Laundry, haircuts and the errands nobody writes about
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The first week of a trip is sights. The second week is everyday errands: a bag of dirty clothes, a phone with no credit and a shoe that has come apart. None of the guides mention any of it.
All of it is cheap here, most of it is on the street you are already staying on, and the shop is rarely what you are looking for.
What does the admin cost?
Everyday errands in Vietnam cost less than the evening out they interrupt: a wash-and-fold is about 25,000 dong a kilo, a haircut 50,000 to 150,000, and a shoe repair rarely passes 100,000.
| Errand | Where | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Laundry, wash and fold | Giat la shop, residential streets | 20,000-40,000 dong a kilo |
| Haircut | Neighbourhood barber | 50,000-150,000 |
| Shoe or bag repair | Pavement stall, market edge | 20,000-100,000 |
| Clothing alteration | Tailor, any market | 50,000-200,000 |
| Phone top-up | Mini-mart, phone shop, app | The amount you load |
| Phone screen or battery | Phone street in any city | Varies, cheap by European standards |
| Pharmacy, minor complaint | Everywhere, green cross | Tens of thousands |
| Dentist, scale and polish | City clinics | 200,000-600,000 |
How does laundry work?
Laundry in Vietnam is priced by the kilo, not the item. A giat la shop weighs the bag, quotes 20,000 to 40,000 dong a kilo, and hands it back that evening or the next morning, washed, dried and folded into a parcel.
Hotels charge per item and several times the price, and many simply carry your bag to that same shop. Ask the desk where the nearest laundry is rather than for a laundry service. Over a fortnight the difference is a decent dinner.
Two cautions. Nobody separates colours unless you ask, and delicate fabrics belong at a dry cleaner instead — silk in particular, which the textiles guide covers.
What is a Vietnamese barber like?
Slower and better than you expect. A neighbourhood shop gives a wash, a cut, a shave if you want one, and a head and shoulder massage that takes as long as the haircut. Usually under 150,000 dong.
Street barbers work from a chair and a mirror hung on a wall or a tree, charge less and cut just as well. Everyone uses both, and neither takes appointments.
Can you get things fixed?
Yes, and it is the habit worth picking up. Vietnam repairs what other countries replace. Shoes are restitched at a pavement stall, zips are swapped in minutes, bags are patched, and phone screens are replaced on the phone street every city has.
Prices are low enough that the calculation is time rather than money. The same is true of an hour of massage, which is an errand more than a treat once you have been on plastic stools for a fortnight. Ask a guesthouse to point rather than searching a map. These places rarely advertise, and half of them are a stool and a toolbox rather than a shop.
What about the phone and the money?
Every mini-mart and phone shop sells top-ups, and the carrier apps do too. What else those shops are good for — a toilet, a seat, an ATM at four in the morning — is the subject of the convenience store guide. The SIM and internet guide covers buying the connection in the first place; keeping it topped up is a thirty-second transaction.
ATMs dispense cash everywhere, with the withdrawal-limit arithmetic the money guide sets out. Almost every errand on this page wants cash, and small notes matter more than a card.
What can a market tailor alter?
Almost anything with a seam, and for very little. Every market has a stall with a sewing machine that takes up hems, narrows waists, replaces zips and patches bags while you wait or overnight.
- Price — 50,000 to 200,000 dong for ordinary alterations, more for a lining or a full resize.
- Where — the clothing end of any market, and the streets behind it.
- How to ask — bring the garment and point; sua quan ao means clothing repair and is written on the machine's shopfront.
- What it is not — the Hoi An tailors, who make from scratch and charge accordingly.
Where do pharmacies fit?
Earlier than you would use them at home. A pharmacy is the first stop for stomach upsets, cuts, bites and colds, and staff advise rather than only sell. The other kind of pharmacy, with the wooden drawers, is the subject of the traditional medicine guide. The health guide covers when something needs a clinic instead.
Bring whatever you rely on, since brands differ. Everything else sits on the shelf at a fraction of European prices: rehydration salts, antihistamines, plasters, painkillers.
What about the laundry you should not send?
Silk, anything unlined and anything you would hand-wash at home. A giat la shop washes everything together at one temperature, and separates colours only if you ask.
Ask for giat kho if you want dry cleaning, which is a different shop and several times the price. For a single delicate item the sink and a travel line beat both. Vietnamese humidity dries everything overnight except denim.
The other thing not to send is anything you need tomorrow morning. Same-day is normal and not guaranteed, and a shop that took the bag at four will be shut by nine.
Which everyday errands are genuinely hard?
Anything requiring an appointment, a contract or an address in your name. A bank account, a long lease, a doctor outside the international clinics: those need a resident's paperwork, and the staying longer guide is where that begins.
Everything you can pay for in cash across a counter takes ten minutes and costs less than you think.
FAQ
How much does laundry cost in Vietnam?
About 20,000 to 40,000 dong a kilo, washed, dried and folded, usually back the same evening or the next morning. Hotels charge several times that per item, which is the single easiest saving on a long trip.
Where do you find a laundry?
On any residential street, marked giat la or giat ui, often a front room with two machines. Guesthouses will point at the nearest one, and many take laundry in themselves and send it to exactly that shop.
How much is a haircut?
Roughly 50,000 to 150,000 dong at a neighbourhood barber, more at a salon aimed at foreigners. Street barbers working from a mirror hung on a wall charge less again, and both usually include a wash and a long head massage nobody warned you about.
Can you get things repaired?
Easily and cheaply, which surprises people used to replacing things. Shoe repair, bag stitching, zip replacement, phone screens, watch batteries and clothing alterations all have dedicated shops or pavement stalls, and the work is usually done while you wait.
How do you top up a phone?
At any mini-mart, phone shop or the counter of a hardware shop with a carrier sticker on the window, or in the carrier's own app. Say the number and the amount, hand over cash, and the credit lands in seconds.
Are pharmacies useful for small problems?
They are the first stop for most minor things, and pharmacists advise rather than just sell. Brands differ from home, most staff manage the transaction in English or on a phone screen, and prices are a fraction of European ones.
What is hard to sort out?
Anything needing an appointment or a contract in your name — a bank account, a SIM in some cases, a doctor's appointment outside the international clinics. Everything you can pay cash for over a counter is easy.