Vietnam with kids

Caves and pagodas inside a limestone hill, reached by lift or by a lot of steps. Take a torch for the deeper caverns.

Lantern-lit, closed to cars in the evenings and small enough to walk end to end. Buy a paper lantern and float it on the river.

A very large outdoor stage show on an island in the river, with the theme park grounds open beforehand. Loud, and late-finishing.

Brick Cham temples in a jungle valley, some still holed by the war. Little shade and a lot of walking — go early.

The walled imperial city, entered over a moat. Large, hot and only partly rebuilt after the war — the gaps are half the story, and worth explaining first.

The most extravagant of the royal tombs and the one to pick if you only do one — concrete outside, mosaic of broken glass and porcelain inside. A lot of steps.

An art museum in the hills outside Hue, built around one artist's work and quiet enough to let a child wander. A cool room and no crowds.

Long, sandy and gently shelving, with newer and cheaper resorts along it than their equivalents in Thailand.

A riverside funfair in Da Nang with one of the taller observation wheels in the world. Opens at three; go for the last hour of light.

A Japanese-run water park on the beach road with an indoor section, so a wet afternoon in the rainy season still works.

Slides, a wave pool and warm mineral baths in the hills forty minutes inland. A full day, and cooler than the coast.

Theme park, water park and a small zoo on one ticket, half an hour south of Hoi An. The biggest single day out on this coast.

A very long cable car to a hilltop French village, a funfair and the hands. Touristy, cooler than the coast, and children love it.

Round coracles spun through a coconut palm water forest. Twenty minutes of it is plenty and it is the photograph of the trip.

Two hours in a workshop bending bamboo and stretching silk, and you leave with a collapsible one that fits in a suitcase.

A gravity toboggan down through the pines, bought separately from the park ticket. Height limits apply — check before you queue.

An hour on the water past the lit bridges, and cheap enough to be worth it even if the children last twenty minutes.

A rowed sampan through the old town at dusk, with paper lanterns to release. The thing everyone photographs, and it earns it.

Rent the traditional dress and a conical hat for the day. Children's sizes are stocked, and the old town is built for the photographs.

A speedboat out to a marine park with clear shallow water. Cancelled outright in rough season, and the crossing is bumpy in any.

Noodles only made in this town, and a baguette that will spoil every other sandwich. Plain fillings on request for a fussy eater.

Market first, then a kitchen, and you eat what you make. Transfers included, which matters when the class is out of town.

A river-view buffet tea in air conditioning, at a price that makes it a reasonable way to sit out the hottest part of the day.

Bun bo Hue where it comes from, plus banh beo and banh loc in small dishes. Central Vietnamese food is the spiciest in the country — say so when you book.

The imperial court style, served as a fixed menu of many small plates. More theatre than heat, which makes it the easier Hue meal with children.

The caves and pagodas in the morning, the old town in the afternoon, with the driving done for you. Lift up, steps down.

The citadel and a tomb or two, over the Hai Van pass and back. A long day in a car for a young child; fine from about eight.

An open-tram safari plus a walking zoo. Go at opening, before both the heat and the coach parties.

The island's two famous exports, half an hour apart. The fish sauce barrels smell exactly as bad as children hope.

A gondola canal, a bamboo pavilion and an evening water-puppet performance in the north of the island. Free to walk around.

An outdoor evening show performed on and over the water at Sunset Town, with fireworks at the end. Sit back, not front — you will get wet.

The bamboo-theatre show at Grand World, told through dance and puppetry with no dialogue to follow. Under an hour.

A large theme park with a water section and an aquarium on one ticket. The single biggest day out on the island.

White sand and water shallow enough to walk out a long way, on the quiet south of the island.

A sub-zero room full of carved ice, coats provided. Twenty minutes, and a genuine relief in the middle of the afternoon.

Nearly eight kilometres over the sea to a small island, and the world record holder for length. Fifteen minutes each way over fishing boats.

A wooden boat south to three small islands with clear, shallow reef. Calmest November to April; rough and often cancelled the rest of the year.

Fish and prawns picked from tanks in Duong Dong. Agree the price per kilo before anything is weighed, and check the bill against it.

One ticket covering a choice of the island's paid attractions. Worth it only if you will genuinely do three or more; work it out first.

Speedboat to three islands, buffet lunch on board, and the Hon Thom cable car on the same ticket. The whole south in one day.

A half day out of town, with a widened section of tunnel to crawl through. Genuinely claustrophobic — not for younger children.

A vaulted colonial hall still working as a post office. Send a postcard home from it — that is the whole activity and it works.

One of the oldest zoos in the world, dating to 1865, with a small funfair inside. Dated, cheap, and the shade is welcome.

The observation floors of the tallest building in the country. Go for the last hour of daylight and stay for the lights coming on.

Unflinching, and the photographs on the upper floors are graphic. Worth doing with an older child who has been told what is in it; not with a younger one.

Left exactly as it was in 1975, down to the war room in the basement and the helicopter on the roof. An hour, and cheap.

A projection room where the paintings move across the walls and floor. No queueing, no silence required, and it holds a five-year-old.

A big, cheap and rather worn water park in District 11. Weekday mornings are close to empty.

A Buddhist-themed park with a crocodile lake and a wave pool, on the metro line east. Faded, cheap and completely unlike anywhere else.

A newer park out in Thu Duc with a water section, reachable on the metro line. Cheap, and rarely crowded on a weekday.

A large water park at Bien Hoa, about an hour out. Enough slides and shallow water to fill a whole day.

A cable car up Small Mountain to a park with a lake, a small zoo and rides, at the seaside two hours from the city.

Puppets worked from behind a screen in waist-deep water, with a live band. Fifty minutes, no language needed, and it lands with any age.

A bus, a boat, a coconut-candy workshop and a rowed sampan down a palm creek. Touristy and still the best day out of the city.

An open-top loop of the central sights. Mainly a way of covering ground in the heat without crossing eight roads to do it.

Bamboo, acrobatics and live music, telling village-to-city Vietnam without a word of dialogue. An hour, and the best-value ticket in the city.

Two hours north-west at Tay Ninh, and one of the widest cable cars in the world up to a summit complex. Cooler at the top.

Pho, banh xeo and iced coffee. Haggle in the market, or skip it and eat at the night stalls behind.

Two hours downriver past the lit towers with dinner served on board. Transfers are included, which is the awkward part solved.

A hotel seafood buffet with a children's rate, and the reliable answer on the night nobody will agree on anything.

Both of the big day trips back to back. A very long day, and the tunnels are claustrophobic — better split over two if you have the time.

A large aquarium under the West Lake mall, with a tunnel and a feeding show. The wet-afternoon answer in a city that has a lot of them.

A European-styled canal district on the eastern edge with a nightly show and a lot of space to run. Evenings only, really.

Sixty-five floors up, with a glass floor section that is the whole point as far as most children are concerned.

Rowed sampans through flooded limestone caves — some so low everyone lies flat. Two hours on the water with nowhere to get off.

An outdoor show staged on a flooded rice field west of the city, with a cast of villagers. Take a jumper — it is open to the sky.

The viewpoint at the top of Vietnam's highest road pass, near Sapa. Cloud sits in the valley most mornings; go in the afternoon.

A Hmong village below Sapa, reached on a paved path down and a shuttle back up. Downhill all the way out and steep, so plan the return.

An aquarium and an indoor play-and-arcade floor on one ticket at Times City. Aimed squarely at primary-school age.

The role-play city — children work as pilots, firefighters and bakers and are paid in its own currency. English is spoken at most stations.

A cable car with two-storey cabins, a hilltop wheel and a water park at the bottom, on the Ha Long waterfront. Good if the boats are cancelled.

The original of the form, worked from behind a screen in waist-deep water with a live band. Fifty minutes and no language needed.

An open-top loop of the lake, the old quarter and the mausoleum quarter. The easiest way to see the spread of the city in one go.

Two and a half hours each way by road, then a boat through the limestone islands with a cave and a beach stop. Long, and worth it once.

The old ceramics village across the river, with a wheel to sit at and a pot to take home. The making is the part that lands.

Sapa, five to six hours north of Hanoi. The cable car climbs to the highest point in Indochina in twenty minutes, so nobody has to walk it.

A glass floor cantilevered off a cliff at the O Quy Ho pass near Sapa. A lift up through the rock, then a drop straight down under your feet.

A gravity toboggan down through the terraces outside Sapa. Height limits apply, and the queue is shortest first thing.

The bay next door to Ha Long, with the same limestone and a fraction of the boats. Worth choosing over the main bay if the dates allow it.

Two-storey cabins on some of the tallest cable car pylons in the world, crossing the water to Cat Ba island. Short, cheap and the view does the work.

Two cable car stages up a pilgrimage mountain on the road out to Ha Long, through bamboo to the pagodas near the top. Steps between the stages.

Bun cha, banh cuon and egg coffee across several stops, ending at the train street. A lot of walking and a lot of small plastic stools.

A lakeside hotel buffet with a children's rate. The fallback for the evening when nobody will face another plastic stool.

One night on board, which buys the quiet early morning the day trips never see. Cabins are small; book a family one or take two.

Hoa Lu, a boat through the caves and the steps up Mua for the view, with the two-hour drive each way handled.

Sapa is five to six hours each way, so it is an overnight and not a day trip. This does the drive, a night up there and Ham Rong and Cat Cat.

The largest pagoda complex in the country, with electric buggies between halls, paired with the Trang An boats. A different day from the Hoa Lu itinerary.

Theme park, water park and aquarium on one ticket, out on Hon Tre island. You reach it by cable car, which is half the appeal.

White sand and very shallow water an hour north, with a small animal park attached. Calmer and emptier than the town beach.

Three kilometres strung between mock-Eiffel towers out over the bay. Ten minutes each way, and the fishing boats below are the best part.

Three pools stacked up a stream in the hills north of town. The scramble between them is over wet rock — fine for surefooted children, not toddlers.

A boat north to the islands in the next bay, with an animal park and a beach stop. A full day, and gentler water than the open sea.

An open loop of the Po Nagar towers, the cathedral and the beachfront. Cheap, and a painless way to work out where everything is on day one.

An hour threading beads and setting stones, and you keep what you make. Cheap enough to be worth doing on a wet afternoon.

A garden restaurant in an old house outside town, laid out as a buffet so a fussy eater can see everything before committing.

A beachfront hotel seafood buffet with a children's rate. The reliable evening when the boat trip has worn everyone out.

Three hours up into the pine hills to the old French hill station and back. Long in a car, and the twenty-degree drop is the reason to do it.