Vietnam North to South: 10-Day Itinerary (Hanoi → Hoi An → Ho Chi Minh)
Vietnam is a genuinely difficult country to do justice to in a single trip because it's so long and so regionally distinct — Hanoi's old-world chaos, Hoi An's languid riverside charm, and Ho Chi Minh City's relentless modern energy feel almost like three different countries. Ten days is tight but workable if you plan it properly, and this is the exact route structure I've refined over multiple trips leading groups end to end.
Day 1-3: Hanoi
Land in Hanoi and spend your first day acclimatising in the Old Quarter — 36 narrow streets, each historically named for the guild that once traded there (Silk Street, Silver Street, and so on), now a dense maze of shopfronts, street food stalls, and motorbike traffic that takes a day just to get comfortable crossing the road in (the trick is to walk at a slow, steady pace and let the bikes flow around you — never stop suddenly). Day two, visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex first thing in the morning (it closes early and has strict dress code — covered shoulders and knees, no exceptions), followed by the Temple of Literature, Vietnam's first national university, dating to 1070, and a genuinely peaceful contrast to the Old Quarter's noise. In the afternoon, take a proper street food tour — Hanoi's food scene is arguably the best in the country, and a guided walking tour covering bun cha (grilled pork with noodles, made famous internationally after Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate it together here), banh mi, and egg coffee will save you from the overwhelm of choosing blind.
Day three is your Ha Long Bay day trip — roughly a 2.5-3 hour drive each way from Hanoi, so this is a genuinely long day, but the limestone karst scenery is one of the most famous sights in Southeast Asia for good reason. A day-trip cruise typically includes a boat lunch, a cave visit (Sung Sot Cave is the most impressive of the commonly-visited ones), and sometimes kayaking around the karsts. If your schedule allows, an overnight cruise is genuinely worth the extra time and cost over a rushed day trip — watching sunset and sunrise over the bay from the boat deck is a different experience entirely from a midday pass-through, but if you're tight on ten days total, the day trip gets the job done.
Day 4-5: Da Nang → Hoi An
Fly from Hanoi to Da Nang (about 1 hour 20 minutes, several daily flights on Vietnam Airlines, VietJet, and Bamboo Airways, typically S$40-90 one-way if booked a few weeks ahead), then transfer 45 minutes south to Hoi An, a UNESCO-listed ancient trading port that's largely traffic-free in its historic centre. Hoi An Ancient Town is best experienced in the early morning before the tour buses arrive, or in the evening when the famous silk lanterns are lit along the riverfront — this is genuinely one of the prettiest towns in Southeast Asia after dark. Book a lantern-making workshop while you're here; it's a genuinely engaging hands-on activity rather than a tourist-trap craft demo, and you get to keep and float your own lantern on the river afterward.
Day five, take a half-day trip to the Marble Mountains, a cluster of five limestone hills just outside Hoi An with cave pagodas and viewpoints (an elevator ride up is available if you'd rather skip the stairs), followed by an afternoon at Ba Na Hills, home to the famous Golden Bridge held up by giant stone hands — genuinely one of the most photographed structures in Vietnam. The cable car ride up to Ba Na Hills is itself a highlight, holding a Guinness World Record for one of the longest non-stop single-track cable car rides in the world, with sweeping views over the surrounding jungle and coastline.
Day 6: Hue
Hue, Vietnam's former imperial capital, is roughly a 4-hour drive north of Hoi An over the scenic Hai Van Pass (worth doing by car or on a guided motorbike tour for the coastal views, rather than the faster but far less scenic tunnel route), or a shorter transfer if you fly Da Nang to Hue directly and skip the pass. Spend your day at the Imperial City, a walled palace complex modelled loosely on Beijing's Forbidden City, home to the Nguyen Dynasty until 1945 — much of it was damaged during the Vietnam War, and the ongoing restoration work is itself an interesting window into the country's approach to preserving its imperial history. If you have extra time or a particular interest in the war, the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) sites around the former Vinh Moc tunnels and Khe Sanh Combat Base are reachable on a longer day trip from Hue, offering a sobering, well-preserved look at the 17th parallel that once divided North and South Vietnam.
Day 7-10: Ho Chi Minh City
Fly from Hue (or Da Nang, depending on your exact routing) to Ho Chi Minh City — about 1 hour 20 minutes, again with frequent daily flights. HCMC feels like a genuinely different country from Hanoi: faster, more commercially driven, and noticeably more Westernised in its District 1 core, a legacy of both the French colonial period and the more recent economic boom. Spend your first day getting oriented — the Reunification Palace (formerly the Presidential Palace of South Vietnam, preserved essentially as it was on the day Saigon fell in 1975), the War Remnants Museum (genuinely powerful and unflinching, budget at least two hours and be prepared for some difficult, graphic exhibits on Agent Orange and wartime atrocities), and Ben Thanh Market for an afternoon of haggling over souvenirs, street food, and local produce.
Day eight is the Cu Chi Tunnels — an extraordinary underground tunnel network used by Viet Cong guerrillas during the war, about 1.5-2 hours outside the city. You can crawl through a widened, tourist-safe section of the actual tunnels (claustrophobic even at the expanded size — the originals were built for much smaller frames than most Western or even average Vietnamese adults today), see original booby-trap designs, and learn about the tunnel network's role in the war from guides who often have direct family connections to the conflict, adding a weight to the tour that's hard to replicate in a museum setting.
Day nine, take a Mekong Delta day trip — roughly 1.5-2 hours south of HCMC, where you'll board smaller boats through narrow canals lined with coconut palms, visit a floating market (Cai Rang, near Can Tho, is the most famous, though a full visit there really needs an overnight stay; most HCMC day trips visit smaller, closer markets and villages instead), sample tropical fruit and local honey-tea at a family-run orchard, and get a genuine sense of the slower, water-based rhythm of rural southern Vietnamese life that contrasts sharply with the city's pace.
Reserve your final day for whatever you missed — a rooftop bar for a final skyline view over the city (Bitexco Financial Tower's Saigon Skydeck or one of the many rooftop bars along Dong Khoi Street both work well), a last round of shopping and street food, or simply a slower morning before your flight home. HCMC's Tan Son Nhat Airport has direct flights back to Singapore running about 1 hour 45 minutes, with Scoot, Jetstar Asia, Vietnam Airlines, and Singapore Airlines all operating the route multiple times daily.
Internal Flights vs Sleeper Train
| Option | Hanoi-Da Nang | Time | Cost (SGD) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Flight | Direct | ~1h20m | S$40-90 | Time-poor travellers, comfort |
| Reunification Express Sleeper Train | Overnight | ~14-16h | S$35-70 (soft sleeper) | Scenery lovers, saving a hotel night |
On a tight 10-day trip, I almost always recommend flying between the three main hubs — the sleeper train is a genuinely memorable experience with dramatic coastal scenery, particularly the stretch over the Hai Van Pass area, but 14-16 hours eats an enormous chunk of a short itinerary. If you have more time to spare (say, a 14-day trip instead), doing one leg by overnight sleeper train instead of flying is a great way to add a distinctly different travel experience and save a hotel night in the process, but for ten days, flights are the pragmatic choice.
Visa Guide for Singaporeans
Singapore passport holders currently enjoy visa-free entry to Vietnam for stays of up to 30 days for tourism purposes, so for a standard 10-day trip you don't need to arrange anything in advance beyond a passport valid for at least six months from your entry date. Just double check current requirements close to your travel date, as visa-free arrangements between countries can occasionally change — a quick check of the Vietnamese immigration website or your airline's visa information page a few weeks before departure is good practice regardless of your passport.
Budget Breakdown (10 Days)
| Category | Budget (SGD) | Mid-range (SGD) | Comfort (SGD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation (10 nights) | $250-400 | $600-1,000 | $1,500+ |
| Internal Flights (3 legs) | $150-250 | $150-250 | $300-450 (biz class) |
| Food (10 days) | $100-150 | $250-350 | $500+ |
| Tours/Activities | $150-220 | $300-450 | $600+ |
| Total (excl. int'l flights) | $650-1,020 | $1,300-2,050 | $2,900+ |
Must-Eat Foods Along the Route
Pho — technically originated in the north, and Hanoi's version (thinner broth, more herbaceous) is noticeably different from the sweeter, richer southern-style pho you'll find in Ho Chi Minh City, so try both and compare. Banh mi — the French-influenced baguette sandwich, best in Hoi An where a few legendary stalls (Banh Mi Phuong being the most famous, made internationally known after an Anthony Bourdain visit) have built genuine cult followings. Bun cha — Hanoi's grilled pork and noodle dish, eaten by dipping cold noodles and fresh herbs into a warm, sweet-savoury broth alongside the grilled meat. Ca phe sua da — Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk, strong, sweet, and an essential daily ritual regardless of which city you're in — Hanoi's egg coffee (ca phe trung) is a specific, richer variation worth trying at least once, best known from the original Cafe Giang.
Safety Tips
Vietnam is generally safe for travellers, but a few practical points matter across all three cities. Bag and phone snatching from passing motorbikes is a real, documented risk in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City specifically — keep your phone away from the road edge when walking or seated at open-air cafes, and use a cross-body bag rather than one dangling from a shoulder. Crossing the street takes real technique in both major cities — move at a slow, steady, predictable pace and let motorbikes flow around you rather than stopping or running, which is far more dangerous. Traffic itself is the most statistically significant safety risk for tourists in Vietnam, so exercise real caution with any self-drive motorbike rental, and always wear the helmet provided even for short rides. Tap water isn't safe to drink anywhere in the country — bottled or filtered water only, including for brushing teeth if you want to be cautious. And always negotiate taxi and cyclo fares upfront or insist on a metered ride through a reputable company (Mai Linh and Vinasun are the two trusted taxi brands), or simply use Grab, which operates reliably across all three cities and removes most fare-negotiation risk entirely.
Ten days across three regions is an ambitious pace, but Vietnam's compact internal flight network makes it genuinely achievable without feeling like you're constantly living out of a suitcase. The route above — Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City — hits the country's essential landmarks while leaving enough breathing room in each stop to actually experience it rather than just photograph it. Book your day-trip activities and internal flights ahead of time, especially during Vietnamese public holidays (Tet, in particular, around late January/February, sees the entire country's transport network stretched thin), and you'll come away with a genuinely complete picture of a country that manages to feel like three different destinations in one trip.