Travel Tips: Vietnam Edition
When traveling abroad in a post-covid world there are things that you’ll need to know so that you don’t run into costly hiccups.
As excited as we were to travel for a month in Vietnam there were many details that we needed to figure out for us to manage traveling through the country successfully. Hopefully, this post will help others travel through Vietnam more smoothly than us in the future. In this first edition of travel tips we’ll discuss the following:
Visas
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Data Plans
Money Matters
Visas
Visas were by far the most stressful part of our trip. There are tons of Vietnam Visa websites that offer you services to acquire your visa. These options were more costly and we weren’t sure if they were reliable so we applied for our visas through Vietnam’s official website. This is the cheapest option at ~$25 USD and was the most reassuring because it was directly with the Vietnam government rather than a third party vendor.
You can find the link to the Vietnam Government visa site here: LINK
Now, actually applying on the website is another hassle in it itself. Vietnam has been known to be strict about the details on visa applications. Therefore if you don’t enter the correct information you may risk getting rejected at immigration.
Make sure all your information is entered correctly and also make sure your entry and departure destinations are correct as well. Once you’ve entered all your information you should double and triple check the information so that it’s all correct. We made the mistake of entering Ho Chi Minh Seaport instead of Ho Chi Minh Airport and ended up reapplying for our visas.
Travel Tip: One of the things that were a bit confusing was how you enter your full name. You enter it as it is shown on your passport at the bottom. In the example above, the name on the passport shows up as last than the first name which is usually what the US passport indicates as well.
The Waiting Game…
Once you’ve gone through this application process you should get an email stating that your application has been received and that your payment was processed. Then comes the waiting game. Generally, the visa is supposed to be processed within 3 business days. However, our experience has shown that that timing varies greatly. Some of our applications took 3 days, Kara’s at one point took 8 days, and another time my application took 3 days but the other family members took 4-5 days even though we submitted all our applications at the same time. Because of the oddities in the application process, I would recommend applying for your visas as soon as possible.
Travel Tip: Once you’ve been approved be sure to print out two hard copies of the visas because they will ask for them when you go through immigration on arrival and departure.
One other thing to note is currently Vietnam is only providing US citizens with a single entry, 30-day visa. That means you can only enter and depart from Vietnam once on your visa. So no quick trips to neighboring countries like Cambodia on a single Vietnam visa. Also getting an extension on your visa apparently is not easy to do at the moment unless you pay $$$$ so if you’re planning on staying over 30 days you will likely need to leave the country and then come back on a second, separate visa. This is what we had to do as we had poorly planned out the departure flight 32 days after our initial arrival in Vietnam which ended up costing us an extra $100 USD.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Getting around Vietnam by plane, train, bus, or taxi was all pretty straightforward. Most all major cities and tourist destinations have airports, consistent train stations, and ample bus routes.
Planes
There are pretty good discount airline options available and we found most airports are close to the city centers (15-30 min). During our time there we flew AirAsia and VietJetAir and both were good discount airlines that ran smoothly. You can get tickets for as little as $25 USD and the websites for Airasia and VietjetAir are pretty user friendly.
However, while the discount airlines’ base fares are cheap you’ll always need to be mindful of your baggage. You’re typically allowed one carry-on item on the plane that weighs no more than 7kg (15.43lbs).
If you have luggage larger than 7kg, it’s best to pay for it while you’re booking your ticket online as baggage fees are the cheapest at that initial purchase. Most discount airlines will charge around $15-25 USD for a 20kg (~44lbs) check-in luggage and the price increases if you need a heavier category. Trying to add baggage later at the airport will certainly cost you more. I’ve even read a horror story where a family tried to pay for check-in bags at the airport and were charged $1000+ USD.
Travel Tip: Make sure to get yourself a travel luggage scale. We bought ours for about $10 USD and they are immensely handy if you plan to fly any discount airlines.
The scale is light, and compact, and will provide that peace of mind when packing up your luggage. Rather than playing the “mix-and-match” game at the airline ticket counter get yourself a travel scale. This little guy has been a lifesaver and we never travel without it.
Disclaimer: We’ve put an Amazon link here for our travel scale. Your purchase helps us earn a tiny bit as an affiliate and would really be appreciated.
Trains
We took a few trains while traveling through Vietnam. There are multiple sites where you can easily book train tickets and we’ve found them all to be pretty reliable.
We’ve used Baolau to book train tickets and found them to be the lowest cost as they charge the lowest service fee. They are quick to email you a confirmation and your tickets as well. If you’re interested in booking a sleeper train on Baolau here are a few quick notes for you:
When you search on Baolau you’ll see many options. The cheapest option is going to be Vietnam Railway, which is the first four blue logo options you see below.
One thing to note when booking your sleeper train is that there’s a difference in quality of train. Trains SE1-SE3 are the most recently updated cabins (about 5+ years old) and SE4-SE5 next (about 7+ years old) and they get progressively worse from there. You should generally look to ride SE1-SE3 but it’s really up to you.
When booking your seating option you’ll typically see a Soft seat Premium (a normal, non-sleeper, seat), Sleeper 6-Berth (6-person sleeper cabin), and a Sleeper 4-Berth (4-person sleeper cabin). We went with the 4-Berth as we didn’t want to share our cabin with strangers. Each sleeper cabin will come with pillows and a light blanket. The cabins can also be pretty chill due to the A/C running all night so I would dress accordingly.
The trains are not the easiest to sleep in based on my experience as the cabins are pretty loud so you may want to invest in some earplugs if you are a light sleeper.
Disclaimer: Another shameless Amazon link here for the ear plugs we use. Your purchase helps us earn a tiny bit as an affiliate and would really be appreciated.
The trains also have locks from the inside, and while we didn’t feel unsafe at all it’s always good to make sure your cabin is fully locked before you go to sleep. The sleeper 4-Berth will run you around $33 USD.
Travel Tip: When booking your sleeper train MAKE SURE that you check the times correctly. We accidentally booked a 12:05 am sleeper train for the day before our desired departure date and had to scramble to pay for another ticket minutes before the train departed with US dollars. Another tip is that the Vietnamese will reject any bills that are not in good shape, small tears, etc. so make sure your money is in good condition.
12go.asia is also a pretty good site to book train tickets and they also have a good bus booking system. We didn’t use them to book trains but did use them to book a VIP sleeper bus and found the site to be very reliable and good with communication as well. The service fees are very low for both sites so either site is recommended.
Automobiles
Vietnamese sleeper buses
Saying the VIP sleeper bus is tight is an understatement. You basically get a section where you can lay up to 3/4 down but you really can’t move around much in your seat as the space is pretty tight. As you can see in the photo below, our 10 year old Christopher, almost takes up most of the seat so it was pretty tight for Kara and I but as long as you don’t move around much it’s not bad.
Taxis
It’s pretty easy to get a taxi most anywhere in Vietnam. You’ll need to download the Grab app to get a taxi (it’ll say in the app that it’s for 3 people but we never had any issues riding with 4 people) or a motorbike taxi (for individuals). All Grab ride fares are predetermined in the app before you get in the car and all the drivers will be honest with the fares. They should show you the final amount in the app as you look to pay at the end of your ride. On a few occasions, like going to the airport, we were charged a little extra for airport fees or tolls. This is minimal, 1k-10k VND at the most, so no need to worry much.
Travel Tip: Grab will only accept cash. They may accept Vietnam credit cards but US cards aren’t accepted. In the payments section, you’ll need to select the cash payment option or you won’t get any Grab drivers. One other thing to note was that Grab was not available in Sapa and Ninh Binh as these are small towns and so Grab isn’t allowed.
Beware…
In Da Lat, there were lots of cab stalls at the airport baggage claim. They will tell you the charge is ~200k -250k VND depending on your destination. But once you get into the taxi, things can change. Although Grab was available here we went with a company called Quoc Te and received a predetermined one-way taxi fare to our hotel in the city center for 170k VND. This fare is supposed to include all tolls so the price is supposed to be final.
Our predetermined fare ticket.
Once we got into the cab however I noticed that there was a meter running and upon arrival, our taxi driver asked us for 200k VND instead of the 170kVND price on our ticket.
I showed him our predetermined ticket but he claimed there were extra toll fees, etc. and so we just paid the 200k VND as it was raining and he was at least nice enough to help us with our bags. There have been some horror stories we read where cab drivers will ask for 400-500k VND and won’t budge until they are fully paid so be aware.
Data plans
We purchased a 30-day, 120GB data plan at the airport for 450k VND (~$20 USD). You can pay with a credit card so no need to rush to the ATM. There will be data plan stalls right before you exit the airport so they aren’t too hard to find. Of the carriers, we went with Viettel and it was reliable and fast all over the country.
Travel Tip: One thing to note is that the 30-day plan has a daily cap of 4GB. That’s how you are getting 120GB (30 days x 4GB per day) for the plan. If you go over your allotted 4GB for the day the data shuts down and you will have to wait until 12:01 am on the following day for your plan to be accessible again.
Now, what do you do if your 30 days runs out? Well, Vietnam has a pretty easy way to handle that too. You can go to almost any mart (e.g. 7 Eleven, etc.) and purchase additional data on your plan from the cashier. Ask them to sell you a “top-up voucher,” then type *100*<voucher PIN># on your phone to apply the top-up. We bought a 20k VND voucher which allowed us to top-up 3GB over 3 days.
You can also apparently call 191 to get balance or top-up through a voice system. You can switch to English by pressing 3 (entering the language menu), second menu press 2 (selecting English), third menu press 1 to confirm. Type *101# to check your call balance. We didn’t use this so this is just what I read.
Money Matters
Vietnam is the land where cash is king. Everything in Vietnam is done with cash and credit cards are rarely accepted. The only places are marts, chains, or stores at the mall. We paid about 90% of our purchases with cash so get a debit card like the Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking that will give you free ATM withdrawals or else you’ll be swimming in ATM fees by the time you leave Vietnam.
Tipping is not mandatory in Vietnam and if you tip, it’s completely up to you the amount you want to give. We tipped our hotel staff because they went above and beyond. Any tip is greatly appreciated but again it’s never expected.
This was long but hopefully, this first edition of Travel Tips will be useful for those planning to visit Vietnam in the future. As always if there are any questions you have after reading this please leave a comment and we’ll be happy to answer them.
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