--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Vietnam (City Guides) Wimup" description: "Browse Wimup's Top 10 guides across Vietnam, Hanoi, Hoi An and more cities, mapped and filmed. When to go, how to get around, and where to start." url: https://wimup.com/country/vietnam type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-06 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10s across Vietnam A country shaped like a **coastline**: 3,000 kilometres of it, with a different kitchen every few hundred. Vietnam is cheap to travel, hard to rush and **best taken in thirds**. ## Quick answer A first trip takes the country in thirds. **Hanoi** and Ha Long Bay hold the north, the heritage belt of **Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An** holds the centre, and **Ho Chi Minh City** opens onto the Mekong Delta in the south. Pick one detour, not both: **Sa Pa** for mountain terraces, **Da Lat** for cool air and pine. Flights link the thirds in about two hours each, and **February to April** is the window that works in all of them. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Feb · Mar · Apr - **Ideal length:** 12–16 days - **Budget per day:** $40–85 - **Language:** Vietnamese - **Getting around:** Domestic flights & the Reunification railway - **5** City guides - **101,112,656** People - **2** Video guides Vietnam runs north to south and travels the same way. Hanoi and Ha Long Bay carry the north, with the mountain terraces at Sapa and Ha Giang above them. The centre is the heritage belt: Hue, Hoi An and the Cham ruins at My Son, all within an hour of Da Nang. The south opens into Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, where the roads give way to water. Domestic flights link the three in about two hours each, and the Reunification railway takes the slow version along the coast. ## 5 Vietnam city guides 1. [Hanoi](https://wimup.com/city/hanoi.md): Asia · 10 picks 2. [Hoi An](https://wimup.com/city/hoi-an.md): Asia · 10 picks 3. [Hue](https://wimup.com/city/hue.md): Asia · 10 picks 4. [Da Lat](https://wimup.com/city/da-lat.md): Asia · 10 picks 5. [Sa Pa](https://wimup.com/city/sapa.md): Asia · 10 picks ## Know before you go - **Population:** 101,112,656 - **Area:** 331,212 km² - **Density:** 305.3 / km² - **Capital:** Hanoi - **Major cities:** Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** Vietnamese đồng (VND) Cards work in hotels, malls and city restaurants. Markets, street stalls and most of the countryside run on cash, and QR transfers are everywhere locals shop. - **Language:** Vietnamese Six tones and a Latin alphabet, so signs are readable even when the words are not. English is common in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, thinner in the delta and the mountains. - **Calling code:** +84 - **Power:** 220V · Type A/C/F - **Emergency:** 113 Dial 113 for police, 114 for fire and rescue, 115 for an ambulance. All three are free from any phone. - **Visa:** E-visa · up to 90 days The e-visa is open to every nationality, single or multiple entry, on the immigration portal. Some European and East Asian passports enter visa-free for 45 days instead. Check yours before you book. - **Getting around:** Flights & the coastal railway Domestic flights link Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City in about two hours each. The Reunification railway does the same route slowly along the coast, and sleeper buses fill the gaps. - **Tipping:** Not expected No tipping convention outside tourist restaurants. Rounding up a fare or leaving small change after a good meal is normal and enough. ## When to visit - **Jan** (good) - **Feb** (best) - **Mar** (best) - **Apr** (best) - **May** - **Jun** (peak) - **Jul** (peak) - **Aug** (peak) - **Sep** (good) - **Oct** - **Nov** (good) - **Dec** (good) ## Fun fact Vietnam cut its map from 63 provinces to 34 on 1 July 2025, the largest administrative reorganisation since reunification. Quang Nam province, which held Hoi An, was merged into Da Nang city. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** Vietnam is one long war story **Reality:** The museums and the tunnels are worth your time, but the war ended in 1975 and the country moved on. Almost everyone you meet was born after it, and the conversation is about food, family and business. - **Myth:** Crossing the road is impossible **Reality:** Scooters own the street, and they read a pedestrian as an obstacle to steer around. Walk at a steady pace and do not stop. Hesitating in the middle is what causes the near misses. - **Myth:** Vietnamese food means pho **Reality:** Pho is a northern breakfast. The centre eats bun bo Hue and the small plates of the old imperial kitchen, the south eats broken rice and hu tieu, and banh mi is a Saigon habit that travelled. - **Myth:** Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are much the same **Reality:** They sit at opposite ends of the country and behave like different places. Hanoi is older, more formal and properly cold in January. Ho Chi Minh City is hotter, louder and built on trade. - **Myth:** It is cheap, so everything is cheap **Reality:** Street food, local buses and family guesthouses cost very little. Domestic flights, Ha Long cruises and the new coastal resorts are priced for visitors, and the gap between the two budgets is wide. - Shoes come off at the door of a home, a temple and plenty of small shops. Watch the pile by the entrance. - Pass and receive with both hands, or with the right hand while the left touches the forearm. It reads as respect and costs nothing. - Bargain in markets, not in shops with a printed price. Keep it light, and stop once you have agreed. - Cover shoulders and knees at pagodas and mausoleums. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum turns people away for it. - Eat when Vietnam eats. Pho is breakfast, lunch starts around eleven, and neighbourhood kitchens close early in the evening. - Tipping is not expected. Round up after a good meal or a long ride and leave it at that. - Do not touch anyone on the head, and point with an open hand, never one finger. ## Famous Vietnamese faces - **Hồ Chí Minh**: Declared independence in 1945 and led North Vietnam until 1969 - **Võ Nguyên Giáp**: The general behind Điện Biên Phủ in 1954, which ended French rule - **Trần Hưng Đạo**: Thirteenth-century commander who turned back the Mongol invasions - **Nguyễn Du**: Wrote The Tale of Kiều, the poem Vietnam quotes from memory - **Thích Nhất Hạnh**: Zen teacher who took mindfulness practice to a global readership - **Trịnh Công Sơn**: Songwriter whose wartime ballads are still sung in every cafe - **Đặng Thái Sơn**: First Asian pianist to win the Chopin Competition, Warsaw 1980 - **Ngô Bảo Châu**: Fields Medal in 2010 for proving the fundamental lemma - **Hai Bà Trưng**: The Trưng sisters, who raised a revolt against Han rule in AD 40 - **Lý Thái Tổ**: Moved the capital to Thăng Long, now Hanoi, in 1010 - **Nguyễn Trãi**: Strategist and poet of the fifteenth-century war of independence - **Bảo Ninh**: Wrote The Sorrow of War, the novel that broke the official version - **Viet Thanh Nguyen**: Won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction with The Sympathizer - **Trần Anh Hùng**: Best Director at Cannes in 2023, three decades after his Caméra d'Or - **Ngô Thanh Vân**: Actor and producer who built the modern Vietnamese action film - **Sơn Tùng M-TP**: The singer who made Vietnamese pop a regional export - **Mỹ Tâm**: Two decades at the top of Vietnamese pop, and still touring - **Hoàng Xuân Vinh**: Won Vietnam's first Olympic gold, 10m air pistol, Rio 2016 - **Lê Quang Liêm**: Grandmaster and 2013 world blitz chess champion - **Trần Đại Nghĩa**: Engineer who built Vietnam's wartime arms industry from scratch - **Nguyễn Hà Đông**: Made Flappy Bird, the 2014 game he pulled at the top of the charts - **Christine Hà**: Blind chef who won MasterChef in 2012 and cooks Vietnamese in Houston - **Luke Nguyen**: Chef and presenter who took Mekong cooking to television ## Must-try Vietnamese food - **Phở**: Beef or chicken broth over rice noodles. Breakfast, and judged on the broth alone. - **Bánh mì**: Baguette, pâté, cold cuts, pickled carrot and coriander. The French left the bread. - **Gỏi cuốn**: Fresh rice-paper rolls with prawn, pork and herbs, dipped in peanut sauce. - **Chả giò**: Fried rolls, wrapped again in lettuce and herbs before they go in the sauce. - **Bún chả**: Grilled pork in a bowl of sweet fish-sauce broth, with cold noodles alongside. - **Bún bò Huế**: The imperial city's beef noodle soup: lemongrass, chilli and shrimp paste. - **Mì Quảng**: Turmeric noodles under a shallow, intense broth, with peanuts and rice crackers. - **Hủ tiếu**: The southern morning noodle, clear or dry, with pork and seafood. - **Chả cá**: Turmeric fish fried at the table with dill and spring onion. A Hanoi institution. - **Bánh cuốn**: Steamed rice sheets rolled around pork and wood-ear mushroom, eaten fast. - **Bún riêu cua**: Tomato and freshwater crab broth, sour and light, sold from morning carts. - **Cao lầu**: Hoi An only: thick noodles, pork, greens and almost no broth. - **Cơm hến**: Hue baby-clam rice, served cold with crackling and a small bowl of broth. - **Bánh bèo**: Rice saucers topped with dried shrimp, from the Hue small-plate tradition. - **Cơm tấm**: Broken rice with grilled pork chop, egg and pickles. Saigon's working lunch. - **Bánh xèo**: Turmeric crepe filled with pork and prawn, torn up and wrapped in herbs. - **Bánh khọt**: Coconut rice pancakes the size of a coin, one prawn each. - **Chè**: Sweet soups of bean, jelly and coconut milk, served hot or over ice. - **Bánh flan**: Caramel custard with iced coffee poured over it, which is the point. - **Cà phê sữa đá**: Robusta dripped over condensed milk and ice. Strong enough to plan around. - **Cà phê trứng**: Egg yolk whipped with condensed milk over coffee. A Hanoi invention. - **Bia hơi**: Fresh draught beer brewed daily and drunk on plastic stools at the kerb. ## Films - [Hanoi on Foot](https://wimup.com/watch/hanoi.md), 3:34:37 - [Hoi An on Foot](https://wimup.com/watch/hoi-an.md), 1:02:02 ## FAQs ### How many days do you need in Vietnam? Two weeks covers the country in thirds, with three or four nights in each and a flight between them. Ten days works if you drop one third. A single region is comfortable in five or six. ### When is the best time to visit Vietnam? February to April is the one window that suits the whole country: the centre is dry, the south is still in its dry season and the north has warmed up. October and November bring the heaviest rain to the central coast. ### Do you need a visa for Vietnam? Most visitors apply online. The e-visa is open to every nationality and allows up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, and a list of European and East Asian passports enters visa-free for 45 days. Confirm your own case on the government portal before booking. ### Is Vietnam cheap to travel? Day to day, yes. Street food, local transport and family-run rooms cost very little. The spend goes on domestic flights, Ha Long cruises and the newer coastal resorts, which are priced for visitors. ### North or south: which should you pick? The north for landscape and old streets, the south for food and energy. If you only have a week, fly into Hanoi for the Old Quarter and Ha Long Bay, or into Ho Chi Minh City for the Mekong Delta and the best eating in the country. ## Related countries - [Japan](https://wimup.com/country/japan.md) - [Philippines](https://wimup.com/country/philippines.md) - [All of Asia](https://wimup.com/asia) Part of [Asia](https://wimup.com/asia.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Visa](https://evisa.gov.vn/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.