After visiting Vietnam in 2004 before it was a popular tourist destination I really wanted to visit again with my husband and family. This time as were travelling as a family we wanted to base ourselves in one location and the perfect place for this was beautiful Hoi An, which is located 1 hour from Danang International Airport. We flew direct into Danang from Singapore with Singapore Airlines, the trip was so easy and I highly recommend this option of flights as transiting in Singapore airport is always a great experience with lots to see and do and plenty of shops to pass the time by.

We stayed at Vinh Hung Riverside Resort and Spa and the location was perfect. We had a room overlooking the river from the front balcony and the rear entrance overlooked the pool, which of course had a swim up pool bar to keep everyone happy. One of the highlights was at Happy hour the resort provided an array of incredible nibbles to the point you barely needed to eat dinner each night! The resort also offered some great activities and the highlight for my children was the lantern making.

We did a walking food tour with Intrepid and I would highly recommend doing something like this, it was a great way to get our bearings of the local area and as food is such an important part of travelling for me it was great to experience places that I would never have gone too.

Roaming the streets of Hoi An is something else especially in the late afternoon and into the evening when it cools down and the streets are lit with lanterns. There is a beautiful vibe about the place and the shopping is great! One of our favourite places to eat was a restaurant called Morning Glory. It came recommended by a good friend and I must say it did not disappoint. We ate here multiple times and where never disappointed. The food was incredible and service was excellent.

A trip to Hoi An is not complete without visiting one of the many tailors in the old town. There are tailors on every corner. My suggestion is to have a plan of what you would like, some photos of what you would like made. My husband had a tailored suit made, I had a few items made. I took some clothing that I loved and asked them to replicate it, which they did to perfection

We did a couple of day trips while we were here and the first one was such a great day. We went to the Golden Hand Bridge at Ba Na Hills. We hired a driver for the day to take us here, it was about an hour drive from our resort. You have to get a cable car high up into the Hills to the Golden Hand bridge and it is spectacular & hard to believe how they build this where they did. After we visited the Golden Hand Bridge we went a bit further up to Sun World which is a theme park set even higher into the mountains. It was incredible and there was so much to see.

The next day trip we did was the ultimate highlight of our trip. We did a day trip with Vespa tours exploring local villages. We each had a Vespa with driver and totally went off the beaten track and explored local villages, met with locals, visited local homes . We didn’t feel like tourists visiting the touristy places we felt like we were exploring the real Vietnam. It was the most heart warming day and I would do it all over in heart beat given the chance.

As we had 8 nights in Hoi An we decided to split the trip into two experiences and changes hotels. After 4 nights we moved to a new hotel in a different part of the old town. We booked the 5 star spa resort called the Almanity. It had a completely different feel to our previous resort and was definitely a step up. The hotel rooms were built around the pool which was the star of the hotel. It was a beautiful resort and the highlight for me & my hubby was the daily 60 min spa treatment included in the rates. The Spa was incredible and I would highly recommend this. The hotel also offered daily yoga classes. I enjoyed our stay here and I would recommend this for couples or a group of ladies to stay here in the future. It wasn’t the ideal family resort but still definitely could work. It was a little further from the Old Town to walk than our previous hotel.

While we were here it was my son’s 7^th birthday so we hired a driver to take us about 30 min by car to VinPearl World. What a treat this was for my son! It was about $30 entry fee to VinPearl World Amusement park and talk about value for money! There was a Zoo, Amusement Park & Water Park. We could have spent a couple of days here. You can actually stay at the VinPearl Resort if you wanted a beach experience.