AsiaVietnamVietnam
Vietnam hands you a different country every few hundred kilometres. A motorbike loop through the karst of the far north that people call the best thing they have ever done, 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
Top Vietnam destinations we recommend
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Our travel routes through Vietnam
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.
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 August 2026 · 14 min read · 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.
Who Vietnam is for
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 €0.90–2.60, beer for under a euro; 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
repeatedly named 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
When to visit Vietnam
- Tet's practical impact is bigger than any weather consideration: accommodation gets scarce, buses stop running and most restaurants close
- Sapa is season-critical: the terraces are planted in May, green through September, and bare, cold and fogged-in from December to February, a winter visit misses the entire point
- The "best overall window" genuinely differs by source, Feb–Apr, May–Oct or late Sep–early Dec, because each optimises for a different region; the region-level data underneath agrees
Add your Vietnam dates and we'll flag the weather per stop
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every place on your route.
Festivals & special days
Tet (Lunar New Year): 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
Mid-Autumn Festival: mooncakes, lanterns and lion dances, at its best in Hoi An and Hanoi's old quarter
Hoi An lantern nights, the old town switches off its electric lights
Describe your trip, get a Vietnam itinerary in seconds
Everything in this guide is already in Stippl. Tell the planner how long you have and what you like: it builds the route, the days and the travel times, and you edit whatever you want.
What not to miss in Vietnam
The Ha Giang Loop
a 3–5 day, ~350 km motorbike circuit through the far-north karst plateau, by own bike or pillion with easy riders; multiple sources call it the highlight of their entire trip
An overnight junk-boat cruise on Ha Long Bay
the country's most iconic image; Lan Ha and Bai Tu Long are the quieter twins, and Cat Ba the independent traveller's base
Trekking Sapa's rice terraces with a Hmong guide
village-to-village walking with a homestay night; the town itself is the price you pay for the valleys
Caving in Phong Nha
from Paradise Cave's boardwalks and the Dark Cave's mud bath up to Hang En and Son Doong, the world's largest cave
Riding the Hai Van Pass
the Top Gear-famous coastal road between Hue and Hoi An, quiet since the trucks moved to the tunnel
A tailor-made wardrobe in Hoi An
suits and dresses fitted in days in the lantern-lit old town; research your tailor first
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
Discover food spots in Stippl
Find restaurants and markets on the map, save them to your itinerary, works offline too.
Cultural highlights & etiquette
The eldest pays the bill
Family and ancestor worship anchor daily life across all belief systems, 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 called the American War, and engaging with local politics is unwise; photographing government buildings is illegal
Feet never face the altar
Pagoda etiquette: enter right, exit left, shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, and never point your feet at the altar
Consent first at Bac Ha
Ask before photographing ethnic-minority people, especially at markets like Bac Ha
You will end up singing
Karaoke is a core social bonding ritual, and homestay evenings on the Ha Giang Loop reliably end in it
The horn means I am here
Honking is echolocation, not aggression
Do
- Cross the street at a steady, predictable pace, hesitating is what causes accidents
- Take your shoes off boarding night buses; slippers are provided
- Keep small notes handy, tips aren't expected but are hugely appreciated at local wages
- Visit the War Remnants Museum early in the trip; it reframes the rest
- 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 doesn't
- Drink the tap water, anywhere
- Book a Ha Long cruise from the cheapest tout, cruise scams are an established genre
- Wander off rural paths in the former DMZ, unexploded ordnance persists
Daily budget in Vietnam
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
Set a daily budget per country and log expenses in any currency while you travel.
Practicalities
Entry & visa
Europeans get 45 days free
Most of Europe, including the Netherlands since 15 August 2025, enters visa-free for up to 45 days; the earlier list (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, the Nordics, Japan, South Korea) was extended and then widened by twelve more European countries.
Health
Dengue is the city risk
No vaccinations are mandatory (barring yellow fever from affected countries); DTP, typhoid and hepatitis A are the standard recommendations, and mosquito protection matters, dengue in cities, malaria in some rural border areas.
Money
What a euro is worth here
1 EUR ≈ 30,449 VND and 1 EUR ≈ 1.166 USD, both mid-market.
Connectivity
Viettel reaches the mountains
SIM registration against a passport is legally mandatory, so physical SIMs are bought in person, airport kiosks, phone chains or convenience stores, from ~€2.60; Viettel (military-owned) has the best coverage including the mountains.
Water
Bottled is cheap, filtered cheaper
Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in the country; bottled water is ~€0.40 for 1.5L, and a filter bottle pays for itself.
Tipping
Tipping is a kindness here
Not obligatory and not built into prices, but genuinely appreciated at local wage levels, small notes, not percentages.
Power & practicalities
Bring an adapter
Sockets are types A, C and D at 220V, Europeans need an adapter for the A and D variants.
Language
Try anyway, they will love it
Vietnamese is a six-tone language written in Latin script with diacritics (chữ quốc ngữ), which makes places readable but words unsayable, locals warmly reward any attempt.
Useful phrases
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
Frequently asked questions about Vietnam
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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