Vietnam – A Journey from City to City
Ho Chi Minh City
Our trip to Vietnam began in Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon. An incredible blend of tradition and modernity, where scooters are everywhere, ancient temples stand alongside skyscrapers, and the city’s energy sweeps you away.
You’ll quickly know whether you love it or not, but our advice is to give it a chance. Walk around, get lost in its streets, and discover its most authentic corners. For us, it’s a city to explored with your eyes up to the sky, because of its endlessly variety of architectural styles and buildings to admire.
Getting around isn’t that easy: the city is huge and still doesn’t have an underground. If you’re feeling brave, you can rent a scooter and dive into the chaotic traffic (but be warned, driving here is an extreme experience). Alternatively, the Grab and Gojek apps are perfect to book taxis at affordable prices. Public buses exist, but without knowing Vietnamese, they can be tricky to navigate.
We chose to explore on foot…exhausting, but absolutely worth it!
Here is a list of touristy places you might want to add to your itinerary:
Mercato di Ben Thanh: perfect to buy souvenir, spices and fabrics.
Saigon Square: for low-priced shopping
Café Apartments: an old apartment building has been turned into an alternative shopping centre with cool coffee shops and design store.
Nguyen Huế walking street: the pedestrian area of the city centre
Saigon Book Street: a street entirely dedicated to books, with a relaxing atmosphere.
Cattedrale di Notre-Dame e Ufficio Postale: colonial icons of the city.
Chiesa rosa di Tan Dinh e Pagoda dell'Imperatore di Giada: for a taste of local spirituality.
Pagodas and Mekong delta
Ho Chi Minh City is the perfect starting point for day trips, including the Cu Chi Tunnels, ideal for history enthusiasts, and the Mekong Delta.
If you want to immerse yourself in nature and local culture, we highly recommend a trip to the Mekong. You can easily book a tour through GetYourGuide or local agencies.
Most tours include a visit to Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda, the most famous temple in southern Vietnam, known for its towering statues of the smiling, reclining, and seated Buddha.
The experience continues with a scenic boat ride along the Mekong, through murky waters and lush tropical landscapes where you can observe the daily life of the locals. A touristy experience, yes, but still a fascinating one!
The journey of hope to Hoi An
After spending several days in Ho Chi Minh City, we set off for our next destination: Hoi An! ✈️🚆
Plane or train? Too easy! Of course, we chose the most extreme option: an 18-hour overnight bus. An experience that truly tested us, but one we now look back at it with laughter and a big smile. 😂
You can easily take a train or a flight… but if you’re curious to find out what awaited us, keep reading! 👀👇
We set off in the late afternoon, arrived at the station, and BOOM, and right away we had our first surprises: everything was written in Vietnamese, and the driver looked like he had never seen Western tourists board his bus before. Meanwhile, a passenger was trying to bring chickens on board 🐔, and another was debating how to transport snakes. HELP! 🐍
We got on, and the surprises kept coming: shoes were forbidden on the bus (hello, stinky foot! 🫠), and the bunks were harder than wood, with pillows and blankets that were probably last washed in 1900.
Every now and then, the bus stopped at what we’ll call Vietnamese “rest stops.” The bathroom? A hole in the ground, no toilet paper, no flush, just a bucket of water to pour in. A truly spiritual experience. 🚽😳
At night the stops were in the middle of nowhere. No bathrooms, no shelter, just pitch-black nature! You had to improvise, doing your business wherever you could, right next to everyone else, while hoping not to step in anything unpleasant. But the most unforgettable moment? An elderly Vietnamese lady trying to explain to Giulia, in Vietnamese, how to squat to pee! 🤯😂
Sleeping?? Forget it. Between coughing, snoring, and nonstop chatter, closing our eyes was impossible. For 18 long hours, we desperately tried to blend in while the Vietnamese passengers stared at us in curiosity and disbelief, probably wondering if we had boarded the wrong bus.
We don’t have many photos from that journey, but we have plenty of memories that now make us laugh and have become legendary stories for friends and family.
So, if you're thinking about taking a night bus in Vietnam, be prepared, It’ll be a fun experience you will never forget! 😅
After a turbulent, sleepless night, we were woken up at 5 AM, and a few hours later, we finally arrived in Hoi An. But, of course, another surprise was waiting for us: our guesthouse had given us the wrong room, one we hadn’t booked. If we wanted the room we had actually chosen, we’d have to wait until the next day.
Now, picture us: hot, sweaty, exhausted, and dirty, with no room and, most importantly, no shower! A nightmare (probably more for those around us than for us).
Luckily, once everything was sorted out, we managed to settle in and start exploring the city, our absolute favorite in Vietnam.