7 Helpful Tips For Traveling To Vietnam

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This post probably should have been called 50 ways to potentially die in Vietnam. No, I wouldn’t say it’s a dangerous country. The people are incredibly friendly and we didn’t run into any crime. We never even had to argue with a taxi driver to put on the meter unlike other places I’ve traveled to. But there are every day “hazards” you should probably watch out for. Loose paving stones on the street, exposed electrical cables, and traffic. Oh the traffic! Of the 50 ways to die you could probably count traffic towards 47 of those. It takes a bit of getting used to. But all joking aside, there are things that I found out on my first trip to Vietnam that I thought might help others. Check out this guide to 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh City for the perfect introduction to Vietnam.

Dodging traffic

Well with my teaser of the Vietnam traffic situation, we might as well start there. If ever there were necessary tips for traveling to Vietnam, they would be about traffic. We began our trip in Hanoi. Hanoi may have the craziest, most uncoordinated, haphazard traffic system I’ve ever seen. And I lived in China. I thought that was bad. At least there people generally went in the same direction as the rest of the traffic flow. Not in Vietnam. And when you come to a roundabout or a traffic circle, it’s like anything goes. If you’re a passenger in a vehicle you might want to close your eyes and hope for the best.

But what if you’re walking, that’s got to be safer right? Yeah, not quite. Pedestrians are constantly in a real life game of Frogger, only if you get hit then it’s really Game Over. But we found out there’s one key ingredient to surviving Vietnam traffic: confidence. If you hesitate while crossing the road you are toast. Gauge the traffic, let the bigger vehicles pass, and start walking when you see what in Vietnam might constitute a gap in traffic. The motorcycles do what they want but they are also good at dodging everything and everyone. They will go around you. Don’t be afraid to put out your hand in a STOP motion as you walk, we saw lots of people do this.

Bonus tip: Be careful at night as we were told a lot of men drive after drinking so keep to the sidewalks as much as possible. For the 9 million people in Hanoi there are 6 million motorcycles…and according to one person we met, only 1000 police/traffic officers. You do the math.

Get a Vietnamese SIM card when you arrive

This is probably one of my most money saving tips for traveling to Vietnam. I’m from Canada and my phone company charges me $12 a day for the privilege of using my phone abroad. Lucky me. It caps out after 10 days but that still means I’m looking at $120 extra on my bill when I get back. There has to be a better way I hear you say. You’re right there is. We found out before we left that you can get a SIM card in Vietnam that will give you data and you can use while you’re there. Perfect for a shorter or longer stay. It turns out it was so easy to do.

When we arrived at the airport in Hanoi we instantly saw booths advertising SIM cards for sale. That was before we even went through to arrivals. It took 5 minutes for both my friend and I to purchase our SIM cards and get them put into our phones. We got 8GB of data and 10 minutes of local calls for the equivalent of $10 USD (250,000 VND). That’s more than my 2GB plan at home that my phone company would have let me use while on my trip. I didn’t come close to using the 8GB in 2 weeks and still saved myself over $100. Get a SIM card, it’s worth it. Also, we arrived at 4am and they were open, so no excuses.

Apps that will help you

There are certain apps that might be a good idea to download before you go to Vietnam. Here are a few we found helpful:

WhatsApp – If you don’t already use it at home then at least get it for Vietnam. When you no longer have your own phone because you got a Vietnamese SIM card, and you can’t really text it can be invaluable. In Vietnam it’s helpful as sometimes when on tours the tour leader will need to arrange a meet up if you have some free time, and this might be the only way to keep in contact with them.

Grab – In Vietnam they don’t have Uber, but they do have Grab which is essentially the same thing. Perfect for when you are worried you may not be able to communicate with a taxi driver for where you want to go. Simply type in the address of where you are and where you want to go and you get taken there. We used it a few times to get around Ho Chi Minh City. Plus you can pay cash if you want, you don’t have to pay through the app.

All Translator – That’s the one I used, but you can research other translator apps that might be better for you. Sure, Google translate will work well if you want to type something in, but this cool app I found allows you to take a picture of something and it will detect the language and translate. This is ideal for menus in smaller restaurants where they may not use English, or street signs. It’s not always foolproof but a lot of the time you at least get the gist. And if you’re worried about the language this is probably the best of the tips for traveling to Vietnam I can give you.

Get ready to bargain

The price is the price, until it isn’t. That’s the general rule in Vietnam. Of course if you’re going into a department store, cafe or a convenience store or something like that with actual price tags you can’t just be throwing out your best offer. But if you’re in a market or buying something on the street then feel free to try your bargaining skills. The important thing to remember is if you bargain someone down on price and they agree to that, you can’t then just walk away. This isn’t a sport, it’s their livelihood so play fair, and be gracious. Also, don’t be bargaining to within an inch of your life. The extra couple of dollars might not mean that much to you but it could be a big amount for them.

I started to figure out pretty quickly what a fair price for things was, what the norm is and what’s a ridiculous tourist price. For instance everywhere in Vietnam you will see silk scarves. They’re beautiful but sold everywhere. I got offered one for 100,000 VND (about $5). I knew that was likely a high tourist price, but instead of offering lower I asked if I could get a deal for two. For 150,000 VND I ended up with two. Still a high price I’m sure, but seems like a deal to me and the seller was happy enough too. Fast forward to the next place and they tried 300,000 VND for one (about $15). Sometimes you’ve also got to know when to walk away and not even bother.

Don’t fall for the scams

I’ve lived in and traveled Asia before, so I’m familiar with the scams. Not putting the meter on in a taxi, asking how much for a ride somewhere and then it doubling at the end because they say that’s per person. I didn’t get any of those taxi scams in Vietnam. Well the only one was when the taxi driver refused to give me my change because it was raining. I got it eventually. But the main one I noticed in Vietnam, Hanoi especially, was from people selling on the street. They walk the streets with baskets, often selling baked goods. They give you a sample and before you know it you’ve got a bag full and are being charged an exorbitant amount.

My first day in Vietnam I was approached by someone selling some bread. She saw me with a camera and came running over. Begging me to take her picture. She wanted to pose. I obliged. Now I’m being charged for it. She tried to charge me 200,000 VND ($10). I managed to get her down in price because I felt like there was no going back at that point, but lesson learned. Next time someone offered to pose for a photo I declined.

Don’t drink the water

This may seem like an obvious one, but for first time travelers or those who have not been as far as Asia before, this might be one of the biggest health tips for traveling to Vietnam. You cannot drink water from the tap in Vietnam. It will make you very sick. Hotels generally provide a bottle of complimentary water per person each night, and you can buy water in convenience stores. If you are not a fan of the plastic, and it’s good to try and get away from, a lot of hotels will have water coolers where you can fill up your re-usable water bottle. One of our guides also pointed out water stations on the streets you can fill up a water bottle with also. Apparently they have this as a service to people to keep costs down for workers who need to drink a lot while working.

So if you can’t drink the water, you probably can’t have ice in your drinks right? Well most places, restaurants and cafes will use commercially made ice. It’s more expensive for them but it’s safe and will mean they continue to get business. Of course they wouldn’t get a great reputation if they made people ill all the time. Commercially made ice is often cylindrical with holes in it. If you see this, or chipped ice, then it’s not to worry about. If you’re unsure you can for no ice, although note there is sometimes a fee for this. Crazy right? Yep, we encountered a no-ice fee in Ho Chi Minh City when we didn’t want ice in our beer.

Remember to take a reusable water bottle with you on your travels, like this one from FastTech

Doing it for the ‘Gram

You’ve all seen the incredible photos on Instagram. Someone doing something that you look at and say Wow, how did they do that? or That’s cool, I can’t believe that place exists. But you also see those stories of people doing ridiculous, sometimes reckless, things for the perfect Instagram shot. Don’t be that person. Otherwise it isn’t just the ice that’ll get you in Vietnam. I bring this one up because of one particular place we visited. It’s in Hanoi and it’s called Train Street. Now Train Street is really cool. It’s a narrow street with lots of restaurants, cafes and shops along each side and right down the middle is a train track. Disused train track you might assume. Not quite.

Train Street is becoming more famous on Instagram because of the “perfect” shots that people are getting there. Doing something you wouldn’t be able to do back home like sitting close to or walking along a rail track. We went there, and 99% of the time it is perfectly safe. But that once or twice a day when the train comes through (there’s a schedule, don’t worry, it’s not a surprise), it can be a little scary. The cafes pick up the tables and chairs and usher patrons against the wall. The train screams through inches from your face. A week after we were there someone made the news getting “the perfect shot” on the tracks while the train was approaching. Emergency brakes ensued and it was a close call. Don’t be that person, be safe and be smart.

Enjoy your time in Vietnam

And there you have it, hopefully some good tips for traveling to Vietnam that will help you on your way. I think you’ll agree that common sense goes a long way. By the end of your first day you’ll be a pro at crossing the road while sipping your iced beverage. With bags of bargains and a collection of safely taken selfies you’ll be checking out the menu of a local restaurant before taking a Grab car back to your hotel. Vietnam is a wonderful country, full of amazing sights and food. It can be overwhelming at first as it’s pretty crazy busy all of the time. But these tips should have you well on your way to a trip you’ll never forget.

If you’ve enjoyed this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Have you been to Vietnam? What’s are some tips for traveling to Vietnam that you would recommend to other visitors on their first time there?