Our favorite Vietnam tours and excursions

If destinations and accommodation are the bread and butter of a great vacation, a hands-on cultural experience is the secret sauce that brings it all to life.

One bad guided tour can be enough to put you off the idea entirely – but a really good guide (and you can rest assured, we only work with the absolute best) can turn what an uninspiring box-ticking exercise into an experience you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

What it comes down to is this: there’s a difference between seeing and understanding, and the only way to bridge that gap is to get stuck in. No amount of looking will ever tell you as much about a Hanoian wet market than a morning spent shopping with a local chef – and if you don’t jump on the back of a vintage Vespa, how will you ever know how exhilarating it feels to zip through the streets of Saigon?

It doesn’t matter where you are or what the experience: these are the most exciting and immersive things you can do in Vietnam, run by some of the most charismatic and interesting people we know.

Hue's Imperial Tombs

Hue is best-known for its Citadel, but for us the imperial tombs offer an even more compelling insight into the lives and histories of Vietnam’s royal emperors.

Scattered in the woods and hills around the city, each tomb reflects not just the architectural style of its time, but the personality of the emperor who built it. Tu Duc’s magnificent mausoleum, for instance, cost so much in taxes that it provoked an attempted coup in 1866, while Khai Dinh’s lavish mix of Eastern and Western architectural styles reflects his admiration for the colonial French. These are the kinds of stories that we think really bring the days of imperial Vietnam to life.

Cycling along the banks of the Thu Bon River near Hoi An

Cycling along the Thu Bon River

Usually we don’t like telling people what to do, but we’ll make an exception here: you can’t visit Hoi An without exploring its rural outskirts – and this is one of our absolute favorite ways to do it.

First off, this is not just a bike ride: this is an immersive experience that’ll take you right into the homes, workshops and markets of the Hoi An countryside. You’ll get to try your hand at sedge weaving, see how fish sauce is traditionally made, and sit down for a home-cooked lunch with a local family – and that’s just for starters. This tour is a proper insider’s look at traditional Vietnamese life, and we can’t recommend it enough.

Exploring Ho Chi Minh City on the back of a Vespa

Vespa street-food tour

Vietnam is notorious for its scooter-snarled streets, but we say — if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Hop on the back of a vintage Vespa and be whisked from market to bar to tent stall, sampling the country’s best culinary treats as your guide introduces you to the ins and outs of the local food culture. In Hanoi, that could be steamed rice rolls and smoky bun cha pork; in Saigon it could be mung bean cakes and clams fried in lemongrass. Whichever city you’re in, this tour is all about getting away from the tourist hotspots for a truly immersive (and delicious) taste of local life — and it’s one of our favorite experiences in Vietnam.

Saigon's back alleys

To really understand what makes Saigon tick, you need to go beyond the gleaming skyscrapers and international hotels of District One — and that’s exactly what this tour is all about.

Learn how the city’s residents live as you rise early and take to the streets, where vendors whip up bun mam fish soup for commuters’ breakfasts. Visit hidden temples to learn about Vietnam’s five “mother goddesses”, and contrast chaotic markets with crumbling, French-era villas. With an expert guide to take you off the beaten track, this is your chance get to know a side of Saigon that outsiders rarely see.

Saigon's coffee culture

Sipping a sweet iced coffee at a street-side café is an unmissable Vietnamese experience — but there’s more to it than just a few ground beans and some condensed milk: these days, Vietnam is a bona fide, world-class, bean-brewing pro.

On this morning tour, you’ll start where coffee plays its most important role: fueling the locals as they gear up for the day. After this, it’s time to dove deeper into the local coffee culture with a visit to an 80-year-old coffee warehouse, before concluding at a stylish “Coffee Studio”, where you’ll learn about expert brewing techniques, how to judge the quality of a blend, and maybe even try your hand at latte art.

Insider Experience: Contemporary art in Hanoi

Get an insider’s look at the capital’s thriving contemporary art scene with curator and artist Nguyen Anh Tuan.

You'll begin the day with a visit to the private collection of Suzanne Lecht, where you'll see works by some of Vietnam’s most exciting emerging artists. From there, Nguyen will guide you through an exhibition of virtual public art using an augmented reality app – the first of its kind in Vietnam – to see how young Vietnamese artists are pushing the boundaries of technology. Finally, you’ll round off the tour at Manzi Art Space, a chic gallery-cum-café-bar where a cold drink in the courtyard garden makes for a refreshing end to the day. It’s the perfect modern counterbalance to traditional Hanoi.