15 Vietnam travel tips & Vietnamese etiquette to know before you go

Vietnam is a marvellous mix of natural beauty and cultural diversity, and you are wondering how to travel to Vietnam this article is made especially for you! Before you start reading the article, we suggest you check our website full of useful travel services, including the most important one, visa to Vietnam!

1. Documents and the basic Vietnam travel tips

The most important things to consider are actually simple: The rules for entry to Vietnam require that the passport must have at least six months of validity. If a tourist needs a visa, it is better to apply a week before departure. It is always useful to get acquainted with the prices for domestic flights of any country - it is easier to plan your expenses.

2. Vietnam travel tips: Money

Useful Vietnam travel tips about money from experienced travellers say: U.S. dollars in small denominations can be exchanged a little more favourably than denominations of 50 or 100. Small denominations are not useful for payments. Markets and cafes use dongs. Convenient to exchange in tourist centres, jewellery markets. You can do it without a passport, and banks require a document. Calculating the required amount of money at the time of purchase can be simplified. Roughly speaking, the number of thousands of dong per meal, say 25, should be multiplied in your mind by three and subtract a tenth of the resulting number.

3. Best Travel tips for Vietnam: Medicine

Exotic diseases need to put a barrier. Any trip keeps the danger of catching a strange ailment. Before a vacation in Vietnam, special vaccinations are not necessary. You can and should protect yourself with the following: sunscreen, headgear, dark glasses - from the UV rays and heat of Vietnam. Information for tourists about the possibility of catching diarrhea in Vietnam probably everyone has read. Tourists often suffer from this problem, but it can be easily avoided: just thoroughly wash your hands, fruits, even brush your teeth with boiled or bottled water. A change of diet can't help but have an effect on digestion. The seafood in Vietnam is plentiful and tempting. It is better to introduce them into the diet gradually, and spicy dishes should be avoided if possible. Follow these travel tips to Vietnam, and your stay will be much more pleasant!

4. Best Travel tips for Vietnam: What kind of bag to bring?

The most convenient option for a travel bag has long been recognized as a roomy and sturdy backpack. A suitcase with wheels requires ideal sidewalks of European capitals, and Vietnam is not always ready to provide them to the tourist. Saving on the purchase of a backpack will turn into discomfort on the road, and who needs it? The comfortable backpack is half the battle. It is important not to throw it all over the place randomly and indiscriminately. There are situations when on the road quickly need to find a pill or flashlight, comb or spray. It is easier to put things in bags according to their destination, and if they are multicoloured - just great!

5. Vietnam travel tips: Clothing

For the tropics, it is important to have a closet that is light and allows the body to breathe. The materials - cotton and linen - are ideal. The cut of clothing should provide protection against mosquitoes, long sleeves on blouses and summer pants will save from bites. Vietnam's climate is capricious; evenings can be chilly. Hoodie or jacket will save you from the cold, air conditioning on the road is not terrible. T-shirts and underwear sets are better to take more. Tropical humidity makes you sweat, and clothes dry slowly after washing. The same applies to swimming trunks. If some of them dry, you can swim in others. What should you not wear in Vietnam? A hat should not only be comfortable because the Vietnamese are very observant. If they see a European in the national dress and notice the traditional conical Vietnamese non-hat on his head, then you can not escape from the speculative prices during the market trade. Better let it be a baseball cap or cap.

6. Vietnam travel tips: Shoes

The first tour will show the correct choice of shoes. Sandals are certainly popular, but feet in them in the evening are black from the dust. They can chafe your sweaty feet. Hence, the conclusion - mesh sneakers with an affordable price will be a surprisingly correct choice. Expensive sneakers are better left at home; the risk of not recognizing them after a trip to Vietnam is great.

7. Electronics

In the network can surge, so when buying a universal AC adapter, consider its protection against fluctuations. You can find two-pronged as well as three-pronged power outlets in the country. You can revive your cell phone at the airport, buying a Vietnamese SIM card. This is more convenient, you do not need to chase for free wi-fi in all cafes and stores of the tourist area, especially since access to the Internet in Vietnam today - one of the cheapest pleasures. The most common problem of the tourist is the forgotten at home cables for your phone, laptop or camera. This is a disaster, so they, along with adapters, spare batteries, and a Power Bank device, is best placed in a separate organizer at once.

8. Dangers of Travel and What should you not wear in Vietnam

If last year your vacation destination was Turkey or India, you probably have pants and a shirt from there in your closet. Why not take them with you to Vietnam? A tourist pays 50% more for any fruit at the market, and the Vietnamese identify tourists by their clothes. Do not even think to take advantage of the habit o put your cell phone on the towel and swim. Watching from the water will not have any effect. The Vietnamese magicians will take away your iPhone even from your hand in the cafe. With ease, they will tear from the shoulder and a bag on a long handle. It must be held on the stomach. The road in Vietnam is comparable to the flow of water in Niagara, to cross it, lingering in a cell phone - suicide. At this point, you need to turn on your full attention because the Vietnamese are not used to give way.

9. Travel to Vietnam and learn a little about the history of the country

Of course, you do not need to take on the role of local tour guide while waiting to board a flight to Vietnam, but a minimal understanding of the country where you plan to vacation should be first, because it's more interesting secondly, because it allows you to better navigate, fully aware of the importance of a particular architectural object or natural phenomenon. For example, did you know that before 1945 the common name of the country was Annam, not Vietnam? That's right!

10. Decide where and when you want to travel to Vietnam

Geographically and climatically, the country can be divided into three parts: north, center, south. Depending on the time of year, they change from wet season to dry season, typhoons to hot sun. In the south of the country is best to have a vacation from December to April. In central Vietnam, it is best not to appear from October to December. The rest of the time, the region enjoys clear weather and high temperatures of air and water. In the north, it is good to vacation from May to October. If you are planning your visit soon, we recommend you to check our web-site to find out more about best Vietnam travel tips and visa to Vietnam.

11. Find a resort to suit your tastes

Vietnam tries to cater to all categories of travellers. Travellers with children, retirees, singles in search of land adventures, surfers in search of water adventures, youth groups, sightseeing lovers, romantic couples, spa lovers, exotic fans of all ages meet in the Vietnamese expanses. If you want to be "at ease", choose a resort that matches your interests. For example, the youth will like Nha Trang and Da Nang. A romantic vacation is better to spend in Fukuoka. Phan Thiet is favourable to family tourists. Big-city life is convenient to watch in Ho Chi Minh City and sightseeing guides in Hanoi.

12. Be Careful When Using Cash

You won't be able to pay by card everywhere outside the hotel. The same colourful markets, food trucks, street vendors, of trinkets gratefully accept only cash. When exchanging large bills, pay attention to the number of zeros on the banknotes. The fact is that many banknotes in different denominations, such as 100,000 VND and 10,000 VND, have a similar colour scheme.

13. Eat food on the street, but don't drink tap water

The rules of the gastronomic game in the country are simple. You don't have to worry about snacking on exotic snacks from a street vendor's counter. However, it is strongly not recommended to drink tap water. Bottled water will be your best friend in the hot sun.

14. Nourish your body with vitamins and minerals

The vacation we need for a good rest, which consists not only of a good hotel, warm sea and sun, vivid impressions. An important role in the recovery process is food. In addition to new taste experiences, a variety of fruits grown in Vietnam guarantees a saturation of vitamins, antioxidants, useful substances, and good humour. Must try: Mango, Longan, Lychee, Durian, Pitahaya and Sapodilla.

15. Etiquette

You should call people to you in a quiet voice by name with the obligatory "mister", "madam" at the beginning. Waving at a person or beckoning them with a bent finger is considered extremely impolite. If you need to silently draw attention to yourself and call out to someone, do it with your hand outstretched forward with the palm facing down. A palm facing upward is a sign of your superiority over the person being called.

Touching someone's head is definitely regarded as a threat to him personally and perhaps even to his whole family. Many Vietnamese believe that the head is the dwelling place of a spirit. If a person is decapitated, the spirit breaks free and roams the world forever, not finding a home. Also, never touch someone's shoulder. This is the dwelling place of the guardian spirit, and you should not disturb him in vain. If you accidentally touched the shoulder, immediately touch the other to ward off bad luck.

Vietnam people never make eye contact when speaking. Probably because of their inherent shyness. However, the main reason is that, following tradition, they do not make eye contact with those they respect or have a higher rank.

Vietnamese smiles can often cause misunderstandings of foreigners and even lead to awkward situations. The fact is that in many Eastern countries, a smile is also a sign of grief, anxiety or embarrassment. A smile in Vietnam is often an expression of politeness, but it can also be a sign of scepticism, misunderstanding or non-recognition of a wrong judgment.