Best Vietnam tours for family in 2024 - 2025

Long-lasting history, rich culture, elegant architecture combined with its safety and pleasant weather make Vietnam to be the ideal destination for a family vacation. Whether your family has small kids or elders, Vietnam is full of family-friendly activities for you to relax and discover our colorful history and culture.

Hanoi

Hanoi is one of the most unique places in Vietnam due to its quaint and rustic atmosphere. This city is the combination of traditional beauty and colonial architecture. Hoan Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter are the two must-visit attractions in Hanoi. Taking a cyclo-rickshaw around this area, you can see the bustling daily life of local people, visit some ancient houses, and immerse in the colorful culture of this 1000-year-old capital city. There are many other colonial relics, museums, pagodas, music shows and concerts in Hanoi. Make sure you try some local dishes such as Pho and Bun cha, and buy some traditional souvenirs in the Old Quarter.

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is the most sought-after tourist destination in Vietnam due to its spectacular beauty. A two or three-day Ha Long Bay cruise is a must-do activity for your trip to Vietnam. Nothing can compare with the comfortable feeling and relaxation when your family enjoys the delicious seafood cooked and served by the skillful cooks while seeing the most beautiful and romantic natural sites in the world. You will have a chance to enjoy the breathtaking scenery of thousands of limestone caves and mountains and swim in a clear beach. Your family can participate in fishing, climbing, snorkeling, trekking, kayaking and cycling.

Mai Chau

If Sapa is a little bit far for your family trip, Mai Chau is an alternative. Located in the Northern countryside of Vietnam, this is the place for cycling, relaxing and taking part in family-friendly activities. Stunning rice paddles, unique stilt houses, and peaceful ethnic villages are the main reason for a cycling tour to Mai Chau. If you love to discover traditional crafts in Vietnam’s mountainous area, visit an ethnic family and see how skillful ethnic women are in weaving and making brocade. Traditional markets here are where you can see how brocade products are traded and take photos of beautiful women in traditional costumes.

Hoi An

Hoi An is one of the most rustic towns in Vietnam. This town used to be a major international trading port in the 16th and 17th centuries. Chinese and Japanese merchants who settled down in Hoi An brought cultural influences to this town’s architecture and cuisines. Visiting Hoi An, you can see truly genuine Vietnamese architecture which is harmoniously influenced by French, Japanese and Chinese architectural styles. Hoi An also hosts a number of exciting cooking and lantern making classes taught by experienced local artists.

Mui Ne

22 kilometers from the east Phan Thiet City, Mui Ne is one of the most beautiful beaches in Southeast Asia with blue sea and sandy hills. Mui Ne has become an attractive tourist destination with wide immense white sand dunes and towering coconut trees bending around the coast. You can sit under the cool green coconut to enjoy refreshing sea breezes. Mui Ne is the home to a lot of high-quality hotels, restaurants and resorts for your stay.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) is the most dynamic and bustling city in Vietnam. It is remarkable for the harmonious blending of traditional values with northern and western cultural features. Skyscrapers dot the city and everywhere are the signs of growing status cars, mobile phones, upscale cafes, fine dining and trendy nightlife. This city will be an ideal destination for history buffs who love to discover our colonial era. There are many colonial architecture and museums for your tour to Ho Chi Minh City: Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Museum of Vietnamese History, Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office, and Saigon Opera House. For shopaholics, don’t forget to check out Ben Thanh Market and many other shopping malls.

We recommend some exhilarating activities that can bring your family members together in your tour to Vietnam.

Take a cyclo-rickshaw around Hanoi

Basically, a cyclo is defined as a kind of bicycle taxi which is pedaled by a cyclo driver sitting behind you. Different from a traditional taxi, a cyclo with open design will offer you and your kids more chance to enjoy and take photographs of bustling and rustic Hanoi. Your family will feel more relaxed when taking this type of transportation, especially when you are tired of long hours walking. When you are visiting Hanoi, you can easily find a cyclo-rickshaw in tourist areas around Hanoi Old Quarter. Sitting on a cyclo, you can sense the daily life of the capital city, breathe in a unique culture and discover traditional and colonial architecture in an authentic way.

Participate in a cooking class

It is fun to cook Vietnamese traditional cuisines on your own with the guide from a professional cook. Your family can visit our local wet market, choose fresh vegetables and herbs and start cooking out delicious dishes such as spring rolls or fried rice. Your children can learn every process in cooking: how to choose and process the ingredients, how to marinate the meat, how to control the fire and how to sophisticatedly decorate the dish. It is interesting to learn how local people use seasonings, herbs and fish sauce to add the delicate aroma taste to the foods.

Spend an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is no doubt to be one of the best places to experience in your holiday to Vietnam. You can choose the most popular option to discover this bay by taking 1 or 2-night cruise programs or another recently interesting option: Spending a night at a hotel on Bai Chay beach then taking a half-day boat trip. Ha Long’s unique system of limestone karsts and beautiful islands are really fascinating to view from a boat. Watching sunrise and sunset on a cruise will be an unforgettable experience for your trip.

Relax on a beach

Living in crowded cities will prevent you from enjoying fresh air and tranquil atmosphere. There is no better solution for this situation than spending a beach vacation in Vietnam. Da Nang, Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Phu Quoc and Con Dao – they are just some of our turquoise beaches. Vietnamese beaches are famous for gentle waves, clean water and towering coconut trees around the shore. Our country is also the home to many high-end and award-winning hotels and resorts that will delight your beach break here.

Discover vibrant floating markets in Mekong Delta

The floating markets throughout Central and Southern Vietnam in the verdant greenery and bustling river towns are an iconic feature of the exciting region Mekong Delta. As the country changes rapidly with economic growth, the need for the markets changes as well, but the fact that no trip to Vietnam would be complete without seeing how the local life remains the same. You don’t need to have breakfast before your boat trip to Mekong Delta; there are several local dishes and fresh tropical fruits for you to buy here.

Don’t forget to sample Vietnamese cuisines in your family trip to Vietnam. With our abundance in agricultural products, Vietnamese foods are healthy with a combination of fresh vegetables, rice and noodles with meat and seafood. Our traditional dishes are highly praised for their special aroma, eye-catching decoration and delicious taste. Vietnamese cuisines are different from north to south: In the North people use fewer spices, foods in Central Vietnam have hot and spicy flavors while Southern dishes are sweeter. Vietnamese dishes are influenced by French, Chinese, and sometimes Indian cuisines as well.

Pho

Pho is a signature dish of Vietnam. The bowl of the hot fragrant broth, the thick rice noodles, and the sliced bits of the tender beef or chicken wins the gourmets’ praises. You can find Pho anywhere in Vietnam, but this dish tastes the most authentic in our 1000-year-old capital city. There is no strict rule to enjoying Ha Noi Pho, but most people use a spoon and a pair of chopsticks to eat the noodle and slurp the broth. Since the broth can be sweet or spicy, yet very delicious, don’t forget to slurp it. Traditionally, the vinegar, lime juice, and slices of garlic are added to enhance the flavor of the bowl.

Nem (Fried spring rolls)

The main ingredients for fried spring rolls are duck/chicken eggs, ground meat, mushrooms and diced carrots, onions and kohlrabi, rolled in a rice paper. You can choose a variety of meat options, from pork and beef to crabs or shrimps. The rolls are fried in boiling oil and eaten with a special dipping sauce made from lemon juice, chili, sugar and pepper.

Bun cha (Barbecued pork with rice vermicelli)

Bun cha is a cannot-miss dish when you travel to Hanoi. Compared to Pho, Bun cha is usually preferred by foreign tourists. Thin white vermicelli is served with pork which is grilled over a charcoal fire. There are two types of pork for Bun cha: cha vien (ground pork) and cha mieng (grilled thin sliced pork). The highlight of this food is the sweet-and-sour dipping sauce which is a mixture of fish sauce, sugar and rice vinegar. This dish will not be complete without enjoying with fresh herbs and vegetables such as bean sprouts, lettuce, and mint.

Cao lau

Cao lau is the special treat of Hoi An that you can only find in this small ancient town. Cao lau is served with noodles and pork, topped with local vegetables, peanuts, and rice crackers. This food is influenced by Japanese and Chinese cultures that were brought by foreign traders when they settled in this port city. You will see some unique feature in this dish compared to other food in Vietnam: the thick noodle is the same as Japanese udon, the rice crackers and porks are in Chinese style, and the broth is Vietnamese.

Banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich)

The French brought bread to our country during the colonial era and we took it to a different level. Popular fillings of banh mi are pate, fried egg, hotdog, barbecued pork, cucumber, coriander and soy sauce. You can choose different ingredients to make your own quick meal.

Banh xeo (Vietnamese pancake)

‘Xeo’ means sizzling in Vietnamese; it is the sound of the pancake when being fried. This appealing food is made from rice flour and coconut milk, filled with pork, shrimps, bean sprouts, onions and mushrooms. The soul of banh xeo is its sweet fermented peanut butter sauce. You can wrap a little bit of banh xeo in lettuce leaves and dip it in the sauce.