Budget Travel
End to End
Three thousand kilometres of extraordinary country for thirty dollars a day.
The Forgotten Atlas — Field Report
Three thousand kilometres of extraordinary country for thirty dollars a day.
Thirty dollars a day in Vietnam gets you a clean guesthouse room with air conditioning, three meals that would cost ten times that price in a Western city, all the transport you need, a beer at the end of the day, and entry to sites that have been drawing visitors for centuries. There is no country in the world that gives you this combination of quality, variety, and cultural depth for this price. The food alone — pho, bún chả, bánh mì, bún bò Huế, cơm tấm — would justify the trip if the rest of the country did not exist.
Vietnam is my favourite country in the world to eat in. And to travel in. And to just be in. It gets into you.
Anthony Bourdain
The classic route runs north to south: Hanoi in the north, then south by overnight train through the central highlands and coast — Ninh Bình, Hội An, Đà Nẵng, Huế — to Hội An, the ancient trading town that remains the most beautiful urban space in Vietnam. Then continuing south to Saigon, the Mekong Delta, and whatever island you need to recover on. Six weeks does it properly. Three weeks does the highlights. The overnight trains between cities cost almost nothing and get you from one end of the country to the other while you sleep.
Northern and southern Vietnamese food are genuinely different cuisines. The north is subtler, cleaner, less sweet — the broth-based dishes of Hanoi are the benchmark. The south is more complex, more herb-forward, more Chinese-influenced — the bánh mì in Saigon have more going on than their Hanoi counterparts. Hội An is something else again, with its own dishes that exist nowhere else in the country: white rose dumplings, cao lầu noodles, bánh mì from Phượng. The central coast is the most underrated food region in Vietnam.
Get an e-visa before you go. Take overnight trains between cities. Eat where the plastic stools are. Stay in guesthouses over hotels. Budget $25-35/day and you will live well.
The place to start. Chaotic, beautiful, and the best street food in the country.
The most beautiful town in Vietnam. UNESCO listed. Get here before 9am or after 6pm.
The former imperial capital. The best food in the country after Hanoi. The bún bò Huế here is extraordinary.
The river delta in the south. Floating markets, rice paddies, fruit farms. The slowest and most peaceful part of the country.
The broth that has been simmering all night. The freshest noodles. The most important breakfast in Southeast Asia.
The Obama restaurant. The dish. Non-negotiable.
Anthony Bourdain called this the best bánh mì in the world. He was probably right.
Broken rice with grilled pork. The definitive Saigon breakfast. Order two.
Vietnamese sizzling pancakes filled with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts. Wrap in lettuce. Eat immediately.
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