Vietnam From Hoi An’s old-world charm to Vietnam’s bustling cities and wild northern landscapes

The Vietnamese Dong (VND) is the official currency, and its scale takes genuine adjustment, since everyday prices run into hundreds of thousands, with a coffee easily costing 50,000 Dong or more. US dollars are informally accepted in some tourist transactions, particularly for larger purchases, but Dong is what you’ll use for the bulk of everyday spending.

Vietnamese is the national language, spoken with genuine regional variation in accent and vocabulary between the north and south, while English is the primary language of tourism in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An. French remains visible in some older colonial architecture but has little practical presence in daily conversation today.

Vietnam operates on Indochina Time (ICT, UTC+7) year-round, with no daylight saving changes. Overnight trains and early Halong Bay departures both mean planning around a genuine early start, so adjusting to local time promptly on arrival is worth prioritising.

Tap water is not safe to drink anywhere in Vietnam, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Bottled or filtered water is provided as standard at hotels and on Halong Bay cruises and should be your default throughout, including for brushing teeth in more rural stretches of an itinerary.

Cards are accepted at larger hotels and established restaurants in the main cities, but markets, street food stalls and smaller guesthouses generally expect cash. Dong in a range of denominations covers day-to-day spending far more smoothly than relying on cards once you’re away from central tourist districts.

Tipping isn’t a deeply traditional custom but has grown in tourism-focused areas, and small cash amounts for guides, drivers and hotel staff are genuinely appreciated where offered rather than expected as standard. This is a more relaxed approach than several neighbouring countries where tipping has become a firmer, more structured norm.

Vietnam uses a mix of Type A, C and F sockets depending on the property and its age, running at 220V. A universal adapter is worth packing rather than assuming a single standard, particularly if your itinerary moves between older hotels in Hanoi’s Old Quarter and newer builds elsewhere.

Mobile coverage across Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An is strong, and a local SIM is inexpensive and easy to arrange on arrival. Coverage generally holds up better in rural Vietnam than in several neighbouring countries, though it can fluctuate aboard Halong Bay cruises depending on your position on the water.

Walking at a slow, steady, predictable pace directly across the road, without stopping or suddenly changing speed, is the established technique, since motorbikes are trained to flow around a consistent moving obstacle rather than a stationary or unpredictable one. It feels counterintuitive at first, but hesitating or breaking into a run is genuinely more dangerous than committing to a steady crossing.

Vietnam’s long history of regional division has left Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with genuinely distinct dialects, cuisines and daily rhythms, from the north’s more reserved pace to the south’s faster, more commercially driven energy. An itinerary spanning both cities is worth approaching as two different characters within one country rather than a single uniform experience.

Both sites present the Vietnam War’s impact directly and unflinchingly, including some genuinely difficult imagery and testimony, so approaching the visit with that awareness beforehand makes for a more prepared experience rather than an unexpectedly heavy one. Most visitors find the visit genuinely worthwhile and moving, but it’s reasonable to build in some quiet time afterwards rather than moving straight into the next activity.

Vietnam has never redenominated its currency despite significant inflation over past decades, leaving prices with several extra zeros that take a moment to parse when paying in cash. Double-checking notes before handing them over, rather than judging by colour or size alone, particularly between the 100,000 and 500,000 Dong notes, avoids an easy and common mistake.