Traveling through Vietnam

Okay, I have been tossing around the idea of heading to Vietnam this year for my big trip, and was wondering how easy it was to get around.
Should I do an organized tour, or is it easy enough for a women to travel on her own?

If anybody has done tours, with what company did you do them? I can do either German or English, so that is not a problem.

Also any MUST sees would be greatly appreciated as a tip.

I went with a friend (another woman)...it is really, really easy to travel everywhere. You don't need to do a tour, unless you are pushed for time. Tourists pay more to take the train (but it's still cheap); we also took public buses sometimes, once or twice a taxi for a long distance (very cheap).. everything was cheap, safe. You can get really decent hotel rooms for a good price.

You will get hassled a little - but not so much as a woman, but because the Vietnamese are desperate to sell you their hotelrooms - but this mainly happens when you first arrive somewhere on the train or bus. I just walked away, said no thanks, went straight to the nearest cafe and had a (wonderful!) Vietnamese coffee and used the time to study my map and get my bearings. By the time we came out, the hotel salespeople had gone.

Although we ate salad, had ice in our coffee, etc, in 3 weeks neither of us got sick. The people are really friendly and helpful for the most part.

We only went to the north and down as far as Hoi An, so can't say for the Saigon/Mekong area. But in the north, some real must-sees are: Halong Bay (similar to the James Bond Bay in Thailand, but not as crowded, Tam Coc (known as the inland version of Halong Bay, but really a totall different atmosphere), the tombs out of Hue (we hired bicycles for the trip and got loads of laughs from the locals for doing so, but it was a really easy bike trip), Hoi An..and Hanoi is well worth several days too.

I would highly recommend Sapa in the North. Its beautiful, don't miss it. Hanoi is unmissable too, but so crazy it's exhausting. As for being a solo women traveller, wouldn't imagine it being a problem at all. I met plenty of women travelling alone out there. Don't do an organised tour - you'll see so much more doing it alone.

thanks, I was thinking of Halong Bay and kayak trip in the area, been doing alot of internet stuff, but you don't know if its a good idea or not.

Thanks for the tips.

I did an organized trip to Vietnam this past summer. It was with Intrepid (or Gap Adventures- their sister company). It was amazing! I wouldn't have done it any other way. It was totally worth the money and I highly recommend it. They took you to the best places. Everything was organized, ran smoothly, pre-booked, and you always felt safe. You also don't get scammed when you are with a group because the tour guide knows how much things really are. Southeast Asia knows how to get much out of 'rich' tourists. Vietnam is now one of my favorite countries.
The custom made clothing is unbelieveable and you will buy some much! I left with one backpack, and came home with 2!. The food is to die for- try to find a vietnamese coooking course for a day! Halong Bay is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. But you have to wish for good weather as the summer is storm season up there. Hanoi is a must. Hoi An is breathtaking (a UNSECO World Hertiage site), but more in the middle of the country & not easy to get to. Skip Saigon.
Vietnam is a beautiful country! I've been to almost 60 countries, and it's one of my favorites. Do it. You won't regret it!

did you book the tour from here in Munich?

Yes, I booked it through 'here'. You can do everything on the internet. Check out: www.Gapadventure.com
There are many British and Australians on these tours. With your odd North American. All English speaking... just getting away from the Germans was good enough for me. Many people also joined the trip as 'singles' so it was perfect.
When you get closer to going, let me know and I can give you some tips on what to take! Oh, I'm so excited for you... i want to go back!

Intrepid are great. My girlfriend did a trip to china through china with them and was very impressed. We both did Vietnam 2 years ago and my tip would be to spend a good part of your trip in Cambodia. Basically we had a 3 weeks to a month and wanted to do Vietnam and Cambodia. We spent all but 4 days in Vietnam and afterwards both agreed it would have been far more worthwhile spending the majority of the time in Cambodia. Much more to see and the people were nicer as well. We were expecting a lot from Vietnam (probably hoping it would be as good as Thailand was for us a few years ago), but we were ultimately disappointed.

Wife and I went to Vietnam before kids came. I recommend the trip to Sapa via the western route through Dien Bien Phu not the east side. DBP is a crap town though it gets better further north. We took the train back south. The mountains up north are beautiful.

Take an extra large rucksack and get cheap clothes made in Hoi An. But the beaches are a pain as you get hassled all day. btw however the dresses they make look like curtains.

Dalat was interesting old colonial. Ninh Binh has beautiful rocky chinese looking landscape. I rode my first motorbike there. Hue was interesting from what I remember.

We were unimpressed with the south. Consider taking 3-4 days out to fly over to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. It really is amazing. Just watch Tomb Raider to see the ancient ruins with giant tree roots groing out of them!

Good luck. Just buy a Guide book and DIY is my advice.

has anyone ever arranged a visa for Vietnam from here? I notice that the embassy is in Berlin but is there any way of doing this from Munich do you know? Or if this has to be done through Berlin and you can do this by post how long did this take? Need my passport for next two weeks for business trips but would need to sort out visa by end of November.

Does anyone know the current visa regulations for Vietnam? I'll be travelling overland from Phnom Penh to Saigon in September, and I'll need just a 15 day visa. I've searched through various official and unofficial web sites and blogs, but none them seems to give a conclusive up-to-date answer. On one blog thread from a year ago someone wrote that it was possible to buy a Vietnamese visa at the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh, the process taking no more than 1 day. That would suit me fine. I know you can apply on-line on lots of commercial sites, but these are only any good if you're arriving in Saigon or Hanoi by air. I believe you can also get a 15 day visa on the same day if you go to the Embassy In Berlin. Anybody's recent experience would be good :-)

Visas from the Vietnamese Embasy in Berlin are easy to get and quick. You can do it per post by sending to Berlin, or go there in person. Here's the link http://www.vietnambotschaft.org/

From experience, I remember that you could get the Cambodia Visa easily(going from Vietnam to Cambodia) at the border by just turning up. Not sure about the other way around. If you have time get the visa done here in Germany as it will probably save alot of hassle.
One final tip, CHECK the dates on your Cambodian Visa and the Stamps they put on it...they have been know to put the wrong entry dates in your passport!

EDIT: On that website look at the bottom left for the "deutsch"..otherwise you won't understand a thing

Just as a side note - for Cambodia you can get an e-visa online. Fill in the form and payment details, upload a photo and about a day later you get your visa emailed to you. Print it off and take it with you - dead simple.

Thanks cb4ach, that would seem to be the answer. I overlooked the "deutsch" when I looked before. Doh! I have a friend in Phnom Penh who is going to the Vietnamese embassy in the next few days to find out whether it will be possible to get one while I am there, if it's not I'll find out from the embassy in Berlin what the current fee is.

Thanks again Seb. The browser on my Mac won't recognise the evisa address you suggested. Google leads to the same address, also not recognised. However, Google does lead to various blogs that vigourously advise people to avoid the evisa sites for Cambodia. As I think I told you, I got my Cambodian visa last year at the border, and as I at least know the inherent little scams that go on there, I'll go down that route again. But thanks for the suggestion :-)

Planned route is Bangkok-Siem Reap-Phnom Penh-Saigon-Hoi An-Hanoi/Ha Long-Bangkok. Flights to and from Bangkok and Hanoi-Bangkok already booked. Probably flying from Saigon to Danang for Hanoi with Jetstar, only approx $42 atm, then over-night train Da Nang-Hanoi

Any other advice welcome.

Well it seems to be the Kingdom of Cambodia website so not sure you will get scammed on that one. I used it when i went and thought it was great but if you are happy to wait till you get there then cool. And that was 18 months ago so maybe something has changed. According to the site the Cambodian evisa is currently 25USD just for info.