Vietnam February & April 2026
The Country
Vietnam is sightly smaller than the UK, but with a greater population density. What was one of the poorest countries in the world has been developing fast, and from what I can tell has a growing middle class in the cities. In the countryside some people’s living conditions can still be basic. In living memory many people used fireflies for light at night, so a massive change in a short time.
While prices are generally well below those in the UK, for many packaged goods it’s not far behind. Traveller dreams of living like kings on a pittance are long gone but outside of the cities you can still get a double room in a comfortable homestay for less than £10 a night and eat for £1. There seemed to be a lot of cafes chasing the tourist dollar. This competition should keep prices down for a while yet.
The tradition and cultures have been strongly influenced by China in art, festivals and social structure, Mercifully, for an European traveller, writing uses the Latin alphabet originally developed by Portuguese missionaries in the 17th Century …. but with 12 vowels and 6 tones meaning a different pitch which alters the meaning of the word and makes pronunciation for the uninitiated tricky. These tones are important – pineapple, melon and coconut all have the same basic spelling. The pronunciation of ‘thank you’ is only subtly different to ‘shut up’.
Saigon - 9 million mopeds
The traffic in Saigon is bonkers. It's like Wacky Races - they come at you from every direction. Whole families, and the dog, on just one bike. They transport not just people, but all manner of unfeasibly large possessions and livelihoods. To cross the road you need to eyeball the most obvious threat and walk purposefully without stopping. Zebra crossings have no meaning beyond the moral high-ground you might feel in the A&E department. The traffic is determined not to stop but will weave round you. Saying all this, if you put aside the constant honking and beeping, the drivers seems generally calm and skilful, but it's hard to maintain such an objective stance when you're a pedestrian.
Saigon - War Remnants Museum
For our first week we stayed in a very residential neighbourhood of narrow alleys and lovely people well outside tourist central. A perfect introduction to an enjoyable, if crazy busy city.
I was easy, and cheap, to get around by Grad taxi. We visited the War Remnants museum (great name I thought) - a poignant reminder of the American War. Millions dead and displaced. At the time we went it was hard not to draw a parallel with the wilful destruction of Gaza
Saigon - Bui Vien Street
Party central. Good for a visit as part of an entertaining History and Street Food Tour. Check out Guru Walks for 'pay what you' want walking tours in cities worldwide.
Saigon - Water Puppets
This is a traditional art form performed on water, combining puppetry and an orchestra to weave rustic folk tales
Mekong Delta
From Saigon there is a touristy trip to the wartime Co Chi tunnels where I played at being a Vietcong - crawling along tiny tunnels and firing an AK47.
Another tourist trip is to the Mekong Delta. Coconut wine fortified with cobra is, apparently, a Viagra substitute.
Nha Trang - Po Nagar Cham Towers
An ancient temple in the heart of a Nha Trang that is something of a Russian enclave.
We popped across to Vin Pearl - one of the very artificial resorts that I'm not sure many non-Asian actually like - but at least it was quiet.
Dalat - Handpan steel drum
We were a bit luke-warm about Dalat, but I being at a higher altitude does offer some relief from the heat. The tranquility of the picturesque lake at the centre is ruined by it being a giant busy roundabout. The cable car to Truc Lam Monastery was good though as was the Maze Bar in town - a genuine labyrinth
Tet
We were in Dalat for Tet - the big Lunar New Year celebration in Vietnam. Rather than celebrating local culture it comprised a 'Techno' DJ. At midnight the fireworks were let off, the crowd was allowed into the square to dance - the party's going to start we thought - then at ten past twelve the music was switched off and people went home! The Vietnamese are, for the most part, early birds, not night owls.
Eating
Eating is the centre of Vietnamese culture. Like the English with the weather, I'm told Vietnamese small-talk is what they are planning to eat. Rice in particular makes people feel safe; for some a folk memory of when the threat of starvation was very real after WWII and from the American War.
Seating arrangements for street food and cafes are for the small-bottomed and strong-kneed - they are not well suited to an ageing 6'4" westerner - the saying goes - 'the closer the seat is to the ground, the better the food'. We certainly sampled some of the less exotic street food. Off the pavement and into the cafe I recommend the excellent Noodles at 'Pho Viet Nam' in Saigon
Linh An Pagoda
In central Vietnam this pagoda is in a beautiful setting with an enormous Lady Buddha and an adjacent waterfall.
The Tam Trinh Coffee Experience nearby served the most wonderful iced coffee with coconut milk at the end of a really interesting tour of the plantation and coffee making. Our guide was, frankly, appalled when we said we mainly drank de-caffinated coffee.
Hoi An
The city escaped damage during the American War and is now a tourist mecca - but deservedly so. Some beautiful old buildings, a busy market and a riverside setting.
Ao Dai
Across Vietnam in the run up to Tet many young people have their pictures takes in the traditional dress - the very elegant Ao Dai
A more recent phenomenum is Instagramming - very popular.
Marble Mountains near Hoi An
This is a cluster of 5 limestone and marble outcrops that has been a sacred site for centuries. Some great views and caves.
Cham Island
This is a cluster of islands 10 miles off the coast of Hoi An. We stayed at a quiet, (other than the karaoke on a couple of nights - the Vietnamese genuinely love it, but singing is not their forte), fishing village at the far end of the island; Tao Tam Homestay. Very basic but a great location. Tam took me out to a secluded snorkelling area in his Coconut boat
Hanoi
Hanoi is less frantic than Saigon - a mere 7 million mopeds.
One of the main attractions is Hoa Lua prison - is as known as the Hanoi Hilton in 1973 when it held American aircrew captured in the American War.
Hanoi also has a great Old Quarter and good Egg Coffee. (I recommend Cafe Dinh - delicious, and a work of art)
Graham's Waterfall - Ha Giang
We went on a day trek in the mountains from our wonderful Fai Thien homestay a couple of miles outside Ha Giang. We nearly had a snake encounter: I saw the long grass move - "Big snake" said the guide - He grabbed his arm mimicking a snake bite - "No die" he said.....
In a shameless act of cultural appropriation I named this waterfall on Google Maps as no one else seemed to have done.
Ha Giang Loop
I'm sure it would have been even more exciting if we were 21, on a motorbike and hyped for a party experience ....but being more aged we took a Jeep for the 3 day trip. The landscapes were certainly dramatic, spoiled a little by the parade of vehicles and scruffy settlements. We joined locals and tourists dancing around the fire in the square in Dong Van. I was interested to see Vuong 'Castle' - a feudal fortress, but dating from 1914 at the centre of the opium trade. Clouds clung to the mountains, denying us the perfect picture
Preparing the Rice Fields - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
Sapa is a bustling city, but if you're like us you're there for the countryside. There is quite a lot of development going on but the Lau Chai Valley but you'll still come across aspects of living that probably hasn't changed much in a long time.
Water Buffalo - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
It must have been holiday season for the water buffalo. Lots of them, but they all seemed to be having a rather good time. Presumably prior to being set to work in the fields in the coming months.
Hiking - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
3 days of hiking were great. A lot of development is going on, but it still feels quite agricultural. We met a H'mong family returning home from a funeral having consumed much 'Happy Water'
Cooking - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
The land is bountiful here - all our food came from the garden or the local forest. A great variety of vegetables and fruit. Poultry waited on death row in the village to be freshly killed as needed. A pig might be shared between 2 villages.
Tam Coc
One of our favourite places. A landscape of limestone karts, water and hidden valleys. Golden Sky Homestay was excellent right in the centre of town. Check out Ricky singing at Rustic Garden. A beer in some of the cafes was as little as 20p. There is a lot to see in the vicinity including Mua Cave (not a cave!), Bich Dong Pagoda, Dundj Valley, Cuc Phuong National Park and Primate Rescue Centre, Bird Island.....
Trang An
..... and the big one - the magical Trang An boat trip. In my view it could only have been improved with the addition of crocodiles and candles.
Cat Ba
A largish island adjacent to Ha Long Bay and the quieter, cleaner and equally picturesque Lan Ha Bay. Also worth a climb up Ngu Lam Peak and the extensive Trung Trang Cave. If you've got wheels and don't mind being out of town, I'd recommend Thuong Luong Homestay and the nearby Lion Farm Cafe.
Practicalities
If you are a UK citizen, it is a free ‘visa on arrival’ which means the immigration officer writes the date (45 days) by which you must leave in your passport. We wanted to stay for longer, so we had an excursion to Cambodia in the middle of our stay (see my Cambodia Blog).
We travelled from South to North on our trip which seemed to work well with the weather. It was uniformly good, although igetting hot and humid in April.
We were able to book a mix of hotels and (mostly) homestays a week or so in advance using Booking.com or Agoda for less than £20 per night on average in the south of the country and less than £10 a night in the north. Outside of the mountain areas, air-con is a must. If you are used to a nice soft mattress you may may want to stay in hotels that were beyond our budget. You are likely to encounter the occasional cockroach in more run-down establishments. Look at and cross check hotel reviews carefully – We stayed at one hotel (having paid cash up front) rated a 9.2 on Booking.com – it clearly wasn’t. Half the reviews were patently fakes. I reported it to Booking.com ….. who took no action.
Lots of places will wash and dry clothes for a very modest cost – this is a real boon when you are travelling long term.
Eating out can be done on a budget so it simply wasnt worth buying food and cooking it ourselves. In the more expensive South we often had a Banh-mi (a sandwich-type roll) for lunch. If you’re on a budget. take your own bottled water to restaurants instead of buying a drink. No one will bat an eye. Everyone drinks bottled or filtered water, and ice is made from that too. Aside from the occasional poo-nami, we didn’t get ill the whole trip, despite having a reasonable amount of street food.
It is a cash economy using the local currency. Most places we frequented were unable or reluctant to take credit cards because of the high taxes. We tried to use VP Bank and our Wise cards to avoid fees on withdrawing our Dong. Prices can vary considerably, even for things as basic as water. Some shops don’t display any prices at all – so you may need to ask before committing if money is tight.
For getting around we used ‘sleeper’ coaches, but tended to travel during the day. We took the train from Saigon to Nha-Trang which was also good – We could have used this right up to Hanoi. The Grab taxi app was excellent and very cheap – A journey of 5km would cost £2-3, even though it might take 20 minutes or more because of heavy traffic. You need to be fairly sure-footed walking around. Pavements, where they exist, are generally in poor repair and often blocked with parked mopeds, the overspill from shops and people cooking.
Traffic aside, we definitely felt very safe on the streets at all times of day and night. There are mildly annoying street vendors and some street scams in big cities (coconut / shoe shine / incense sticks / Banh Ran (doughnuts), but if you’re alert then it’s no problem. A simple rule is don’t take what us proffered unless you intend to buy.
There were some mozzies about – but not many at this time we travelled. Accommodation will have over-bed nets where this is needed. Bugs didn’t seem very interested in us, but a tube of hydro-cortizone is useful to have to stop any itching.
There is quite a bit of plastic packaging and other rubbish around. Many Vietnamese men, but not women, smoke a lot which adds to the litter.
Some people make a real effort to keep their own houses and shop fronts well swept, but communal areas and beaches can be infrequently cleaned. Road-side incineration is the most common means of disposal outside of the cities. From asking, it seems to be a cultural thing that many people just toss things. When a people have been at war and starving in the not too distant past, litter probably doesn’t come very high up Mr Maslow’s heirarchy, the modern version of which I found on a sign in Cat Ba.
If, you can ignore the rubbish there is lots of spectacular countryside, especially in the North, although the cloudless blue skies and mystical appearance of Instagram videos were somewhat elusive. It was fascinating to observe the culture. Local people were kind and welcoming. We felt safe everywhere we went including in more remote areas and later at night. We had a great time and will definitely return.