Sept 10 – 21, 12 days, $2,014 for two is the best option found. It hits the 10–12 day target, sits at the verified market floor, and has clean flights in both directions. Everything below is the working that got there.
| Date | Flight | Route | Times | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Sept 10 | KE72 | Vancouver → Seoul ICN | 2:20pm → 5:50pm +1 | Korean Air · Boeing 787-10 |
| Fri Sept 11 | KE475 | Seoul → Saigon | 6:50pm → 10:10pm | Boeing 777 · 1-hour connection |
| Mon Sept 21 | OZ730 | Hanoi → Seoul ICN | 1:25pm → 7:35pm | Asiana · Boeing 777 |
| Mon Sept 21 | KE75 | Seoul → Vancouver | 10:40pm → 4:30pm same day | 787-10 · 3h05 connection |
17h50 out, 17h05 back. Two free checked bags each. That 1:25pm Hanoi departure is deliberate — it leaves room for a 6am Bát Đàn breakfast on your final morning.
Identical outbound; returns Sept 25 instead. Same airlines, same quality. The only reason to pick it is wanting the extra four days — which buys room for Cambodia and the north and Ninh Bình rather than choosing.
This fare is real. $755 per person round trip, Vancouver→Saigon, 19h45 each way with a single 3h20 stop in Xiamen. It is genuinely the cheapest way to reach Vietnam on these dates.
But it is a six-day trip fare, not a discount on our trip. I stretched the identical Xiamen routing out to 14 days (Sept 15–29) and it climbed to $1,090 per person — more expensive than Korean Air — and Google flagged it as "separate tickets booked together," meaning a self-transfer with no protection if the first leg runs late.
Before booking it you'd need to confirm two things: whether checked bags are included (Korean's fare includes two each, which is worth $150+), and what transit rules apply in Xiamen — it's mainland China, so transit-visa requirements need checking for a Canadian passport even on a short connection.
Six days fits one region only: Saigon + the Mekong, or Hanoi + Sapa. No Cambodia, and no combining.
| Depart | Return | Days | Price (2) | Per person | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Sept 10 | Mon Sept 21 | 12 | $2,014 | $1,007 | ✅ Best. Clean both ways |
| Thu Sept 10 | Fri Sept 25 | 16 | $2,113 | $1,057 | Good flights, longer than target |
| Tue Sept 15 | Mon Sept 21 | 6 | ~$1,510 | $755 | XiamenAir sale — one region only |
| Tue Sept 15 | Tue Sept 29 | 14 | ~$2,180 | $1,090 | ⚠️ Xiamen stretched — self-transfer |
| Thu Sept 10 | Sat Sept 26 | 17 | $2,113 | $1,057 | ⚠️ 31-hr return, 17-hr layover |
| Thu Sept 10 | Sun Sept 27 | 18 | $2,014 | $1,007 | ⚠️ Same trap. False economy |
| Fri Sept 11 | Fri Sept 25 | 15 | $2,212 | $1,106 | No advantage |
| Fri Sept 11 | Sat Sept 26 | 16 | $2,212 | $1,106 | $99 more than Sept 10 for the same length |
| Sat Sept 12 | Fri Sept 25 | 14 | $2,212 | $1,106 | The original plan. Beaten |
| Sat Sept 12 | Sat Sept 26 | 15 | $2,237 | $1,119 | No advantage |
Sept 26 and 27 returns advertise lower headline prices — Sept 10→27 shows $2,014, and at a glance looks like two extra free days. Every cheap option on those dates routes through a 17-hour overnight layover in Seoul, making the trip home 31 hours door to door.
When I looked up what a reasonable Sept 26 return actually costs — 12:05pm departure, 18h25 total — it was $2,837. So the "saving" is really a $700 penalty disguised as a discount. Any price on this page marked with ⚠️ has this problem.
Using the Google Flights price graph across September through December, and testing round-trip-to-Hanoi, round-trip-to-Saigon and open-jaw structures separately, the cheapest fare available on this route for September dates in any structure is $2,021 for two.
The recommended $2,014 is at that floor. Restructuring — flying round trip into one city and repositioning inside Vietnam — saves about $30 and costs an extra domestic flight, a hotel night, and a lost morning. Not worth it.
For context: an earlier version of this plan quoted "$610–850 round trip." That came from Skyscanner and momondo "from" teasers relayed before any live search — per person, any-date (usually February–March low season), often in USD, and typically without a checked bag. It was never a real quote for September. Genuinely cheaper fares exist only in February–April or late October.
| Date | Flight | Route | Times | Price (2) | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed Sept 16 | VN813 | Saigon → Siem Reap | 5:15pm → 6:20pm nonstop | $424 | Check |
| Wed Sept 16 | Air Cambodia | Saigon → Siem Reap | 8:25pm → 9:55pm nonstop | $387 | $37 cheaper, costs you the evening |
| Sat Sept 19 | VJ914 | Siem Reap → Hanoi | 7:05pm → 8:50pm nonstop | $235 | Check |
VN813's evening slot is chosen so the Cai Rang dawn floating market still happens that morning. VJ914 lands at 8:50pm — after Bát Đàn's evening service closes, so the pho is the following morning. Add checked bags online for VietJet; the base fare is carry-on only and airport fees are punitive. Confirm both operate on your exact dates at booking — regional day-of-week patterns shift.
| VIP-cabin limousine bus pick this | Overnight train | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost for two, one way | $34–50 | $180–215 private 2-berth, plus the Lào Cai transfer |
| Door to door | 5.5–6.5 hrs, direct to Sapa town | ~10 hrs including transfer and waiting |
| Arrival | ~13:00 — near check-in | 05:30–06:30, then 6–7 hrs of limbo before a 14:00 check-in |
| Motion sickness | ⚠️ 1–1.5 hrs of switchbacks on QL4D | ✅ only the 1-hr transfer |
The train's "free night" is largely illusory — you board at 22:00, get woken before 05:30, and then kill most of a morning. Operators: Sapa Express (best-regarded, central drop-off, departures roughly every two hours from 06:30) or Inter Bus Lines (cheapest VIP cabins, ~$17). Confirm the drop point is central rather than an edge-of-town depot. Take the train only if motion sickness is a real factor — and if so, pre-book the hotel for the night you're on the train.
| Option | Jul 31 | Aug 1 | Aug 2 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 10–21 · 12 days | — | — | $2,014 | baseline |
| Sept 10–25 · 16 days | — | $2,113 | $2,113 | flat |
| Sept 15–21 · XiamenAir | — | — | ~$1,510 | baseline |
| Sept 12–25 (superseded) | $2,212 | $2,212 | — | flat while tracked |