Nha Trang, Vietnam: Mud baths and rooftop bars

Nha Trang is most well known for its beautiful beaches, coral reefs and water sports – and is especially popular with Russian tourists. We figured this out pretty quickly because instead of trying to start conversations and sell us things in English (like the Vietnamese locals usually do), we’ve been mostly talked to in Russian the whole time we’ve been here!

The Lotus Tower on Nha Trang's busy coast

As well as being known for its amazing coastline, Nha Trang is also pretty famous for its hot mud baths, so we had to try them out before we left.

We went to the Galina Mud Bath and Spa and got given our own pod of hot beige mud, as well as access to the sauna, foot spas and pool. The mud in the mud baths was as thin as water and it actually felt like a really relaxing hot bath - but still wasn't something I’d ever choose to do often!

For me, the highlight of Nha Trang was the amazing rooftop bars we visited while there.

On our first night, we treated ourselves to dinner and drinks at the Skylight Havana rooftop bar. We got an amazing panoramic view of Nha Trang at night there, and the outside pool and bar area turned into a nightclub later in the evening.

Views from the Skylight Havana rooftop bar

The next evening, we also had a great time at another rooftop bar called Altitude. This place (which was at the top of the Sheraton hotel) felt really glamorous, looked out over the coast and turned out to be the perfect place to watch the sunset from.

At the Altitude rooftop bar

So, while Nha Trang definitely didn't top Hôi An for me, I’ve had a really fun, relaxing time here. I can definitely see why it’s become so popular with so many Russian tourists!

Hôi An, Vietnam: Lantern-lined streets and beautiful beaches

I’ll start this post by talking about how we got to Hôi An because our journey there was an adventure in itself!

From Hanoi (which we’d gone back to for a night after our trip to Ha Long Bay), we decided to take the scenic route and book a motorbike tour along the Hai Van Pass, so that we could both get to Hôi An quickly and see some beautiful landmarks along the way.

On our motorbike tour, we stopped at a traditional Vietnamese fishing village, swam by the beautiful Elephant Waterfall, sped past the scenic Da Nang coast and took in the views at the famous Hai Van Pass (which is just as beautiful as people say it is).

The Hai Van Pass

I actually think this motorbike tour was one of my favourite things we’ve done in Vietnam so far - which at this point is definitely saying something! Maybe we could have made the journey on our own motorbikes, but it was definitely nice to leave it to the professionals who were super fast and knew exactly where they were going!

Arriving in Hôi An

As for Hôi An town, this place has hands down been my favourite place we’ve visited in Vietnam so far. I love it!

Nearly all of Hôi An’s streets are painted yellow and lined with colourful lanterns, giving them a really friendly, happy feel. Life also seems to run at a slower pace here, with Hanoi’s crowds and speedy motorbikes being replaced by just a few bicycles peddling around the town’s little cafés, galleries and markets.

Plus, in my opinion, Hôi An’s banh mi sandwiches are by far the best we've had so far in Vietnam!

I could list a lot of reasons why Hôi An is great during the day, but I think its Ancient Town Centre is at its best after dark. At night, the river which runs through the centre of the streets is lit up with hundreds of colourful lanterns - and none of my photos did the view any justice!

Multi-coloured lanterns float on the water alongside little canoes, meaning that as you walk along the oriental bridge you’re surrounded by glittering colours and lights. Sadly, we never got round to getting into a canoe ourselves but sitting in one of the many lively bars by the river and having a drink was still an amazing way to experience Hanoi's Old Quarter.

Hôi An's Ancient Town by night

On the bridge in Hội An's Ancient Town

Away from the centre of town, the beaches in Hôi An are also incredible. We’ve had some really nice mornings on Cua Dai Beach, which is pretty uncrowded and basically paradise - especially when the weather is as good as it's been for the last few days.

Most days, we've followed our beach mornings with a shuttle bus trip into the Ancient Town just to wander around and enjoy the atmosphere, views and amazing food.

Cua Dai beach

Our stay in laidback, colourful Hôi An has been a really relaxing few days in our trip – and also really different from the other experiences we’ve had in Vietnam so far.

We also struck gold with our accommodation there because we saw online that the 4-star Ally Hotel was 75% off - which was already a bargain - and then somehow we got a free upgrade to one of their suites! The room was incredible (especially as we’ve mostly been staying in cheap hostels and homestays while travelling) and made our time in Hôi An feel like a real holiday.

The hotel also ran a free bike trip around some of Hôi An's beautiful rural areas, where we met Vietnamese rice farmers watering their crops and and also saw some majestic water buffalo wandering around the area.

A local watering her crops in rural Hôi An

I'd definitely recommending Hôi An to anyone else travelling around Vietnam in the future. I genuinely didn’t want to leave!

Sunset in Hội An's Ancient Town

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam: Exploring one of the New 7 Natural Wonders of the World

Knowing that Ha Long Bay is famous for being one of the most beautiful places in Vietnam (and the world!), I was so excited to tick visiting this place off of my bucket list.

And after finishing a three-day cruise along it this morning, I can definitely say it was just as amazing as I’d hoped it would be!

The boat trip we ended up booking was a very kind birthday present from my Dad. We sorted it all through Lily’s Travel Agency (the same agency we used to book our trip to Sapa Valley) and they set us up with a really good (but still very affordable) cruise for two nights.

It turned out we’d made a very good choice booking through Lily’s because our boat, the Royal Palace, was really impressive. The best part of it was the top deck, where you could have a cocktail while looking out at the water and Ha Long’s jungle-covered islands.

We spent the morning of our first day taking in the amazing views and chatting with the rest of our group over lunch on the boat. After we’d eaten, we also got to kayak around the little islands, which was really fun (even though the kayaking was actually quite hard work!)

Sometime in the evening, we also stopped off at Ha Long’s famous Ti Top island, where we swam in the ocean and climbed up a few hundred steps to the viewpoint to catch an incredible sunset over Ha Long Bay.

Sunset views from Ti Top island

That night on the Royal Palace, we had some 2 for 1 cocktails on the deck, followed by a tasty Vietnamese dinner with the rest of our group (while the staff ironically played music from the Titanic!)

The next morning, our boat sailed to Cat Ba island and dropped us off at the beautiful and secluded little beach resort where we'd be staying until the next day. We were basically free to do whatever we wanted on Cat Ba, so we spent the day sunbathing, swimming and kayaking around the islands.

After a super relaxing day, our group got to have a BBQ on the beach, then some karaoke (apparently the Vietnamese love to sing!) and a campfire on the beach at night.

Cocktails on Cat Ba island

On the third day, the weather was quite a bit cloudier, but Ha Long Bay was still beautiful in a different, more misty kind of way. We got up bright and early to start the morning with a trip to the Surprising Cave, where our tour guide, Toni, made us laugh with his huge amounts of enthusiasm for all the shapes he was showing us in the rocks.

Back on the boat, we had a spring roll making class and some lunch before it was finally time to say goodbye to the Royal Palace (whose staff all waved us off as we left) and make our way back to the harbour.

It's been an incredible couple of days in Ha Long Bay. The only downside I can think of to this place is that a lot of tourists come here all year round, so there are loads of boats everywhere (which can sometimes get in the way of the views) and at some of the more popular viewpoints and caves things can get pretty noisy and crowded.

Still, it’s not hard to see why so many people flock to Ha Long to see the incredible scenery. Ha Long Bay has definitely earned its title as a Natural Wonder of the World and it's been a highlight of my travelling so far. I don’t think any trip through Vietnam would be complete without it!

Piña coladas on deck