First published June 2025 | Words and photos by Vietnam Coracle | 3 comments
Tom Divers is the founder and creator of Vietnam Coracle. He’s lived, travelled and worked in Vietnam since 2005. Born in London, he travelled from an early age, visiting over 40 countries (he first visited Vietnam in 1999). Now, whenever he has the opportunity to make a trip, he rarely looks beyond Vietnam’s borders and his trusty motorbike, Stavros. Read more about Tom on the About Page, Vietnam Times and ASE Podcast.
How to Avoid Overcrowded Tourist Sites in Vietnam
In Vietnam, as in most countries, the majority of travellers are concentrated in just a handful of popular destinations, while the rest of the country remains almost completely unvisited. This is especially true in the post-pandemic era when, it seems, travellers are far less willing to take a ‘risk’ by straying off the beaten path than they previously were. Last year (2024) saw the second highest number of visitors to Vietnam ever recorded (the highest was in 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic), with foreign visitor numbers hovering around 18 million. This year (2025) is projected to break all previous records, with estimates for visitor numbers to Vietnam at 20-25 million. Tourism in Vietnam, then, is booming. And yet, when I recently travelled across the length and breadth of Vietnam on a months-long research trip, I seldom encountered other travellers. Indeed, most of the time Vietnam felt like a country where mass tourism is yet to arrive. I simply stayed away from the dozen or so destinations that account for about 90% of tourism in the nation. Instead, I went elsewhere, and it wasn’t difficult to do.
CONTENTS:
Tourist Hotspots vs Alternative Destinations
List of 20 Alternative Destinations
*
If you enjoy this article, please support Vietnam Coracle or consider purchasing one of my Offline Guides & Maps from the shop. Thank you, Tom
Support My Site
Free | Independent | No Sponsored Content
“Hello, if you enjoy my website, please support it.
Thank you.” Tom
Tourist Hotspots vs Alternative Destinations:
While there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with any of the popular tourist destinations in Vietnam – they all have plenty to offer – you will, however, encounter all of the common paraphernalia that accompanies any tourist hotspot: crowds, coaches, package tours, noise, overdevelopment and the like. You will also feel like a tourist, which is something that most independent travellers hate to feel. More importantly, you won’t feel like you’re having a unique adventure, which, for me, is one of the primary motivating factors for travel: I don’t want to feel like I’m just doing what everyone else is doing. Right now, Vietnam is a country where travellers can easily get off the beaten path. What’s more, their experience will be richer, more rewarding and memorable for doing so. This is a country that’s ripe for adventure, exploration and independent travel. All of the major tourist destinations and sights in Vietnam are now geared towards mass tourism and there are visible signs of everything you’d associate with a tourism boom. But you needn’t encounter any of this if you choose your destinations carefully.
Below I’ve listed alternative destinations to 20 of the most-visited tourist spots in Vietnam. The alternatives are all in the same general category as their corresponding hotspots: an island for an island, a beach for a beach, a city for a city, a mountain retreat for a mountain retreat, and so on. All of the destinations are plotted on my map (✓ = alternative destinations; X = tourist hotspots). This is by no means an exhaustive list of alternatives: there are many, many other places that I could have mentioned. But the ones below are a good start. If you’re the kind of person that likes to think of themselves as a ‘traveller’ rather than a ‘tourist’, then the following alternative suggestions to popular destinations should provide a good basis on which to build your itinerary. Instead of complaining about how the popular destinations are too crowded, badly managed or overdeveloped, I would encourage independent travellers to take responsibility for their own itinerary and actively seek lesser-known, less crowded – but equally appealing – destinations.
Most of the below-mentioned places have good, regular and reliable transportation connections – by air, road, rail or sea – many of which can be easily searched and booked online, using booking platforms such as Baolau.com. In addition, there are plenty of good accommodation options at most of the alternative destinations that are bookable online via booking engines, such as Agoda.com. What’s more, there are easy-to-use ride-hailing apps, such as Grab or Xanh SM, for getting around. So there’s really no excuse for not getting off the tourist trail in Vietnam. Having your own means of transportation (especially two wheels) and some basic Vietnamese language ability (or a reliable translation app) will make exploring these alternative destinations as an independent traveller even easier.
I’m not saying that Vietnam’s tourist hotspots aren’t worth visiting. They are. And, in many cases, there are now options to experience the popular destinations in a unique and more satisfying way. But the tourist trail in Vietnam is well-established, and it’s about time that more travellers start to explore more of this country. Vietnam is in a constant state of flux and change. No doubt some of the alternative destinations below will become major ones within a short space of time, and perhaps some of the major destinations will become quieter and less visited. In twenty-first century Vietnam, you learn to expect and accept change, and to adapt accordingly. Travellers would do well to remember this.
*
20 Alternative Destinations:
For each of the alternative destinations in the list below I’ve included a brief description, a link to the location on my map, and search/booking links for transportation and accommodation to help you start planning your trip. Some of the destinations are featured in Vietnam Coracle guides, in which case I’ve linked directly to them in the descriptions. Click a destination from the list below to read more about it. (If you enjoy this article, please support Vietnam Coracle or consider purchasing one of my Offline Guides & Maps from the shop.)
LIST OF DESTINATIONS:
(from south to north)
1. Côn Đảo instead of Phú Quốc
3. Trà Vinh instead of Bến Tre
4. Vũng Tàu instead of Ho Chi Minh City
5. Phan Rang instead of Mũi Né
7. Tuy Hòa instead of Nha Trang
8. Dương Long Temple instead of Mỹ Sơn
9. Quy Nhơn instead of Đà Nẵng
11. Đồng Hới DMZ instead of Huế DMZ
12. Pù Luông instead of Ninh Bình
14. Hải Phong instead of Hanoi
15. Phong Nha instead of Hạ Long Bay
17. Cao Bằng instead of Hà Giang
18. Mường Lống Loop instead of Hà Giang Loop
20. Hoàng Su Phì instead of Mù Cang Chải
MAP:
✓ = Alternative Destinations | X = Tourist Hotspots
Côn Đảo instead of Phú Quốc:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
A rugged, strikingly beautiful archipelago off Vietnam’s southeastern ‘tail’, Côn Đảo is one of the best-preserved natural environments in the nation. While Phú Quốc receives several million visitors per year, the number of foreign visitors to Côn Đảo is only around twenty thousand, and the permanent population of the entire archipelago is just 10,000. With clear seas, empty beaches, uninhabited islets, an attractive seafront town, good seafood, hiking and a fascinating but tragic past, Côn Đảo should be far more popular with foreign travellers than it currently is. (See my Côn Đảo Islands Travel Guide for details.) If you’re looking for an island closer to Phú Quốc, consider the green, perfectly formed drop in the Gulf of Thailand that is Hòn Sơn. Just 70km from Phú Quốc as the crow flies, Hòn Sơn is way off most foreign tourists’ radar, and it’s a beguiling little gem. (See my Hòn Sơn Island Travel Guide for details.)
Hà Tiên instead of Cần Thơ:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Right on the border with Cambodia, in the southwestern-most corner of Vietnam, Hà Tiên is a perfectly positioned Mekong town – equidistant from the river, the sea and the mountains that surround it. Gateway to the Cambodian coast and to the Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Thailand, such as Phú Quốc and Đảo Hải Tặc (Pirate Islands), Hà Tiên should be a destination in its own right. With giant riverside markets, elegant backstreets lined with some decaying shophouses, centuries-old tombs and temples, good street food and budget hotels – all cooled by refreshing breezes off the Đông Hồ Lake – Hà Tiên has all the ingredients for a great Mekong base for travellers wishing to go deep into this part of southern Vietnam. And yet, hardly anyone stays here, instead opting for the much bigger but far less charming city of Cần Thơ for their ‘deep south’ experience. (See my Hà Tiên Guide for details.)
Trà Vinh instead of Bến Tre:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
With a significant Khmer population (over 30%), the Mekong Delta province of Trà Vinh feels different to anywhere else in Vietnam. Dotted with hundreds of Theravada Buddhist temples (or wats), Trà Vinh is seldom-visited, despite new roads and bridges having reduced travel time from Ho Chi Minh City to under a few hours. The provincial capital, Trà Vinh city, has an appealingly sleepy, out of the way feel to it, with shaded boulevards, parks, wats, lakes and riverside promenades. Little lanes fan out from the city, passing along dykes bisecting rice fields, to fascinating Khmer temples in wooded enclosures, some of which have stood for centuries. Very few foreign travellers make it to Trà Vinh, with most taking the obvious option of going to Bến Tre (just 90 minutes from Ho Chi Minh City) for their taste of the Mekong. But venture a bit further to Trà Vinh, and you’ll leave the beaten path way behind, and be glad for having done so. (See my Trà Vinh Temple-hopping Loop for details.)
Vũng Tàu instead of Ho Chi Minh City:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Only 90 minutes by road or river from the chaotic, buzzing southern metropolis, Vũng Tàu is a surprisingly handsome, well-maintained seaside city. Over the last decade, Vũng Tàu has shaken off its seedy, grimy image to become an attractive and increasingly wealthy and sophisticated city by the sea. The seafood is excellent (not to mention the local favourite streetside snack, bánh khọt), the streets are wide, tree-lined and clean, the seafront road is breezy and attractive, the twin hills – Núi Nhỏ and Núi Lớn – rise up behind the city offering fantastic views, the people are fun and friendly, the beaches are now just about good enough to swim (or at least to stroll along), and the constant presence of ships passing on the horizon is somehow calming and comforting. Of course you should see and experience Ho Chi Minh City, but you might prefer to do so by basing yourself in the far more liveable surroundings of Vũng Tàu and just dipping into HCMC for a day or two instead. (See Vũng Tàu: City by the Sea for more.)
Phan Rang instead of Mũi Né (Phan Thiết):
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Connected by two stunning coastal roads – one from the north, one from the south – Phan Rang is in a good position to claim a large share of Vietnam’s beach tourism. However, for some reason, word hasn’t reached the masses yet, who still prefer to lay their towels on the beaches to the south, namely the ever-popular Mũi Né, near Phan Thiết. But, while Mũi Né has been on the banana pancake trail for over two decades, Phan Rang is only just starting to attract attention. A perfectly symmetrical crescent of sand, Ninh Chữ Bay functions as the municipal beach of Phan Rang and is lined with an increasing range of accommodation. The city has a growing food scene, including delicious fresh seafood and local dishes, such as bánh căn. The streets are wide and relatively quiet for a major Vietnamese city and there are Buddhist temples on the rocky hills nearby. South of town, the Dragons’ Graveyard coast road passes along deserted bays with impressive reefs and sand dunes; north of town, the Núi Chúa coast road winds through a verdant national park via beautifully positioned fishing villages, such as Vĩnh Hy, and the emerging kite-surfing community at Mỹ Hòa. Phan Rang and the surrounding coast has an exciting edge that Mũi Né lost long ago. (See my Ninh Thuận Loop for details.)
Kon Tum instead of Dalat:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Sitting on the Đăk Bla River at over 500m above sea-level, Kon Tum is a mountain town with bustling streets, good food, welcoming people and some interesting architecture – both colonial and modern. Positioned at a crossroads on the Ho Chi Minh Road, Kon Tum is surrounded by rolling farmland, distant mountains, cold pine forests and several villages inhabited by myriad ethnolinguistic groups. The days are warm and the nights are cool. Nearby, accessed via a recently upgraded road, the fledgling mountain resort village of Măng Đen sits in the misty (and chilly) pine trees where waterfalls spout from the rich, red earth. Before the pandemic, Kon Tum was starting to receive a steady trickle of independent travellers, but they have since disappeared. While the vast majority of travellers choose Dalat as their base in the Central Highlands – a destination that undeniably suffers from overtourism – Kon Tum remains silent and waiting. (See my Quảng Ngãi Loop for more.)
Tuy Hòa instead of Nha Trang:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
A city on the south-central coast with a long public beach, excellent seafood, some great accommodation – from hostels to high-rises – lots of local life and street food, built on an easy-to-navigate grid layout, with an airport, train station and good bus connections, access to nearby coves and bays via coast roads, and a Cham temple: this must be Nha Trang. But it isn’t. It’s Tuy Hòa, located 100km north of Nha Trang. While Nha Trang might tick all of the same boxes, the difference is that Nha Trang’s municipal beach is trodden by over 10 million visitors a year, whereas Tuy Hòa’s tally of international visitors is only around 30,000, and that’s for the entire province (Phú Yên), not just the city. Tuy Hòa might be a bit rough around the edges here and there, but that only adds to its appeal. Apart from the city and the beach (and some of the best seafood in the nation), there’s lots to see and do within a short drive south and north of the city: hike Đá Bia Mountain, take the coast road to the lighthouse and beach at Mũi Điện, visit the volcanic rock formations at Đá Đĩa, take the Cả Pass (known as ‘little Hải Vân Pass’) and much more besides.
Dương Long Temples instead of Mỹ Sơn Temples:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
The architectural remnants of the Kingdom of Champa are scattered across the coastal plains of central and southern Vietnam. The remains of Cham temples and towers are among the most atmospheric historical sites in the nation. For around three decades now, since the advent of mass tourism to Vietnam began in the 1990s, the temple sanctuary at Mỹ Sơn, an hour west of Hội An, has been the go-to site for visitors wanting to get a taste of Cham architecture. As fascinating as the Mỹ Sơn temples are, you will be sharing them will hundreds of other visitors. By contrast, the three, nearly 40m-high towers at Dương Long are almost always deserted. Standing in a grassy meadow less than an hour inland from Quy Nhơn, the towers date from around the 12th century. They are the tallest surviving Cham structures in Vietnam. Because there’s no one else around, you can take your time, wander around and appreciate the sense of history here. What’s more, there are several other good and unvisited Cham sites in the surrounding countryside. (See my 9 Cham Temples Near Quy Nhơn for details.)
Quy Nhơn instead of Đà Nẵng:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Having established itself as one of Vietnam’s major beach destinations and most desirable places to live, Đà Nẵng is by no means a secret (or a surprise) anymore. In fact, it’s in danger of becoming a generic beachside city, with a forest of bland, glassy high-rise hotels and apartment buildings lining the municipal beach, tides of international package tourists, and digital nomads filling the co-working cafes, waxing lyrical about the quality of life and cost of living. In other words, the city has lost a bit of soul in recent years. But Quy Nhơn, with its sparkling public beach, incredible seafood, vibrant cafe scene, life-filled backstreets, constantly improving infrastructure, youthful population, enticing street food, good-value accommodation and spectacular coastline, is the perfect substitute. While it’s quite possible that Quy Nhơn is modeling its own development on Đà Nẵng’s, for now the level of tourist development pales in comparison, as do visitor numbers. Apart from its mesmerizing coastline – there are stunning beaches and bays to the south and north of the city – Quy Nhơn is quite simply a very likeable place to be. There’s something bright, warm and appealing about it. Most travellers that do make it here, love it. (See my Beaches of Quy Nhơn & Phú Yên for details.)
Huế instead of Hội An:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
This might seem strange as Huế is already one of the most well-known travel destinations in Vietnam. But, when Vietnam’s current tourism boom first started back in the 1990s, Huế, with its imperial architecture, historic sites, picturesque riverside setting and proximity to the beach, was expected to become the jewel in the crown of Vietnam’s tourist destinations. However, in the noughties, Hội An started to win favour over Huế, having everything that Huế has but within a smaller, more manageable area, not to mention being south of the Hải Vân Pass, thus sheltering it from the bad weather that Huế can be subject to from October and March. This left Huế behind and, while it still receives its fair share of tourists, it’s nowhere near as popular (or as crowded) as Hội An. What’s more, because Huế is a city in its own right – much bigger than Hội An – it doesn’t feel like a town that’s built solely on tourism: it’s easy to get away from the crowds and experience local life, as opposed to tourist life. Everything that Hội An has, Huế also has: historic architecture, riverside promenades, fabulous food, charm, opportunities for short excursions to surrounding sites in to the countryside and the beach. The difference is that in Huế the sites aren’t all concentrated in one area and overflowing with visitors. (See the Huế Food Guide, Huế Drinking Guide, and Last Emperors: Nguyễn Dynasty Sites in Huế for details.)
Đồng Hới (for DMZ) instead of Huế (for DMZ):
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Once functioning as the border between North Vietnam and South Vietnam (from 1954-1976), the DMZ or ‘Demilitarized Zone’ roughly followed the course of the Bến Hải River as it flowed through the mountains and plains of Quảng Trị Province and out into the East Sea. Since the 1990s, the DMZ has become a tourist site, attracting veterans, war buffs and curious travellers wanting to see the places that they’ve heard so much about from movies, history books and documentaries. Traditionally, most DMZ tourists base themselves in Huế, which caters for them with various war-themed bars, restaurants and night clubs. However, Đồng Hới, which is just 70km north of the DMZ and therefore much closer to it than Huế, is a good, lower key alternative. Almost completely destroyed during the war, Đồng Hới today is a pleasant little city on the banks of a river with tidy streets, some imperial Nguyễn Dynasty architecture, a great public beach and good transportation connections by air, road and rail. The bombed-out carcass of Tam Tòa Church on the riverside in Đồng Hới is a poignant reminder of what this city, and much of the nation, endured just five decades ago. (See my Tomb Rider Coast Road for more.)
Pù Luông instead of Ninh Bình:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Just a few hours southwest of Hanoi, Pù Luông is a nature reserve centered around a steep, fertile valley enclosed by jagged limestone mountains, dotted with wood-and-thatch hamlets where homes hover on stilts above luminous rice terraces that cascade down to the banks of blue rivers. Clusters of dramatically situated homestays and resorts offer some of the most atmospheric and romantic accommodation in Vietnam, and a base from which to explore the region. Hiking, cycling, motorbiking, climbing, kayaking, waterfalls, caves, local markets and delicious home-cooked food await all travellers who venture here. While Pù Luông is by no means a ‘secret’, it is significantly less crowded, better managed and more sensitively developed than better-known nature-based destinations in the region, such as Mai Châu and, in particular, Ninh Bình. At the latter, nature has been staged, controlled and, in some cases, ‘improved’ in order to provide suitable backdrops for Instagram photos and to satisfy many visitors idea of what rural Vietnam should look like. Pù Luông’s development, on the other hand, is comparatively restrained, sensible and well-maintained: nature is the star and has largely been left to its own devices. Ninh Bình is nowhere near as pretty as it’s billed, but Pù Luông surpasses expectations. (See my Pù Luông Trave Guide for details.)
Ba Bể instead of Mai Châu:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Although Ba Bể Lake has been on the northern Vietnam circuit for many years, for some reason it’s never become a major destination. The cool, clean, placid waters of Vietnam’s largest natural lake are ideal for swimming, kayaking and boat trips, and the backdrop of jungle-clad limestone mountains provides a spectacular scene to gaze upon with a cold drink in hand on the terrace of one of the lake’s many comfortable homestays. There are hiking opportunities, caves and waterfalls to explore, not to mention the delicious family-style meals at the homestays. Ba Bể Lake does receive a steady stream of visitors year-round, but it is not crowded and certainly doesn’t feel like a well-trodden destination. It seems odd that similar nature+homestay destinations, such as Mai Châu, have been so successful while Ba Bể is yet to really take off. But, in some ways, places like Mai Châu have become a victim of their own success, as more and more homestays open and they all jostle for space and business within a small area, trinket stalls replace home-made textiles, pizza replaces home-cooked local dishes, and karaoke replaces local music and dance. This hasn’t happened (yet) at Ba Bể Lake. (See my Ba Bẩ Lake Homestays for details.)
Hải Phòng instead of Hanoi:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Of course you should visit Hanoi – it’s one of the most fascinating, vibrant, culturally rich cities in Southeast Asia. But, what if there was a city with similarly bustling, narrow alleyways lined with Chinese-style shophouses, busy local markets, tree-lined boulevards graced by fading French colonial villas, an urban environment broken by elegant lakes and waterways, and a street food scene representing a rich culinary tradition just 100km east of Hanoi and without the steady flow of tourists that the capital receives? Well, Hải Phòng is that city. Overlooked by most travellers, who usually just pass through on their way to Cát Bà Island and Hạ Long Bay, Hải Phòng has many of the attributes of Hanoi but without the crowds, without the traffic and without the tourist circus. It’s a city ripe for exploration and one that’s well-connected to boot: there’s an international airport, colonial-era train station (pictured below), inter-provincial bus station, and Hải Phòng is the second largest port in the nation. Despite large new infrastructure developments and a growing skyline, there’s still an appealingly rough edge to Hải Phòng. Vietnam’s third largest city has somehow slipped under the tourist radar.
Phong Nha instead of Hạ Long Bay:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
The landscape around Phong Nha, in north-central Vietnam, is some of the most sublime in the country. The limestone karsts of Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, whose jagged, jungled peaks extend all the way to the Lao border, provide a quintessentially exotic backdrop to oceans of rice paddies that spread between languid, blue rivers around dozens of small villages on the plains. Phong Nha is cave country. Home to the largest cave system in the world (Sơn Đoòng) and dozens of other spectacular caverns, this once sleepy backwater has gained international fame within the last decade. While the main village of Phong Nha has become a bit of a tourist trap, most people tend stick to a well-established national park loop, leaving much of the surrounding countryside practically empty. As well as the caves, there are hikes, watersports in the river, cycling and motorbike loops, war vestiges, great food and a plethora of excellent-value accommodation spread across the countryside. Although Phong Nha is a long way from Hạ Long Bay, the scenery is comparable: Phong Nha may not have the ocean, but it has the limestone karsts in abundance. Hạ Long Bay is one of the most-visited, overtouristed sights in Vietnam, but Phong Nha is still just emerging. For decades, travellers going from south to north have always skipped a vast section of the country: between Huế and Hạ Long Bay or Ninh Bình. But Phong Nha plugs that gap and any self-respecting traveller should make this a non-negotiable stop on their itinerary. (See my Phong Nha Routes & Loops for details.)
Lý Sơn Island instead of Cát Bà Island:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
As beautiful as Cát Bà Island is, it can get extremely busy on weekends and public holidays, leading to long queues for the ferry, fully-booked (and over-priced) hotels, unbearable noise pollution and crowded beaches. Add to that the extraordinary land reclamation and accompanying development that’s currently taking place in the bay fronting Cát Bà town, and the reasons not to visit the island are many. Fortunately, there are other scenic islands off the coast of mainland Vietnam that remain comparatively undeveloped. Lý Sơn is an island dominated by three large, extinct volcanic craters, lying off the central coast. Inland, the island is barren, dry and sandy, its flat patchwork of fields (predominantly growing garlic, for which Lý Sơn is famous) rising violently to dramatic cliffs that plunge into the cobalt-blue sea. Although there are very few quintessential tropical beaches with swaying palms and white sand, Lý Sơn boasts dramatic bays backed by twisted rock formations, black cliffs, and mesmerizing crater-top views. The water quality is among the best in Vietnam, accommodation is plentiful and cheap, and very few foreign travellers come here, even though it’s popular with Vietnamese backpackers. There’s also the option of a short boat trip to Đảo Bé, a tiny gem of an island that’s hardly more than a reef poking above the surface of the sea. (See my Lý Sơn Island Travel Guide for details.) Another alternative is Phú Qúy Island, off the coast of Mũi Né, which is like a mini-Lý Sơn, with volcanic rock formations, temples, great seafood and agreeable fishing villages. (See my Phú Qúy Island Travel Guide for details.)
Cao Bằng instead of Hà Giang:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Vietnam’s northern-most province, Hà Giang was once a remote frontier where only the most intrepid of travellers ventured. But, over the last few years, it has become an A-list travel destination, particularly among backpackers. Best-known for the Hà Giang Loop (see below), parts of the province – especially the eastern half – now receive close to four million foreign and domestic tourists annually. However, the next province east is Cao Bằng, and this is where the frontier edge that Hà Giang once possessed lives on. Occupying the northeastern corner of Vietnam and poking into China’s Guangxi Province, Cao Bằng features forest-cloaked mountains, soaring limestone karsts rising from jade-blue rivers meandering through plains of rice paddies and soy plantations, towering waterfalls such as Bản Giốc, ancient stone villages, historic sites such as Pác Bó Cave, and an agreeable riverside provincial capital. A network of stunning provincial roads connects the sights and villages via scenery that’s on a par with its more famous northern neighbour. There is no doubt that Cao Bằng will start to draw the same number of visitors as Hà Giang – it’s just a matter of time. (See my Northeast Routes & Loops for details.)
Mường Lống Loop instead of Hà Giang Loop:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
In the post-pandemic years, the popularity of the Hà Giang Loop – a motorbike route through the otherworldly landscapes of Vietnam’s northern-most province – has soared. Although motorbike riders in Vietnam have long-known that the Hà Giang Loop is special, no one predicted the speed at which it has been propelled into the mainstream. On the one hand this great, as travellers get to see and experience a beautiful region that was once restricted to foreign tourists, and a province that used to be one of the poorest in the nation now receives increasing revenue from the tourist boom. On the other hand, there’s no denying that, with hundreds of bikes on the roads, queues at gas stations and viewpoints, and fully-booked homestays, some of the magic of the Hà Giang Loop has gone. But, there is no need to worry, because there are plenty of alternative motorbike loops to choose from, many of which might claim to be “the next Hà Giang Loop”. This could be the Mường Lống Loop, deep in the mountains of neglected Nghệ An – the biggest province in Vietnam – where the landscapes and roads near the Laotian border are magnificent. Foreign riders hardly ever come here, and yet the roads and scenery are fabulous. What’s more, at the centre of the loop is Mường Lống, a hamlet with a fledgling homestay initiative at which to base yourself while exploring the loop. (See my Mường Lống Loop for details.) Another potential alternative to the Hà Giang Loop is the Bình Liêu Loop in the far northeastern province of Quảng Ninh. (See my Bình Liêu Loop for details.)
Sìn Hồ instead of Sa Pa:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
It seems that now, even the travel industry (which is often 10 years behind reality) accepts that Sa Pa is not what it’s cranked up to be. A former French colonial hill station perched on a mountainside, 1,600m (5,250ft) up in what used to be referred to as the ‘Tonkinese Alps’, Sa Pa’s location and surrounding countryside are spectacular. But the town itself is a tourist trap of the highest order and has been that way for at least 15 years. Finally, the guidebooks and the travel agencies are catching up to reality: Sa Pa is overdeveloped, badly developed, overcrowded and can be quite unpleasant. Fortunately, there are some Sa Pa-based tour companies that will show you another side of this mountain town and the villages around it. But if you’re an independent traveller, get a motorbike or hire a car and driver or take a local bus to the mountain-top village of Sìn Hồ, 125km west of Sa Pa via some breathtaking mountain roads and scenery. Sìn Hồ itself isn’t necessarily pretty, but it has a genuine local market where myriad ethnolinguistic groups come to buy and sell on weekends, several locally-run guest houses, some proper mountain food restaurants, a very mild (i.e. cold) climate, and an exciting frontier atmosphere. If you want to experience a Vietnamese village in the clouds, visit Sìn Hồ, not Sa Pa. (See my Sìn Hồ Loop for details.)
Hoàng Su Phì instead of Mù Cang Chải:
View Map | Search Transport | Search Hotels
Mù Cang Chải might not be a familiar name to most foreign travellers yet, but it’s extremely well-known among domestic tourists. The main draw in this mountainous northwestern corner of Vietnam are the rice terraces that follow the contours of steep valleys as far as the eye can see. Before the harvest (usually around September/October, depending on the weather), thousands of travellers flock to Mù Cang Chải to photograph the bright orange-green terraces in the crisp dawn light and the soft dusk light. It’s so popular that you can hardly find a hotel room, and even if you can, the prices are massively inflated. But rice terraces can be seen all across the northern Vietnamese highlands, and Hoàng Su Phì, in the less-travelled western region of Hà Giang Province, is a great alternative to Mù Cang Chải. Small hamlets are dotted on the mountainsides among the rice terraces, where cosy homestays offer superb views of the harvest colours in the valley. The misty mountains are traversed be a network of paved lanes leading deep into the landscape abutting the northern border with China. This mystical world of rice and tea, mist and light, mountains and rivers is what the northern highlands are all about. The best time to visit for the rice terraces is July to September. (See my Rice Terraces of Northern Vietnam for details.)
For more useful resources like this, see Related Posts below. And if you enjoyed this article, please support Vietnam Coracle or consider purchasing one of my Offline Guides & Maps from the shop. Thank you, Tom
Support My Site
Free | Independent | No Sponsored Content
“Hello, if you enjoy my website, please support it.
Thank you.” Tom
*Disclosure: I never receive payment for anything I write: my content is always free and independent. I’ve written this article because I want to: I like these alternative destinations and I want my readers to know about them. For more details, see my Disclosure & Disclaimer statements and my About Page
Great article, Tom, and having already visited a few of your suggestions, I can definitely vouch for what you are saying. Tuy Hoa has been on my radar for a few years, so good to see your positive review. Completely agree regarding Quy Nhon, one of my very favourite places in Vietnam and Ha Tien is another little gem. Dong Hoi, not on this list, is one place that I am curious about, so any views? Either way, I am sure that you can come up with a follow-up list on the next twenty :). Thanks again for a really terrific piece.
Thanks, Nick.
By the way, Đồng Hới is in this list here.
Best,
Tom
Sorry about that, Tom, obviously didn’t read through properly but very glad to see it on there. I think that we are going to base our next few trips around this list…