What to pack for Vietnam, north to south

Most packing lists for Vietnam describe one hot country. Half of the year, in half of the places, they are wrong. A traveller who lands in Hanoi in January carrying only shorts spends the first morning shopping for a jacket instead of eating breakfast.

The fix is not more luggage. What to pack for Vietnam depends on which of its three climates your route crosses. The second question is which items are cheaper to buy on arrival than to fly in.

Why does one packing list fail in Vietnam?

Because the country runs three climates at once. Ho Chi Minh City averages 27°C across the whole year. Hanoi's coldest month brings lows near 14°C and nights under 10°C. Sapa, up at 1,500 to 1,800 metres, averages 15 to 18°C and freezes in winter. One list cannot serve all three.

Nor do the three take turns politely. December is a jacket month in the north while the south sits at an average of 26°C, its coolest of the year. Your route decides your bag, and when you go decides the rest.

Read that table along your itinerary rather than by country. A fortnight from the north to the delta crosses every column in it.

What do you need for the north in winter?

A real jacket, and layers to put under it. Hanoi in January averages a high near 20°C and a low near 14°C, and the month has swung between 9°C and 26°C. Nights fall under 10°C. Humidity around 75 per cent and steady drizzle make those numbers feel colder than they read.

A light down or synthetic jacket that stuffs into its own pocket is the highest-value item in a northern winter bag. Under it, one long-sleeved layer and long trousers cover the mornings, when fog sits on the lakes and the city stays grey.

Rain up north in January is drizzle rather than downpour, at around 21 mm for the month. A hood beats an umbrella in a city where half the day is spent stepping around parked scooters.

Hanoi is where most northern trips begin, and where most under-packed travellers buy their first extra layer.

How cold do the mountains get?

Cold enough for frost, and some years for snow. Sapa stands at 1,500 to 1,800 metres and averages 15 to 18°C across the year. From December to February the town runs 3°C to 10°C, with nights occasionally below zero. Snow falls in some winters, usually for one to three days.

Altitude does the same work in every month, not only in winter. A highland evening in July still wants a warm layer that the delta never asks for in any month.

Mist is the mountain constant, and mist wets clothing slowly and completely. A waterproof outer shell shrugs it off; an absorbent hoodie becomes a cold, damp hoodie by noon.

What works in the tropical south?

Light, fast-drying clothes and a plan for rain. Ho Chi Minh City averages 27°C all year, peaking in April near 30.5°C and bottoming out in December near 26°C. Humidity averages close to 79.5 per cent. The wet season runs May to November and brings most of the 1,979 mm of annual rain.

Fabric matters more than quantity down here. Cotton takes hours to dry in that humidity, so two quick-drying shirts will outlast four cotton ones over the same week.

One pair of closed shoes still earns its place in the heat, for wet pavements and for the days of walking that sandals punish.

What do temples and pagodas expect you to wear?

Covered shoulders and covered knees, for men and women alike. Long lightweight trousers, a skirt below the knee, or any shirt with sleeves will pass. Shorts, tank tops and crop tops will not, and some sites refuse entry to visitors dressed in them. Loose cotton or linen keeps you respectful without cooking you.

The practical version is a scarf or a light cardigan living permanently in the daybag. Pull it on at the gate, take it off back in the street, and the dress code stops shaping your whole day's outfit.

Men get no exemption from any of it. A visitor in a singlet is turned away as readily, whatever the temperature outside.

What is cheaper to buy there than to carry?

One thing worth carrying rather than buying is oral rehydration salts. The health guide explains why they beat most of what people pack for illness.

Laundry, above everything else. Local shops wash by the kilogram at 20,000 to 40,000 dong, roughly one to two US dollars. Hoi An charges 30,000 to 40,000 dong a kilo for next-day service. Hotel laundry in a four- or five-star property runs 70,000 to 180,000 dong a kilo.

Cheap laundry every third day shrinks a two-week list to about five days of clothes. That gap is the difference between a carry-on and a checked bag, bought for a couple of dollars.

Long sleeves are the local answer to a hot sun, not a contradiction of it. Light covering layers hang in every market you will walk through, so buy the sun shirt there and save the space at home.

Anything you have a size or a prescription for is worth carrying from home. Everything generic — soap, a poncho, another t-shirt — is a purchase on the ground, not a packing decision at your kitchen table.

What should stay at home?

Anything packed for a country that is hot everywhere. One set of tropical clothes is the classic mistake, and a full winter kit for a trip that never leaves the south is the opposite one. Pack for the regions on your route, not for the word Vietnam.

A route from the north to the Mekong needs both ends of that list, with no way around it. A fortnight across the country shows how fast the climate changes underneath you.

A single-region trip needs roughly half as much. Packing is one of the few travel decisions that gets lighter the more precisely you know where you are going.

One thing to check rather than pack blind: Vietnam runs 220 volts on two-pin sockets, so a hair dryer built for 110 volts is dead weight. The plugs and power guide covers which chargers work as they are.