We’re thinking about going to Vietnam this holiday season. Thoughts? Recommendations?
Wow, great trip!
I would be surprised if anyone had recommendations, given the window of travel to Vietnam has been only recently opened, but what a valuable trip!!
I haven’t been yet but a lot of friends have had fantastic experiences there and in Cambodia and Laos as well.
My suggestion: deep water soloing in Ha Long Bay.
Vietnam is tops on my “want to go” list for Asia.
I went to Hanoi several years ago for a couple of days and did not enjoy it at all.
Ha Long Bay is worth seeing but Hanoi itself while very interesting just didnt do it for me, it was dirty, people eat in the street literally the family table is on the sidewalk.
My wife is blond and was harrassed several times to the point of us going into bigger store out of fear for our safety.
It is wild with tradition and history but I never need to go back to Hanoi, I have heard other cities are different.
Randy, I’m envious - seeing Vietnam is way up there on my wish list. I’m sure you’ve looked at places like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, both of which I’ve found pretty useful in other parts of the world. Keep us posted on your plans!
My wife went there with her sister and mother around 3 years ago. I didn’t go along since I figured they would enjoy more without me. For whatever it may be worth, from what my wife told me, the food (in the restaurants they went to, anyway) was quite good and still showed a strong French influence, shopping for house decor was very cheap, hotel rates are generally much cheaper than those in Hong Kong and the coffee was good.
Thanks for the input. I’m hoping to find a good tour company as I think that’s how we’ll get the most for the limited time we’ve allotted to this trip.
Honestly, we’re all over the place planning this…
“Where to go this holiday season?”
“Somewhere warm and somewhere we haven’t been.”
somewhere warm and not sure if you have been there but go to Thailand!
Coffee in Vietnam is AMAZING, I still get it sent to me 5 years later.
Glad to see people had good experiences, kind of upset I did not
PS ever cab we took tried to charge us more than the meter. Alot would shut if off right before we got to the destination and tell us it was 3x what it should be and then proceed to try to negotiate from there.
Went to visit the North in '98, since I didn’t get out of the South in ‘67/68. Spent 2 weeks with a guide on a motor scooter except for the sojourns, in a bus, to the northern border towns which are a must see. Primitive areas like BacHa, SaPa and HaLong Bay . Lots of junkies in HaLong since it’s a port of entry, with needles and syringes littering the park. In SaPa we were frequently offered opium in the market place. This is OK if you’re into layin’ up in the hooch for days on end in a dream cycle. Good way to loose 20 pounds, quickly though. There are boats out of there to cruise the outcroppings and some nice beaches and caves. Free diving is OK not much to see since it’s all fished out. In SaPa our guide hired a military jeep to drive us out about 50 miles into the mountains where we hiked for 1-2 hours to a remote village. The jeep picked us up on the return all for $100/US. Spent the day in a village hooch with an ex NVA regular, now village elder. Great talk via the interpreter, shared tea with us, we shared Johnny Walker Black and Malboro’s w/him. Take these two items along for barter/tips/rewards/access. Hanoi was nice, I thought, the water puppet show, strolls around the lake in the evening, large Saigon beers and French culinary influences everywhere. Mornings always had fresh baguettes. Don’t buy any zippo lighters or dog tags. Visit Uncle Ho’s home and of course visit with him “in state”. He looked a little waxy when we were there hopefully he has his color back. Your dining “experience” should begin at a local bar where they have these fabulous skewers, ignore the puppies in cages as you enter, All in all, I’d do again in a heartbeat. Oh did I miss mentioning the number 10 boom boom? Next time.
Randy, I just got back from a Southeast Asia Vacation. Spent 9 days in Vietnam (split evenly between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) (late August), 9 in Thailand, 5 in Cambodia, 2.5 in Malaysia and 5 in Taiwan.
My deepest regret was not being able to visit Sapa which is a gorgeous farm town with gorgeous views and unlike Nick’s visit in 98, the tourism industry has boosted the economy in the area. In fact, most of Vietnam seems to be heavily spuced up for the tourist industry.
We “slummed” it in Vietnam for our hotel stays so we could spend a bit more on excursions but we were satisfied with our $25/n stays. In Hanoi, The Hanoi old quarter where most of the hotels are at (from the Grand Hyatt to $6 hostels) there’s plenty of shopping (either brand name designer bags or cheap market shopping) and eating to do. Hanoi recently banned “street vendors” so many of the vendors have little restaurants. It’s significantly cleaner than HCMC city is.
In HCMC it’s district 1 where the hotels/restaurants/sites are. HCMC is a bit run down since it’s such a large city but nothing that should make you comment on it being dirty (that can’t be said for the capital of Cambodia… which is probably the most disgusting city in the world).
Hanoi is noticeably more expensive than HCMC, it seems Hanoi has a far larger tourist population (as noted by the 5star hotels and luxury brand stores) so some trinket you buy in HCMC is most likely 3-4x more in Hanoi. Also people seem to always want to sell you things in USD… which pretty much means their looking to screw you over. That being said, the general concensus from the people we met in our travels were how rude most of the people in Vietnam were. Very very unfriendly. I’m Chinese so I’m used to living in a culture with A-holes but Vietnam takes it to a whole other level. A lot of pushing and shoving, grabbing of arms to sell you stuff, talking shit about you literally right in front of you (the nail salon jokes are true!), people seem to be CONSTANTLY angry at you unless you pay the maximum dollar for their product (which would be completely insane if you did). Big contrast between Thailand… where people always have a smile to Vietnam… where… everyone wants to punch you. You get used to it and you learn how to deal with it. If you take a large tour that takes you everywhere you might not have to encounter this…
As the saying goes “In thailand they will steal your money with a smile… in Vietnam they’ll still your money and hate you for it”
in regards to Taxis. Taxi’s will look to screw the shit out of you in Vietnam. There are a few trustworthy operators that you could take, but walking is pretty easy and most of the stuff is close so you don’t even have to worry about Taxi’s. EVEN IF THE TAXI HAS A METER you can still get scammed due to a sped up meter. My friend was charged roughly $40 American for a 20 minute ride (normally 1.50 max). I took two taxi’s in Vietnam and it was fine, no ride cost me more than 20,000 dong (17481=1USD)
I made a document that has a list of the hotel we stayed at, the things we did, who we booked it with etc. If you want it I can send it to you. It’s REALLY easy to get cheap tour companies when you arrive in Vietnam. Booking it in America is asking for a far higher charge. You can book it the day before and you’ll be fine. We booked each tour (minus the Halong Bay Cruise… which was with an excellent operator) the night before we left. I encourage traveling without a large tour (my family does the large tour all the time) because I feel you’re missing out on a lot of the shopping/food of Vietnam. The tour operators are taking you to areas where they can get max $$… there are so many famous places in vietnam that are tucked away in alleyways.
If you want any suggestions on where to go in SE Asia let me know!
Charlie, did they have toilet paper for you? We were warned to bring our own and it paid off after the dysentry for 11 days. Fortunately we had Limodol (take this as well) and there are open pharmacies. I travel with a bud who’s a doc so access to drugs and care are nearby, except he’s a drunken Irishman who’s manic depressive. Entertaining travel companion. It was just the 2 of us with 2 guides so we avoided a lot of the bullshit. Mostly clean lower end hotels. They were both attorneys who had just graduated and wanted to expand their english skills. We got treated right, but I guess it was the right time. Do you go to the Basbmboo Bamboo Room in Sapa? I know it seems redundant but thats how they spelled it. Have you visited any of the Wat in SE asia?
We were never short of toilet paper in our travels in SE Asia… except maybe some public restrooms… otherwise even our $15 hotel had plenty of toilet paper for us. I didn’t have any stomach problems during the trip and I’m a pretty risky eater. In northern thailand some lady was catering around a big pot of pig’s blood, pork knuckle stew… it was delicious 
But it certainly doesn’t hurt to take some sort of anti-diarrhea medicine cause even the cleanest places could result in food poisoning.
We visited the major Wats in bangkok/chiang mai and we did a 2 day trek in Siem Reap (which I highly suggest to all people). My girlfriend wanted to visit every major wat in all the major cities but I nixed it… temple fatigue.
Thanks for all the great info.
We’re wimps when it comes to travel these days so will probably set up most everything before we go. I’ve got a tour company (though it would be a private tour) working on it now. I bought the air yesterday, flying through Hong Kong as we plan to spend a few days there including New Years there on the way back.
It looks like we will start in HCM City, move up to a fancy resort in Danang (and do Hue and the surrounds) and finish in Hanoi. I hope that we have time to go up to Sapa from Hanoi.
Randy,
My wife and I went to Vietnam and Cambodia a few years ago for 3 weeks. It was one of the most fascinating trips we’ve ever taken (and we’ve been to over 70 countries). We do not rough it - we travel in upscale accommodations (where available). I even have an ongoing small business investment in Cambodia as a result of people we met on our trip. Connecting thru Hong Kong or Taipei to get to Vietnam is definitely the most trouble free way. Both airports are modern, efficient, and reliable. If you are still looking for some specific suggestions on places to stay, restaurants, tour guides, must see sights, and fun things to do, email me or even give me a call.
We went nearly 2 years ago and our experience was very different than what was described by many here. It was one of our favorite places we’ve been. However, the very big caveat is that my wife is Vietnamese and still speaks a little. We are planning a return trip next December. Absolutely loved the street food and never got sick once. Don’t eat salad or anything uncooked like it. We did all upscale hotels, but didn’t eat there at all.
I might post more later if I have time, but you can PM or email me if you want more details.
Chris
Bump. Randy, how was the trip?
Has anyone done one of the river boat tours that go through both Vietnam and Cambodia?
I’m sitting in my hotel room right now in Phu Quoc…off the coast of Southwest Vietnam near the Cambodia border. The trip has gone great so far and I have yet to experience any of the issues that some of the above posters had. Although we have found ourselves being hassled to purchase things, most of the sellers we have encountered have backed off when we declined. If anyone is thinking of heading to Vietnam soon and wants to hear about my experience…please go ahead and send me a pm. We have been here so far for about 15 days and will be spending an additional 10 days before we head back to the states. We aren’t going to venture to the north…the furthest north we have been is Nha Trang. My only complaint is that I’ve been craving a glass of Dauvissat Chablis for about 3 days now and I doubt I will find any soon!
I found the Vietnamese people to be pleasant to us. (I checked with my wife, I wanted to say friendly, but she said "no the Italians are friendly, but she put a finer point on it and said they were pleasant in a way that encourages a return). They certianly have no grudge re: the Vietnam war. I observed, as a tourist seeing other tourists, that there was some animosity against the Chinese in the north.
The main thing to be aware of (besides third world eating rules) is that they feel no inhibition to touch you. I am a large fellow, and would often get “Buddha” comments. No problem there, but strangers on the street would reach out and rub my belly for luck. The first time, not so bothersome to me, but after 8 times in one day, I wasn’t happy.
This was primarily HCMC. Hanoi is far more sophisticated, and I didn’t get many comments or even glances there. HCMC has many, many, many recent arrivals from rural areas. Hanoi has been a capital for many centuries.
Food was great. Prices were great. Scenery was great. Historical interest was great. I loved the HCMC Sheraton, better than a 4* hotel for what was a great price at the time.
This is long since the thread was started, so I’m putting this down for future travelers. I though Xmas in HCMC was absolutely astonishing. Mostly fun. Family of four on scooters all wearing elf hats - thousands of them! Huge Xmas tree at the Sheraton, windows made up in holiday style. The only disconcerting part is there is a tradition of throwing uncooked rice at others, and as the night got late, an aggresively mischievous style became apparent among the youth doing it that made you think “time to get off the street”.
We are thinking about Vietnam this summer…with a ten year old. Any thoughts on that aspect? Would we be better off waiting til he’s older?