The Unique Vietnam Tour You Must Do

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During my trip to Vietnam with my friend we took part in a number of tours. I’m not one for big organized tours so we tried to keep those to a minimum, only when it was easier to get somewhere with a group and tour guide. But one of the best tours we did was a full day Vietnam tour with Stop & Go tours from Hue to Hoi An. We booked this tour as an alternative to a regular boring old transfer through Central Vietnam, and I’m so glad we did.

The tour was a full day and was meant to include an English speaking driver in a private car and a couple of stops along the way. The main stop for us was to be the Golden Bridge which was a big bucket list item for us after seeing it online. The tour ended up so much more than we expected, and our driver was amazing. Here’s all we got up to on our day tour.

Hue to Hoi An Vietnam tour

We had spent a couple nights in Hue. It was a smaller town, less known than a lot of the usual places in Vietnam, and we were expecting it to be a little sleepy because of that. Everyone we talked to said they were skipping it. But we got there and the town was really lively, full of bars, fully pedestrianized streets (quite the rarity in Vietnam) and ample activities for a couple of days. After Hue we would be heading to Hoi An for 3 nights. We had flown from Hanoi to Hue and were flying from Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City. But to get to Hoi An from Hue it seemed a car was best. The cities are about 125 km (around 75 miles) apart. If you drive straight it will take almost 3 hours.

But we booked a private tour that would take the full day and allow us to spend plenty of time sightseeing along the way. All in a relaxing air conditioned vehicle. The tour cost us about $80 for the two of us, and although that’s a little pricier for Vietnam, it was a really good decision and meant it was one less thing to worry about. We booked online, and reconfirmed our tour the day before we left, paying the balance at their office in Hue. We were all set for our tour which would pick us up at 8am at our hotel in Hue, Cherish Hotel, and drop us off around 6pm in Hoi An at the Village Lodge. Book this Vietnam tour here.

Meet our Vietnam tour guide/driver Sanh

Our driver was punctual, picking us up at 8am at our hotel. He introduced himself in clear English and helped us to the car. The car was really clean and nice, and with a brief stop to get gas at the end of the road we were on our way. Sanh was very nice and very well spoken. He was genuinely friendly, warm and smiling all day. He wanted to know where we were from and listened with intent as we told him what we’d done already on our trip. I’m sure he’d heard the same itinerary repeated time and time again from foreigners on their Vietnam bucket list trip.

We set off for the day and Sanh was busily chatting away, pointing out everything we went past and explaining anything we weren’t familiar with. We asked him questions, questions that had been burning since we arrived about Vietnam and Vietnamese cultures. He was able to tell us stories and fill in a lot of information we didn’t know about Vietnam, talking proudly of his country. Sanh was a great driver for the day, and at the end was more like a friend. He played photographer for us as well as being our driver, tour guide and as it turns out personal shopper.

First stop outside of Hue

The first stop on our Central Vietnam tour was about 30 minutes outside of Hue. The area was used for fishing and there was a rice paddy next to the little inlet. Sanh explained that the area became very poor after the war. The people work hard to make a living. They were working away, cleaning and carefully folding the dozens of fishing nets littering the banks of the “river”. There were a few boats around and a few buildings on the other side of the water. A mixture of houses and buildings that I assume are where they keep the fish and fishing gear. The day we were there they were setting up for a family wedding. After being on the road for 30 minutes this was the third wedding we had seen. It was a lovely day for it.

Sanh was from Hue himself, and told us all about the city. It used to be the capital at one point, which is why the Citadel was there. That made a lot more sense to us now. Apparently the King at the time came from Hanoi and decided to build the Citadel next to the river. The river is known as the Perfume River because of the flowers at the top of the river that caused a lovely smell to drift downstream. There are new smells now. They are not like perfume! There are so many temples in Hue due to the fact it used to be the capital, and apparently there are over 400 pagodas. Sanh told us all about the Buddhist religion, the different types of Buddhism and what the differences were. It was all really interesting to learn about.

Driving through the countryside

The busy roads of Hue, which were nothing compared to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, dissolved into a single road through the countryside. The big buildings and busy streets became quieter roads and fields as far as the eye could see. We passed small villages with run down buildings, but still beautiful architecture. Sanh told us that after the war people were very poor in this area. A lot of them went to Laos which isn’t actually that far from there, a few hours drive. The people went to Laos for work, and because it was here that they had hopes of being able to buy a house or a car.

We passed road side stalls selling locally made products. The area is known for its gum trees which the locals use to make eucalyptus oil. Stall after stall lined the sides of the road, one after the other. We probably could have stopped if we wanted to but weren’t really sure about timing for the day since it was a full day trip. Driving through these quieter, more rural areas of Vietnam, it’s easy to see how not all of the country has prospered in the same way the major cities have.

Lang Co lagoon and beach

After a couple of small stops along the way our first big stop was Lang Co. The lagoon area is beautiful, and is famous for its oysters. Where you find oysters you often find pearls, and that’s what we found in Lang Co. The place we stopped was an opportunity for us to stretch out legs, walk down to the lagoon, and peruse the jewelry in the gift shop. We walked down to the lagoon to take some pictures. Sanh warned us that there are people asking for foreign money. There were a number of small boats floating in the water. OK, less boats, more rafts. With the clear, sandy water and mountains in the background it was the place to get your instagram shots. The owners of the rafts were charging $1 to allow you to take your photo on it.

After taking a few photos we headed inside as it was already getting hot despite only being mid morning. The shop inside wasn’t much cooler, but they had lots of beautiful pearls for sale. I bought some earrings and my friend got some jewelry made. They had a mixture of local lagoon pearls and ocean pearls. After some shopping we drove a little ways down the road and stopped at Lang Co beach. It was a beautiful beach and such a change to the cities we’d spent so much time in so far. It was really nice to get out somewhere quiet with clean air.

Hai Van Pass

After Lang Co beach we began the drive through the Hai Van pass, climbing up and up for increasingly gorgeous views of the beaches and areas below. The pass is 22 km long and all winding roads. There ae passing places, but it’s not always for the faint of heart. Focus on the views! Sanh told us about how there used to be tigers in the area. That was reassuring. But apparently they have not been there since the 1960s now. There are monkeys though, so we kept an eye out as we drove further along. We stopped a few times along the way, taking photos and admiring the views.

At the border between Hue and Danang is an old military gate which is a popular spot for people to stop and visit. We plodded along with the dozens of other tourists following bus tour after bus tour through what I’m sure would otherwise be a lovely, solitary hillside view but unfortunately has become a little more commercialized. There are a couple of restaurants and we went for a walk with Sanh through to another quieter viewing point, and managed to run across a monkey. It was on the roof of a house chasing the family dog. At first we thought they were fighting but looks like they were playing and chasing each other.

Ba Na Hills, Danang

We arrived at our main stop, Ba Na Hills around 11:30. Sanh took us to the gate to buy our tickets (750,000 VND/about $35 USD) and told us where to meet him after. He said we could have 3-4 hours and even gave us a little portable wifi to be able to contact him. We connected on Whatsapp so we could reach him when we needed picked up. Now Ba Na Hills, it turns out, was built originally by the French colonists. They were looking for somewhere to escape the Vietnamese heat and so built this resort on top of a mountain. Genius idea. The French connection should be remembered for later, you’ll find it important, unlike us who didn’t learn the connection until after and spent the next 3 hours really confused!

But more on that later. For now let’s get back to the resort itself. How does one get to a resort at the top of a mountain? Cable car. Now I’ve been on my share of gondolas up mountains. I live in Canada, it’s kind of our thing. I have never however been on a cable car that takes this long to get to the summit. It was a solid 20 minutes. Just when you thought you were nearly there you go over another peak and the cable disappears into the distance. The cars are big enough for about 6 people, but on the way up we had one to ourselves. Eventually we made it to the top, as the road and parking lot had long since disappeared below.

The Golden Bridge

The whole reason we first heard of this place was because we saw this cool bridge online. It was a bridge being held up by two God-like hands, seemingly suspended in the clouds. The bridge was the first thing we came to as we got off our never-ending cable car ride. Luckily it wasn’t too busy, still being a) early enough in the day; and b) lunch time.

We were able to get some great pictures of the bridge and the clouds and views around were just perfect for the occasion. The bridge was impressive, although not as suspended as we initially thought as you could see the path below. Still, the stone fingers “holding up” the golden bridge was a sight to see. Prepare to battle for photos and patience will be your best friend. We got some good photos though in the end.

Gardens and Pagodas

There was a bit of an underlying French theme as we progressed past the bridge. Some of the buildings had turrets like French fairy tale castles. The gardens had French names and had windmills in them to look like European countrysides.

One of the gardens had a display of giant pigs, some of whom were playing instruments. Never did figure that one out. The another garden was made to look like a peacock which was actually really impressive. Then there was the garden of fairies. Each garden was more elaborate than the last, and all were beautiful.

We walked along until we got to a statue of a giant Buddha which was amazing. People were praying around the statue, it really was an epic sight with some gorgeous views all around.

We walked from the statue along some steep stone steps that led down to the Linh Ung Pagoda. It’s intricate detail and position high up on the Ba Na Hills resort meant there were views looking down into the valleys and the clouds below. The gate opposite the pagoda was just incredible. This whole part of the resort was probably my favorite part. So quiet, peaceful and jaw dropping views. We had to follow an incredibly steep trail of steps down to get to the next cable car.

Vietnamese Disneyland we have arrived

As we got off the next cable car, a much shorter than the first one, we realized we were not in Kansas anymore. Or rather Vietnam. The subtle French theme of the first part of the resort gave way to a much more in-your-face hit of French-ness as I walked out into the open and found myself in front of Notre-Dame. To my left was the Moulin Rouge, and ahead of me were cobbled streets with French names and french shop signs adorning every storefront. Our Vietnam tour had turned into a European tour.

You can go into the cathedral, walk up to the buildings and shop in the french flower shop (which doesn’t sell flowers) and the French bakery (which does sell baked goods). It was incredibly surreal, and since we had no idea about mini-Paris at the top of a mountain in Vietnam we were a little unsure what was happening. I guess it’s the perfect place for those in Asia who want to visit Europe without actually flying to Europe. The detail in everything was impressive. There were some restaurants but most had a prix fixe buffet for about 200k-300k VND which is more than I wanted to spend on lunch. Turns out there aren’t too many other options so be prepared to pay European prices in fake-Paris.

Oktoberfest in Paris in Vietnam

To add to the confusion, we walked around the streets of “Paris” until we came to a market place that proclaimed we had reached Oktoberfest. Our journey from Paris to Munich has been mere seconds, but here we were surrounded by beer tents, people in lederhosen and for some reason, more pigs.

But if you can’t beat the madness, it’s best to embrace it. Plus it was a good opportunity to get a real European beer, and we had a couple of hours to kill at Ba Na Hills so why not. I ordered some food while my friend set off for beer. She came back with a beer as big as my head, and then came back with two more. Turns out in Oktoberfest it’s buy 2 get 1 free. So with 1.5 liters of Hoegaarden to get through we put our drinking caps on and set to work. Never one to pass up a challenge, we drained the lot. I’m pretty sure the people at the beer tent didn’t expect us to succeed but I am British after all.

With our beers gone, our food demolished and the heat of the mid afternoon growing, our time in Germany was done. We made our way back through Paris, stopping at a few of the shops, then took the cable car back down.

Our Vietnam tour concludes in Hoi An

Our driver and tour guide Sanh met us at the parking lot, right where he said he would be, waiting like a father on the school run. We told him all about Ba Na Hills as we fought the overwhelming tiredness that only multi-country travel and our weight in beer can bring. We didn’t have any more stops on the way to Hoi An, which was good because my energy levels were low. I relished the relaxing journey in an nice air conditioned car. We had talked to Sanh through the day about what we planned in Hoi An. We had mentioned getting clothes made, because that’s what Hoi An is famous for. As it turns out Sanh’s sister-in-law lives in Hoi An and owns a tailor. He asked if we wanted him to take us on our way to our hotel.

We jumped at the chance. We met Trang, whose English was also really good. She showed us some samples and books of designs. Within half an hour we had picked designs, chosen materials and had all our measurements taken. She told us to come back in 24 hours for a fitting. We were all set. We ended up getting fitted the next day with our newly made clothes, and picked them up the following day after some final alterations. Not bad for 48 hours work. I paid about $100 for three really good quality dresses.

Final thought on our Vietnam tour

With our final activity finished, Sanh dropped us off at our hotel on the outskirts of Hoi An, the Village Lodge. The day had been incredible. We had done so much, learned a lot about Vietnamese culture, and had a wonderful tour guide that took care of us all day. I would highly recommend a tour like this to get you between Hue (or Danang) and Hoi An if you are there. It’s much better than a regular transfer. There were some really interesting traditional aspects of the day. I feel like we got a real sense of Vietnam, more than we had in the cities. But then there were also some less traditional parts of the day (I’m looking at you mini-France). Still, it was entertaining and something to look back at. We definitely enjoyed our time despite how surreal it was.

Vietnam is a lovely country with a lot of history, and the regions are so different. If you get the chance to take a Central Vietnam tour I would suggest one like this. To book this tour or a similar one, check out these ones on Viator. Having a good tour guide really makes the difference, and especially having one who is willing to go the extra mile and give some personal stories and background. We really appreciated our tour with Sanh and Stop & Go Tours. If you are planning your own Vietnam tour, here are 7 helpful tips for traveling to Vietnam to get you started.

If you’ve enjoyed this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Have you taken a Vietnam tour like this or anywhere else on your travels? Have you been to Ba Na Hills or any other surreal tourist attraction? What did you make of it?