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 Traveller's Tales: Advise for travellers in Vietnam
Heed our handy tips on safe travel in Vietnam. You may read about travel warnings, health, what to wear, travel with kids, travel with pets, local weather, local government, medical information and traffic information in the area.Also, you might want to read our
Central Vietnam city guide,
Halong Bay city guide,
Hanoi city guide,
Ho Chi Minh city guide,
and Phan Thiet city guide.
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| J Benn |
02 January 2002 |
Stayed at Novotel Dalat - Dalat, Vietnam.
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The trip up to Dalat from HCMC via car was
very dangerous - we saw at least 4 motorcycle accidents in 6 hours. I would suggest flying.
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| G Bahn |
31 December 2001 |
Stayed at Bong Sen Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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As in other Asian countries (excluding Japan) many taxi drivers will do anything they can to rip-off tourists. Do not take a taxi that doesn't use his meter, and make sure the meter is restarted at the beginning of the trip. The trip from Saigon airport to the city center should be less than 5 USD.
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| I Moran |
30 December 2001 |
Stayed at Yasaka Saigon Nhatrang Hotel - Nha Trang, Vietnam.
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HCMC - stayed at Hotel Majestic -- very nice hotel in a very convenient location. HCMC itself only warrants 24 - 48hrs for sightseeing.
Nha Trang - stayed at Yasaka Saigon Nha Trang Hotel -- good hotel in great location. Nha Trang was nice. Unfortunately, the beaches were littered with garbage.
Hanoi - stayed at Green Park Hotel -- good hotel where they really tried hard for you. Good price ($50 USD). Only downside -- a little bit out of the way from the central tourist areas (like Hang Gai shopping, etc).
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| C Brandli |
25 December 2001 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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The noisy traffic with all the motorcycles is really crazy. Everybody uses the horn. It's not easy to be pedestrian.
A quiet hotel makes the stay in Hanoi much more enjoyable.
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| S Cooper |
15 December 2001 |
Stayed at Bong Sen Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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In Vietnam, the standard charge for using travellers cheques and credit cards is 4% so take as much cash as you dare (there are also ATMs in Vietnam). Only take $USD especially to Cambodia (where no-one has heard of the pound or the Euro!).
Cambodia: the time, money and effort to get to Phnom Penh probably isn't worth it unless you enjoy looking at poverty and eating in over-priced western restaurants. The Angkor Wat temple complex is beautiful but unless you have a large amount of energy, time and interest, I would stay in Vietnam instead, (which was also cheaper for tourists than Cambodia). Angkor Wat and the sourrounding temple sites costs $20 a day to enter. Be prepared for coach loads of other tourists. If you do go, I would recommend the Princess Hotel in Phnom Penh.
In Vietnam, lack car hire and public transport outside of the rail system means that organised trips through tour offices in HCM and Hanoi are the only easy way to see places outside of the main cities. This means that little of your tourist dollars reach the local economies so you might want to think about how you travel, where you eat and how you tip. We found that, in Vietnam, eating in local street cafes caused us no health problems and the food was usually excellent.
Don't buy off children selling chewing gum, cigarettes etc as this encourages child labour and exploitation - would you send a four year old girl out into the streets to sell postcards? If you want to help these children then give your money to an appropriate charity.
The '69' Restaurant in Old Quarter in Hanoi was excellent - good food and excellent service. The Panorama restaurant in HCM was outrageously overpriced and not particularly good food: you pay through the nose for the view
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| R Saunders |
07 December 2001 |
Stayed at De Syloia Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi was a great place to visit; we hope to go back again. Excellent restaurants include Indochine, Tamarind, Verandah Cafe (pricey).
The Sunday market in Bac Ha was spectacular! Sapa was a disappointment because of the weather (heavy fog), and the aggressiveness of the small girls selling their wares. They swore at us in English and French when we didn't buy from them, and followed us for about 10 minutes with their cursings.
The Perfume Pagoda is a must see. If it's raining, be careful of the slick rocks!
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| M James |
26 November 2001 |
Stayed at Green Park Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi - Be prepared for an assault on the ears, it is noisy and then a bit more noisy. The sheer volume of motorbikes and scooters overwhelms the city. Crossing the road is an exercise is survival.
Hanoi is an interesting break for a couple of days, but has limited points of interest for an extended stay.
The Old quarter is a fascinating day alone, but the sheer volume of tourism has created an extremely inflated rip off economy, leave the tourist areas and go into a supermarket to buy most of the same products for a third of the price.
Hanoi is not a child friendly city in any respect, the danger of traffic and volume of motorbikes means that you cannot walk on the footpath. There are no obvious child friendly destinations within Hanoi.
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| D Crook |
26 November 2001 |
Stayed at Oscar Saigon Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Ho Chi Minh City has edgy feel. Didn't experience any crime but felt close to it all the time. Watch your bags and wallets! War Remnants Museum excellent but disappointed with everything else in city centre. Cu Chi Tunnels and Caodai Temple (Tay Ninh) a good day excursion.
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| G Montandon |
19 November 2001 |
Stayed at Rex Hotel Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Encountered very few tourists. Beautiful country. People are in general very polite , respectful and clean.
Some policies, such as the fact that tourists very often must pay much more for boat trips and museums, whilst maybe economically justifiable, don't seem to go down too well in encouraging tourism!
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| S Rowntree |
19 November 2001 |
Stayed at Bong Sen Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Took a tour to the Mekong Delta through Sinh cafe (Although loads of tour operators offering same trip). Great value & a good trip -however, be prepared to be on the bus a while as it does take a long time to get around. Don't expect to be on a boat all day.
Recommend Mui Ne beach, best approached by bus. We took the train and the nearest station is 30 km away from resort, wanted a taxi, but the only transport was motor bikes who were charging $10 per bike, and insisted on taking the lugage on another bike. Managed to barter them down to $15 total, but as you will find out that is a hell of a lot of money out there - but we were sitting targets. The bus only costs $6 each all the way from Saigon.
Finally - the roads are something else and you find the only way to cross them is to just be brave, bold, and a little bit stupid. But here is the warning - by the end of the hols we had got maybe just a little bit too complacent and expected all the traffic to part for us - don't! On the last day I got run over by a bike and ended up in a major pile up in the middle of the road with 5 other bikes, sore legs and bruises all over.
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