If, like us, you want to organise a trip to Vietnam completely independently,
here are some tips and personal experiences that can help you prepare in the best possible way.
Vietnam has a public health system, which is mainly used by the local population. It is inexpensive, but often below Western standards: crowded facilities, language barriers and equipment that is not always modern.
For travellers, private healthcare is the preferred option. In large cities — Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang — there are good private clinics and hospitals with English-speaking staff and more reliable standards. All private facilities require direct payment, so it is strongly recommended that you take out health insurance before departure.
For example, we purchased Coverwise travel insurance online. You can choose between the following types of cover:
Cancellation of the trip is optional.
In addition, for those travelling to Vietnam, the following vaccinations are recommended, especially if your itinerary includes rice paddies and marshy areas. These should be done in advance and are subject to a fee:
Vietnam is a very cheap country and, although it does not have an extensive public transport network, it is fairly easy to get around thanks to a good private transport system connecting the main towns. In Hanoi, for example, there is still no underground, so the most convenient and recommended means of transport is by taxi.
Taxis can be hailed directly at the hotel, on the street or, more conveniently, booked through Grab, the Asian equivalent of Uber. With the app, you can see the fare in advance, pay in cash or by card and, importantly, communicate directly with the driver without any language barriers. Grab is fast, safe and widely used by both tourists and locals, making getting around the city (and beyond) easy and hassle-free.
To stay connected and avoid unpleasant surprises regarding roaming charges, it is advisable to purchase an international eSIM before departure. We purchased one from Holafly.
You purchase and install it before your trip and activate it upon arrival at your destination. This way, you can also use your Holafly Internet connection data to make calls and send messages via WhatsApp. Your network will still be active for making emergency calls (remember to disable roaming!). Cost: approximately € 30 per person for 10 days.
Not all shops in Vietnam accept credit cards. So it’s best to set off with a wad of Vietnamese dong ready to use!
You don’t need a large amount of cash: you can always withdraw cash locally at any ATM. Before you leave, remember to check that your debit or credit card is enabled for withdrawals and payments abroad.
€300 (equivalent to approximately 5,400,000 VND) is more than enough for initial expenses.
We departed from Narita Airport in Tokyo, as this was the second part of our journey.
The flight lasted about 6 hours and we flew with the national airline, Vietnam Airlines, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
For those departing from Italy, there are direct flights with the same airline from Milan Malpensa. The flight time is approximately 12.5 hours, and the cost is approximately €550 each way.
Many young people in the city speak English, often very well. However, our biggest surprise came in the ethnic villages around Sa Pa, in northern Vietnam. Here, the local minorities often cannot read or write in their own language, yet they speak English fluently because they have learned it from tourists.
In other villages, however, communication in English is not possible: to make yourself understood, you have to make do, often with difficulty, with the help of Google Translate.
Vietnam is in the UTC +7 time zone. There is no daylight saving time, so the time zone remains constant throughout the year.
This means that Vietnam is 6 hours ahead when Italy is on standard time and 5 hours ahead when Italy is on daylight saving time.
To enter Vietnam, you must have a valid passport.
One last tip: if, like us, you’re travelling with a rucksack, buy some vacuum bags to compress your clothes (like these) before you leave. You won’t regret the extra space you save, which will come in handy for both clothing and souvenirs you buy along the way!
Once you have prepared these things, you are already well on your way: all you have to do is plan the destinations you want to visit. Vietnam offers an extraordinary variety of landscapes: from the endless terraced rice fields of the north to the lively markets and temples of historic cities, from the quiet freshwater streams of rural villages to the salty bays that open onto the sea. Each region has its own rhythm, colours and traditions, and each stop will offer you unique and unforgettable views. It is a country undergoing rapid economic and tourist development. Most European textile factories have chosen it for production, thanks to the very low labour costs (the cost of living here is much lower than our standards). For this reason, it is worth taking advantage of it and visiting it before it costs much more!
We have decided to focus on the north this time.
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