MY HANGOUT BUDDY • VIETNAM

Vietnam Guide

The guide we wish somebody had handed us.

Not a list of attractions. What things cost, which neighbourhood fits you, what to eat, how to move around, and what nobody tells you until you have already made the mistake.

First time in Vietnam? Start here
An illustrated map of Vietnam marking Sa Pa, Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City, drawn with a pagoda, junk boats, paper lanterns, rice terraces and the Notre-Dame Basilica.

Start here

First time in Vietnam

Six things decide whether the first week goes smoothly: how long you have, what it costs, whether you can get in, how you will pay for things, how you will move around, and what happens in the first three hours after you land.

How long, and what will it cost? Four questions, about a minute. You get the nights, the route and the money at every budget level. Visa & entry The 2025 rules, the e-visa, and the checker — every claim carries its government source. Your first three hours Immigration, a SIM, cash and a ride into town — the five-minute briefing for landing in Saigon. Money, SIMs and staying safe Cash versus card, the notes people mix up, and the one risk that is real. Getting around Ride-hailing, buses, taxis and what each one actually costs you. What a day costs Backpacking to comfortable, category by category, with the model it is built from.

Visa and entry rules are national. The money, transport and cost sections currently live inside the Ho Chi Minh City guide, which is the guide we have finished.

Where to go

Explore Vietnam by region

The country is 1,600km long and the three bands are genuinely different trips — different weather, different food, and in the north an actual winter. Start with the one that sounds like your holiday.

  • Sourced, and dated Anything that can change carries its source and the month we last checked it.
  • Gaps stay visible What we could not verify is left out and said out loud, never filled in with a plausible guess.
  • Nothing is ranked or sold No paid placement, no best-restaurant lists, no invented prices.
  • Written from here By people who live in the city they are writing about.

Most useful

The guides that are finished

These are written, sourced and checked. The rest of the country is orientation notes for now, and they are at the bottom of this page, labelled as such.

Our deepest guide

Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

The city that starts at 6am and negotiates with midnight.

  • Costs
  • Neighbourhoods
  • Food
  • Transport
  • Visa
  • A day, hour by hour
Open the guide

First time in Saigon

The five-minute briefing. Read it on the plane.

Visa & entry

National rules, the 2025 reform and a checker for your passport.

Where to stay

Pick the neighbourhood before the hotel. Twelve areas, honestly described.

Practical

Plan your trip

The arrangements, in the order most people hit them.

Build my trip Four questions and about a minute. Nights, a route and the cost at every level, before you commit to anything. Start
Visa & entry Costs Getting around Where to stay Food Travel tips

Your next trip

Where else should you go?

Nine places worth the detour, and an honest read on each — who it suits, who it really does not, and the thing people most often get wrong. Tap one to open it.

Hanoi The old capital, and the better coffee argument. Capital city

The capital, and a much older city than Saigon. Narrow streets in the Old Quarter, lakes you walk around in the evening, and a food culture that treats a plastic stool on a pavement as a perfectly legitimate restaurant.

Give it three or four days. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want the history and the architecture, not only the energy.
  • You like a city that has seasons — the north actually has a winter, which the south does not.
  • You want northern food: pho the way Hanoi argues it should be made, bun cha, egg coffee.

Maybe not if…

  • You are judging it against Saigon on nightlife. Hanoi closes earlier and is more reserved about the whole business.
  • You packed only for the tropics. The northern winter catches people out badly.
The bit people get wrong

Hanoi and Saigon are not two versions of the same city. Different weather, different accent, different food, different pace. Visiting one and assuming you have understood Vietnam is the most common mistake on this whole list.

Goes well with Ha Giang and Sapa.

More on Hanoi
Da Nang Beach, mountains and a river of bridges. Coastal city

A big coastal city with a long beach attached, wide roads, and none of the density of the other two. It is the easiest large Vietnamese city to be a beginner in.

Give it two or three days, or a base for a week. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want a beach and a city without having to choose.
  • Vietnamese traffic worries you — this is the gentlest place to get used to it.
  • You want a base with Hoi An and the mountains close by.

Maybe not if…

  • You came looking for old Vietnam. Da Nang is modern and rebuilt, and that is rather the point of it.
The bit people get wrong

Most people treat Da Nang as the airport for Hoi An and give it one night. It deserves more than that — but if your time in the centre is short, Hoi An is the one that leaves a mark.

Goes well with Hoi An and Hue.

More on Da Nang
Hoi An Lanterns, tailors and a river town that kept its face. Old town

A small riverside town that kept its old trading-port face — shophouses, lanterns after dark, and a tailoring trade that will make you something and have you back for a second fitting.

Give it two or three days. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want somewhere you can walk or cycle across.
  • You want one properly beautiful place on the trip.
  • You want clothes made, and enough days to do it unhurried.

Maybe not if…

  • You dislike crowds. The old town is small and everybody is in it at the same hour.
  • You want a city. Hoi An runs out of new streets quickly.
The bit people get wrong

The old town is at its best early in the morning and again once the day-trip buses have left. The middle of the day is the version everybody complains about online.

Goes well with Da Nang and Hue.

More on Hoi An
Phu Quoc The island, and the reason people extend their trip. Island

Vietnam's largest island: resorts along the west coast, quieter beaches towards the south, and a good deal of construction in between.

Give it three to five days. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want the trip to finish lying down.
  • You want sunsets over open water, which the mainland's east coast cannot give you.

Maybe not if…

  • You want undiscovered. Phu Quoc is being developed hard and fast, and it shows.
  • You are chasing food history and culture — that is the mainland's job, not the island's.
The bit people get wrong

Phu Quoc has its own visa arrangement, separate from the rest of the country, and it does not carry over to the mainland. If your trip is island plus mainland, sort the mainland permission first — the visa section of the Ho Chi Minh City guide covers exactly this.

Goes well with Ho Chi Minh City.

More on Phu Quoc
Ha Giang The loop everybody photographs and few forget. Mountains

The far north: limestone mountains, a road that switchbacks along the Chinese border, and markets where the surrounding valleys come down to trade.

Give it four or five days for the loop. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want the scenery that made you consider Vietnam in the first place.
  • You are comfortable on a bike for several days running — or happy to ride behind somebody who is.

Maybe not if…

  • You are not a confident rider and do not want to be a passenger. The road is the point of the place.
  • You need reliable comfort. This is the least polished thing on the list.
The bit people get wrong

People underestimate two things: how tiring several consecutive days of mountain riding is, and how cold it gets up there. Going as a passenger with a local rider is not a compromise — for most visitors it is simply the right way to do it.

Goes well with Hanoi.

More on Ha Giang
Sapa Rice terraces, mountain weather, and a long train. Mountains

Rice terraces cut into mountainsides, walking routes between villages, and weather that does entirely as it pleases.

Give it two or three days. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want to walk somewhere genuinely beautiful.
  • You would rather stay in a valley homestay than in the town.

Maybe not if…

  • You expect guaranteed views. Sapa spends a lot of the year inside a cloud.
  • You were hoping the town itself would be charming. It has been built up hard.
The bit people get wrong

The terraces look like three different places depending on when you come — flooded and mirrored, green, or gold just before harvest. Choosing which one you want matters more than choosing how many days to give it.

Goes well with Hanoi and Ha Giang.

More on Sapa
Nha Trang The long beach and the seafood that comes with it. Beach city

A long city beach with the town built right up against it, islands a short boat ride offshore, and seafood as the main event rather than a side attraction. The most conventional beach holiday Vietnam offers.

Give it two or three days. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want a straightforward beach with a city behind it.
  • You like seafood and intend to eat a great deal of it.

Maybe not if…

  • You want quiet or unspoilt. This is a resort city and has never pretended otherwise.
The bit people get wrong

Nha Trang is the most divisive place on this list. People who arrive wanting a beach holiday enjoy it; people who arrive wanting "real Vietnam" feel they were sold something. Work out which one you are before you book.

Goes well with Da Nang.

More on Nha Trang
Hue Imperial Vietnam, and the food that outlived the court. Imperial city

The imperial capital: a walled citadel, royal tombs spread out along the river, and the cooking that outlasted the court which invented it.

Give it two days. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want history with some depth to it rather than a highlights reel.
  • You care about food with a story — Hue's is the most distinct regional cuisine in the country.

Maybe not if…

  • You want beaches and nightlife. Hue is quieter, and it rains more than people expect.
The bit people get wrong

Hue usually gets one rushed day squeezed between Hoi An and somewhere else, which is exactly enough time to see the citadel and none of what makes the city interesting.

Goes well with Hoi An and Da Nang.

More on Hue
Mekong Delta Where the country turns into water. River delta

The bottom of the country, where the roads give way to water — floating markets, orchards, and towns built along canals rather than streets.

Give it one night, not a day trip. Our suggestion, not a rule.

Go if…

  • You want to see how much of Vietnam still runs on water.
  • You are happy with a slower and much less polished few days.

Maybe not if…

  • You only have one day. The day trip out of Saigon is the version everybody regrets.
The bit people get wrong

The floating markets work early and are largely finished by the time a day trip reaches them. Staying a night in the delta is the entire difference between seeing one and seeing the place where one was.

Goes well with Ho Chi Minh City.

More on Mekong Delta

These are orientation notes, not the finished guides. They carry our read on who each place suits and what people most often get wrong about it — no prices, no opening hours and no entry rules, because those are the things that go stale and we have not verified them for these places yet. Useful for deciding where to go. Not enough to book on.