Vietnam

It looks terrifying on day one, we know — but there is a rhythm to it. The trick is to step off the kerb and walk slowly and steadily at a constant pace, letting the motorbikes flow around you like water. Do not stop suddenly, do not dart, and do not run backwards — that is what causes accidents, because the riders are reading your movement and steering around it. Keep your eyes up, one hand slightly raised, and just keep going. Within a day the whole family will be crossing Hanoi’s Old Quarter like locals.

Absolutely worth it — waking up among those limestone karsts with morning mist on the water is the memory people carry home. Good news for queasy travellers: Halong is a sheltered bay, not open sea, so it stays remarkably calm and the big cruise boats barely move — seasickness is rarely an issue here. What matters far more is picking a reputable operator, because quality varies wildly. We book you a well-run cruise and, for the steadiest, quietest night, a lower-deck cabin nearer the middle of the boat rather than right at the back by the engine.

It is true — Hanoi and Halong from December to February can turn cool, damp and misty, and the bay loses some of its blue-sky magic under grey cloud. If you have flexibility, February to April is the sweet spot up north: milder, brighter and greener. The south around Ho Chi Minh City and the beaches stays warm all year, so it is never really off-limits. If your dates are fixed in mid-winter, we simply weight your trip more towards the south and pack a couple of light layers for the north.

The zeros do throw everyone — you will be a millionaire within minutes of landing, since roughly 300,000 dong is only about ₹1,000. That confusion is exactly what the odd unscrupulous driver counts on. So agree every taxi fare upfront, or better, use the Grab app where the price is fixed and cashless. Keep a stash of smaller notes for markets and tips, and double-check the number of zeros when you pay. Withdraw from ATMs attached to proper banks rather than standalone ones, and you keep things clean and simple.

Vietnam is genuinely long — Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is over 1,700 km, so you cannot casually drive down in a holiday. Domestic flights are cheap and frequent, often an hour or so, and they save you whole days you can spend actually enjoying the place; for most families we route the long legs by air. That said, the overnight sleeper train is a lovely experience if you want it — pick one scenic stretch, say Hue to Da Nang along the coast, do that by rail for the romance, and fly the rest.