Vietnam Travel Tips

DO Store your cash, credit cards, airline tickets and other valuables in a safe place. Most 4-star hotels have in-room safes, otherwise ask the reception to keep your valuable things in their deposit facility. Take a hotel business card from the reception desk before venturing out from your hotel. This will make your return to the hotel in a taxi …

Eating in Vietnam ranges from cheap noodle soups on the street for about 25 cents to a banquet in one of the luxury hotels. Vietnamese restaurants offer a broad selection of international fare including French, Italian, American, Indian, Chinese and Japanese. The most typical Vietnamese food is  Pho, the noodle soup with meat in it. It is very cheap at …

Travellers tend to worry about contracting infectious diseases when in the tropics, but infections are a rare cause of serious illness or death in travellers. Pre-existing medical conditions such as heart disease, and accidental injury (especially traffic accidents), account for most life-threatening problems. Becoming ill in some way, however, is a relatively common thing. Fortunately, most common illnesses can either …

A normal working day in Vietnam starts from  7am to 8.30am and finish between  4pm to 6pm, from Monday to Friday and until noon on Saturday, leave the afternoon (most) and Sunday off. Lunch is taken very seriously and virtually.  Everything shuts down between noon and 1.30pm. Government workers tend to take longer breaks, so figure on getting nothing done …

The currency of Vietnam is  “Dong” (abbreviated  “d” or  VND). Bank notes are: 100d , 200d and 500d (too small value – rarely used); 1,000d; 2,000d; 5,000d; 10,000d, 20,000d, 50,000d and 100,000d (each has two versions – cotton and polymer), 200,000d and 500,000d. Coins have recently come into circulation but not widely been accepted due to inconvenience, including: 200d; 500d; …

Vietnam shares land borders with Cambodia, Laos and China and there’re several border crossings open to foreigners with each neighbour, a big improvement on a few years ago. From Cambodia Bavet (or Moc Bai); Kaam Samnor (or Vinh Xuong); Phnom Den (or Tinh Bien).   From Laos Donsavanh (or Lao Bao); Nam Phao (or Cau Treo); Nam Can; Tay Trang. …

Arriving in Vietnam, all visitors must fill in  declaration forms and show their luggage to Customs Officials upon request. There are no limited amounts of foreign currency, objects made of gold, silver, precious metals and gemstones or plated with silver or gold but visitors must declare these in detail on the customs forms. Luggage of Prohibited and Restricted carriage Following …

This is the most convenient way to enter Vietnam. Formalities at Vietnam’s international airports are generally smoother than at land borders, as volume of traffic is greater. Network of Airports in Vietnam • For both International and Domestic flights: Noi Bai (35km northwest of Hanoi), Tan Son Nhat (in Ho Chi Minh City), Danang (in Danang city). • For Domestic …

The climate of Vietnam varies considerably from region to region. Although the entire country lies in the tropics and subtropics, local condition varies from frosty winters in the far northern hill to year-round, subequatorial warmth in the Mekong Delta. For the best balance, try the months of April, May or October;Vietnam’s weather is indicated by  two monsoons. The  winter monsoon …

Mainland Territory: 331,211.6 sq. km Population: 85,789.6 thousand inhabitants (Apr. 2009) National Capital: Hanoi Lying on the eastern part of the Indochinese peninsula, Vietnam is a strip of land shaped like the letter “S”. China borders it to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, the East Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the east and …