Vietnam Information - Highlights of Vietnam and Practical Information about this exotic country in Southeast Asia.
Halong Bay, Vietnam

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Vietnam Information

Everyone has heard of this mysterious country, few know however fascinating the history of this fast developing country really is. Through the ages this country was dominated by different tribes and countries. All these foreign occupying forces left their marks on this country and they are still present everywhere and often very easy to recognize. They have contributed among other things which make the country Vietnam so fascinating and divers as it is at this moment.

Vietnam is however much and much more than what we know in the west from the recent history. The Vietnamese people are divers but all have in common that they are friendly, energetic and curious people with century’s old traditions. However Vietnam is also a country where each day new things arise and one rapidly wants to enter the 21ste century. Therefore the country changes in a fast tempo.

Vietnam continues to captivate the visitors with the red and white sand dunes in Mui Ne, the splendid architecture of the rice fields in the North of the country, the colourful markets of the Hill Tribes, the old quarter in Hanoi and the ever present tube houses, the historical cities of Hué and Hoi An, the thousands of moto-cycles in Saigon till the endless rice plantations in the Mekong Delta where the river of the nine dragons ends in the East Sea.

Now is the best moment to discover this unique and fascinating country.

Xin chào! Or Welcome!

Highlights of Vietnam

Vietnamese woman cycling

Practical Information about Vietnam

Visas and Documents
For most western citizens a visa for Vietnam is required to enter the country. You have to obtain the visa before you arrive in Vietnam.
Single entry tourist visa is valid for 30 days. Your passport must be valid at least 6 months beyond the end of your travel. You can obtain the visa at the Vietnamese embassy in your country. Please make your request at least 2 weeks in advance.

Customs
Adults are allowed to take with them (tax-free) 250 grammes tobacco or 200 cigarettes and 1 liter alcoholic beverage into Vietnam.
You are allowed to take as much foreign money in and out of Vietnam as you want, but a currency declaration is necessary for large amounts.
Upon arrival in Vietnam you must fill in a customs authorities form and customs clearance / property form (valuables and other personal properties) which you have to hand in upon departure of Vietnam.
It is prohibited to export antiques and Buddha statues. Souvenirs made of protected animals or plants are also prohibited to export.

Health
Make sure you do have medical insurance. Every guest is obliged to take care of a personal medical insurance. Hospitals in Vietnam are very basic and simple. Even the supposedly better hospitals like in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. In case of a serious sickness or an emergency case one will normally be repatriated by the insurance company to a hospital in Thailand for medical care.
Vaccination against yellow fever is only obligatory for travelers who come from a country with a risk on yellow fever. Vaccination has been recommended against hepatitis A and B, Japanese encephalitis, infantile paralysis and abdomen typhoid fever. Medication against malaria has been recommended. Be aware to start to take medicine for malaria before your departure from home.
Please see also our health page for further information on general health issues.

Money and banks
The currency of Vietnam is called Dong (VND). There are notes of 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 Dong. Coins are there of 1000, 500 and 200 Dong. The exchange rate is 23,700 Dong for 1 Euro and 18,900 Dong for 1 US $ (May 2010).
At banks, exchange offices or hotels, cash money euro or dollars, can be changed. Travelers’ cheques are more difficult to exchange. Credit cards are only accepted in luxuriously hotels, the more expensive restaurants and luxuriously shops. ATMs can be find in nearly all large cities such as Hanoi, Hué, Danang, Ho Chi Minh City etc. Using these machines is in general very convenient and safe, one gets Dong and the daily limit amounts up to 2 millions Dong.
Tip: Make sure that you have sufficient small bank notes with you, up-country it is very difficult to pay with only large banknotes.
The export of Dong has not been permitted. Vietnamese Dongs outside Vietnam are not exchangeable. Upon departure from Vietnam you can exchange the remaining Dong (up to for the value of 500 US $) if you can present the exchange receipts.
Banks are open from 08.00 till 11.30 and from 13.00 till 16.00 during the week and from 08.00 till 11.30 on Saturday.

Cao Dai temple in Vietnam

Electricity
Electricity in Vietnam is generally 220 volts, 50Hz, but some places still do have 110 volts. Power sockets are generally of the round, two-pin variety. An international adapter (travel plug) is necessary. Electricity cuts or black outs are common especially in the provinces.

Communications (post, telephone, Internet)
Post cards sent from Vietnam to Western countries take about 10 days to arrive.
To telephone to Vietnam (country code 84) from your country: dial your international access code followed by 84 + local area code (minus the first zero) + the number.
To call your country Vietnam: dial 00 + your country code + area code without the first zero + the number.
International phone calls are possible from a hotel or a post office in Vietnam. In the post office it is always cheaper than in the hotels. Collect call (the recipient pays) is not possible.
The phone possibilities with mobile phones depend on the phone-subscription and the area from which you would like to make a phone call.
Check before departure with your provider for the possibilities and costs. At the moment Vina Phone and Mobi Phone are the two largest mobile networks in Vietnam.
In the capital and in the provincial cities there are many Internet cafes for checking and sending email. In some Internet cafes you can also phone via the Internet, which is much cheaper than phoning from the post office or hotels.

Photography and video
Vietnam is a very photogenic country, especially the historical temples, nature and people are photogenic subjects. Most of people don’t mind if pictures are taken. The only exceptions are the hill tribe people. In general they don’t want be photographed. Always ask permission first, even if necessary with gestures, especially if you want to photograph someone. If someone does not want on the photograph, please do respect this.
Sometimes people ask for money to be photographed. If this is the case, please refrain from making a picture. By paying money we do encourage and create a begging-culture with all the negative impact and consequences.
Airports, train stations, border posts and bridges are considered as strategic objects and cannot be photographed.
In some historical temples you must pay additional entry fee for your camera or video.
In most large cities you can buy memory cards for your camera. At a lot of places like the photo shops and Internet cafes you can burn your digital photographs on CD.
Tip: It is handy to take an external disc from abroad with you to download your pictures.

Books
- A Dragon Apparent (1952) by Norman Lewis
- Ten Years After (1987) & Derailed in Uncle Ho’s Victory Garden (1995) by time Page
- Fragrant Palm Leaves (1998) by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Sparring with Charlie: Motorbiking down the Ho Chi Minh Trail (1996) by Christopher Hunt
- Catfish and Mandala (1999) by Andrew X Pham
- Sunstroke on a Shoestring (2004) by Phaic Tan
- The Quiet American (1955) by Graham Greene
- The Girl in the Picture (2001) by Denise Chong
- Bright Shining Lie (1989) by Neil Sheehan
- The Sorrow of War (1993) by Bao Ninh
- Four hours in My Lai (1992) by Michael Bilon and Kevin Sim
- Dispatches (1977) by Michael Herr
- If I die in a Combat Zone (1973) by Tim O’Brien

Films
- Apocalypse Now (1979), director Francis Ford Coppola with Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen
- Born on the Fourth or July (1989), director Oliver Stone with Tom Cruise
- Cyclo (1995), director Tran Anh Hung
- The Deer Hunter (1978), director Michael Cimino with Robert the Niro, John Cazale and John Savage
- Heaven and Earth (1993), director Oliver Stone with Tommy Lee Jones and Haing S Ngor
- The Lover (or L’Amant) (1992), director Jean-Jacques Annaud
- Platoon (1986), director Oliver Stone with Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen
- The Quiet American (1957 & 2002), director Philip Noyce with Brendan Fraser and Michael Caine
- Good Morning Vietnam (1987), director Barry Levinson with Robin Williams
- Full metal Jacket (1987), director Stanley Kubrick
- The scent or Green Papaya (1993), director Tran Anh Hung
- Indochine (1992), director Regis Wargnier with Catherine Deneuve
- Dien Bien Phu (1992), director and eyewitness of the battle Pierre Schoendoerffer
- We were Soldiers (2002), director Randall Wallace with Mel Gibson
- Bright Shining Lie (1998), director Terry George with Bill Paxton as col. John Paul Vann
- Casualties or War (1989), director Brian the Palma with Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox

Mobile restaurant in Vietnam

Time
In Vietnam it is in the winter six hours later than in continental Europe. 12.00 hours in Amsterdam is 18.00 hours in Vietnam. In the summer the time difference is five hours.

Opening Hours
Government offices are opened Monday till Saturday from 07.30-11.30 hours and 14.00-17.30 hours. But don’t come too early or too late, as the officers may not be there yet or have left already.
Banks are usually open from 08.00 till 11.30 and from 13.00 till 16.00 during the week and from 08.00 till 11.30 on Saturday.
Shops are open from Monday to Saturday from 08.00 till 18.00 hours, some are also open on Sunday.
Most of the museums are open from Tuesday up to and including Sunday between 9.00 and 12.00 and from 13.00 till 16.00 hours.

Crime and personal safety
After years of war and hunger and a political closed and isolated era Vietnam enjoys since the “Doi Moi” a time of an enormous personal and economic freedom and progress. At this moment Vietnam belongs thus to the fastest growing economies of the world. Therefore it is for tourists very safe to visit the country. Actually it always was, however one must pay attention to your personal belongings especially in the large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. There is unfortunately still a problem with pickpockets, also by begging children. Watch your bag and cameras! Do not use cyclo’s or motorbike-taxi’s after 10 pm.
For up-to-date information on the security in Vietnam and for travel recommendations you can contact the web site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your country.

Climate
Due the shape of Vietnam there are large climate differences in the country.

The South and particularly the Mekong-delta are tropical with average temperatures rather constantly around 30°C. In the South the southwest monsoon dominates and from January to April it can become very hot with daily temperatures which can reach far above 30°C, even up to 40°C. In April and May it becomes extra unpleasant by the very high air humidity, which runs then up to above 90%. The rainy season starts in May and is characterized by short, heavy downpours. July up to September is the period in which most of the rain falls. Generally it doesn’t rain the whole day, mostly only some hours in the afternoon. The Mekong Delta can be flooded in the summer time to regularly after heavy rainfall in Laos and Cambodia.

In the Middle of Vietnam the rainy season starts in the month of September up to and including November. The hurricane season runs from July up to October and the chance is rather large that Vietnam is hit by a hurricane. The climate border lies off Danang, the so called Hai Van pass.

The North of Vietnam is subtropical and above the 2000 meters even a moderate climate dominates.

In the North the summer starts already in April with subtropical temperatures of 25 up to 30 degrees Celsius and high air humidity. Especially in July and august it rains a lot , but also in the rest of the year there are regularly showers. Hanoi has each year almost 1700 millimeter rain. In the North from September onwards the summer has ended and the temperatures will decrease, to approximately 15°C in January. In the North in the months of December up to and including February it will be cooler with only sometimes rain, temperatures of 5 up to 10 degrees Celsius. In the mountainous areas the temperature can even decrease to under the freezing point.

Rice harvest in Vietnam

Discover the real Vietnam with the Monsoon Adventure Group Tours.