Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime? Vietnam is an amazing destination, full of vibrant culture and stunning landscapes. With its busy cities, tranquil beaches, and diverse natural wonders, it can be difficult to decide just where to start.

Planning your very first trip to Vietnam doesn't need to be overwhelming. With some helpful tips and a bit of research on must-see spots and activities, you'll be prepped for making incredible memories that will last a lifetime!

Read on for our guide on how to plan your first journey through this picturesque country.

Figure out if you need a visa to enter the country 

Vietnam is a popular destination for travelers, but it’s important to make sure that if you plan on entering the country, you are aware of the visa requirements.

Depending on the nature of your visit and nationality, you may or may not need to go through the process of applying for a Vietnam visa. It is essential to research and understand Vietnam's visa procedure before traveling in order to be absolutely sure as to whether or not one is required for entry.

In 2017, the Vietnamese government introduced the electronic visa system enabling getting a short-term visa covering the purposes of leisure, business, and transit.

Visit the Vietnam eVisa website, check your eligibility, and apply for your visa in a few online steps. Receive your document delivered straight to your email inbox and enjoy smooth entry to the country!

Research the Vietnamese culture

Vietnam's culture is undeniably one of the most vibrant and diverse in the world, boasting a colorful array of rituals, traditions, values, and beliefs.

The country organizes many traditional festivals that are celebrated throughout the year and provides a window into the history and practice of Vietnam's culture. Vietnam has also seen strong influences from other cultures over centuries, such as Buddhism from India, Confucianism from China, Vietnamization of Theravada Buddhism from Cambodia, and Catholicism from France.

The combination of these influences has resulted in an incredibly diverse cultural atmosphere that manifests itself in its customs and traditions. Vietnam offers visitors a chance to explore an expansive cultural landscape with its multicultural roots providing a truly unique experience.

Find the right time of year to visit the country

When it comes to finding the ideal time of year to visit Vietnam, there are certainly a few factors to consider. Depending on what regions of Vietnam one wishes to explore, travelers should research the country's climate and weather patterns in order to have the most enjoyable experience possible.

Generally speaking, the winter months (December – February) are the best time of year to visit Vietnam as temperatures remain mild and rainfall is at its lowest.

However one looks at it though, Vietnam is sure to provide an unforgettable experience no matter when you decide to go!

Make a budget for your trip that fits your travel style 

Vietnam is an amazing destination to explore on a budget while still being able to enjoy the full range of experiences it has to offer. When making a budget for your Vietnam trip, it is important to consider all potential costs.

Consider booking accommodation with cost-efficiency in mind where possible, such as hostels or Airbnb shares, and plan meals that are both affordable and tasty. It is also important not to underestimate the cost of transportation between destinations - research the most efficient way of getting around Vietnam in order to make the most of your journey within the set budget.

Once you have an accurate breakdown of what things will cost, you can craft an enjoyable trip that still suits your travel style.

Choose the perfect place to stay

Vietnam is the ideal destination for anyone looking to indulge in luxurious accommodations. Whether beachside resorts or city hotels, Vietnam has a variety of choices tailored to suit any type of traveler.

For sun-seekers and beachgoers, there are plenty of stunning coastal locations with crystal blue waters, as well as many coastal resorts situated perfectly along major beaches.

Those who prefer the convenience and amenities of city life can find excellent options in Vietnam's bustling cities. Indulge in the selection of top-notch restaurants, entertainment hubs, and one-of-a-kind spa experiences that Vietnam's cities have to offer.

Decide what activities you want to do

Vietnam is a vibrant and lively country, with numerous activities to explore. When visiting the country, tourists can choose from a range of options to get the full local experience.

One great way to do so is by exploring some of Vietnam's bustling markets. From Ho Chi Minh City all the way up to Hanoi, each market offers a unique and exciting environment in which to bargain for handmade goods.

Alternatively, Vietnam's wealth of culinary knowledge can be explored through cooking classes, where visitors can learn how to make a traditional Vietnamese meal. So whatever the preference may be, Vietnam has the ideal activity for everyone.

Start making plans with friends or join a tour group for extra support 

Vietnam is a wonderfully unique and exciting destination to explore, whether you are visiting solo or with friends.

To unleash Vietnam's beauty and vibrant culture to its full potential, we recommend organizing your own trip with a group of pals. This allows you to get a real feel for the country as you journey through different cities and sights.

Alternatively, if it's your first time in Vietnam – or if any member of the group needs additional support – consider joining an organized Vietnam tour. These tours guarantee experienced local expertise and guidance throughout your entire trip, ensuring a stress-free vacation specifically tailored to your interests and needs.

Whichever way you choose to do it, Vietnam promises an unforgettable experience!

Conclusion 

Visiting Vietnam for the first time will create memorable moments that last a lifetime. From its stunning beaches to the Grand Palace, and from its picturesque mountain views to its charming temples - there is an adventure available around every corner.

The sheer diversity of nature, culture, and food can overwhelm you, but it only serves to make the experience all the more special. Whether you're a history enthusiast or enjoy sampling new cuisine - Vietnam should be your next destination. Let these words motivate you to go to Vietnam and immerse yourself in all this wonderful country has to offer.

Make sure to take plenty of photographs as a way of preserving your memories for years to come. Ultimately, with a time full of exploration and adventure calling your name - what have you got to lose? Go explore Vietnam!

The post How to Plan Your First Trip to Vietnam appeared first on MaiTravelSite.

The post How to cross a street in Saigon, Vietnam appeared first on MaiTravelSite.

We were lucky. The last stop was about 50m away from the Pham Ngu Lao area where a narrow alley was supposed to have plenty of cheap places where to sleep according to our LP guide. And it was true. A lady spotted us about a block away, asked if we were looking for a place to sleep-afirmative-and walked us to her simple yet clean hotel where we would spend the next two nights. Once more vietnamese cuisine made up for an excellent dinner and we went to sleep early because the following day would be busy.

By 8:30 am we had finished breakfast and were on a van that would take us to the Cu Chi war tunnels dug by the Viet Cong over 49 years ago. Over 200 km of tunnels were dug by the North Vietnamese army during the war in Vietnam, and turned out to be a strategic decision in the war turnout.

The tunnels per say are nothing spectacular, but there are a few things that make the visit very much worth the time and entry fee. For starters our obviously pro-communism anti-USA guide did a good job during the pre-visit briefing, explaining many things with quite some detail. Secondly, you will also see traps prepared by the VC during resistance- just remembering them makes me shiver. Third, although the tunnels were not interesting visually, experiencing the claustrophoby and unbearable heat and imagining living in those conditions for months on end makes the thought quite disturbing, something that has to be experienced to fully understand it. And finally, eventhough war movies are quite good at portraying the loud noise weapons make, you cannot really grasp this factg unless you hear them being fired. At the end of the day trip you have the opportunity to fire real bullets (10 USD/ magazine) of several weaponns, beginning with a simple pistol and all the way to an M60, with an AK47 in between. I didn’t shoot, but was right by them when a few tourists did, and was shocked by how loud they are.

After the visit to the tunnels we asked to be dropped at the Vietnam War Museum. The gardens have a few tanks, canons, airplanes and similar items on display, but it is the gallery’s inside that is most disturbing. Although it might be true that you do learn from the exhibition, it is also true (and most visitors agree on this) that the photographs shown are cruel and disturbing, many times unnecesarily so, and information given is too anti-US with too much communist propaganda. It is true that wars are never nice, but it is also true that war museums can be much better. So, is it woth a visit? It depends on the visitor, but I would say it is only if used as a reminder of how horrible any war can be; if what you want is accurate and thought provoking information about the war then look elsewhere.

Looking back into our almost 3 week trip through Vietnam I can certainly say I am glad I ignored other traveler’s opinions and decided to visit this country. Halong Bay and Sapa are amonth the most beautiful places I have visited in the world, and Vietnamese cuisine is a very fine one that must be enjoyed. And regarding Vietnamese people that so many travellers complain about, nonsense. There are very nice people and unfriendly Vietnamese as well, just like in any other country, but a smile and just a bit of patience will take you very far here, making your trip that much better. So if you have a chance to visit Vietnam don’t miss it, and don’t let the pesty customs agents at the airport put you off right from the beginning: Vietnamese people will make you smile, want it or not.

Have you visited Ho Chi Minh City? Did you like it? Did you go inside any of the war tunnels? What do you think about the Vietnam War Museum? Share your thoughts and please share this post!

[Note: the tunnels tour offered above is not the same one described in this article]

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The post Apocalypse Then: Visiting Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) appeared first on MaiTravelSite.

The ten hour train ride was too bumpy to allow any sleep once more, but we did rest and enjoyed an entertaining conversation with the Spanish couple we had met during our trek to Lac Chai that coincidentally was sharing our four bunk bed cabin.

Upon arrival to Hanoi we were welcomed by a formidable thunderstorm, with rain battering the shady streets and lightning making car headlights almost unnecessary. This only a couple of hours before our Jetstar flight was supposed to take us to Hoi An.

Memories of our scary flight in the Philippines (read struck by lightning) began to dwell in our conciense making us consider not board the airplane. We did, eventually, and I would be lying if i said that we were not afraid during take-off.

However we were so tired that we just let ourselves go, and the pilot was quite efficient when warning about the bumpy ascent in a calm and reassuring voice but forecasting clear skies around 20 minutes after departure.

The Beaches in Vietnam

And so it was. Three hours later we were sharing a taxi with two travellers from Israel to Hoi An city, arriving to a great cheap hotel they had been recommended that boasted an indoor pool and a restaurant, plus many shops and food stalls nearby (note that you can also book overland transfers to hotels and even long distance trips in Vietnam at very competitive rates).

Once we settled in we had to decide whether to sleep a bit or go to the beach (it was 11 am), the main reason we had come here for.

It was a no-brainer for me- I was amp to jump into the ocean, but it took Liza a while to convince herself to come as well. We bought a couple of freshly squeezed juices, rented 2 bikes for 1$/day each and rode 20 minutes to the beach among relentless traffic and other cyclists.

Finally,  we found it. A wide, clean, impossibly long beach with sky blue water and nobody around. Almost. I couldn’t get my t-shirt off quickly enough, but when I did I ran like a madman, jumped into the cool water and… AAAAHHHHH!!! It was not cool! At all! It was very warm, beyond warm, too hot?

“How is it?” asked Liza interrupting my productive thoughts. She looked at me as if I had grown a second head when I told her that the water was too warm, but she did agree after she dipped her head under a small wave that rolled in.

However it was the ocean, very clean, calm, very much empty…certainly picture perfect. And it was what we had been looking for for so many days.

Finally, we had found it. Even if the water was too warm.

We spent the next four days ( or were they seven?) chilling out in this great enclave, enjoying great food and sleeping late every day, doiing the bike ride to the beach and eating mangos and pineapples under the shade of a palm roof being the most violent activities of those days.

And what did we do to cool off? The hotel’s swimming pool took care of that because its water was freezing. But ooohhhh it felt so good to jump in after returning from the beach.

A couple of days before heading south we visited My Son. Keep those eyebrows down because no, I don’t have a vietnamese child. My Son (pronounced Mee Son) are the ruins of what once was a collection of hindu temples.

Today they are an interesting visit and some good picture subjects, but not much more. And don’t choose the “return by boat” option: it’s a waste of time and money.

Next stop was Nha Trang, ten hours south of Hoi An on a sleeping bus. Nha Trang is, in my opinion, a town that you can skip all together.

If you do find yourself there though don’t miss Thuy Duong restaurant. It is a great place set in a relaxing environment by the ocean, something difficult to find in this noisy city. And if you have to spend a day, rent a bike like we did and check out the 2 or 3 sites there are to be seen.

Otherwise there isn’t much to do unless getting drunk on a tourist boat is your idea of fun, and the beach is not even close to how nice those of Hoi An or Mui Ne (our next stop) are.

The seven hour sleeping bus ride between Nha Trang and Mui Ne was anything but sleepy, however this comes at no surprise because we were getting used to Vietnamese roads and driving. This said, it wasn’t too bad either.

We arrived to our destination at 2 am, and fortunately we had made a reservation at the HepHoa Resort the night before and were dropped at the front door. Had we not we would have had to walk a lot along the empty main road hoping one of the small resorts would let us in. Our choice seemed pretty good in the dark, but it was in the morning when we realized how good it actually was. Right on the beach, clean, with cozy bungalows and a few rooms in a two story building. All for about 14 USD/night.

The beach of Mui Ne is also long, mostly clean (except when onshore winds bring algae) and THE place to windsurf and kitesurf in Vietnam. There’s heaps of places where you can rent surfboards and wind sports boards; surf season starts in October and there is wind pretty much year round.

We spent five days there and enjoyed the great food, and rented a scooter to visit the impressive sand dunes found about 45 minutes away. It was surprising to find a patch of a desert in Vietnam- they appear to be completely out of place.

And with this out beach time came to an end. While we did not have a fixed itinerary or schedule our improvisation worked out very well, yet if you like to have things planned out this  2 week Vietnam itinerary will take you through the best of the country.

Our next stop would be Saigon and we’d then head into into Cambodia a few days later, making our way to a mysterious country recently ruled by the death inflicting regime of Pol Pot and home to the world famous ruins of Angkor Wat.

Have you visited any of these places? What did you think about Nha Trang? Was the water in Hoi An warm? Did you kite surf in Mui ne? Please share this post if you liked it!

The post From Hoi An to Mui Ne: the Beaches in Vietnam appeared first on MaiTravelSite.

This time I have participated as a guest blogger in www.vietnamandcambodia.com; to read my post please click here http://www.vietnamandcambodia.com/2009/09/chmong-buy-from-me.html . However I have saved the best for my own blog- I strongly suggest you don’t miss the following slideshow because it contains some of the best pictures I have taken during this trip. Enjoy, comment and happy travels!

The post Meeting the Hmong in Sapa, Vietnam appeared first on MaiTravelSite.

We were served three meals a day which included fish, seafood, meat, veggies and rice and portions were abundant, served in two tables that could sit four travelers each. With cruises starting at around 70 usd per person (best if booked in Hanoi) what else can you ask for??

Halong Bay is one of those places that I had always had in my “to visit” list and that I could finally tick as “seen”. The vision of 3000 karst mountains popping out of the ocean as if they had been placed there on purpose was captivating to all of us who were there, contemplating in silence at one point or another while immersing ourselves in personal thoughts whatever those may be.

I am not going to attempt to describe the views any more- just look at the pictures and bare in mind that this time the pictures cannot really transmit the fascination you perceive when there.

At night many of the boats drop anchor between the islands in groups of 5 to 10, and although your first desire would be to have no other boat around but your own, there is enough space for all. Plus you get to see other people jumping from the top deck of their boat into the ocean and use it as an excuse to convince your guide if he initially forbids such actions (as was our case).

The following morning an early breakfast leads to you being dropped at Cat Ba island and a hike to the highest point in the island; nothing too special but it does make you sweat. Once the hike was over we were dropped at our hotel where we had lunch and then headed straight to the beach, where turquoise water and picture perfect views would be with us for the next two days- or so we thought.

What a disappointment. The beach was nothing of the sort, the water being murky and with plastics floating all over, clear evidence of the ongoing litter problem created by uncaring cooks and crews of the junk boats who throw garbage overboard at all times. Why haven’t authorities stepped in? It sure beats me.

Yet the Halong Bay remains as one of the most beautiful natural attractions I have seen anywhere in the world, and if you reach Vietnam make sure you book a cruise. Cruises depart from different areas within Halong Bay are, and booking a Lan Hay Bay cruise is perhaps a better option if you want a quieter, less touristy yet just as beautiful experience.

Thus we chose to change plans and had our second night transferred to Sapa, a town in NW Vietnam famous for its stunning valleys, rice terraces and hill tribes that endure modernization. We enjoyed dinner that night with a group of Spanish travelers we had met earlier that day and went to sleep. The following days were spent on boats, buses, vans and an overnight train that would eventually leave us in the land home to the Hmong and other indigenous cultures…

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Once inside the country we headed to the bus stop, the cheapest way there is to get into town, and were soon on our way to the Hanoi Phoenix II Hotel, and excellent choice and deal according to the internet reviews we had read.

Along the way a friendly vietnamese girl told us that she had called the hotel without us knowing and they were now waiting for us despite our late arrival at 2 am.

The way there is quite quick, or perhaps so it seemed because we were busy looking out the window of the crowded van in an attempt to get a glimpse of what Vietnam could be during day time. At night, and in the wee hours of the morning there was not much to see in the dimly lit streets of Hanoi other than taxi drivers, the occacional food stall, and people sitting on the sidewalks talking and sometimes drinking.

Once we made it to the hotel we noticed that it was not the super deal we had expected to find. It was simply OK, and since we were very much dead beat by then we were looking forward to a good night’s sleep and some well deserved rest.

Ha! Less than three hours later loudspeakers were blaring music and speeches in the street, a neighbor was screaming into her cell phone that did not stop ringing and you could begin to hear the scooters speeding along the near by streets. Ear plugs and ducking under the pillow proved useless, so by 8 am we gave up and went for breakfast.

We soon learned that in Vietnam it is normal to have loudspeakers at full volume at a central square or in the streets to wake people up sometime between 5 and 6:30 am with the latest news and traditional music. To this date I still do not understand the reasoning behind it.

That day we visited Hanoi (here’s a great one day Hanoi itinerary), including the prison where US senator John McCain had attempted suicide twice while held captive during the Vietnam war and because of which he can no longer raise his arms above his head due to the torture he was subject to, and were mesmerized about the scooter traffic omnipresent en all Hanoi.

We also booked a 2 day- 2 night visit to the world famous Halong Bay (45 USD/person all included) where we would sleep in a traditional Vietnamese junk boat and in Cat Ba island the following day before making our way to what would probably be our next destination: Sapa and the hill tribes of NW Vietnam.

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