Hi I’m going to vietnam for 3 days and I really don’t want to go on a package tour and would like to explore on my own, is there any suggestions where to go? I really like visiting old places, rustic ancient villages or ruins, mountains, forests, beaches! and eat local food along the streets. Thanks! Looking forward to what people can say about this.
This is a hard one to answer, partly because you didn’t say which part of vietnam you are going to. It is either going to be Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. 3 days is not a lot of time, as you are likely to fly in during the morning and leave in the afternoon, so you get 1 full day and 2 half days.
For the full day the best option is to join a tour. I know, I know, sounds boring, but there are lots of little one day tours so that you can see a lot, get out into the countryside, without having to work everything out for yourself, deal with other hassles and things.
You can often book the tours the night before. In Ho Chi Minh City we booked local tour at night for the next morning. Half the people on the tour were vietnamese. Basically we went around the Me Kong Delta,.
In Hanoi the main day tour is Ha Long Bay, which is really touristy, you might be better off looking for a day tour to a little village like Mai Chau (we did an overnight stay, cycling around most of the next day before returning to Hanoi)
Hanoi is possibly the best for history, temples and museums. But also the food and beer. While there are well known touristy places with great food, our best experiences were drinking and eating in street restaurants.