Should we visit VIETNAM or Hong Kong??

[Shanti]

DH and I can't decide!!! Help us to decide please!!!

We visit Thailand every year the last 2 years and are doing so again this year at the end of the year. We also want to combine Thailand with another country during this holiday. We know Hong Kong is awesome for food & it has Disneyland.... we know it's not as family friendly as Singapore & Thailand (we are seasoned travellers to those parts of the world!) and we don't know a lot about Vietnam but we think we would love it too with the culture, food etc.....we think maybe Vietnam might be more enjoyed when the kids are older with the history of the place etc so maybe we should leave it for now and go to HK instead?

So help us to decide!!! Our girls are only 3yrs and 9mths. We have 5-6 nights to spend somewhere......

Thanks!

[Tuesday's Child]

DH and I went to Vietnam in 2008. As beautiful as it is and as keen as we are to go back someday, we'd wait until the kids are older (our girls are 2 years and 2 months). I don't know much about Hong Kong, but my impression is that it would be more family friendly than Vietnam.

Having said that, we were on a tour aimed at young people/couples so maybe what we saw was aimed at that.

[Phteven]

I love Vietnam but I think that Hong Kong would be easier. What kind of traveler are you? If you tend to laze about in resorts Vietnam has some lovely resorts. If you're more into mixing with the locals, catching public transport, eating the street food and so on then Vietnam might be better left for a few years because it can be pretty rugged.

[LuluHB]

We took the kids to Hong Kong just before Christmas - they were 4.5 and 3.5. It was incredibly easy to get around with a brilliant transport system. Trains were generally busy to horrendously packed, but people always made room so the girls weren't getting squashed, fell over themselves to get up so I could sit down (about 17 weeks pregnant at the time). Food was extremely varied and nobody minded our weird requests to cater for our extremely fussy eaters.

We went to Singapore the year before and TBH I wouldn't classify either as more child friendly/easier to get around than the other except that Singapore is about a bazillion times cleaner in terms of air pollution!!

[onthefly]

vietnam! i'm not sure how child-friendly it is, to be honest, but it's nicer to visit, I reckon.
like chloe says, it probably depends what you p;lan to do. HK is cool for a city visit and easy to get around, but the air is choking.

[Arcadia]

I went to Vietnam a long time ago (ten years) and HK about 4 years ago. I'd definitely go to hong kong with kids over Vietnam. HK is so clean and organized and really fun! If it's just for a stop over, what about Kuala Lumpur? We loved it with our two, and we stayed near a massive park with wading pool. Also the Malaysian people would have to be the nicest people on earth! Equal to Thai people I think !

Vietnam is exciting, but it's busy and dirty and is so similar to Thailand in many ways.

[Shanti]

Thanks to all of you who replied I appreciate it.

We have decided on Hong Kong! We think it just might be a bit better to take young kids to, even though it will be busy, we are going for the food, culture & shopping aswell as Disneyland for our 3yr old!!!! (she'll nearly be 4!). She is already talking about it.
Vietnam might wait for a few more years.....

Dirty cities and places don't bother us too much, we've travelled to different parts of Asia a few times and seen a few things so it doesn't phase us. We'll only be visiting for 5 nights on this leg of the trip anyway.

[SammyRo]

We have just returned from 5 nights in Hong Kong with our almost 4 year old and 2 year old. I loved it. We stayed in Nathan Road, which was a great spot. It is near a huge park that had a great kids area and a swimming pool complex with 3 open air pools, which was closed when we were there unfortunately but looked great. We tended to start our day with a walk through the park as we could let the kids loose. The streets were busy so we either had reins or both kids in a carrier.
We found plenty to do, and had no problem finding places to eat that would suit the kids too. They ate a lot of rice and noodles.
Disneyland was awesome, so magical. Although I recommend 2 days as we only did 1 and there was so much we missed. But totally loved it.
We also did a theme park called Ocean Park, which was good, but not really aimed at the really young kids like ours.
If you want to know anything else, it's till fresh in my mind! Oh, one thing, if your kids are really blond, be prepared to get a lot of attention, it got a bit annoying after a while.

[LuluHB]

Oh, one thing, if your kids are really blond, be prepared to get a lot of attention, it got a bit annoying after a while.

Definitely this! My pale skinned, blonde haired girls were totally mobbed, especially at Ocean Park and Disneyland. All these people standing around taking photos of princesses and Winnie the Pooh but as soon as they saw the girls they ignored everything else and wanted photos of them. They had no hesitation is just coming up and putting their arms around your kids for a photo (which funnily enough, my kids weren't happy about!!) so you do need to keep them close and be firm when you say they don't want photos, cuddles or whatever. Nothing sinister in it and I never felt like they were in danger - just uncomfortable at times with the attention. We found exactly the same thing the previous year when we went to Singapore with the kids so TBH I think its a cute little blonde western child in Asia thing, rather than a Hong Kong thing.

I second Sammi Ro's Nathan Road suggestion too. We stayed on Nathan Road too and walked out the door, across the road and into a MTR station, a supermarket, lots of shops and restaurants etc. The park was great - my DH took the girls there every day.

When I said Hong Kong was dirtier than Singapore I meant purely air pollution, not street rubbish or anything nasty that you wouldn't want the kids to see. In that respect it is incredibly clean.

We went to Ocean Park too and the kids loved it. Likewise the goldfish markets (really just a road with heaps of pet shops but lots of fish, turtles, lizards etc that the girls liked seeing. The cable car (can't remember what its called sorry - N something or other).

Likewise what Sammi Ro said - if you want any other suggestions just let me know.

[Shanti]

SammyRo & LuluHB - thanks girls! Super helpful!!

When you say Nathan Rd, is that in Kowloon? If either of you stayed in a 5 star can you please PM me the name of it if you recommend it

We're doing 2 days at Disneyland.

We might give Ocean Park a miss, depends if we feel we have enough spare time for it or not after other attractions. The goldfish markets sound like a good plan!! Our 3yr old would just love that, she is so crazy about animals, fish etc. Big tick there!
The park sounds fab too!! What is the park called???

In regards to Singapore, we've been 4 times before, we LOVE the place! We can't imagine anywhere in the world that would be cleaner than it LOL it's such an organised, neat, clean city! We will be stopping over there 2 nights again. We LOVE Singaporean food - mmmmm!!!!!

We've been told HK has even better food than Singapore, so we're excited!!!!!

Haha! Yes we have blonde kids, both blonde hair and blue eyes so YES!!! We attract loads of attention wherever we go in Asia, particularly Thailand. It's overwhelming at times and they get lots of photos taken of them, so it won't be exactly 'new' to them it makes me feel a bit uneasy also especially when they go up and hug your child for the photo without asking you. But like you said, it's harmless, they just don't see many children with that colour hair and skin etc.
The Asians see blonde hair and blue eyes as really, really lucky so the Thai's when we are over there, kept touching our daughters skin all the time and calling her beautiful (which she is ). She liked it but after a while got VERY annoyed by it and I would have to pick her up or put her in the pram so they wouldn't touch her

Thanks girls. Might have more questions later.

[LuluHB]

HK is definitely not cleaner than Singapore - nowhere near it. Singapore is so green and everything just seems shiny and new. HK is much more Asian IYKWIM and while there's no graffiti, rubbish etc its pretty grey. Nowhere near as pretty a city as Singapore.

We also went up the peak tram which the kids enjoyed, ferry rides across the harbour both day and night time. Ngong Ping 360 is the name of the cable car and its on Lantau (where Disneyland is). I think its the longest cable car in the world at over 5kms long so a good thing to do with the kids if you want something to do but not active.

Yep, Nathan Road is Kowloon and the park is called Kowloon Park. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which I think is 4 star? We had a more limited choice because of wanting four of us in the one room, but still a good selection. If you want 5 star then I'd recommend The Peninsula!!! Disneyland we stayed at the Disney Hollywood hotel, which is brand new and the themed one. The Disneyland Hotel is gorgeous - very old world colonial - but maybe not so cute for the kids. The Hollywood hotel has a fantastic playground and pool area too - not that you really need it with Disneyland down the road.