AsiaVietnamVietnam
Vietnam hands you a different country every few hundred kilometres. A motorbike loop through the karst of the far north, the largest cave on earth, a suit fitted in two days in a lantern-lit old town, and the world's cheapest beer drunk on a plastic stool. Almost nobody gets the whole line into one trip.
VietnamVietnam in a nutshell
Where to go in Vietnam
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Routes that work
Vietnam itineraries, one week to three
Vietnam is loved by culture seekers and backpackers alike. We recommend several routes through this country, here they are in full!
6 nights1 week, the north sampler
Hanoi · Ha Long Bay · Ninh Binh
Ha Long Bay is clearest in November; Hanoi and Ninh Binh stay dry and cool throughout this window.
9 nights10 days, highlights with domestic flights
Hanoi · Ha Long Bay · Hue
All three zones are dry at once: Hanoi, Ha Long, Hue, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City are all at their best.
14 nights2 weeks, centre and south
Ho Chi Minh City · Can Tho · Da Lat
Mui Ne, Nha Trang, and Hoi An are all dry; Da Lat stays cool year-round but this window avoids central flooding.
14 nights2 weeks, north and centre
Hanoi · Sapa · Ha Giang
Sapa and Ha Giang are dry and cool; Hue and Hoi An avoid both the central monsoon and peak summer heat.
18 nights3 weeks, north to south with the Ha Giang Loop
Hanoi · Ninh Binh · Ha Giang
Ha Giang is dry and clear, the central coast is past its rains and the south is still in its dry season.
19 nights3 weeks, the classic north to south
Hanoi · Sapa · Cat Ba Island
The only months when Hanoi, Sapa, Ninh Binh, Hue, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City are all dry and passable together.
19 nights3 weeks, the full length by motorbike
Ho Chi Minh City · Mui Ne · Da Lat
Extended north-to-south run needs dry conditions everywhere; this window keeps Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi all stable.
32 nights4 weeks, the grand tour
Hanoi · Sapa · Ha Giang
Only window when Sapa, Ha Giang, Hoi An, Da Lat, Mui Ne, and Phu Quoc are all traversable without rain or cold extremes.
Updated October 2026 · Written by the Stippl editorsThis is what 788,000+ planned stops and 128,000+ trips on Stippl say about Vietnam.
Vietnam is a line, not a loop. The country runs about 1,600 kilometres north to south with international airports at both ends and Da Nang in the middle, so flying into one end and out of the other is the standard move and saves a repositioning flight. Hanoi and the far north sit at one end, Hue and Hoi An in the middle, Ho Chi Minh City and the delta at the other. Three weeks does the full run, two weeks does one half of it properly, and one week means picking a region and staying there.
Most travellers do not come to Vietnam on its own. Vietnam is usually one leg of a Southeast Asia loop rather than a holiday in itself, and a loop gets booked later than a long-haul trip normally would be: 69 days ahead. Cambodia, Thailand and Laos are the countries it is paired with.
Pick the region before the month. The country has three climate zones with partly opposite seasons, so no single best time is an honest answer, and somewhere is always dry. A typical stop runs 2 nights and nine in ten finish inside 4. Dinner logged on Stippl runs about ₫165,000, which is the other reason two-week plans turn into month-long ones.
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Foodies
The north–centre–south split is a culinary journey in itself: pho and bun cha in Hanoi, the country's spiciest food in Hue, cao lau that can only be made in Hoi An, banh mi at its origin in Saigon.
Budget travellers
Dorms from €4.50, street meals for €0.90 to 2.60, beer for under a euro, and 31 days the typical trip; the money goes further here than anywhere else in the region.
Motorbike travellers
The Ha Giang Loop and the full-length Hanoi–HCMC run are rites of passage, with the Hai Van Pass as the famous day version.
First-time solo travellers
Vietnam is among the best solo destinations in the world, with one of Southeast Asia's best hostel scenes.
History buffs
The imperial citadel at Hue, the Cu Chi tunnels, the War Remnants Museum and My Son's Cham ruins form a continuous thread.
Trekkers
Sapa's terraces, the Dong Van karst plateau and Fansipan, Indochina's highest peak at 3,143 m.
Cave adventurers
Phong Nha is called the adventure capital of Asia, from boardwalk caves up to the world's largest cave.
Maybe not for you: beach-first travellers (Thailand and the Philippines beat it; Phu Quoc is the exception), travellers who need spotless air and quiet traffic, and anyone riding a motorbike without accepting that their insurance probably does not cover it
The best time to visit Vietnam
The north
dry November to April
Hanoi, Sapa, Ha Giang and Ha Long dry from November to April with real mountain cold in December and January; wet from May to October, with the rice terraces at their green peak in September.
The centre
dry January to August
Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An dry from January to August with fierce heat in high summer. The monsoon arrives from September to November, with Hoi An flooding in October and dangerous rip tides in November.
The south
dry November to April
Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong and the islands are tropical year-round: dry from November to April, wet from May to October with brief daily downpours rather than washouts.
The overlap
February to April
The only window when all three zones are dry at once, which is what makes March the consensus best month for a trip that runs the whole length.
- Tet shuts the country for a week, and the date moves with the lunar calendar into late January or February. Accommodation gets scarce, buses stop running and most restaurants close as the whole nation travels home; it outranks any weather consideration.
- January is the month most travellers plan Vietnam for on Stippl, about 69 days ahead. 21.5% of Vietnam plans are made inside a fortnight, the highest share of any country we cover, and it works everywhere except the week of Tet.
- Sapa's terraces are planted in May, green through September, and bare, cold and fogged-in from December to February. A winter visit misses the whole point of the place; September is the month the photographs are taken.
- Hoi An floods in October and the central coast has rip tides in November. The centre's monsoon is short and late, September to November, so a central-coast beach week is a January to August booking.
- There is no single best month for the whole country, only for a region. Guides that say February to April, May to October or late September to December are each right about one zone; pick the region first and the month follows.
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Festivals, and when to avoid them
Tet
The biggest event of the year and the one week to avoid: most of the country closes, transport books out and prices spike as the whole nation travels home. Hanoi and Saigon are quiet and half-shut; the trains are impossible.
Reunification and Labour Day
A four or five-day domestic holiday: the beaches at Da Nang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc fill with Vietnamese families and the domestic flights and trains sell out. Book ahead or stay inland.
Hue Festival
A fortnight of performances in the citadel and along the Perfume River, held in even years only. Hue's rooms fill for it; the rest of the coast is unaffected.
National Day
A national holiday and a long weekend: Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square fills, the trains and buses are busy and the beach towns have a domestic surge. The days either side are normal.
Mid-Autumn Festival
Mooncakes, lanterns and lion dances, at their best in Hoi An and Hanoi's old quarter, where the lantern streets are closed to traffic for the evening. Come for it; nothing books out.
Hoi An lantern nights
The old town switches off its electric lights and the river fills with paper lanterns. The busiest evening of the month in Hoi An; the rooms are fine, the riverside tables are not.
Christmas and New Year
The foreign peak: Hoi An, Phu Quoc and Da Nang's resorts run at their highest rates and the north is cold and grey. A holiday stay on the coast is booked in the autumn.
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Things to do in Vietnam
The Ha Giang Loop
Ride the three-to-five-day, 350-kilometre motorbike circuit through the far-north karst plateau, on your own bike or pillion with an easy rider for about €150 all in. The Ma Pi Leng pass is the reason the loop exists and the one stretch nobody skips.
An overnight junk on Ha Long Bay
Board late morning, sail between the karsts, kayak into a lagoon, swim off the boat and sleep on the water. Lan Ha and Bai Tu Long are the quieter twins with the same landscape; from about €120 a night including meals.
Trekking Sapa's terraces
Walk village to village through the rice terraces with a Hmong guide and sleep in a family homestay in Ta Van, nine to twelve kilometres and a night for about €40. The town is the price you pay for the valleys.
The caves of Phong Nha
Go from Paradise Cave's boardwalks and the Dark Cave's mud bath up to Hang En, a two-day trek with a night camped inside the world's third-largest cave chamber. Son Doong, the largest, is a six-day permit with a waiting list.
The Hai Van Pass
Ride the coastal road between Hue and Hoi An, quiet since the trucks moved to the tunnel, on a rented motorbike or pillion with a driver for about €30. Twenty kilometres of hairpins with the sea on one side.
Cu Chi and the War Remnants Museum
See the tunnels an hour and a half outside Ho Chi Minh City and the museum in it early in the trip, because they reframe everything after. A morning tour to Cu Chi runs about €15; the museum is €1.
What to eat in Vietnam
rice-noodle soup, beef or chicken, star anise and cinnamon in the broth
French-colonial baguette with pâté, pickles and coriander
grilled pork patties, vermicelli, dipping fish sauce
chewy noodles said to require Ba Le well water
spicy lemongrass beef noodle, heavier than pho
sizzling turmeric-coconut crêpe
fresh rice-paper rolls with peanut dip
broken rice with grilled pork
turmeric-broth wide noodles
steamed rice rolls with minced pork, a breakfast dish
whipped egg yolk over strong robusta
preservative-free draft beer, brewed daily
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Vietnam customs and what not to do
The eldest pays the bill
Family and ancestor worship anchor daily life and Confucian seniority still shapes the table: the senior person pays, and splitting the bill is not a thing.
Politics is a closed subject
The war is the American War here, engaging with local politics is unwise, and photographing government buildings and guarded gates is illegal.
Feet never face the altar
Pagoda etiquette: enter by the right door, leave by the left, shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, and never point your feet at the altar.
Ask before you photograph
At ethnic-minority markets like Bac Ha a photograph of a person is a request, not a right; a nod first, and a purchase is the fair exchange.
You will end up singing
Karaoke is a core social ritual and a homestay evening on the Ha Giang Loop reliably ends in it; refusing the microphone is the one rudeness.
The horn means I am here
Honking is echolocation, not aggression, and crossing the road works the same way: a steady, predictable pace and the motorbikes flow around you.
Do
- Cross the street at a steady pace; hesitating is what causes accidents
- Take your shoes off boarding a night bus; slippers are provided
- Keep small notes handy; tips are not expected but land well at local wages
- Learn xin chào and cảm ơn; the effort lands disproportionately well
- Photograph a rental bike before riding off
Don't
- Discuss politics or photograph guarded buildings
- Show anger while haggling, or storm off mid-negotiation
- Ride a motorbike assuming your travel insurance covers it; it probably does not
- Drink the tap water, anywhere
- Wander off rural paths in the former DMZ; unexploded ordnance persists
What a Vietnam trip costs
Budget
€11–33
Dorm bed, street food, sleeper buses, free-to-cheap sights.
Mid-range
€37–70
Private rooms, restaurant meals, a Ha Long cruise, internal flight.
High-end
€85+
Boutique hotels, private transfers, guided caves and cruises.
Track what you actually spend
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Visas, SIM cards and getting around
Entry & visa
45 days free for most Europeans
Most EU passports, including the Dutch, plus the UK enter visa-free for 45 days. Everyone else applies for the 90-day e-visa at evisa.gov.vn; agency sites charge extra.
Money
Cash, drawn before the mountains
Dong is the currency and cash rules outside the cities. ATMs are everywhere in town, thin around Sapa and unreliable in Phong Nha, so draw the maximum per withdrawal.
Connectivity
Viettel reaches the mountains
SIMs are registered against a passport, so you buy one in person at the airport or a phone shop for about €2.50 (75,000 ₫). Viettel covers the mountains best.
Getting around
Sleeper bus, train or cheap flight
Sleeper buses are the default, the Reunification Express is the slow scenic spine, and domestic flights are cheap enough to skip the worst overland legs. Grab is the city taxi.
Health
Dengue is the city risk
No jab is required. DTP, typhoid and hepatitis A are the standard recommendations, and mosquito protection matters more than any of them, in the cities as much as the countryside.
Water
Bottled is cheap, a filter cheaper
The tap water is not drinkable anywhere. A 1.5-litre bottle costs about €0.40 (12,000 ₫) and a filter bottle pays for itself in a week.
Tipping
A kindness, not a rule
Nothing is built into prices and nothing is expected. Small notes for a guide or a driver are genuinely appreciated at local wages; percentages are not the custom.
Power & plugs
Bring an adapter
Sockets are types A, C and D at 220 V. A European two-pin plug fits the C sockets and needs an adapter for the rest, so pack one.
Language
Try anyway, they will love it
Vietnamese has six tones and a Latin script with diacritics, so place names are readable and words are unsayable. Any attempt is warmly rewarded.
Vietnamese worth knowing
Nobody expects you to speak the language, which is exactly why a handful of words goes so far.
sin chow
Hello · xin chào
kam uhn
Thank you · cảm ơn
sin loy
Sorry / excuse me · xin lỗi
toy khong hew
I don't understand · tôi không hiểu
toy an chay
I'm vegetarian · tôi ăn chay
bow nyew tee-en
How much is it? · bao nhiêu tiền?
moht hai ba yo
One, two, three, cheers! · Một, hai, ba, dô!
fuh
The noodle soup itself · phở
Vietnam questions, answered
With the shape of it, before you book anything. Decide how many weeks you have and whether you want the north, the south or the full run, then lay the stops out in Stippl and see what the days allow. The whole run takes 31 days in the Vietnam trips people build on Stippl. Show that route to people who have been, in subreddits like r/VietnamTravel or the Facebook groups.
Ha Giang gets the longest stay in the country at four nights, ahead of Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City on three. Everywhere else lands on two: Hanoi, Hue, Sapa, Ninh Binh, Da Nang and Ha Long Bay. That is across the 788,000+ stops planned in Vietnam on Stippl, and it tells you the northern loop is the one thing people give real time to.
Most people do. Only 22.1% of the Vietnam trips planned on Stippl stay inside Vietnam, so four in five cross a border, usually into Cambodia, Thailand or Laos on the Southeast Asia loop. Vietnam is usually the long leg of that loop rather than a side trip, so build it first and fit the neighbours around it.
Ninh Binh, if you are picking one. Same limestone karst, on land instead of water, quieter and cleaner, and it holds people longer. Ha Long Bay is a single-night stop for 45.8% of the travellers who plan it on Stippl, the highest share in Vietnam, because the cruise is the whole visit and then you leave.
Legally, most Western licence holders cannot. Vietnam does not recognise UK, US or Australian licences without a local conversion, and insurers commonly exclude motorbike touring, so a crash leaves you uninsured as well as unlicensed. The way round it is an Easy Rider, a licensed local guide who carries you pillion with the luggage strapped on.
As an overnight, yes. Sleep in Can Tho and take the Cai Rang floating market at dawn, while it is still a working wholesale market rather than a performance staged for the boats. The day tour out of Ho Chi Minh City is the version to skip: most of it is coach, and it disappoints more people than anything else in Vietnam.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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