Vietnam with a baby, and the pavement problem

Vietnam with a baby is easier than most people expect in every respect but one. The country is warm towards small children in a way that surprises visitors. The food adapts without effort, and everything a baby consumes is for sale in any city.

The pavement is the problem, and it is not a small one.

What is the pavement problem?

Pavements here are where motorbikes park, where kitchens spill out and where the plastic stools go. What is left is about a metre of uneven surface, interrupted by kerbs, ramps and parked wheels. A pram spends most of its time in the road with the traffic.

The first trip guide treats this as one of the three things that catch every visitor out. With a pram it stops being an annoyance and becomes the thing that shapes your day.

Bring a soft carrier or a hip seat instead. It folds into a day bag and works on stairs and in markets. That one swap removes the biggest friction of travelling here with an infant.

What should you bring, and what can you buy?

Bring 3 or 4 days' worth and buy the rest. Con Cung and Bibo Mart are the two national baby chains and both are in every city. Supermarkets carry familiar formula and nappy brands at broadly European prices.

How do you move around?

By booked car, and never on a motorbike. Grab cars are cheap and everywhere in the cities, and they solve the pavement problem for any journey over a block.

The thing to decide before you land is car seats, which are not standard in Vietnamese taxis or ride-hailing cars. Families either bring a light travel seat, accept the local norm, or plan around walking and short rides. That decision is easier made at home than on a kerb with a tired child.

For the long hops, the overnight train is the better option, as the with children guide argues: a bunk a child can move around in beats a reclining bus seat by a distance.

What about the heat?

Heat is the constraint that shapes the itinerary. Plan the day around mornings and late afternoons, and keep the middle of it indoors or in water. Treat air conditioning as a requirement when booking rather than an upgrade.

The cooler options are real. Da Lat holds 14 to 23°C all year, and the north in winter is genuinely cool. The month-by-month guide is the place to start if the dates are flexible.

Is the food manageable?

Easily. Rice porridge, plain rice, steamed vegetables, tofu, noodles without broth and endless fruit are available everywhere, and kitchens will leave out fish sauce and chilli when asked. The herbs guide has the phrase for no greens, which works the same way for anything else.

What is worth knowing is the timing. Breakfast stalls sell out by 10:00 and family restaurants close by 21:00, as the what to eat guide sets out. A baby's schedule fits that better than an adult's does.

What about health and water?

Bottled water for everything, including brushing teeth, and formula made up with boiled or bottled water rather than tap. That is stricter than an adult needs and it is the standard advice for infants everywhere in the region.

Pharmacies are good, widely available and used as a first stop for minor problems, though the brands differ from home. Bring anything you rely on, particularly infant paracetamol and rehydration sachets, and read the health guide for what the actual risks are — which are heat and stomach upsets rather than anything exotic.

Hospitals in the big cities have international wings used to foreign patients. That is one more argument for basing in or near a city with a baby rather than somewhere three hours down a mountain road.

Where should you go?

Fewer places, for longer. Hoi An and Da Nang are the standard first-trip pair with small children: a compact traffic-free old town, a beach, and one transfer between them.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the hardest with a baby, for the same pavement and traffic reasons. Both are still perfectly doable for 2 days with a carrier and a car.