Vietnam

Here is your quick guide to the country

2024

The Visa

Information about this Visa is based on American Citizenship

  • There is no Visa on Arrival
  • Apply for your visa up to one month before visiting as this can take from one to twos weeks to process
  • The government office in Vietnam is not open on the weekend so your visa will not be processed then. 
  • https://vietnamvisa.govt.vn/vietnam-visa/how-to-apply/
  • Cost 25 USD

Must Try Foods

  • Pho
    • Invented in Hanoi
    • Two main kinds: chicken and beef
    • The Southern version is more on the salter side
  • Cache trung
    • Aka Egg coffee
    • Also invented in Hanoi, best to try there
  • Bun Chá
  • Banh Mi
    • A sandwich influenced by the French
    • Its basically a sandwich
  • Cao Lau
    • Best known in Hoi An
    • a noodle based dish
  • Nem Cuon/ Goi Cuon
    • Aka Spring/ summer rolls
  • Rambutan
    • A must try fruit; one of my favorite

City Guides

Saigon

Airport

Tan Son Nhat International

  • Can use taxi to get to city center 
    • Can be around 131,652 vnd
    • 20 min round 
  • Can take local bus 
    • Bus no. 109
    • One way ticket cost 20,000vnd 
    • Purchase ticket at the airports ticket booth or onboard the bus but can only be local currency 
    • 45 min trip
    • Can take it back to the airport at ben thanh bus station and Saigon bus station.

Places to eat

  • Binh Tay Market 
    • Street food 
    • Open 10am – 8pm
    • One of the largest and oldest, established in the 1880s 
  • Ben Thanh Market 
    • Located in the center of the city 
    • Open 8:30am -8pm 
    • At 6pm the main hall shuts down and 3 thriving night markets open 

Your main tourist area is gonna be District 1

Things to do 

  • 42 Nguyen hue 
    • Walking street 
  • Cafe apartment
    • Located at 42 Nguyen Hue, an apartment building in which people converted their spaces to various cafes and shops
    • Fee to use elevator but some shops will reimburse you. You can also just use the stairs like I did
    • Helpful tip alert: If you start at the Cafe Apartment you can walk your way down 42 Nguyen Hue and reach the statue of Ho Chin Minh, the Central Post Office, Notre Dame, and finish at Tan Dinh Church
  • Giac Lam Pagoda 
    • Oldest temple 1744
    • Means “ feel the woods”
  • Tan Dinh Curch 
    • Big pink church 
    • Not much to see but it is really pretty 
  • Central office 
    • Post office designed by Gustavo Eiffel 
  • Bui Vien street 
    • Good nightlife and food 
  • Mekong Delta 
    • Floating markets 
    • 2 hours outside the city 
    • Done in a tour 
  • Cu Chi Tunnels 
    • Outside of the city 
    • Cost around 100,000 VND
    • Recommend a tour guide for best experience
  • Pho’s An Hoi Quran Pagoda 
    • Dates back to 1902 
  • Ho Thi Ky flower market 
    • In district 10, biggest in the region 
    • Can reach it from Ben Thanh market 
    • Open all day, busiest time is midnight to 3am, and dawn
    • In the middle of the market is a Cambodian market where you can buy traditional soup from a lady who’s been there 40 years 

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Recommended days to Stay In Saigon 4-5

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Helpful Tip: I choose to Travel South to North. As I kept going up; Vietnam just kept getting better and better!

Da Nang

Places to eat 

  • Da Nang night market 
    • Famous for seafood
    • Here you can bargain for a seafood feast and get a lot of food depending on your budget.

Things to do 

  • My Khe Beach
  • Marble mountains 
    • 7am-5pm 
    • Cost 40,000 VND or $1.70 per person 
    • Consist of 5 limestone element mountains: water (thuy), wood (moc), metal (kim), earth (tho), fire (hoa)
    • 157  slippery steps to the top
    • Can ride scooter there, cost 10,000VND or .40 to park
    • 2 entrances
    • Things to see while there: Xa loi tower, Ling Ung pagoda, Huyen Khong Cave, Heaven Cave 
  • Dragon bridge 
    • 9pm every Friday-Sunday the bridge breaths fire
  • Phap lam Pagoda 
  • Non Nuoc beach 
  • Da Nang Cathedral 
  • Ba Na Hills
    • Golden Hand bridge at sun world
    • 850.000 VNĐ ticket price
    • Open 7am-5pm
    • Can ride scooter there
    • Helpful tip: You take take a Grab car to visit but you can not take one back; grab will not be available. Get roundtrip transport or negotiate with taxis that are there.

Recommended days to Stay In Da Nang 3

Helpful Tip: You can also choose between Da Nang and Hoi an instead of visiting both as they are only 20 min taxi ride away. If you do that then I recommend staying in Hoi an

Hoi An

Things to do 

  • Hoi An Old town 
    • Beautiful to walk around during the day and night
  • Cua temple
    • Japanese bridge 
    • Free to visit 
  • Make a Lantern 
  • My Son Ruins 
    • 150,000 VND (6.50 USD) 
    • 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m
  • Coconut Boats
    • The place you see on instagram where the guy spins on a boat really fast
  • A cooking class
    • Most people will do a cooking class here as its very popular
    • Your best option will be to find a tour that combines the coconut boat with a cooking class; thats what I did. 

This was my favorite area of Vietnam. A must visit

Recommended days to Stay In Hoi An 3-4

Hanoi

Airport

  • Called Noi Bai International 
  • To get into the city 
    • Express bus 45,000VND or $1.90
      • Express bus 86
      • 45 min travel time
      • Orange express busses 
      • Departs every 25 min from 6:25 to 23:05 
      • You can also take this back to the airport from Hanoi railway station 
    • Shuttle bus 40,000 vnd or $1.70 
      • 45 min travel time 
    • Public Bus 10,000 vnd or $.40
      • Can get very packed
      • Travel time can be and hour and half 
    • Taxi around 230,000 vnd or $9.50

Places to eat 

  • Ta Hien Street
    • Aka Beer Street
    • In the old quarter
    • Good night life 
  • The Night Market 
    • Only on the weekends
    • 6pm-12am
    • Located from Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square to Dong Xuan Market Gate 

Things to do

  • Hoan Kiem Lake 
    • Aka “Sword Lake”
    • The name of them temple in the middle is “Turtle tower”
  • Train Street
    • Where the train pass by the houses in a close proximity 
    • The shops will have the train times posted as information online about it can be wrong 
  • The Note Cafe
    • Go in a buy a drink to enjoy. Here you can write on a post it and put it on the wall for others to enjoy. I sipped my coffee I sat and read note all over the wall 
  • St Joseph Church 
    • Gothic church
  • Long Bien Bridge
    • A good viewing spot 
  • Tran Quoc Pagoda
    • Oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi 
  • Temple of Literature 
  • Temple of the jade mountain 

The Good thing about Hanoi is that most things are near the old Quarter so its very walkable 

 

Recommended days to Stay In Hanoi 3-4

Cat Ba

There is only two things to do here:

  •  Cat Ba National Park
    • Best way to get there is to rent a scooter 
    •  Things to see there:
      • Trung Trang cave
      • Hospital cave
      • Đỉnh Ngự Lâm
        • popular view point
    • Cost 80,000 VND to visit
  • Lan Ha Bay & Ha Long Bay
    • this will be the popular thing to do 
    • We did a day cruise around the both bays
    • If you have the time and money I recommend an overnight boat tour as you will get more of an experience 
    • Helpful Tip: If you don’t love to kayaking then don’t do it. Watch me and my friend want to kill each other while kayaking.
 

Cat Ba is Skippable as you can do a trip to Ha Long Bay striaght from Hanoi with a tour company.

Recommended days to Stay In Cat Ba 2

Tam Coc/ Ninh Binh

Most people will refer to the area as Ninh Binh but the area to stay around that will allow you to walk everywhere is Tam Coc. 

Things to do:

  •  Bich Dong Pagoda
    • Free to visit 
  • Hoa Lu Ancient Capital
    • 20,000 VND to visit 
  • Mua Cave
    • Around 500 steps to the top
    • 100,000 VND to visit 
    • can see lotus fields from up top
    • Be on the look out for for the Dragon on top
  • Boat ride 
    • I did not do this but its very popular to take a small boat ride here

Recommended days to Stay In Tam Coc 2

Other

These are places I did not visit but heard a lot about:

  • Da Lat
  • Hue
  • Sa pa 
  • Nha Trang 

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