Footwear for Vietnam travel
 

What would you recommend for footwear for a three-week trip to Vietnam? Obviously I don't want to take too many pairs. Should I take hiking boots or are they going to be a pain if we have to take off our shoes when we enter temples, etc.? I was thinking of taking comfortable slip-on shoes from L.L. Bean but am worried I may regret it if we walk a lot. Thanks for your help!

Comfortable walking shoes that "breathe" a little if possible (to deal with heat and humidity), good grip, sturdy but not too heavy. If you can combine all that with slip-ons for those temple visits you'll be OK. I don't think I'd go for full-on hiking boots. You could take something lighter and less outdoorsy for evenings. If your trip is anything like mine, walking around the cities will be a bigger issue for your feet than short hikes in country areas.

we took sandles and socks and a good pair of leather walking shoes...we use SAS

I'm a shoe fiend, but I always travel with just 2 pair when I go to Asia. Did the same for Costa Rica last summer. I bring a pair of black leather "hiking" boots and a pair of slip on black sandals. The sandals are nice for evenings and in the cities and temples. I probably wear the sandals more than the boots, but I never regret bringing them. It's nice to have the boots while trekking thru ruins and such. I guess it depends on what you'll be doing while you're there.

"Sandles (sic) and socks"? Hopefully not at the same time.

I've just come back from Vietnam - make sure your shoes are super comfortable as you need to be fairly nimble to dodge the motorbikes and countless cracks and holes in city and town "footpaths". This time of year was pretty warm, especially in the south and your feet do swell in the heat. I just took a pair of lace-up trainers with easily washable socks for day and sandals for night - shoes should be fairly easy to remove as you have to keep taking them off for visits to temples etc. The Vietnamese don't like to see bare flesh so it's wise to wear long trousers or skirt of light cotton - saves sunburn, too.

I brought a pair of Teva sandals and a pair of Merrill slip on hiking shoes. They were black leather so I could dress them up at night with black pants. They looked kind of stupid with my shorts though, but I would usually wear the sandals with shorts.

http://kerstentraveler.com/

Another thing about clothing is that the Vietnamese find it hard to understand why wealthy Westerners, who can afford good clothes, would choose to wear undignified gear like shorts, T-shirts and the like. And at the risk of stating the obvious, of course you need to dress respectfully when visiting temples (also Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, which is by way of being a national shrine).

Further to Pat's comment about the city streets - even if you're wearing running shoes, resist the temptation to run when crossing the street. This will only create uncertainty, chaos and possible death or injury.