11 days in Northern Vietnam in Early November

Know before you go:

* This itinerary is written from the perspective of a traveler from the United States. Travelers from the US are required to have a visa and traveler’s insurance (though no one ever asked to see proof of our traveler' insurance— I think a lot depends on what agent you get upon your arrival. So, if you want to forgo insurance, proceed at your own risk!). The application for the visa was a little tedious but it's important to get the details just right so that there's no issue for your entry. The insurance we used was marketed as insurance for Nomads but worked fine for our needs and was affordable. The E-visa was $50 per person and the insurance depended on your age. Younger people cost less—ageist, I know. For instance, I'm 29 and it only cost $26 to insure me, whereas my father-in-law, who is 52, cost $67. We had read online that certain vaccines would be helpful when entering into Vietnam, but we personally did not get any special vaccinations for travel into Hanoi. Travel smart and you shouldn't have any issues with sickness related to food. 

Evisa for foreigners

evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn

*We went in early November so the weather was largely dry. We had one day of rain our entire stay. It was hot, hotter than we expected (thanks, Reddit for your terribly unhelpful advice), even in SaPa region. Most days it was around 85° Fahrenheit / 29° Celsius, but it ranged from 80-89° Fahrenheit. One day was incredibly humid but other than that it was a pretty dry heat. 

* We brought cash with us for the trip. We learned that it is better to bring larger bills when exchanging money. They prefer one $100 bill instead of two $50 bills, or five $20 bills. For whatever reason, you get a better exchange rate. For reference, $1 USD is about 25,000 VND. Try to get a variety of bills when you're exchanging money as smaller shops or vendors may not always have change. It's especially helpful when you would like to tip. We made the mistake of not asking for a variety and had a bunch of 500,000 VND bills at the start. We used them to make purchases for inexpensive things like water bottles to get a variety of bills. We also brought credit cards with us — our apple cards unfortunately did not work in many locations, but my husband's capital one credit card worked consistently and was helpful when we wanted to avoid exchanging more USD to VND. We exchanged money twice. Between my husband and I, we exchanged $700 USD for the 11 day trip. We came back with about $20 USD in VND. This cash was for purchasing food and drinks, museum entry, souvenirs, and experiences. This does not account for how much we spent on hotels, transportation, and the Halong Bay 3 day-2 night cruise. 

*Accommodations: we booked through AirBnB and Booking.com. Both were convenient and easy to use. Specific stays will be linked below.