Saigon tourists love Hanoi's autumn

When it comes to traveling to Hanoi, some tourists assume that "you must come here in the fall". Domestic and international travel guides suggest that the best time to travel to Hanoi is in the fall from August to November. Hanoi's weather is at its most beautiful at this time of the year, with clear blue skies, cool breezes, falling yellow leaves, and the faint scent of milk flowers.

Ms. Dieu Anh, who works in the media industry in Ho Chi Minh City, shared that traveling to Hanoi in the fall has been a regular plan for the past 5 years. This year, Ms. Thanh "has an appointment" with Hanoi in early November. The biggest reason why Ms. Thanh loves the capital's fall is the beautiful weather, suitable for walking around, eating street food, and drinking coffee. This is also the season when many tourist destinations in the North such as Pu Luong, Moc Chau, and Ha Giang have beautiful scenery, so they can combine tourism. This year, Ms. Dieu Anh also wants to go to Hanoi to experience some Michelin-starred restaurants.

"My problem when traveling to Hanoi in the fall is that the weather is quite unpredictable and changes quickly, so it's easy to get sick," said the female tourist. In addition, Dieu Anh found that this year's "airfare is a bit expensive", about 600,000 VND higher than last year, reaching over 3 million VND.

Thao Ly, 27 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City, shared that she has been to Hanoi 5-6 times and always in the fall. Ly said she loves the capital's fall "because it has contrasting nuances to the bustling Ho Chi Minh City". This is when the weather in Hanoi is chilly and dry, allowing her to "wear long-sleeved clothes" that she "almost never had the chance to wear in Ho Chi Minh City". In addition, this is also the season of green rice. "You have to enjoy green rice in Hanoi in the fall to fully appreciate the delicacy and deliciousness of this gift from young rice", Ly said.

On her most recent trip to Hanoi in 2020, Ms. Ly spent 3 days walking around the streets, eating pho, drinking lemon tea on the sidewalk, and waking up early to watch the slow pace of life in the old quarters.

This fall, Ly chose to travel to Korea to see the yellow and red leaves instead of going to Hanoi like every year. Partly because she wanted a change of scenery, the other reason was the high price of airfare from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, about 3-3.5 million VND for a round trip. "Adding food, transportation, and shopping expenses, it will cost about 7-8 million VND for 3-4 days in Hanoi. I found it quite expensive, so I changed direction to a more refreshing destination," Ly shared.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dat, CEO of Best Price Travel Company, said that airfares for the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route are at a high level, but the number of Ho Chi Minh City customers booking tickets, combos, and tours is still increasing compared to the summer. From June to the end of August, the company received more than 1,500 orders for airfares for the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route, an average of 500 orders per month. From the beginning of September until now, in just over a month, there have been about 700 orders and it will continue to increase in October and November.

In addition, the number of customers booking tours to Hanoi in October and November is about 100 and the number continues to increase because the northern provinces in general are entering the tourist season. Hanoi is about to enter the wild sunflower season, Ha Giang is in the buckwheat flower season, and Ta Xua is in the cloud hunting season.

Mr. Dat said that tourists from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi often choose package tours that include airfare, sightseeing in Hanoi and other northern provinces such as Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Ninh Binh. The tour duration is about 5 days 4 nights or 6 days 5 nights. Tourists from Ho Chi Minh City and southern tourists coming to Hanoi in the fall often visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and watch the flag-raising ceremony.

"The trend of taking pictures of wedding cars in Hanoi also attracts a large number of customers, especially young customers," said Mr. Dat.

Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing and Communications Director of Vietluxtour Company, said that this year, tourists from Ho Chi Minh City account for more than 50% of the number of tourists booking tours to Hanoi around September - November. Hanoi in particular and the Northern tourist routes in general are always "popular" at this time, because the climate and landscape are convenient for tourism, and the services are not overloaded. Tours to the capital often combine visits to Northern tourist destinations such as Sapa - Fansipan - Hanoi - Ha Long, the total price of 3-4 star service packages is about 8.3 million VND.

Many MICE organizations also choose to come to Hanoi in the fall because of the ideal weather conditions and infrastructure services that meet the conference and event requirements of groups of up to hundreds of people each. Hanoi's geographical location is also convenient for combining conference tours with sightseeing and relaxation in Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, and Ha Long provinces.

"The number of domestic tourists booking tours to Hanoi this fall has not shown much growth compared to the summer. However, in some markets such as inbound and MICE, demand for tourism in Hanoi and northern routes tends to increase compared to the same period last year by 10-15%," said Ms. Thu.