Planning a first trip means sorting out visas, cash vs. card, common scams, and how many days to budget per destination — details that are easy to get wrong from abroad. These guides cover full destination overviews, sample itineraries, and safety tips, written for long-haul travelers. Coverage spans major destinations across Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.
US, Canadian, and Australian citizens all need a visa to enter Vietnam — none of these three countries are on Vietnam’s short visa-exemption list. The standard option is a 90-day e-visa, which costs $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple entry and is applied for entirely online before you fly. Since April 2026, most…
Yes, you should buy travel insurance for a Vietnam trip. Medical care for foreigners at private international-standard hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is not covered by most home-country health plans, a single emergency-room visit or short hospital stay can run into the thousands of dollars, and standard policies typically exclude motorbike and…
Can Tho is the Mekong Delta’s biggest, most-visited base, built around its famous floating markets. Chau Doc is smaller, closer to the Cambodian border, and built more visibly around actual river life, Sam Mountain, and its own Cham community. Most travelers with the time do both rather than choosing one. Can Tho Bigger, More Touristed…
Two days is enough to see Chau Doc’s essentials: Sam Mountain, the Ba Chua Xu Temple, the Cham village, and a boat ride through the floating houses. Three days adds breathing room for the Tra Su Cajuput Forest or a slower pace, which this river town rewards more than a rushed checklist does. 2 to…
Chau Doc is a Mekong Delta border town in Vietnam known for its floating houses, a sacred mountain shrine, a Cham Muslim community, and a genuine river crossing into Cambodia. It is quieter and less touristy than Can Tho, the delta’s better-known base, which makes it the pick for travelers who want a real working…
Vung Tau and Mui Ne are the two most common beach add-ons to a Ho Chi Minh City trip, but they solve different problems. Vung Tau is the fast, low-commitment option — landmarks and seafood in a day or two. Mui Ne is the longer, more resort-and-nature-focused escape, built around kitesurfing and sand dunes rather…
One day is enough to see Vung Tau’s main landmarks, but it does not leave time to relax on a beach or venture out to Ho Tram. If you have two or three days, you get both: the city’s colonial-era sights and a proper stretch of coast. Here is how to plan each version. 1…
Vung Tau is the beach escape most Ho Chi Minh City residents grew up visiting, and it works just as well for a traveler passing through Saigon with a day or two to spare. The city sits on a small peninsula roughly two hours south of HCMC by road, with a French-colonial core, a working…
Mui Ne and Nha Trang sit on the same stretch of Vietnam’s south-central coast but suit different trips: Nha Trang is a bigger, more built-up beach city with island-hopping and a livelier scene, while Mui Ne is smaller, wind-driven, and built around sand dunes and a slower pace. Here’s how to decide, or whether to…
Two full days covers Mui Ne’s essentials — dunes, Fairy Stream, and beach time — but three to four days lets you add a kitesurfing lesson, the fishing village, and the Po Shanu Cham towers without rushing. Here’s how to structure it either way, plus how to combine Mui Ne with a longer central-coast route….
