 by private car |
| Ninh Binh → Hanoi | 2 h 30 |
| Hanoi → Ha Giang | 6 to 7 h (night bus) |
| Ha Giang → Hanoi | 6 to 7 h (night bus) |
| Hanoi → Cat Ba | 3 h 30 including the ferry |
| Cat Ba → Hanoi | 3 h 30 |
Both Ha Giang legs run overnight: they cost no daylight at all. That is what makes this itinerary hold together in ten days.
The budget
Per person, in modest comfort:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Accommodation, 9 nights | 175 € |
| Food and drink | 130 € |
| Ha Giang loop, all in | 160 € |
| Transport (bus, ferry, Ninh Binh car) | 95 € |
| Lan Ha cruise | 75 € |
| Other (SIM, entry fees, contingency) | 55 € |
| Total on the ground | ≈ 690 € |
Plus the international flight and insurance, 30 to 45 € for ten days. Amounts recorded in euros; the full month-by-month breakdown is in our thirty-day Vietnam budget.
Why this beats a north–south run
Three unpackings instead of six. Every change of town costs half a day between packing, travelling and settling in. Here you open your bag three times.
No internal flights. No airport transfer, no check-in, no delay. Over ten days that is a whole day handed back.
A real progression. City, countryside, mountain, sea. No stage resembles the one before — which is not true of three large cities in a row.
A technical trap on the official portal
Checked on 30 August 2026, and it deserves a paragraph of its own.
The portal at evisa.gov.vn serves an incomplete certificate chain: the server presents its own certificate but not the intermediate that links it to a recognised authority. Depending on your browser and device, that shows up as a security warning — “your connection is not private”, “certificate not verified”.
The certificate is entirely legitimate. It is issued by GlobalSign in the name of evisa.gov.vn, for the Vietnam Immigration Department. The fault is a server configuration error, not an impersonation.
The problem is what the warning causes: the traveller concludes the official site is fraudulent, closes the tab, and goes back to the first sponsored result — an intermediary who will charge 60 to 120 € for a 25 USD formality. The security warning pushes people towards the scam instead of protecting them from it.
What to do: check that the domain is exactly evisa.gov.vn, with no subdomain and no suffix. If the warning appears, it is still the official site. If you would rather take no chances at all, reach it through the link on your own government’s Vietnam travel advice page, which points at the same domain.
What to settle before you leave
- Your entry rule, which belongs to your passport rather than to the country. The Vietnam page gives it, with the government source and the month it was read.
- The border zone permit for Ha Giang, obtained locally in ten minutes.
- The season: October to April for the north. September and October for golden rice terraces, March and April for blossom.
- Insurance, especially if you intend to ride at Ha Giang: without the right licence category and an international permit, nothing covers you.
And if you have fourteen days
Add Cao Bang and the Ban Gioc falls after Ha Giang — two more days, almost no Western travellers. Or go south to Hue and Hoi An on the night train, which gives the trip a genuine second chapter without turning it into a race. The Hanoi–Saigon line covers that section, and Hoi An in the rain matters if you go between September and December.
What not to do with four extra days: add Saigon. At the other end of the country, it deserves its own trip.
Common questions
Can you do Vietnam north to south in 10 days?
Technically yes, with two internal flights. In practice that is three of your ten days spent travelling, three hotels in a week, and no region seen properly. Over ten days, picking one region gives a far better trip.
What does 10 days in Vietnam cost?
Around 550 to 700 € on the ground in modest comfort, excluding the international flight. The Ha Giang loop alone accounts for 130 to 190 € of that. Amounts were recorded in euros — convert at the rate of the day.
Do you need a visa for 10 days in Vietnam?
It depends on your passport, and the difference is large: some nationalities enter visa-free for weeks, others need a visa from the first day. The e-visa on the government portal costs 25 USD for a single entry. Check the rule for your own passport before booking anything non-refundable.
Why does Vietnam's official visa site show a security warning?
Because the server at evisa.gov.vn sends an incomplete certificate chain: it presents its own certificate without the intermediate that links it to a recognised authority. The certificate itself is legitimate, issued by GlobalSign to the Vietnam Immigration Department. It is a configuration error, not an impersonation — but it pushes a lot of travellers towards paid intermediaries.
Sources
Rules and prices change without notice. Confirm at the official source before you book — that is the only thing that counts.