Vietnam is often listed as one of the most budget-friendly countries to travel to. Prices here are really not biting, and the most expensive item is round-trip airplane tickets.
Below I have compiled a small travel guide, following which you will be able to get acquainted with the culture of Vietnam, feel the Asian flavor and take home a lot of impressions.
When writing this article, I did not take into account the days of arrival and departure, as everything is individual: you can arrive in Vietnam early in the morning, or late in the evening. Besides, you will most likely need time to rest after the flight and to adapt to the local time zone – Moscow time zone +4.
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam with a population of about 9 million. It is located in the south of the country, near the Mekong Delta.
Ho Chi Minh City is divided into districts (almost like in The Hunger Games). The 1st is considered to be the business and tourist center of the city.
If you want to spend as much time sightseeing as possible, book hotels where breakfast is included in the price. This way, you won’t have to spend precious morning hours searching for good places to eat, and you can go straight out and explore the city.
Day 1: central market, souvenirs and rose church
You can start exploring the city with one of Ho Chi Minh City’s calling cards, Ben Thanh Central Market. There are a lot of goods here. You can find everything from fruits to clothes. But since Ben Thanh is in the center of the city and tourists are always here, sellers overcharge a lot. Even if you manage to bargain, the price will still be more than in other less popular places.
For souvenirs for your loved ones and more local flavor, head to the Saigon Central Post Office. The building is about a 15-minute walk from the market. Along the way, you can stroll through Tao Dan Park and take a commemorative photo with the Independence Palace as a backdrop. At the post office, you can not only choose a postcard to send to your loved ones in another country, but also buy souvenirs.
The prices for souvenirs here are several times lower than in the market. For comparison, the same T-shirt at the market and the post office costs VDN 500,000 and VDN 90,000 respectively.
The next point on the itinerary is Tan Dinh Catholic Church. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from the post office. The bubblegum-colored building resembles a gingerbread house, in which Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance notes are harmoniously intertwined. By the way, it is also pink inside. The building is one of the symbols of the era of French colonization. The church was erected just in that period, in 1874.
Day 2: Coffee house in an old house, women’s museum and local Arbat
The morning of the second day can start with a trip to Dabao Concept Coffee House (address: 18 Tú Xương, Phường Võ Thị Sáu, Quận 3) with its own garden, the entrance to which is decorated with an arch with dragons. The establishment is housed in an old traditional Vietnamese house with a curved hip roof. On the ceilings and columns there are images of dragons. A cup of regular cappuccino in Dabao Concept will cost 49 540 VDN.
In the country, many interesting places are located in old residential buildings. You can get to the top floors by stairs or elevator. However, the second way is usually for a fee. Yes, paid elevators are not uncommon in Vietnam.
Next up is the Southern women’s museum. It is about a five-minute walk from the coffee shop. This place will appeal to those who want to learn more about Vietnam’s history, revolution and war. There are photos, exhibits that belonged to contemporaries, traditional Vietnamese costumes, and more. Admission is free.
You can spend an evening strolling along the famous Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, which stretches from Ho Chi Minh City Hall to the Saigon waterfront. It is a kind of Vietnamese version of Arbat or Nevsky Prospekt. On it there is an unusual building from the 1960s, which used to be a dormitory – a café-apartment. From the outside it looks like an urban crime, but therein lies its uniqueness. The building is residential, but on each floor there are beauty salons, stores and cafes.
Day 3: Little Japan and Saigon tour by water bus
If you’ve never been to Japan, but by happy coincidence find yourself in Ho Chi Minh City, a piece of the Land of the Rising Sun can be found here. I suggest starting the third day of your trip with a visit to a miniature Japan in the heart of the city. Stretching for about 2 kilometers, Saigon Japan Town consists of alleyways between the busy Le Thanh Ton and Thai Van Lung streets. It’s decorated with lights, lanterns and signs in Japanese, Asian cafes, and national music. All of this makes you feel like you’ve been transported to Tokyo or Kyoto for a short while.
The Saigon Riverfront is about a 10-minute walk away, with cafes and stores. There is also a pier where water buses depart from. They follow the same route: Bach Dang Wharf – Binh An Station – Hiep Binh Chanh Station – Linh Dong Station. The duration of such a trip is 3 hours and the cost is 30,000 VDN. This is a successful opportunity to take a water trip around Saigon for almost nothing and a great way to organize a rest for your legs.
Day 4: trip to the Mekong Delta
In the tour tents scattered on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, travelers are offered to go to the Mekong River Delta. This excursion is quite intense and takes a whole day. After such a walk, you can safely declare that you have seen all of Asia. On the way you will meet those very high mountainous rice fields, floating houses, ancient temples, straw shacks, coconut farms and plantations of tropical fruits.
The program of each excursion is individual and depends on the organization from which you purchase it. But such trips always start in the same way: together with the group on a tour bus you will go to Mitho – the first city of the delta. And further events can develop in different ways. But usually together with a guide tourists ride a boat on narrow canals, visit fishing villages and various nurseries, get acquainted with local handicrafts and walk a lot. On average, tour prices range from 600,000 VDN to 900,000 VDN per person.
Nha Trang
After visiting Ho Chi Minh City, I suggest going to Nha Trang and diversify your vacation. Nha Trang is the beach capital of Vietnam. People come here to relax on the snow-white beaches of the South China Sea. The flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang will take an hour.
Day 5: Tour of Nha Trang’s main attractions
After arriving in the new city and having breakfast, you can go on a sightseeing tour of the main attractions of Nha Trang. The first point of the route is Long Son Pagoda. This is the main Buddhist temple of Khanh Hoa province and one of the most visited attractions of the resort. Entrance to the area is free of charge.
On the way from the pagoda to our next waypoint, you can see St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral. It’s hard to miss – it’s a grand and beautiful colonial-era building built by the French in the 1930s. I recommend walking around and going inside.
The next stop is the Po Nagar temple complex. It takes 35 minutes to walk here from the cathedral or 10 minutes by cab. Half an hour’s walk doesn’t seem like much. But don’t forget that you will be walking under the scorching Vietnamese sun, so objectively assess your strength.
The Hindu and Buddhist temples of the complex are over 1000 years old! They were built between the 7th and 12th century. This is Nha Trang’s main cultural and historical attraction and should be added to the top must-see places. There is a fee to enter the site – 30,000 VDN per person.
Day 6 & 7: spectacular photos, oceanarium in a pirate ship and beach vacation
The first half of the sixth day of the trip can be devoted to hiking around the interesting places of the resort. For example, take a look at the Garden of Stones. It is located in the north of the city, beyond the Cai River, on Cape Hon Chong. This place has no historical value, but it is very beautiful and the photos are the best. The entrance fee is 60,000 VDN.
In Nha Trang, the Tri Nguyen Aquarium in the form of an old pirate ship, often compared to the Flying Dutchman, is worth a visit. Admission is 120,000 VDN. The oceanarium is located on Hon Mieu Island. You can get here only by water: rent a boat by yourself or as part of a tour group (they are formed near the South Port of Nha Trang).
Hanoi
It is the most colorful city in the country. It takes 2 hours to fly from Nha Trang to Hanoi.
Day 8: coffee and eggs, downtown train and the Old Quarter
I suggest you start your acquaintance with Hanoi with an unusual coffee – cappuccino with egg. It was invented here, and you can buy this drink almost everywhere.
After breakfast, head to one of the most popular streets not only in the city but in the whole country, which you’ve probably seen many times on social media, the Hanoi Street Train. This is a small section of railroad in the center of Hanoi, where the train passes between the walls of old buildings – apartment buildings, souvenir shops and small cafes. The train schedule can be found online or viewed on the wall outside some of the cafes on the same street.
The next point of our journey about 20 minutes away is Hoan Kiem Lake. It is considered sacred. According to legend, it was inhabited by a magic turtle that gave Le Loi a magic sword. The weapon allowed him to defeat Chinese invaders and revive the imperial dynasty.
After the victory, he returned the sword to the turtle, and the turtle took the blade to the bottom. There are two small islets on the lake – on the northern one there is the Ngoc Son Temple, which can be reached by a bright red bridge, and on the southern one there is the four-tiered Turtle Tower.
The area around the lake is landscaped and dotted with other interesting sights. Here you can stumble upon the 11th-century Ba Da Buddhist Pagoda, stroll through the Old Quarter, see street barbers and browse souvenir shops.
About a 10-minute walk from the lake is the picturesque Chinese temple of Bat Ma – White Horse Temple. According to one version, Emperor Ly Thai To was once led to this place by his white horse.
Day 9: pho-bo, temple of literature and water puppet theater
To be in Vietnam and not try pho bo is a true gastronomic crime. Be sure to close the tourist gestalt, if you haven’t already done so, in one of the central cafes. By the way, locals often eat this kind of soup for breakfast. If you don’t mind experimenting, I suggest swapping the traditional omelette or scrambled eggs for a cup of rich pho-bo.
In Hanoi, near Hoan Kiem Lake there is an interesting and unique place – Thang Long water puppet theater. Here you can see the ancient national art, which has no analogues anywhere else. Everything happens right on the water: actors together with puppets go waist-deep into the water, hiding behind screens, and start the performance. It lasts about 40 minutes. The performances are held several times a day. You can buy a ticket at the theater box office for VDN 60,000.
Next, move on to the Temple of Literature, which is a Confucian temple and is about a 20-minute walk from the lake. It is home to the Imperial Academy, Vietnam’s first university and a place where schoolchildren and students come to seek spiritual support. There are several ponds, a well-maintained garden and courtyards, souvenir stores and walking paths on the grounds.
There is another important place in Hanoi that you should definitely add to your must-see list – Chang Quoc Pagoda. It is located within the city’s largest freshwater lake, Tay Lake, about a 30-minute walk from the Temple of Literature. Changquoc is Hanoi’s oldest pagoda, with a history dating back about 1,500 years. Entry is free, but there are breaks for lunch, at which time the pagoda’s doors are closed to tourists.
Day 10: snake village
The last day of your Vietnam trip can be spent further exploring the sights of the capital city and packing your bags back home. Or you can head out of town, for example to the snake village of Le Mat. It is located just a few kilometers northeast of the Old Quarter. You can get here on a guided tour or on your own by city bus number 10. You need to get to the Long Bien bus station and then walk a few hundred meters.
In the village they are engaged in catching and breeding snakes. For many tourists, this is a real exotic experience. Le Mat has cafes and restaurants serving cobra dishes, snake tinctures and other culinary delights. In local stores you can also buy special medicine based on snake venom.
Travel Tips
1. In Vietnam, dollars and euros can be exchanged for local dong at jewelry stores. Look for shops in towns that have signs that say Kim Thanh Nguyên.
2. To book a cab in Vietnam, use Grab, Maxim and InDrive.
3. When looking for a suitable place for lunch or dinner, don’t just go for the brightly colored designer signs. If an establishment looks unattractive, it does not mean that the cuisine there is bad. I advise you to look at reviews on maps and choose those cafes and restaurants whose rating is above 4.5.
4. Medical insurance is not required for traveling to Vietnam. But tourists are advised to buy it in case of infectious diseases such as malaria and tropical fever.
