Vietnam Guides
27 comprehensive guides for destinations across Vietnam.
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Hoi An Beyond the Postcards: A Field Guide to Vietnam's Most Seductive Small Town
Beyond the lantern-lit old town lies a landscape of rice paddies, water coconut groves, and fishing beaches that most tourists never properly explore. A field guide to moving through Hoi An with intention.
Food & DrinkHoi An's Three Sacred Noodles and the Dumplings That Will Ruin Your Life: A Food Writer's 10-Day Eating Campaign
A food writer's 10-day eating campaign through Hoi An's sacred noodle trinity - cao lau, mi quang, and white rose dumplings - plus the banh mi, central market, cooking classes, cafes, and riverside dinners that define Vietnam's most delicious town.
Budget GuidesPhu Quoc on a Shoestring: How to Do Vietnam's Island Paradise for $30 a Day
2026 budget playbook for Vietnam island: $30 a day covers beds, scooters, market food and free beaches — plus which splurges are worth it and which to skip
Solo TravelHoi An: Where Tailors Sew Through the Night and the Thu Bon River Reclaims the Streets Each November
Solo travel guide to Hoi An: 2026 tailor prices, Ancient Town ticket mechanics, cao lau and banh mi, Cham Islands, My Son at sunrise, flood-season planning, and what to skip.
AdventureHa Giang: Vietnam's Most Dangerous Road Is Also Its Most Honest
A four-day motorbike guide to Vietnam's northernmost frontier — Ma Pi Leng Pass, Tu San Canyon boat rides, Hmong homestays, border permits, and the honest math of the 350-kilometer loop.
Budget GuidesNinh Binh on a Shoestring: Vietnam's 'Halong Bay on Land' for $35 a Day
The 2026 Ninh Binh budget guide: Trang An boat 300,000 VND, Tam Coc foot-rowers, Mua Cave's 486 steps, free Bich Dong Pagoda, Van Long's langurs, Cuc Phuong butterflies, goat-and-crispy-rice eating, train fares from Hanoi, and honest $28-38/day math.
Budget GuidesNha Trang: Vietnam's Cheapest Beach City, Where $5 Hostels Have Rooftop Pools and the Seafood Is Negotiable
A 2026 budget guide to Nha Trang, Vietnam — $6 hostel beds with rooftop pools, $1.20 bowl bun ca, geothermal mud baths, the Po Nagar Cham towers, and the honest math on doing it all for under $25 a day.
Budget GuidesDalat on $25 a Day: A French Villa Bed, a Jungle Coaster, and the Best Coffee in Vietnam
The definitive 2026 budget guide to Dalat, Vietnam: 5-a-day breakdowns, French villa guesthouses with real addresses, night market prices, the Datanla alpine coaster, and where to drink Vietnam's best coffee.
Budget GuidesHa Long Bay on $35 a Day: How to Skip the Cruise Ship and See the Karsts Anyway
The honest budget guide to Vietnam's most famous bay — local ferries, $5 hostels, $16 day tours, and why the overnight cruise is the worst value on the water.
Culture & HistoryHo Chi Minh City: Where French Colonial Basements Still Whisper and the Street Corners Remember What the Guidebooks Forget
A comprehensive cultural guide to Ho Chi Minh City, from French colonial architecture and underground war tunnels to District 3's hidden cafes and Cholon's incense-filled temples. With specific addresses, prices, hours, and what to skip.
Culture & HistoryHanoi: Where the Old Quarter Works on Rhythms Tourists Never See, and Every Street Has a Secret Schedule
A neighborhood-by-neighborhood walk through Hanoi's Old Quarter guild streets, French colonial landmarks, lakeside temples, and wartime sites — with honest notes on what to skip and how to read the city's rhythms.
Culture & HistoryHue's Tombs, Pagodas, and the Broth That Carries 200 Years of History
A comprehensive guide to Hue, Vietnam's imperial capital — from the walled citadels and royal tombs of the Nguyen Dynasty to the best bun bo Hue bowls and court cuisine. With specific addresses, prices, hours, and what to skip.
AdventureDa Nang: Where Marble Mountains Meet the Sea—Marcus Chen's Guide to Vietnam's Most Underrated Adventure Playground
A complete adventure guide to Da Nang, Vietnam—Marble Mountains, Hai Van Pass, Ba Na Hills, surfing, diving, and the local food scene. With specific addresses, prices, and what to skip.
Culture & HistorySapa Unpacked: Rice Terraces, Hill Tribes, and What the Guidebooks Won't Tell You
Beyond the Instagram terraces lies a living highland culture—Hmong indigo weavers, Red Dao herbalists, Fansipan cable-car 2026 prices, homestay treks through Muong Hoa Valley, visa rules, honest budgets, and what to skip.
Culture & HistoryHoi An: Where Lantern Light Hides the Last Great Trading Port of Southeast Asia
Beyond the silk lanterns and tailor shops lies a 500-year-old trading port with Chinese assembly halls, Japanese timber bridges, family kitchens that have cooked the same dishes for generations, and a river that made the town rich and now threatens to erase it.
Budget GuidesVietnam Unpacked: A Solo Budget Traveler's Guide to Surviving Scooters, Eating on Plastic Stools, and Crossing the Country for Under $30 a Day
A solo travel veteran's no-bullshit guide to Vietnam: how to survive Hanoi traffic, eat the best pho on plastic stools, ride sleeper trains across the country, and travel independently from the Chinese border to the Mekong Delta for under $30 a day. With specific addresses, prices, opening hours, and what to skip.
Food & DrinkHanoi Street Food: Where to Find the Capital's Best Phở, Bún Chả, and Egg Coffee — From 6am Broth Lines to Midnight Bia Hơi
The definitive pavement-level guide to Hanoi's street food scene — where grandmothers grill at dawn, egg coffee was invented, and the best meals cost less than a taxi ride. Covers phở, bún chả, chả cá, bánh mì, egg coffee, late-night bia hơi and Tống Duy Tân, and the back-alley spots locals actually eat.
Culture & HistorySaigon in All Its Contradictions: War Echoes, Hidden Alleys, and the City That Refuses to Be Defined
A storyteller's walk through the layers of Vietnam's most misunderstood metropolis—from war museums and colonial ghosts to hidden alleys and vertical cafes.
Food & DrinkSaigon Eats: From 5 AM Phở Carts to Midnight Snails on Vĩnh Khánh
A food lover's guide to Ho Chi Minh City's street stalls, phở institutions, bánh mì legends, cơm tấm temples, and midnight snail streets — with specific addresses, prices, and what to skip.
Budget GuidesSaigon on $25 a Day: A Former Hostel Owner's Field Manual to the World's Best Value City
A former Saigon hostel owner's 2026 budget field manual: $25-40 daily budgets, verified street-food addresses and prices, Metro Line 1 fares and passes, hostel picks, ATM strategy, and what to skip.
ItinerarySaigon in 72 Hours: A Field Guide to Cheap Beer, Hard History, and the Best Meals in Southeast Asia
A three-day thematic field guide to Ho Chi Minh City: hard history at the War Remnants Museum and Cu Chi Tunnels, the city's best street food from banh mi to sea snails, bia hoi corners, Cholon, and the new Metro Line 1. With specific addresses, 2026 prices, and what to skip.
Culture & HistorySaigon Unlayered: A Culture & History Guide to Ho Chi Minh City's French Boulevards, War Museums, and the Streets That Refuse to Forget
A layered cultural and historical guide to Ho Chi Minh City: French colonial landmarks (with the 2026 restoration status of Notre-Dame), the Independence Palace and War Remnants Museum with current prices, Cholon, the Jade Emperor Pagoda and the Pink Church, three defining meals, and what to skip.
Culture & HistoryHanoi Is a Palimpsest: Where Confucian Temples, French Balconies, and B-52 Wreckage Share the Same Block
A thematic field guide to Hanoi that reads the city like layers of parchment—Confucian temples, French colonial ghosts, revolutionary concrete, and the street food that justifies the flight. Written by Irish folklorist Finn O'Sullivan with specific addresses, prices, and the stories most guides miss.
Culture & HistoryHanoi Is a Palimpsest: Where Confucian Temples, French Balconies, and B-52 Wreckage Share the Same Block
Hanoi does not hide its history—it stacks it. From Confucian temples and French opera houses to revolutionary monuments and living guild streets, learn how to read a thousand years of layered history in Vietnam's capital.
Budget GuidesHanoi Under $25: Where Your Money Actually Goes in Vietnam's Unquiet Capital
A budget playbook for Hanoi: $0.40 bia hoi, street meals under $2, dorm beds from $5, and the tactics, neighborhoods, and traps that decide whether you spend $14 or $40 a day.
Culture & HistoryHanoi: Where a Thousand Years of Vietnamese Soul Survives the Chaos — A Culture & History Guide
Explore Hanoi's thousand-year soul through its guild streets, lakeside temples, colonial boulevards, and street food culture. From the Temple of Literature's stone turtles to Train Street's evening trains — with 2026-verified prices, hours, and honest advice on what to skip.
Food & DrinkHanoi Unpacked: Where Smoke, Fish Sauce, and 1,000 Years of Hunger Collide
A street-level food guide to Hanoi by Tomás Rivera — from 6 AM pho rituals to midnight bia hoi, with specific addresses, prices, and the stalls locals actually frequent.