How many days do you need in Vietnam?
Six days. That is the length of the itinerary we built for Vietnam, across Hanoi and Hoi An & Da Nang.
Here is what each day holds. Every stop below carries its time, and every gap says how to get to the next stop, with the walk or drive time wherever both stops are mapped.
Vietnam · 6 days Hanoi → Hoi An & Da Nang
Best time: Vietnam runs on two climates: October to April suits Hanoi (cool, dry); February to July suits the central coast around Hoi An and Da Nang.
Hanoi: Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son TempleDay 1
🏛️9:00 AMHoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple
The city’s heart, a lake with a legend of a returned sword, a scarlet bridge to a small island temple, and the whole town circling it at 6 AM for exercise. Weekend nights the ring road goes car-free.
🚗 ~12 min · 3.5 mi
🖼️1:30 PMVietnam Museum of Ethnology
The country’s 54 ethnic groups done properly, full-size stilt houses and communal halls rebuilt in the garden by the communities themselves. Worth the short taxi ride west.
🚗 ~12 min · 3.3 mi
🌆6:00 PMThe Old Quarter
Thirty-six streets each named for the guild that traded there: silk, silver, bamboo, now a canyon of shophouses, beer corners, and pho at dawn. Bia hoi hour on the corner stools is the city’s cheapest institution.
Hanoi: Temple of LiteratureDay 2
🏛️9:00 AMTemple of Literature
Vietnam’s first university, founded 1070, five Confucian courtyards where doctoral graduates’ names have been carved on stone stelae since 1484. Students still come before exams for luck.
🚗 ~7 min · 2.1 mi
🥾1:30 PMWest Lake
Hanoi’s biggest lake, a 17-km shore of temples, lotus ponds, and sunset cafés, with the 1,400-year-old Tran Quoc Pagoda on its causeway island.
🚗 ~9 min · 2.5 mi
🎟️6:00 PMOld Quarter street-food walk
An evening eating crawl, bun cha, banh cuon, egg coffee, with someone who knows which alley kitchen has made one dish for three generations. Do this on night one and eat braver all trip.
Hanoi: Ha Long Bay day cruiseDay 3
🏛️9:00 AMHa Long Bay day cruise
Nearly 2,000 limestone karsts rising from jade water, a UNESCO seascape and Vietnam’s signature view. From Hanoi it is a long, worthwhile full day, about 2.5 hours each way on the expressway plus four or five on the water, with day cruises timed to have you back in the city by evening.
🚗 day trip · 86 mi
🌆6:00 PMThe French Quarter
Wide colonial boulevards south of the lake: the Opera House, villas behind flame trees, and café terraces built for lingering.
Arrive in Hoi An & Da NangDay 4
✈️8:30 AMFlight to Hoi An & Da Nang
Hanoi to Da Nang in about 1h20, one of Vietnam’s busiest domestic routes, with departures all day, then roughly 45 minutes by car to Hoi An. The scenic alternative is the 16-hour Reunification Express sleeper.
✈️ ~1h20 · 377 mi
🏛️2:00 PMHoi An Ancient Town and the Japanese Covered Bridge
Mustard-yellow merchant houses, Chinese assembly halls, and the 400-year-old covered bridge, carefully restored 2022–24 and reopened in 2024. The old-town ticket funds the preservation; evenings the whole town runs on lanterns.
🚶 ~4 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.1 mi
🌆6:00 PMAn Hoi islet
Across the footbridge from the Ancient Town: the night market’s lantern stalls, riverside restaurants, and the view back at old Hoi An glowing on the water.
Hoi An & Da Nang: My Son SanctuaryDay 5
🏛️9:00 AMMy Son Sanctuary
The Cham civilization’s holy valley, brick Hindu tower-temples built from the 4th to 13th centuries, jungle-wrapped and UNESCO-listed, an hour inland. Go early before the heat and coaches.
🚗 ~75 min · 22 mi
🖼️1:30 PMMuseum of Cham Sculpture, Da Nang
The world’s finest collection of Cham stone carving, gathered since 1919, see it before or after My Son and the ruined towers snap into focus.
🚗 ~51 min · 14 mi
🎟️6:00 PMLantern-lit river boat ride
Twenty minutes on the Thu Bon River after dark among the floating candles, unashamedly romantic and the town’s definitive evening.
Hoi An & Da Nang: Marble MountainsDay 6
🏛️9:00 AMMarble Mountains
Five limestone outcrops between Hoi An and Da Nang riddled with cave pagodas and carved shrines. Climb Thuy Son for sanctuaries lit by sinkhole light and a coastline view.
🚗 ~28 min · 8.1 mi
🥾1:30 PMAn Bang beach
Hoi An’s stretch of sand: casual, swimmable most of the dry season, and a 15-minute cycle from the Ancient Town through the paddies.
🚗 ~40 min · 12 mi
🌆6:00 PMMy Khe beach strip, Da Nang
The long white city beach with a seafood-shack economy and the Marble Mountains bookending the bay, modern coastal Vietnam at ease.
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