Tourist

Vietnam is long and skinny. The north is actually in the foothills of the Himalayas, and stays quite cool. The south, like Phu Quoc and Ho Chi Minh City, is always hot. Afternoon rain in the summer. Very dramatic. In the winter, still hot but dry. I would aim for winter since it is a touch cooler.

Hanoi, where I am, gets hot in the summer with lots of rain. Winters get legit cool. We had a week of sweater weather in December. So shoulder season for pleasant but not hot. And October and November make up the better of the two shoulder seasons.

You also have places like Da Lat which is in the Central Highlands. The Land of Eternal Spring. It's between 18C (65F) and 23C (72F) year-round.

If you aren't married to an itinerary, you can usually find what you are looking for within a two-hour flight.

It has not come up. I've been here for a year at this point, and no one has commented on it. I asked Allison. She says that some older people might be quietly holding on to anger, but the Vietnamese are a forward-looking people. The obvious rule of thumb would be: don't bring it up, and it shouldn't be an issue.

I don't, usually. But I don't mind ice in my drinks. The word on the street is that the ice from reputable places is made with purified water. At home I keep a jug on a water cooler, and I even use it for, say, boiling pasta (although I've heard it's safe to cook with). I brush my teeth in Hanoi water, but that's a judgment call. Stick to bottled water and drinks. They are cheap here. 7k for a bottle of water from a convenience store. Which is 38 cents.

Sort of. Not really. Also please don't. They are pretty easy to find, so you can rent them. You technically need a driver's license and an international driving permit from a country that signed the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Which Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand did not.

Two big issues with that: one, if the cops pull you over it's a $100 fine if you are on a small bike. And if you cause an accident while unlicensed, the fines can go up to $5,000 with possible jail time.

The second issue: you might be voiding your travel medical insurance. Treatment isn't expensive here, but it's not free.

And the main issue: it's kind of dangerous. The available helmets are inadequate. The roads are chaos. Mario Kart with 9 million other players. Fatality rates on the roads are four times what you get in Canada.

If you want to experience Ha Noi on a scooter, I suggest buying a $30 helmet from Protec or similar, and hop on the back of a Grab scooter. (Note that you don't put your hands around the driver's waist unless you are hitting on him. You just balance.)

Not really. Thank you (cam on) is reserved for big favours. Sorry (xin loi) is only used if you are being really formal. Also works as "Excuse me". And nobody says goodbye (tam biet).

Vietnamese is one of the harder languages to learn and no one will expect you to use it. Get good on Google Translate before you go. It is perfectly normal to set it to listening mode and poke it into a server's face. Politely of course.

Although "Xin chao" (pronounced as "sin chow" basically) is fine for hello (and the rabbit hole of how to actually say "hello" properly is deep. Someone younger is "Chao em", but an older man gets "Chao anh" and an older woman gets "Chao chi". And there are more levels.)

Probably. There are countries that don't need them (https://vietnam.gov.vn/visa-exemption-68946) but I did, coming from Canada and I think Americans need them too. Changes all the time so keep your eye on it.

Two ways to get a visa. You can go to the embassy in your hometown. This is the old school way. Costs more and takes more time. Or you can apply for an e-visa. Make sure you go directly to the government site (https://evisa.gov.vn/). There are some companies that charge you to fill in what is actually a free form. Some of these agents are useful (I got a guy that I use) but for most people the government site is good enough. You need to apply at least a week before you go. It can process in a day or it might take a week. You can pay for an expedited one if you forgot to get one, but that's a few hundred dollars.

Yes. Sort of. If you are staying in a hotel, they do it for you. They photocopy your passport and send it to the local government. If you're staying at an Airbnb or renting, the unit owner has to do it. They will get fined if they don't, and it could create problems for you. So when they ask for a copy of your passport, they are not being nosy. It's the law.

Credit cards do usually work at the big retailers. They are not that common. Paying by QR code (where you take a picture of a QR code with your banking app and pay directly out of the account) is the most common. Not really available to most foreigners. I have it but it took a month of jumping through hoops. I found the workarounds to be buggy and unreliable.

And cash is king. Almost everywhere accepts it. The wrinkle is that almost no small retailers can make change for a 500k note - which is of course what the ATM gives you. What I do is that if I am at a major chain like WinMart or CircleK, I pay with a 500k note. Just to break it up. Even 200k notes are hard for small vendors to make change. The useful bills are the 100k and below. And they love if you take a second to make exact change. There aren't any coins, but you will get a sheaf of small bills after a while. If the bill is 58k, they will happily wait for you to fumble around and give them exact change.

Also, if you want to be nice, hand the currency over with two hands. Although I have never done this. Maybe I should.

Not really. In the big hotels and in the tourist areas, there is some English. But carry a phone with Google Translate downloaded. You can also download the Vietnamese language for offline access if the Wi-Fi is down. Practice with Google Translate. It will help so you are not fumbling at the airport when you land. And learn how to use the camera function in Google Translate. Game changer. Point it at a sign and it will translate it.

There is talk of making English a second language here officially. And a lot of signs are in English. Young kids will try to practice their English with you. If you ask them how they are, they will say "I am happy." It's delightful.

Pretty bad. You aren't going to see a lot of blue sky here - which does have its upsides. You burn a little slower with the haze (I am red-headed). The air is bad enough that I think about moving to another part of the country. I think the average traveller is fine, but if you are sensitive to it, it might be a situation for you. I would suggest Nha Trang or Da Nang.

Excellent. If you splurge on the private hospitals. You should definitely get travel insurance from a provider in your country before you leave. Ideally find one that lets you use the private hospitals. I got really sick and went to Vinmec SmartCity. Coming from Canada where it's eight hours to see a doctor, it was glorious. I was treated immediately. World-class care. Spent a week in a clean solo room with nice amenities. And they kept me from dying which I thought was very courteous. Seven days total. Cost me $1,300 USD. If you plan on getting pneumonia, I strongly recommend doing it in Vietnam.

The public hospitals are adequate too, but the treatment is slower.

And the drugs here are dirt cheap.

(All prices in USD)

A great hotel is $100. With a little research, you can usually find a decent hotel for $30. And I have spent $17 for a four-star in Nha Trang. So the variance is there. But aiming for $50 a night is not a bad target. Especially if you are outside Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

Food is as cheap as you want it. KFC and McDonald's run about $5 a meal. You can find banh mi (spicy vegetable and meat on a small baguette) for $1.  A bowl of pho (which is a broth with noodles and some kind of meat) runs between $2 and $4. You can go to a nice sit-down restaurant like Pizza 4P's (which is a chain of surprisingly nice Italian restaurants) for $30 for two appetizers, a pizza, and two fruit juices.

Beer is cheap. You can find it for under a dollar a can at the grocery store. And there is some cheap fortified wine. But once you get to the liquors, prices can float up to the same level as North American prices, especially in the tourist areas.

Cash is king, but never pay with anything bigger than a 100k bill (about $5). I would aim to keep about 3,000,000 VND in 100k bills in your wallet. About $115. Related, 3,000,000  VND is the most you can usually get out of an ATM at any one time.

Not really. I would stick to the grocery stores or very simple dishes in restaurants.

The whole conversation about vegetarianism and allergies hasn't really landed yet, and you will be up against both a language barrier and a cultural barrier. I was a vegetarian for decades and assumed that a country with Buddhist roots would have a lot of options. I was mistaken. There are obviously a fair few vegetarian restaurants and there are apps to discover them. But on the whole, you are going to spend a lot of time finding those restaurants and determining if they are actually vegetarian. Fish sauce for instance isn't considered meat to a lot of people here. And the vegetarian food I did find was, um, very adventurous.

And the allergy people are in a worse spot, depending on the allergy. And the language barrier will really bite deep. Google Translate might miss a nuance. You say "no alliums" and the translation to them reads "no onions".  As well, most meals are pre-prepared and have a long ingredient list. I would strongly suggest Western restaurants and the grocery store.

Fish sauce for instance is in everything.

Yes. Surprisingly so. Violent crime is rare. I imagine there's a fair bit of petty theft but I haven't seen it. There are a couple of scams around. At the airport, someone is trying to overcharge you for a cab ride (use Grab, which is the Uber here). Some street vendors will try to fool you with a 500k bill and a 20k bill (they look the same, so they pretend you paid with the 20k and don't give change). But that's about it for crime.

The big exposure is the traffic. I do not recommend renting a scooter or even riding on one, although it looks pretty cool. And Allison rides one every day. But we see a fair few GoFundMe campaigns for expats in scooter accidents.

Mostly yes but also a little bit no. The main company is called Grab. It is the Uber here. It is a superpower. It is very cheap, and you can get it to auto-charge your credit card. I can get from my suburban apartment to downtown Hanoi for between $3 and $7 each way. On the other hand, busses can be tough if only because the city can be stupid hot. I would budget money for Grab. Waiting for a bus that might be packed on a 40°C (104°F) day is not just uncomfortable, it's dangerous.

The drawback is that traffic here is terrible. Don't plan on getting anywhere fast. It's 13km from where I type this to the Old Quarter. It would take me over an hour by Grab since it's midday. 

It's not to the standard of North America, but the food here is reasonably safe. But take precautions. Street food is cheap and plentiful, but the risk is there. Refrigeration standards are lower and the weather here is hot. If a stall is busy and the food is being used quickly, it's likely a little safer.

The wet markets are buyer beware but the food usually moves so quickly through those places that it can be safe. But use your eyes, since the standards vary.

Sit down restaurants are a better risk, especially ones in newer buildings. And the western chains like McDonald's and KFC have good standards.

Grocery stores like Aeon and WinMart are also quite safe. The fridges are new and the stores are clean. And the packaged food is fine. Same for corner stores like Circle K and GS25.

If you are worried (which is very reasonable), eat at well established Vietnamese restaurants or western fast food places, and get packaged snacks from the big grocery stores and convenience stores. 

Mostly no. But they usually aren't offended by it (although they might not understand what you are giving them). You are welcome to never tip though. Maybe in the tourist areas, there is a slight expectation from Americans or Canadians. But tipping isn't a thing here, and most of the tourists come from countries where there is no tipping culture.

If you do want to tip (and I am from Canada, so I do), 20,000 VND (which is about a buck) is considered generous. A can of Coke in a store is about 7,000 VND, to give you a sense of its purchasing power.

You will hear that other tourists do not want to import tipping culture to Vietnam. It will train an expectation that may not be met. But it's really up to you. Tip or don't tip. I wouldn't feel guilty either way.  

If your phone supports it, as a tourist, get an eSIM The big players are Airalo, Holafly, Saily, and Nomad. I have used Airalo and Holafly (the main difference - Holafly is a little more money, but has more data). In reality, you really only need data. Phone calls are almost always done on WhatsApp (the main one for foreigners) or Zalo, which is the app most Vietnamese use. But nothing wrong with getting 30 minutes of phone calls if you think you need it for safety purposes.

If your phone doesn't support an eSIM, then go with the regular SIM card. I suggest buying one at the airport. You will see advice to go into town for a cheaper rate. In reality, it will save you at most $5 USD. And the annoyance and risk of not having data when you leave the airport is real.

I would suggest going to the Viettel branded dealer. Although MobiFone and Vinaphone are fine if you are staying in Hanoi.

They will need your passport to register you in the system. If they don't ask for it, they are giving you a pre-activated SIM. Not the end of the world, but it can have some small issues. You can avoid this issue by going to the name-brand stands.

Plans are cheap. Think $12 USD for two weeks with decent data at good speeds. Subject to change of course. I am writing this in July of 2025.

Most hotels have decent Wifi, as do some restaurants. But the data is cheap enough that I wouldn't skimp. I would just get some local data.

The two big ones: the taxi scam at the airport and the currency confusion scam.

When you land at Noi Bai in Hanoi or Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh, you will be aggressively approached by guys offering to drive you into the city. They will say they are Grab drivers or that they have good prices. In reality, they will charge you double what it really costs. Not the biggest dollar scam in the world, but annoying. The fix is easy. Download Grab on your phone and book a taxi the second you clear customs. Either don't make eye contact with the aggressive drivers, or smile and just keep walking.

The second scam: some Vietnamese bills look very similar to one another. The 500k note (which is $20 USD) and 20k note (which is $1 USD) are both blue. The scam is that you hand a vendor the 500k note, they palm it for a 20k note and say that you haven't paid enough. The fix is both to never pay with a 500k note if you can avoid it, and to never buy anything from a street vendor unless you like gambling. Paying with exact change while hiding how much money you have is actually a Vietnamese skill passed down from parent to child.

To complicate matters slightly: the ATMs usually only give you 500k notes. You should try to break them at reputable stores like WinMart or Circle K. 

Other common scams: if someone takes a picture with you and they are in traditional dress, they will expect money. Which is fine, but agree on the price before hand - which will be an ordeal because of the language barrier and the scammer trying to keep the price ambiguous.

Also ignore all shoe shiners and do not let them take your shoe off your foot. They will want money for you to get it back.

And the cheap tailored clothing here is a bit of a myth. You would need a referral to a good tailor. The ones for tourists overcharge and underdeliver.

Grab is the main ride-sharing app is South East Asia. Basically Uber for Vietnam.

Download the app before you leave your home country. Once you land in Vietnam, you can add a credit card to it so that it charges automatically (it's geo-fenced, so you can't add a credit card to it until you are here - which is weird). Fun fact: you aren't required to put a credit card in the system. You can pay cash to the driver. But carry a selection of smaller bills. The driver won't really be able to break the 500k VND notes you get out of the ATM.

Most people Grab from the airport into Hanoi. It's a fair ways out from the main part of the city. It costs me about 550k VND (which is $21 USD) to get home. It is also the most expensive Grab ride you will likely take. Most rides are between 50k VND ($2 USD) and 150k VND ($6 USD). Like Uber it's demand pricing. I have paid 260k VND ($10 USD) but fair's fair, that was just after a typhoon and most of the streets were flooded.

Useful fact: Grab cars are supposed to have yellow license plates. Makes it easier to spot them in a crowd.

The app is more chaotic than you might expect. It's also the main food delivery app. Just hit the "Car" icon on the main page and put in the address where you want to go. Then you confirm on the map your location (which can be fussy, so be careful) and choose your level of car. I recommend the EV cars. They are newer and can be cheaper than the standard car. Remember you're in Asia, so some of the cars will be on the small side.

If the driver can't find you, they will call. Which won't do you any good unless you speak very good Vietnamese. There is a chat window which can translate so use that.

No tip is expected, but if you want to tip, 20k VND ($0.75 USD) is considered generous. There is a button on the app.

If you have the credit card loaded up, it charges automatically. If you don't, the driver will want cash at the end of the ride.

Note that maps in Vietnam are not the most accurate and you may find yourself a few blocks from your destination, especially in the Old Quarter.

in Hanoi, the weather from October to March is pleasant. Almost a bit cold some days. It can bottom out in January at 10C (50F) and rain all day. But a normal winter day is 18C (64f) and dry.

In April, a switch flips, and it gets hot. You won't see the happy side of 28C (82F) for six months. It is brutal. This year, we had ten days of 40C (104F) in May. Humidity was over 80%. It is the wet season though, and you get the iconic tropical downpour in the afternoon a fair bit. Which is charming. Sitting in a cafe that doesn't have walls while the rain crashes down 20 feet away is a trip.

But air conditioning is not optional in the summer. You won't be able to white knuckle a few nights in a cheap hotel with no AC. Not unless you grew up doing it.

I strongly recommend that you drink the rehydration fluids like Pocari Sweat, coconut water, or Oresol (which is a powder you can get at a pharmacy) every day. And look into magnesium supplements to help with any muscle cramping.

Slow and steady. And I've been here a year and there are some roads I won't tackle unless there is a big gap.

Ideally, you can find a light with a crosswalk. The lights are semi-respected. Although I have totally had the light and still been in a pack of fifty scooters who only slowed down a little bit as they zipped past me on a left turn.

No one will stop for you. They will veer enough to not hit you. The real danger? Making sudden darting moves. Panicking and running back to the curb. It's hard not to do sometimes. But whatever you do, try to be deliberate and clear where you are going. 

Here's the secret sauce though. Unlike North America, no one is mad at you for crossing the street. If they have to stop for a second, well you have a right to the street too. They aren't mad about it. One beep of a horn just means "look at me, I am here". Two beeps means "I'm coming through." Very little rage.

The roads are dangerous, though. And if you choose to never cross, no judgement. I have absolutely called a Grab from a strip mall to get to my hotel which I could see across the road. But it was a six-lane main road at rush hour.

This is not medical advice. You should see your doctor. I went to a specialist clinic in Vancouver before I got here. I got the vaccine for Hep A, Typhoid and I think a tetanus booster. They also gave me some antibiotics for the almost inevitable traveler's diarrhea. I dodged that bullet, but still nice to have.

Most people will ignore this advice. Only about 10% of people get vaccinated apparently. I'm a belt and suspenders guy so I got whatever they said.

For rabies, the advice is the same as Canada. If you get bit by a dog or interact in any way with a bat, see a health care provider ASAP. Dengue also exists, but there is no vaccine available for travelers. Best advice is bug repellent and mosquito nets if you are in the jungle.

The real risk factor is if you plan on going outside the city. I am in a newly built apartment tower in suburban Hanoi. Not a lot of risk here.  

The rules recently changed. The old advice was to go to a jewelry shop, and they could exchange your money for a lower fee. In December of 2025, the government cracked down. There is a penalty now for both the tourists and the shop. Under $1,000 USD, it's a warning. Above that number, the fine can be north of $400 USD. And they can seize your cash. We recommend that you use licensed counters and ATMs to get money.

If you still want to go that route, Allison advises that you can go to one of the jewellers on Hà Trung Street. The banks will take up to 1.5% off the mid-market rate; the jewellers won't take as much. Today the mid-market rate is $1 USD to 26,300 VND. They really prefer USD, especially crisp $100 bills. They can exchange other currencies as well, but maybe not on as good terms.

But again, for the $15 per thousand that you would save, we strongly recommend going the legal route.