Nha Trang + Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: 9 Days and 6 Nights

Day 1: ✈️ Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City Day 2: ✈️ Fly to Nha Trang at noon, check-in, and it's recommended to stay in the city center if you plan to visit attractions. Enjoy a city walk for dinner, and the local juices are quite affordable! 🍹 Day 3: Morning at Hon Chong Promontory 🌄 and the temple. A taxi ride from the hotel costs about 30, and the two attractions are walkable. Three to four hours should be enough. It's too hot in the afternoon, so you can visit Lotte Mart and local shopping centers. We tried a Greek barbecue restaurant in the evening, and the owner was very hospitable! 🍢 Day 4: A day trip to Vinpearl Land: Make sure to go early! We lined up for the cable car at 9 am and it took an hour; it could be longer later. If you plan to spend the whole day, including the water park, I personally think it's too much to cover. The mountain luge ride queue is worth it (because the ride is really long, at least 15 minutes). The zoo is a great place to visit, and the food in the park is reasonably priced! If you don't want to queue for the cable car on your way back, remember to take it early. 🚠 Day 5: Island Hopping Day Tour You can book a day tour through a local travel agency or online. I joined an English-speaking group for a three-island tour, which usually costs around 300. The group lunch was good, and the optional activities were scuba diving and water sports (I didn't participate; scuba diving requires you to wait on the boat for others to finish, about half an hour, and water sports are during free time. I bought a coconut on the beach and lounged for an hour and a half, with free sun loungers, very comfortable). If you just like to look at the islands and do some snorkeling (snorkeling time was over an hour), you will have a great day! Note that these tours end quite late and are tiring, so by the time you get back to the hotel, take a shower, and go out for dinner, it's usually around 8 pm. 🏝️ Day 6: ✈️ Early morning flight from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City. In the evening, take a simple stroll around Pham Ngu Lao Street, which is essentially a bar street and can be quite noisy. 🍻 Day 7: Mekong Delta Day Tour, also booked online. The tour includes a big boat ride, a motorboat ride, and a hand-rowing sampan (a small tip is expected for this). There's a segment where you sit and eat fruit while listening to singing, and a tip is also expected here. There's some promotion of agricultural products, which aren't expensive. The hand-rowing sampan through the jungle is quite interesting, and the tour ends around 4 pm. After getting off, have a meal and then head to the post office for the "Sunset Express" 🚌, which is an open-top double-decker bus. This is highly recommended! It's suggested to line up at the post office entrance around 5 pm to wait for the bus because the sunset in Saigon is really fleeting. 🌅 Day 8: By now, you might be a bit tired, so you can just wander around the market, have a bowl of pho, or go to the mall to cool off. The chocolate ice cream 🍦 at the Japanese mall in the city center (Maison Marou) is quite good, and it's recommended! I passed by the popular coffee building, and it seemed quite ordinary; I think any random café on the streets of Vietnam would be similar. Day 8 Late Night + Day 9: Return trip. After customs at Ho Chi Minh City airport, all the shops are settled in USD (expensive, but any leftover Vietnamese dong can be exchanged here). In summary: Off-season prices are cheap, the climate isn't too hot, and you can do a lot with a little money. Have a great time! 🏖️ #Vacation #Travel #Let'sGoForADrive #Vietnam #VietnameseCuisine #NhaTrang