Here I write quickly about the basics you should be aware of.
Viet Nam is a developing country, so there are a lot of things that will look sketchy to you when dealing with getting there, and once you get there.
Also, if you've never been in a developing country before, you might want to read a bit about Viet Nam before getting there. There are many things you take for granted as normal behaviour that aren't necessarily something you should do there. For instance:
- Don't hitchhike/autostop. I've never done it but this can only be a bad idea.
- You should be careful of your belonging.
- Don't carry fancy bling or it will disappear.
- Outside of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, people don't speak english that much.
- Locals who approach you in a very friendly manner are probably trying to scam you.
- Don't take taxi rides from random companies. Taxis that are part of the Vinasun or Mailinh Group are usually safe. Beware, some taxis pose themselves as Mailinh taxis by using similar colours and names.
- Negotiate prices before taking a service (scooter ride). * Outside of tourist areas, sanitary installations aren't what you'd expect.
- …
Read the TripAdvisor's forums to get a feel for things.
You want to go to Ho Chi Minh City, Tan Son Nhat Airport, airport code SGN. You should try to avoid flying to close from December 24 and January 1, as price are doubled.
As of now, a ticket from 12 December 2013 to 10 January 2014 is about CAD 1.600 $.
I get my tickets from Hipmunk. Flights to Viet Nam are usually 2324h long leaving from Québec/Ontario. Flying back is about 2122h. I've tried Flightfox once and it was great, got a super cheap price. Tried again last month and I was not impressed at all.
If you are NOT a Canadian citizen and you fly through the US, you need a C1 visa. We didn't know that until last weekend.
TL;DR: Go here and buy yourself a visa on arrival. Yes, it looks sketchy; no, they won't scam you. I've dealt with them many times.
You need a visa to get in Viet Nam. The way it works is that you need some Vietnamese entity to invite you and sponsor you to some department/ministry of the Vietnamese government.
Many tourism agency will do that for you, just contact them and ask them to assist you in getting a Visa on Arrival. They will write a sketchy letter to the proper people, the sketchy people will answer back to say:
Yes no problem, you'll have a Visa waiting for you at the airport.
Then the agency will contact you with information about what to bring. Pay attention to their instructions as you need to fill some paperwork and bring photos along with cash US dollars (25$/pax last time I went) to pay the visa stamp.
When you get out of the airplane, rush to the visa office, before the custom lanes (to the left of the lanes). Most other passenger will go to the custom lanes and get turned back, and a huge line will form at the visa desk. The desk is quite slow so you can wait there for an hour if you don't arrive there first. So the trick is to rush to the desk before anyone else realizes.
Quickly:
- If you stay for a few days/weeks, get a cheap hotel room and travel by taxi.
- If you stay for more than 2~3 weeks, I would recommend that you rent a motorbike and an apartment. I find it's the most convenient combination.
I'd recommend that all of you stay in the tourist area of Pham Ngu Lao street. There are super cheap hotels there at about 15$/night per person. You can get more expensive hotels too. Although cheap, they are of sufficient quality to sleep and serve as a base of operation. In those kind of hotel, you get AC, a TV, Wifi, a shower and a toilet (they're both together in a sort of water room, so you can piss while taking your shower).
There are also more fancy (but still cheap) hotels in the 30-70$ range. Never been to any though.
I've been to a 4 star hotel for 100$/night the first time I went to Viet Nam (Grand Hotel Saigon) and it was a very fancy room.
If you stay in Saigon for about a month, you can/should get yourself an apartment. You can get a nice place with security guard, Wifi, AC and everything for about 500~700$/month, and it's quite nice and kind of downtown (in District 1).
Never been to any because it sounds too scam-prone for me. But that's just me.
There's food everywhere and it's all delicious. It's super cheap too. Don't be afraid of eating in sketchy places (all right, not too sketchy). You can get a decent meal for way under 5$.
Bars are also cheap, if that's your thing. Some bars are quite expensive though.
Taxis are quite cheap and they're everywhere. Aside from avoiding all the scams and only doing business with Vinasun and Mailinh Group, moving around is quite easy. Here are a few things I do:
Taxis are (fairly) cheap. You can get pretty much anywhere in Saigon for 5-15$.
You can get around from a town to another in taxi if you want. You can do the trip from Saigon to Vung Tau for about 100$.
There are fast boat rides to various locations on the coast. It's a very fast way to get to Vung Tau, for instance.
Travelling between towns is better done by bus. I think a ticket to a nearby town is about 5$ or something.
You can get to farther locations by bus too. Be aware that when the bus stops to en-route locations for breaks, you might not find sanitary installations very… attractive. So just… be aware of that.
If you go a bit further away, like to Nha Trang or Hue or Hanoi, I'd suggest you take a domestic flight. Otherwise…
I've heard the ride to Hanoi in train is acceptable. I've never done it though, so I can't vouch for that. If the plane is too expensive for you or you want to 'visit' more the landscape, then the train might be a good solution for you.
That shouldn't be your first reflex when you see how's the driving in Ho Chi Minh City. But nevertheless, it's quite useful and fun to have a motorbike. You can rent one for fairly cheap (in Western standards).
In most hotel, they will store the motorbike for you at night. When you use a motorbike, you need to find parkings with guards - don't just let your motorbike parked there or it will disappear. Usually a parking fee is about 0.50~1$, for any duration.
It's 33˚C there, all year long (~22˚C at night). Christmas time is the beginning of dry season, so you'll enjoy some sun.