With only 11 days to spend with us in south Vietnam over Christmas and new year, my sister and I agreed that a few days seeing the sights of Saigon, an overnight tour to the Mekong Delta and a 3 night stay at a beach further north for new years eve was a good holiday plan.
A tip for anyone planning to visit southern Vietnam's hot spots over Christmas and new year - book at least 4 or 5 months ahead!
The Mekong tour was easy enough to organise as I'd thankfully done my research well in advance. I'd read a lot of positive reviews about an expat-owned agency called Come & Go Vietnam that organises tours (among others) into the Delta.
Having already been to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, where we stayed at the fanciest hotel and did sedate (and expensive!) hotel tours along the river that were all a bit "same same", I wanted to give my sister and her family an experience that was a little less touristy.
We've opted for Come & Go's Mekong Short Break which they have kindly customised (slightly) for our 3-year-olds! I'm excited that we'll be staying overnight with a local family who'll teach us how to cook Vietnamese food (something I'm yet to master despite almost 2 years living in Vietnam!).
Now to the beach break...the original plan had been to head north to Nha Trang on the south central coast of Vietnam. In December, despite still technically being the wet season (depending on which website you look at!), Nha Trang was reportedly a safe option in terms of swimming weather.
My first stop was the Vietnam Airlines webiste to make sure flights to Nha Trang were still available. For approximately US$355 for a family of four we could get flights for the dates we wanted.
Next was a blanket email to all of the highly regarded resorts and hotels in Nha Trang. With every reservation email politely telling me I'd been placed on a waiting list, or from hotels wanting to charge me over $400 per night to get rooms large enough to fit a family of four, I became just a little bit despondent!
There was no way I was going to pay US$2,000 for flights and a hotel just for 3 nights...so I moved to Plan B.
A little way north of Saigon are the beach areas of Phan Thiet and Mui Ne - favourite expat haunts which we haven't bothered with to date due to the fact that you can't get there by plane. The option of up to 4 hours trapped in a car on reportedly one of the worst roads in Vietnam with 3-year-old twins had never really appealed, but it was time to take this option a bit more seriously!
After a bit of Internet research I discovered a "5-star" tourist train to Phan Thiet. The train takes 5 hours, but I figured the option of letting the 4 kids run loose while the parents enjoy the passing countryside, and a few relaxing beverages, was a great idea! Of course I haven't been able to find anyone who can confirm the "exact" price of this train - I've been told prices ranging from US$5 to $25 one way.
My next stumbling block was finding an available hotel. After more blanket emails to about 30 resorts in Mui Ne and Phan Thiet I was emailed a very financially appealing quote from the Novotel.
After a two days of emails back and forth, with me trying to argue the necessity of a compulsory new years eve dinner with a ridiculous price tag for adults and kids, I finally conceded that we had no other option. I sent the reservations department an email confirming the booking only to be told it was no longer available and we were back on a waiting list! Ugggh!
I hit the jackpot this evening when the Accor website (owner of the Novotel) had a similar deal to that I'd been quoted directly by the hotel. Not sure how it works, or why the hotel couldn't book it themselves, but fingers crossed the booking will stick (we've paid for it upfront after all!).
Despite my niggles with the reservations department, the Novotel Phan Thiet Ocean Dunes and Golf Resort gets mostly rave reviews on Trip Advisor and from my colleagues who have stayed there in recent times. Despite not being in the heart of Mui Ne, which is where all the restaurants and bars are located, the resort is more of a family friendly option that's away from the noise.
Now I just have to book train tickets, otherwise the local taxi service will be getting a very lucrative booking from Team Somerville and co. in December!
Photo flashback:
Here's some snaps of Team Somerville enjoying a holiday in Nha Trang in March 2009. We had heaps of fun, hence our desire to return with the family (not to be this time!). We stayed at Vinpearl Land - a resort located on its own island just off the mainland. You can reach it by cable car or speedboat and it has its own amusement park! So not a cultural experience, but very cool all the same!
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| Nha Trang Beach |
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| Cable car to Vinpearl Land |
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| Mackenzie and Rob in the Vinpearl Land cable car |
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| Georgia and Rob - Vinpearl Land beach (South China Sea) |
Bugger hey! I looked into the train once for the same reasons. From what I can gather the 5* one does not run anymore, just the normal train. It was called "golden" something or other. Still, any train in better that a car I say! Would love to hear how you go.
ReplyDeleteHey Dani - an agent emailed yesterday to say the Golden Train was still running, but she quoted the price of 95,000 VND one way which sound too cheap to me (probably the local train!). Now that we have our hotel I will attempt to book the train. Will let you know how I go!
ReplyDeletemmmmm $4.50 for luxury sets the warning bells off doesn't it! Oh well, it could be a glorious adventure. How bad can it be (don't answer that!)
ReplyDeleteHi - the agent confirmed this morning that the 95,000 VND is for the 5-star Golden Train, but they now only have one class...what does THAT mean?? Anyway, as long as they have decent western style toilets (oh and a bar serving alcohol for us big kids would be great!) I'll be ok! They only sell tix one month prior so I'll see what we get at the end of November.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I stayed at Vinpearl, that cable car was nearly the death of us. We were coming back at night in torrential torrential rain and lightning storm, im from Brisbane and have seen my fair share of storms but this was a doozy. So anyway its pouring rain, huge lightning strikes every few minutes, we are running from one side of the island to the cable cars, we run and jump on one, sit down and start moving, then realise we have just jumped on an electric cable car 40m above the water, in an electrical storm!!! About one or 2 pilons over there is a huge flash of lightning and all the lights go out and the cable car stops, we are at the top of one of the pilons so we are just swinging and swinging in darkness, then it starts up again and off we go, this happened about 4 more times, I thought we were going to die!! Eventually we got off at the Nha Trang side and the guys in the booth were laughing their ass off, they didnt seem worried at all. I have never been so scared in my life. But what a great place Vin Pearl is.!
ReplyDeleteHi BundyMum, that sounds horrendous! Glad you made it to the other side. In many countries they wouldn't have let you on the cable car in the first place, but unfortunately here some things just aren't a concern (although I must say it is slowly changing). Our issue with the cable cars was the lack of ventilation. We were very hot and sweaty by the time we reached the other side. A gorgeous view though.
ReplyDelete