Vietnam (or Malaysia) - love some good recommendations!

S

ssheng

Registered User
We were hoping to do a family trip early August, and would love some recommendations on places to stay at in Vietnam with a 18 month old and a 3 month old? We are going to bring our helper so places that offer a 2 bedroom for a non-exorbitant price would be great.

My husband was the one who wants to try Vietnam, but if you think it's a bad idea, I heard good things about Malaysia too so if you have any recommendations on that would also appreciate them! Thanks!!:grouphug:
 
I've done both, with kids, and we like both. I personally like Vietnam more. We've travelled from Hanoi to Hue and on to Hoi An and back (that was a week in October). We had a 2-bedroom apartment in Hanoi (Somerset, but try Ascott and Fraser Suites as well, same goes for HCMC), in smaller places we always have 2 connecting rooms (2 adults and 3 children). Check Victoria hotels with several properties (and kids club) in Vietnam We've done HCMC on the way back from Cambodia and I've been back with girlfriends as well. Kids liked it, we didn't do kids things necessarily but did to the water puppet show, beach and look for places with pools to relax.

We've been to Kota Kinabalu with the kids, but that's more a beach break. I've been to KL twice, Penang and Langkawi pre-kids (the latter as a kid myself when I was 18 with my parents ... only 1 5* resort at the time!).

Both countries are fairly easy to travel with some small children. You could do Langkawi with stop in KL (and a side trip to Malacca). KL should have service apartments as well for short term stays and they make you more flexible especially when bringing your helper. Another option is go straight to Penang, and some cultural trips on the island. The beach isn't fantastic though, but everything is fairly easy.

My youngest were not even 3 when we went to Vietnam (2 when we went to KK) ... Plenty of choices.

We still want to do Phan Thiet / Mui Ne from HCMC one day ... it's quite a long drive though from HCMC (around 4 hours).
 
I have been to both, though I went to Vietnam a few times before having kids (last time was 5 years ago). Since having kids I've been to Malaysia twice (KK & Penang). I love Vietnam but would personally choose Malaysia with such young kids. Malaysia is such an easy, friendly and generally safe place to travel in. Vietnam is easy too, but maybe not as easy with young kids. I guess it depends on how adventurous you are. My biggest concerns regarding Vietnam are road safety (for example the taxi ride from Hanoi airport to the city is frankly hair-raising and having witnessed a few accidents and near misses on that trip I would not be happy putting my kids in that taxi). I had no such concerns on the Malaysia trips (we arranged private cars and had a car seat). Also access to medical care outside of HCMC and Hanoi is limited. The chances of anything happening of course are remote but I'm a lot more cautious these days with young kids!
 
Thanks guys! I really appreciate your advice. We decided now we'll try not to bring the helper as a lot of the family friendly places have babysitting services. Have also decided against going in August, as it is hot-hot-hot! We might try going north now, and then try for Vietnam/Malaysia when the weather cools down, say after November. :)
 
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