Take a boat through Tam Coc or Trang An
Called the inland Halong: the same limestone towers rising out of flooded rice paddies, rowed through caves by women using their feet.
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Southeast Asia
Things to do in Vietnam
A north-to-south spine of mountains, coastline, and some of the best street food anywhere.
Explore Vietnam on the map →Budget$
Best for10-14 days
CapitalHanoi
VisaE-visa required for most (US); visa-free 45 days for UK
CurrencyVietnamese đồng (VND)
LanguagesVietnamese
InternetGood
Typical lodging$15–$35/night
Driving sideRight
Power & voltage220V / 50Hz (Type A/C/G plug)
Time zoneUTC+7 to UTC+8
Emergency numberVaries by country. Save the local number on arrival.
Dialing code+84
★★★★★ Food★★★★★ Adventure★★★★★ Culture
Visa rules and emergency numbers can change without notice. Confirm the specifics for your nationality and dates before you travel.
Travel smart
Bottled or purified water only. Not customary. Rounding up is common.
Vietnam is long and thin enough to have three separate climates running on different schedules, the north has a genuine cool season while the south stays warm year-round. It means there's almost always somewhere in the country at its best, and almost never a month that suits all of it.
When to go
North, cool and dryOctober–March
Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa at their clearest. December and January can be genuinely cold, with mist over the bay.
North, hot and wetApril–September
Humid with heavy afternoon rain, but the rice terraces at Sapa are green through summer and gold around September.
CentralFebruary–May
The window for Hoi An, Hue and Da Nang. The northeast monsoon brings heavy rain here from October to December, with flooding common.
SouthDecember–April
Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta at their driest. The southwest monsoon brings rain April to October, usually in short bursts.
21 things to do
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Wildlife & nature
1▾
Culture & history
3Walk the citadel and tombs at Hue
The imperial capital until 1945: a walled palace complex damaged in the war, and emperors' tombs spread along the Perfume River.
Go into the Cu Chi tunnels
Kilometres of hand-dug wartime tunnels outside Ho Chi Minh City, some widened enough for visitors to crawl through.
See the War Remnants Museum
A blunt, difficult account of the American War from the Vietnamese side. Not an easy visit, and the most important one in Saigon.
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Food & markets
4Eat pho for breakfast where it belongs
Northern pho is clear and plain; the southern version arrives with herbs and sauces. Both are breakfast food, not dinner.
Work through a banh mi
French bread, Vietnamese fillings, a colonial hangover that turned into one of the world's best sandwiches. Hoi An's are famous for good reason.
Drink egg coffee in Hanoi
Whipped yolk and condensed milk over strong coffee, invented during a milk shortage in the 1940s and never abandoned.
Eat on plastic stools in the Old Quarter
Hanoi's 36 streets, each historically for one trade, with bun cha and beer hoi served at knee height on the pavement.
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Adventure & outdoors
5Kayak between the karsts
Paddling under low arches into hidden lagoons is the part of Halong the big boats can't do.
Trek between hill villages around Sapa
Terraced rice fields cut into mountains near the Chinese border, home to Hmong and Dao communities. Homestays are common.
Ride the Hai Van Pass
A coastal mountain road between Hue and Da Nang, with the sea on one side and cloud usually sitting on the summit.
Go into the caves at Phong Nha
Some of the largest caves on earth, including Son Doong, which has its own weather. Cheaper caves like Paradise and Hang En are open to anyone.
Motorbike the Ha Giang loop
Three or four days of mountain switchbacks near the Chinese border, through the country's most dramatic karst landscape. Easy riders take you as passenger.
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Coast & water
3Sleep overnight on Halong Bay
Nearly 2,000 limestone islands in a shallow bay. Day trips see the crowded part; overnight boats reach quieter water like Lan Ha and Bai Tu Long.
Take a boat through the Mekong Delta
Floating markets at Cai Rang trading from boat to boat at dawn, coconut candy workshops and channels barely wider than the sampan.
Swim off Phu Quoc or Con Dao
Islands off the south coast: Phu Quoc developed and easy, Con Dao remote, with a hard prison history and empty beaches.
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Cities & design
3Have clothes made in Hoi An
A lantern-lit old trading port with hundreds of tailors. Two fittings over a couple of days is the usual rhythm.
See Hoi An lit by lanterns
The old town goes lantern-only on the full moon each month, with candles floated on the river.
Cross the road in Ho Chi Minh City
Thousands of scooters and no gaps. The technique is to walk slowly and predictably and let the traffic flow around you.
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Slow days
2Ride the Reunification Express
Hanoi to Saigon over roughly 33 hours, hugging the coast. Most people take it in sections rather than end to end.
Sit with a Vietnamese drip coffee
The metal filter takes several minutes to drip through, which is the point. Robusta, strong, usually over condensed milk and ice.
Common questions
▾Is Vietnam safe to visit?
Yes. Vietnam has low rates of violent crime against tourists and a well-worn backpacker and package-tour infrastructure running the length of the country. Standard precautions around traffic (crossing the street takes some getting used to) and petty theft in tourist areas apply, but serious incidents are rare.
▾How much does it cost to visit Ha Long Bay?
The bay's own entrance and sightseeing fee runs around 260,000-310,000 VND per person (about $10-13), which most cruise operators build into their package price rather than charging separately. Budget operators sometimes itemize it, so ask upfront whether it's already included when you compare cruise prices.
▾How many days do you need in Vietnam?
14 days lets you cover the country north to south at a comfortable pace: Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, central Vietnam's Hoi An and Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta. A tighter 10-day trip usually means picking either the north or the south rather than the full length.
▾Do I need a visa for Vietnam?
Most nationalities need a visa, available as an e-Visa in advance for a modest fee, typically valid for 30 to 90 days depending on your passport. A handful of countries get short visa-free stays, so check the current list before booking.
▾What's the best time to visit Vietnam?
Vietnam is long enough that no single season suits the whole country: the north (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay) is best October through April, while the south (Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta) has a more even climate with a December-to-April dry season. Central Vietnam gets its heaviest rain October through November.
▾Is Vietnam expensive?
Vietnam is one of the most affordable countries in Southeast Asia: street food, local transport and budget guesthouses cost very little, and even a multi-day Ha Long Bay cruise is inexpensive compared to similar boat trips elsewhere in the world.
