Vietnam is a beautiful country which you should discover in your travel plan. Traveling to Vietnam, you will have a great chance to discover the daily life of Vietnamese people to know how they are friendly, kindly. Exploring Vietnam, you can enjoy the beautiful rice fields from Red Delta River to Mekong Delta, stunning landscape from mountains to beautiful and romantic beaches. Discovering Vietnam, you also have chance to learn about magnanimous history of Vietnamese. Furthermore, you have chance to discover Vietnamese art of cooking, enjoy the special dishes etc…. However, before traveling to Vietnam, what should you prepare for your Vietnam holiday? In this article, Vivutravel would like to share you the following useful information.

1/ Visa to Vietnam
Before traveling to Vietnam, you should check the date of expiry of your passport then apply visa to Vietnam. Vietnam has allowed visa on arrival for most of tourists all over the world (except some special nationalities). If you do not want to get visa on arrival, you can apply visa in Vietnamese embassy in your country. Besides, most of travel agents in Vietnam can offer free Vietnam visa on arrival for their clients, and clients just have to pay stamp fee only.

2/ Transportation to / in Vietnam
Before traveling to Vietnam, you should find the most suitable airlines which offer direct and indirect flights with reasonable prices for both domestic and international destinations. When arriving at Vietnam airport, you can choose some kind of transportation such as bus, taxi or private transfer arranged by travel agent to city central.

During the trip, you can use private car/van, taxi, shuttle bus, train, motorbike, and bicycle. For example, when discovering around city, you can use city bus. Besides, you also can use cyclo to visit the attractive destinations such as Hanoi old quarter, Imperial Hue, Binh Tay market in Ho Chi Minh. Furthermore, to move from this city to other city, you can use private car/van, shuttle bus or night train. From this province to other province, you can use plane or night train as well. If you like to have an adventure tour in mountainous provinces, private transfer or motorbike will be the best choice. When traveling to countryside such as Hanoi, Hue, Hoian, Mekong Delta, you should choose bicycle.

3/ Accommodation to stay in Vietnam
Traveling to Vietnam, you can find three different kinds of accommodations: Hotel, hostel and homestay, from packager hostels to hotels and luxury resort hotels. Depended on your interests and kind of tour, you can choose the suitable accommodation for your holiday. For example, if you like adventure tour in remote areas, most of accommodation will be local 2 – 3 star hostel and homestay. In the main cities such as Hanoi, Halong, Hue, Hoian, Ho Chi Minh, Dalat, and some destinations for beach break, you can easily find very good 3 – 5 star hotels and resorts.

4/ Weather in Vietnam
The weather in Vietnam is subdivided into 2 main seasons:
The northeast monsoon is from October to December and from January to April, the southwest monsoon is from May to September every year. So if you have plan to travel in Vietnam, you should divide Vietnam into 3 main sections as below:

The North of Vietnam:
This area has 2 characteristics: cool weather in October, November, colder in December and very cold from January to March with frosty in mountainous provinces; warm and hot wet from April to September.

The Centre of Vietnam:
The weather in this area is a type of transition climates between the north and the south. There is almost no rain from April to September. However, the northern section of this area including Hue, Hoian is affected by typhoon between August and November and rainy between October and December. But, southern section from Nha Trang to Mui Ne is less affected by rain, storm and has longer dry and sunny.

The South of Vietnam:
This area has beautiful weather all around year. It get much more rain, hot and humid weather between April and September; being wet between June and July.

5/ Currency in Vietnam
In Vietnam, we use VN dong, however you can use USD, EUR, AUD, GBP and some more dollars but US dollars are widely accepted. Besides, you also can use some kind of credit cards such as Visa card, Master card in most hotels, restaurant, large stores and big cities.

6/ Destinations to visit in Vietnam from North to South

+ Hanoi: Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam which is located on the bank of Red river. It is the main city to start or end a Vietnam trip from Noi Bai international / domestic airport. Hanoi owns so many tourist attractions including historical sites, culture sites where you will have a great opportunity to explore the highlights of Vietnam history and understand about the unique feature of Vietnamese culture.

+ Sapa: It is located in the in the Northwest Vietnam, 350km from Hanoi. Sapa is one of the most stunning destinations you should visit. To get to Sapa from Hanoi, you can take the night train to Lao Cai with 9 hours then get transfer to Sapa with one more hour.

On the other hand, you can travel to Sapa by shuttle bus or private transfer; it takes 5 - 6 hours for you to get to Sapa from Hanoi. Traveling to Sapa, you will have chance to discover amazing terraced rice fields, different hill tribes, enjoy fresh air and taste the special local dishes.

+ Halong bay: It is considered as one of seven natural wonders of the world. Traveling to Halong bay, you also can take the shuttle bus or private transfer; it takes 3,5 hours from Hanoi. In Halong bay, you have chance to discover the beautiful islands and islets with different shapes and sizes, visit amazing caves such as surprising cave, haven cave, visit floating village, fishing village, swim on the white sandy beach, and go kayak through hidden beauty of the bay.

+ Hue: Hue is a beautiful city located on the bank of perfume river. It is the ancient capital of Vietnam under the control of Nguyen Dynasty. Traveling to Hue, you will have chance to visit a lot of beautiful tourist sites such as take the boat trip on Huong river, visit Thien Mu pagoda, emperors Tombs like Tu Duc, Minh Mang, Khai Dinh, Gia Long. Besides, if you love the natural landscape, you can visit Bach Ma national Park, Thuy Bieu eco village. Furthermore, traveling to Hue, you also have chance to relax on the sandy beach like Thuan An and Lang Co with very clean and blue water.

+ Hoian: Hoian is a peaceful city located on the Thu Bon River. It is one of the most attractive destinations in any Vietnam tour which most of tourist do not skip in their holiday. Traveling to Hoian, you will have a lot of chances to do various outdoor activities in your holiday such as biking to countryside of Hoian, joining to the farming & fishing activities, enjoying sun set, sun rise in Cua Dai beach, visiting My Son holy land, walking and shopping in Hoian town, exploring the daily life of local people and learning the history of the most highlight historical and architectural arts.

+ Ho Chi Minh: This is the largest city located in the Southern Vietnam. It has international Tan Son Nhat airport, so you can start or end of your trip from this beautiful city. In Ho Chi Minh, you can visit so many attractive tourist sites such as Ho Chi Minh City with some historical sites, Cu Chi tunnels. Besides, you also have opportunity to explore Mekong delta – a major rice producing area. This is one of the most amazing places you should visit in your Vietnam trip.