Your first trip to Vietnam: what nobody tells you
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A first trip to Vietnam starts with a transfer — the airport into town is 35 km in Hanoi and 8 in Saigon — and then does not surprise you in the ways the brochures prepare you for. The food is as good as promised. The coffee is better. What actually catches people out is duller than any of that. Three things: the shape of the country, the state of the pavement, and the money in your pocket.
None of the three appears on a highlights list. All three are cheap to plan around, and expensive to meet for the first time on day two.
How long is Vietnam from north to south?
Longer than the map suggests. Vietnam runs about 1,650 kilometres from its northern border to its southern tip, and narrows to roughly 50 kilometres across in Quang Binh province. A route drawn on a small map quietly commits you to a lot of hours in transit.
The railway makes the number concrete. The North–South line between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City covers 1,726 kilometres, and the through trains need about 32 to 35 hours end to end. Riding a leg of that is one of the better things to do in Vietnam. Riding the whole thing twice inside ten days is not.
Distance is the first thing to fix in a draft itinerary. Cut a stop, keep the days, and the trip improves immediately.
Why can't you loop a Vietnam itinerary?
Because the country is a line, not a circle. At roughly 50 kilometres wide in the middle, Vietnam has no interior to cut across. Everything sits on one long axis, so a route is either a there-and-back or a one-way run with a flight home from the far end.
Two shapes work for a first trip to Vietnam. Pick one end and go deep, or fly the long hop once and split the trip between north and south. Both beat a plan that touches everything and settles nowhere. Which places earn the nights, and which are a second trip, is set out in the places roundup.
Second-week admin — laundry, a haircut, a repair — is covered in the everyday errands guide.
The convenience stores cover the first-night version of the same thing: water, a toilet and an ATM at any hour.
Booking the internal legs early matters more here than in a compact country, because the long hops shape everything else on the calendar. Getting around Vietnam covers what each mode is good for, travelling alone covers what changes when every transfer is yours to arrange, and a layover is the version where the country is a stopover rather than a trip.
Why is the pavement so hard to walk on?
Because most of it is parked on. Motorbike parking, not street vendors, is what takes up a Vietnamese pavement. Studies of central Ho Chi Minh City find the width actually left for a pedestrian is usually under half a metre. Hanoi has barricaded stretches of pavement to keep bikes off, with the side effect of pushing walkers into the road.
Walking in a Vietnamese city therefore happens partly in the road, a metre or so out from the kerb, with traffic flowing past. Locals do it all day and it works fine. What it costs a visitor is attention: the ten-minute walk to dinner is not the low-effort default it is at home.
Two habits cover most of it. Hold a steady line instead of stopping and starting, because riders plan around where you are going to be. And keep your phone in the hand away from the traffic. Our safety guide goes further into both.
Do you actually need cash in Vietnam?
Yes, every day, even though cards work. Hotels, malls, chain restaurants and convenience stores in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang take cards and mobile wallets. The layer underneath them — street food, markets, small cafes, local transport — runs on notes, and smaller towns run on notes almost entirely.
Denomination matters more than the total you carry. Small notes, roughly ₫10,000 to ₫50,000, are what taxis, street stalls and tips actually want. ATMs, meanwhile, are happy to hand you a ₫500,000 note that a vendor may not be able to break.
Break the big ones where it is easy: a supermarket, a hotel desk, a chain coffee shop. Then spend the small ones on the street. What the days themselves cost is a separate question, and what a week in Vietnam costs answers it.
What do first-timers get wrong?
Underestimating how far a dozen words go, for one. The Vietnamese worth learning takes an evening and changes how markets and stalls treat you.
A handful of assumptions, all imported from other trips. The map looks small, so the itinerary gets crowded. The cities look walkable, so nobody budgets attention for the road. Cards worked at the airport, so the wallet stays empty. Each one is cheap to fix before departure and annoying to discover in week one.
| The assumption | What is actually true | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| "It is one country, we will see all of it" | About 1,650 km end to end; the railway alone runs 1,726 km | Pick two or three bases, fly the long hops |
| "We will just walk everywhere" | Pavement is largely motorbike parking; pedestrians end up in the road | Treat walking as a skill, not a default |
| "Cards work fine in Asia now" | Cards work in hotels and malls; the daily layer is cash | Carry small notes, break ₫500,000 early |
| "The train is the romantic way to travel" | 32 to 35 hours for the full Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City run | Ride one leg, fly the rest |
None of them is a reason not to go. Every one of them is a reason to spend an evening on the plan before booking anything.
Is a first trip to Vietnam worth the hassle?
On three or four days it still is, provided you pick one city — the long weekend route.
Yes, and the hassle is front-loaded. The three things that catch people out — distance, the road, the cash — are solved in the first two days and stop mattering. What is left is the part everyone came for, and it does live up to the photographs.
Plan the route around the length of the country, not around the map. Carry small notes. Step off the kerb at a steady pace and keep going. Nothing else on a first trip needs this much thought.
FAQ
How long is Vietnam from north to south?
About 1,650 kilometres, and the country narrows to roughly 50 kilometres across at its slimmest point in Quang Binh province. The North–South railway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City covers 1,726 kilometres, and the through trains take about 32 to 35 hours. Plan a first trip around that length rather than around how small the map looks.
Do you need cash in Vietnam?
Yes, daily. Cards and mobile wallets work in hotels, malls, chain restaurants and convenience stores in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. Street food, markets, small cafes and local transport are overwhelmingly cash, and smaller towns are almost entirely cash. Carry small notes, roughly ₫10,000 to ₫50,000, for the things you buy most often.
Why is it hard to walk on the pavement in Vietnam?
Pavements are largely used for motorbike parking. Studies of central Ho Chi Minh City find the width actually left for a pedestrian is usually under half a metre, with parked motorbikes rather than vendors taking most of it. Hanoi has barricaded pavements to keep bikes off, which pushes walkers into the road instead. Walking often happens a metre out from the kerb.
How many places should a first trip to Vietnam cover?
Fewer than most first drafts contain. With about 1,650 kilometres between the ends of the country, every extra stop buys a travel day rather than a day in a place. Two or three bases, with flights covering the long hops, leaves time to actually be somewhere. The train is worth doing once, not twice.
What is the problem with the ₫500,000 note?
ATMs commonly hand out ₫500,000 notes, and a street vendor may not hold enough change for one. The note then sits in your wallet while you fail to buy a coffee. Break large notes where breaking them is easy — a supermarket, a hotel, a chain cafe — and keep ₫10,000 to ₫50,000 notes for the street.