Central Vietnam

Nha Trang was also our last destination in the south of Vietnam. This time we continued with the night train to Da Nang in the middle of Vietnam. We had booked a sleeper cabin with four beds for the ten-hour journey. Due to the very bumpy and shaky ride, sleeping wasn't that easy, but in the end it worked out okay.

Da Nang

We only chose Da Nang as a stopover to be able to travel to the neighboring Hoi An the next day. Since it was raining continuously in Da Nang, we didn't see anything else besides the Dragon Bridge.

Hoi An

Then we continued to Hoi An, which is said to be one of the most beautiful cities in Vietnam. And it really was beautiful. There is not much to do in Hoi An. You can stroll through the beautiful streets of the old town with the yellow houses all day, which are decorated with glowing lanterns in the evening. There are lots of shops and cafes here, inviting you to browse and linger.

And above all, there are countless tailor shops that tempt you with tailored suits, dresses or shoes. Of course, we also took advantage of this and ended up at the small tailor shop Canali on the recommendation of our hostess, where we decided on a suit for me and a skirt for Kathrin. The atmosphere in the shop was always very funny and after trying on several times and making small changes, everything fit perfectly and could be sent directly to Germany.

Unfortunately, the weather here was not really good again after the typhoon. In the afternoon, the water rose so high that boats could partially drive through the streets.

In addition, Hoi An is famous for its cuisine. Some of the most delicious Vietnamese dishes come from Hoi An. We wanted to try as many of them as possible. So we started in the morning with a typical Cao Lau for breakfast. These are thick noodles with pork and herbs. We continued with the White Roses, a type of dim dum with shrimp filling. Later we had Com Ga on the menu. This is yellow rice with chicken, herbs and a special sauce with tofu pieces. This was also our favorite dish. The day was rounded off with a delicious banana pancake with chocolate sauce and condensed milk😉

Imperial City Hue

After two nice days in Hoi An, we continued to the former imperial city of Hue, which was also the capital of Vietnam until 1945. Since it was raining here too, we couldn't do much either. Nevertheless, we planned to see at least a few things. So we first visited an imperial tomb. There are 7 tombs in the vicinity of Hue. We visited the tomb of Emperor Minh Mang, which is also the largest. The burial site was huge and looked more like a park with a lake and places to rest in the green. At the end of the path up and down through several pavilions, we stood in front of the entrance to the actual tomb. Unfortunately, it was closed. It is located behind a thick underground wall in a hill and the gate is only opened once a year on the anniversary of the death of Emperor Minh Mang.

After that, we went to the Citadel, a city within the city where the emperor and his family lived. The emperor's private area is also called the forbidden city. The area is incredibly large. Unfortunately, some of the buildings were destroyed during the war. Others are being restored gradually. Nevertheless, it was very impressive to see where the emperor and his retinue lived back then.

In the evening, we found a restaurant where you could order a 5-course menu with typical dishes from Hue and the waiter explained to us in German how to eat them.

Phong Nha National Park

Before finally heading to the north of the country, there was one special destination on our agenda. The Phong Nha National Park with its over 300 discovered caves. So we took the train from Hue to Dong Hoi. From there, the tour to the caves started the next day. We chose to visit the Paradise Cave and the Phong Nha Cave.

The first stop was the Paradise Cave. After a short climb, we went down a staircase into the cave. The dimensions of this cave were simply incredible. With a length of 31 kilometers, it is the longest dry cave in Asia. The first kilometer is developed for visitors and with a maximum width of 150 meters and a maximum height of 100 meters, it is absolutely impressive. Unfortunately, this is not fully captured in the photos.

After lunch, we visited the second cave. This time it was not a dry cave, so we took a boat to the Phong Nha Cave. Here, too, we were able to go one kilometer into the cave. This cave is smaller than the Paradise Cave, but still equally impressive in a different way. Inside, there is even a sandy beach where we could get off the boat and explore a part of the cave on foot.

This was definitely one of our most beautiful experiences in Vietnam. If you have the opportunity, you should definitely make a stop here. We definitely didn't regret it😊

Thus, our time in Central Vietnam came to an end as the next day we flew to Hanoi.