Hi, me and my friends are planning a trip to Vietnam in early February.

We are mid 20`s North-Europeans that want to see some nice beaches, and possibly also meet some new people. As Thailand and Philippines are quite mainstream for such tourism, we thought about trying Vietnam. Anyone with tips? Google only give us semi-decent information about such places in Vietnam.

Do some research on Travelfish for which places in Vietnam appeal to you (Make your own plan).
Vietnam is not a good destination for beach but it is still ok.

Hi Peppapig,

Vietnam is a terrific country for any age of traveller, although most contributors here are probably at least double your age!

There is a huge diversity of things to do and see in Vietnam so you need to do your research on what interests you specifically. As suggested by dinho above Travelfish.org is an excellent place to start for in depth information.

Vietnam sees a lot of travellers your age so you should have no problem meeting like minded people as long as you stay in the right sort of places.

A very basic tip to get you start is that being a long thin, coastal country, Vietnam lends itself to travelling from one end to the other Saigon to Hanoi or vice versa.

The weather patterns in Vietnam are quite complex, but February is one of the few months when the weather is pretty much ideal for the whole country.

If you want to meet young people for a bit of banter, all the main parks in cities and town are throbbing with students at weekend, who thrive on improving both their language skills and learning a bit about where you come from, who you are, the whole shebang.

Vietnam is a very young country. It is also a beer-drinking country and you should be able to locate craft beer pubs in the big cities (especially HCMC and Hanoi.) Craft beer drinkers will talk happily about their beer if they have any English.
During the day, students may even stop foreigners in a park to try out their new language skills. However, adults who seem very friendly and very well-spoken and just happen to have a cousin going to your city deserve a quick good-bye before the con is sprung.

Wow, thanks a lot for all the useful information! I have written them all down.

Also good to hear that we are hitting the “peak season” when it comes to the weather. I have lived in China for some years already, so I am sort of used to being “exotic”.

After all, I also think that Vietnam is a less touristic place than Philippines and Thailand…? Traveling to Thailand during the Chinese New Year Holiday is not exactly on my to-do list.

Yeah, avoid solo adults. Same goes in much of SE Asia.

Always nice to look up �Scam + [your destination]� on Youtube before you go somewhere. I learned it the hard way in Beijing, but that is not going to happen again.

Tourist scam is SO frustrating and rude.

The vast majority of people visiting Vietnam experience no "scams" whatsoever. If you spend your time trying to avoid engaging with people you will end up diminishing your visit and miss out on some great opportunities to interact with the local people.

Perhaps I missed the part where the original poster asked about the "craft beer "scene in Vietnam, but for what it’s worth, it is vastly overrated Far better to find a local bar and sit down with a local brew and raise a glass to a few of the locals who will soon be welcoming you. Best to avoid the tourist areas like District 1 in Saigon which are overrun with drunk backpackers and head out to district 3 etc.

In Hanoi check out the Bia Hoi (fresh beer) places , cost around 5000dong per glass ($0.20 US) , usually sommegreat snacks to be had as well.

Crellston, we managed to find a couple of local type bars in District 1, dishing out bottles of Saigon Green Label (?) @ 8K dong a bottle. You just need to have a walk around, and keep off the main drags.

We enjoyed a lot of Bia Hoi in Hanoi. It should be served from the tap out of a keg in front of your eyes. Beware it coming from anywhere out of sight, as it could be yesterday's brew poured out of a bottle, saw that a couple of times.

Thanks again for the tips!

Drinking yesterdays` alcohol is not a big worry for me. After living years in China, I am more afraid of drinking fake alcohol

Actually, these days there is nothing wrong with Bia Hoi from a bottle, just a different experience. A good place to try it in Hanoi is Kangaroo Cafe down by Hoan Kiem Lake/ St Luke’s area. He sells it in aluminium bottles shaped like artillery shells! Check it out there and then head to Bia Corner to the north, sit on a minute plastic stool order a beer from the cask and a snack of deep fried pigs ears - a match made in heaven

CNY, chinese new year, in NOT confined to china. Most of VN also shuts down for a week. But the days prior will find all locals zooming about getting ready. The weather in northern VN can be rainy and cold (15*) during first week of February, esp inland in the hills.

Contrary to the above post. IME February is usually great month weather wise for most of Vietnam. Whilst it is likely to be cool in the north, you are far more likely to experience clear days and blue skies than you are rain. There are occasionally weather systems that move in and affect the country but that can happen at any time of the year.

Also travelling during Tet is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. Most of Vietnam does NOT "shut down for a week" . That was the case 20 odd years ago but no longer. It does however pay to book accomodation and flights/trains as far in advance as you can if you are restricted to certain dates or want to stay in specific hotels.

Stay in the right places and it can be a fun time to visit!