North Vietnam is home to the country’s most beautiful landscapes: dragon-inspired limestone cliffs towering over the blue-green waters and caves of Halong Bay, the ‘Halong Bay of the rice fields’ at Tam Coc in the Red River Delta near Ninh Binh, Southeast Asia’s highest mountains and ethnically diverse farming villages outside Sapa, crooked lanes with tin-makers and silk sellers (and magic-turtle lakes, and uncle Ho Chi Minh himself) in ever-changing Hanoi.

Chapters

BAC HA Many hill tribes (and a few Sapa daytrippers) come for the Sunday market — nearby homestays and more markets wait for those willing to stay longer.
CAT BA ISLAND Halong Bay’s largest island is easily reached without a tour — good for mountain hikes, motorbike rides, beach time and a kayak trip.
HAIPHONG Port town with ferry service to Cat Ba has an appealing Old Quarter to ramble about.
HALONG BAY Here’s the 101 on how to figure out how to get a bay cruise amidst the famous limestone islands named for a magic dragon.
HANOI Vietnam’s lovely capital mashes its ancient charms with a newly rising 21st-century energy.
NINH BINH South of Hanoi, the Ninh Binh area is home to very rare primates, jungle trails and ‘the Halong Bay of the rice fields’ at Tam Coc.
SAPA Home to Vietnam’s tallest peaks and many minority villages — an overnight train ride north from Hanoi.

Itineraries

If you have one week, spend a couple days in Hanoi, and take two- or three-day trips to Sapa and Halong Bay

If you have a little more time, bus to Ninh Binh for thrilling DIY adventures in jungles and boat trips through limestone caves

If you want to get way off the beaten track, arrange a guided motorcycle tour of the remote north — from Ba Be Lake to the Chinese border — or hike through Cuc Phuong National Park for a homestay in a Mnong village

My Favorites

Motorbiking around Ninh Binh. I did much on my own — a Tam Coc boat ride at the crowd-free hour of 7am, a ride to Phat Diem — then had a guide take me to Cuc Phuong for a day with primates and empty jungle trails.

Hanoi. Just the whole thing. It’s easily one of the nicest cities in Southeast Asia, and maintains its walkable core despite a boom in motorbike sales (and relative chilliness of some locals).

Bac Ha. Some whisper it could be the ‘next Sapa.’ It doesn’t have the same views, but it’s hard to argue with the attraction of taking a motorbike over there — even when the bike breaks — and roaming backroads to less-visited markets of the Hmong and Tay.

Luxury hotel splurges. Hanoi’s Sofitel Metropole is Vietnam’s best lapse back into the French-colonial past.