Vietnam: good to know
The general-information half of trip planning: how expensive Vietnam feels, what is considered polite, what is not, and the everyday practicalities - alongside our 324 written places.
Energetic, entrepreneurial and warm; the street is where life happens, on tiny plastic stools.
✓ Considered polite
- Cross roads slowly and steadily - traffic flows around predictable walkers
- Eat street food on the low stools - pho and banh mi peak there
- Use Grab for taxis and bikes - fair prices without negotiation
- Learn Cam on, thank you - it delights
✗ Better avoided
- Stop or step back suddenly while crossing - predictability is safety
- Expect queues - gentle assertiveness is the local mode
- Flash valuables on motorbike-heavy streets - bag snatching exists
- Drink tap water
Worth knowing
- Cash matters at markets; cards spread fast in cities
- Tipping is not expected but small notes are welcomed
- The dong has many zeros - check note colours carefully, 20k and 500k look similar
- Overnight sleeper buses and trains connect the long thin country cheaply
Plugs and voltage: Wikipedia, «Mains electricity by country» (after the IEC World Plugs list), read 15 October 2026.
Some links on this page are Amazon affiliate links - if you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Keep planning
Customs are living things - regions differ, cities relax, generations shift. Take these notes as a friendly head start, watch what locals do, and when in doubt a smile and a greeting in the local language cover almost everything.