Experience real Saigon: My Saigon 2024 Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) offers bustling streets, amazing walks, too-hip-for-you cafes, rocking music clubs, luxurious salons, explosively delicious restaurants, and indoor cat zoos. Saigon is Vietnam. It’s young, practical, crowded, and a little bit brash. Most visitors to Saigon see the same boring “attractions”: boring restaurants, tourist-trap markets, and War propaganda. Saigon has so much more to experience than tourists see. My Saigon gives you the insider track: the most amazing experiences, the cultural backstories, the practical go-to tips, the best coffee, the best food (far beyond pho and banh mi), the best hangouts, the coolest stuff, and hipsters, hipsters everywhere. Details about 90-day and multi-entry electronic visas to Vietnam (new as of August, 2023). Big-picture navigation. History your tour guides aren't allowed to mention. Good hotels for cheap, without hostels, bedbugs, and weird smells. Get mobile data up and running without being scammed. The best pho in Saigon: no, it's not the one in the backpacker district. Awesome, authentic, cheap restaurants where my friends and I eat -- and Tripadvisor has no clue about. Coffee. Did someone say coffee? 1930s coffee, street coffee, "specialty" coffee, all kinds of coffee: I'll tell you where. Hang out with Vietnamese people, munch on dried squid, listen to Viet Pop (if you dare). Make cool friends, date guys or girls, whatever flag you might fly. Bust out with Saigonese slang to make your new friends laugh. Watch out for Saigon's mafia: they run the streets, and they don't announce themselves. Don't unintentionally offend people by wearing a popular tourist souvenir t-shirt. You definitely shouldn't give money to beggars and street kids. Avoiding taxi scams in Saigon is so easy, but most tourists refuse to learn. My Saigon is a guide, a love confessional, an instruction manual, and an ode to the city.

Moon Travel Guides: Your World, Your Way With its mix of modern architecture, deep history, and dynamic culture, Ho Chi Minh City is the future of Vietnam. Inside Moon Ho Chi Minh City you'll find: Strategic itineraries for seeing the best of the city, plus worthwhile excursions to Pho Quoc Island, the Con Dao Islands, and the Cu Chi Tunnels Detailed maps and full-color photos throughout Activities and ideas for every traveler: Absorb history at the War Remnants Museum or the Reunification Palace, or explore the posh District 1 for some beautiful (and affordable!) retail therapy. Savor the fragrant incense at the Thien Hau Pagoda, or sample the best of the city's innovative cuisine, including street food vendors like the famed Lunch Lady. Experience the best of HCMC after dark with craft beer and live music at nightclubs or backpacker bars. Hop over to Pho Quoc Island for a relaxing beach day and a seafood dinner, where your meal goes from a tank to a grill to your plate Expert insight from journalist and expat Dana Filek-Gibson on her adopted home Useful tips on health and safety, sustainable travel, traveling solo as a woman, and scheduling group tours Honest advice on when to go, how to get around, and where to stay, plus a handy Vietnamese phrasebook Thorough information on the landscape, history, and local culture, all packaged in a book light enough to fit in your carry-on With Moon Ho Chi Minh City's expert advice, myriad activities, and local know-how, you can plan your trip your way. Seeing more than just the city? Check out Moon Vietnam. Expanding your trip? Try Moon Phuket & Ko Samui, or Moon Angkor Wat.

A breathtaking celebration of Instagram's premier solo female travel community, featuring 200 striking photographs—most of them all-new—plus empowering messages and practical tips for solo travelers. “For those with passports full of stories, this book carries you away to every dreamy corner of the earth. I can’t stop flipping through these visually incandescent pages to see where I’m capable of traveling to next!”—Caila Quinn, The Bachelor contestant and lifestyle and travel influencer From backpackers in Peru to artists in Berlin to storytellers in Morocco, Dame Traveler celebrates the diversity and bravery of women from around the world who are not afraid to think (and live) outside the box. The revolutionary Dame Traveler Instagram account was founded by Nastasia Yakoub, who was born into a strict Chaldean-Middle Eastern community where women are expected to marry young and put aside other personal ambitions. But at the age of twenty, Nastasia embarked on a solo trip to South Africa to volunteer at an orphanage in Cape Town, which sparked a love of world travel. Recognizing a void in the travel industry, she founded Dame Traveler, the first female travel community on Instagram, now more than half a million strong. Nastasia herself has traveled to sixty-three countries on solo adventures, sharing colorful photos of her tantalizing travels along the way. Dame Traveler celebrates these women with a photographic collection of 200 stunning images paired with inspiring captions, 80% of which have never been seen on the Instagram account. Organized into sections on architecture, culture, nature, and water, each entry features travel information, plus tips, advice, unique solo-travel experiences, and wisdom from contributing globe-trotters to embolden the next generation of Dame Travelers.

Hanoi: a maze of alleys, lakes, pagodas, jazz clubs, cafes, and Soviet statues. Even for us Vietnamese people, Hanoi is infamously inscrutable. It’s Vietnam’s enigma wrapped in a mystery, with egg cream on top. You can take the easy, well-trodden path: the tourist market, the tourist pho restaurant, the tourist beer street, and a dude in a glass case. Or you can go local: eat the pho that Vietnamese foodies eat, drink the coffee VIetnamese hipsters drink, and hang out on the other beer street, the one that’s not in any guidebooks, the one for locals. I'll even show you a super-creepy abandoned amusement park. Instead of canned propaganda, you'll understand the real stories behind the places and people you’re seeing. You'll meet “the locals.” Yes, they’d love to chat with you, they want to practice their English, and no, they don’t hate Americans. Nobody cares about the war anymore. We’ll wander down sketchy alleys and experience amazing places you’d never find in mass-market, foreigner-produced, ChatGPT-written guidebooks. I’ll also teach you practical skills to break away from the guided tours and well-worn tourist attractions: the lowdown on Vietnam visas (the rules were completely changed in 2023), how to get around, how to buy things, what to say, and what (and whom!) to avoid. My guidebooks took you to Saigon and Da Nang. You had a great time. Now, let’s meet the final boss: Hanoi. You’ll love it, I promise.

Quy Nhon is a secret beach paradise. Smack in the middle of Vietnam’s eastern coast, Quy Nhon boasts wide-open soft sand, crystal-blue waters, and super-cute fishing villages nestled into limestone cliffs. All with very few tourists. ​​​​​​​The swimming, snorkeling, and just-chilling are amazing. So is the eating: fresh fish, squid, shrimp, and oysters, for the price of fast food in the US. We Vietnamese people love escaping to Quy Nhon. It’s so relaxing and it’s so cheap, even by Vietnamese standards. Foreigners have no idea about this magical place. Now I’m letting you in on the secret. I’ll guide you around the town and show you the public city beaches, the quirky cafes, and of course the tons of seafood restaurants. We’ll go a bit outside the town (take a private car for just a few dollars) to the quieter, more secluded, even more spectacular beaches. There’s one nestled into a cliff, one with a giant Buddha looking down on it, and another one with bird-egg-like stones. I’ll show you a hidden cafe that looks like a treehouse, perched on a mountain top, with spectacular views over the city and the coast. This is the first Quy Nhon guidebook ever published. There isn’t even one in Vietnamese: In my previous guidebooks, we explored Saigon and Hanoi. I showed you Da Nang years before it became popular. Now let’s discover Quy Nhon. Bring your swim trunks.

Dalat is mountain sunrises, chicken soup, paddle boats, and lounge singers. It's where Vietnamese people go to cool off in the summer, or see "European winter" for Christmas. Downtown is a cascade of steep staircases for pedestrians, or infuriatingly narrow one-way streets for the motorized. Even in the hottest global-warmed summer, you don't need A/C here. Dalat is Vietnam like you've never seen it. As heavily touristed as Dalat is, tourists miss the best stuff every time. I got tired of wanting to slap my forehead seeing foreign and Vietnamese visitors alike getting the blandest, most boring version of Dalat — especially on those awful guided tours around tourist traps and gift shops. I've lectured my Vietnamese friends about all the good things they miss in Dalat. That advice -- always with map links and QR codes -- fills this book. This is Dalat the way I know it and love it. We'll eat UFO cakes, conquer mountains, and find how to hide from the screaming tourist groups. Come with me. Let's discover Dalat.

For a limited time, receive a free Fodor's Guide to Safe and Healthy Travel e-book with the purchase of this guidebook! Go to fodors.com for details. Written by locals, Fodor's Essential Vietnam travel guidebook offers expert advice and insider tips for all tastes and budgets. Complete with detailed maps and concise descriptions, this travel guide will help you plan your trip with ease and make the most out of your visit to Vietnam. Join Fodor’s in exploring one of the most exciting countries in Southeast Asia. Buzzing cities, world-class cuisine, dramatic landscapes, and welcoming locals give Vietnam a distinct character and have made the country increasingly popular with American travelers. From Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta to the capital city of Hanoi and the northern highlands, Fodor's revitalized new edition has the essential coverage of Southeast Asia's most dynamic nation. Fodor’s Vietnam includes: •UP-TO-DATE COVERAGE: Vietnam is undergoing rapid change, and this guide covers the best new hotels, restaurants and sights from the major cities to the smallest villages. New to this edition is expanded coverage of the island of Phu Cuoc, the popular hill station of Sapa, and the alluring Halong Bay. A new full-color Top Experiences section highlights the top places to see and things to do. •ULTIMATE EXPERIENCES GUIDE: A brief introduction and spectacular color photos capture the ultimate experiences and attractions throughout Vietnam. •SPECIAL FEATURES: The Experience Vietnam chapter has features on Flavors of Vietnam, History You Can See, Vietnam Today, If You Like, and others features that bring the country and its culture to life for travelers. •ITINERARIES, MAPS, AND TOP RECOMMENDATIONS: Sample itineraries help you plan and make the most of your time. We include tips on where to eat, stay, and shop as well as information about nightlife, sports, and the outdoors with detailed maps throughout to help you plan your adventure. Fodor's Choice designates our best picks. •INDISPENSABLE TRIP-PLANNING TOOLS: Each chapter contains Top Reasons to Go, as well as regional planning and transportation advice. In Experience Vietnam, Vietnam Made Easy answers travelers' most frequently asked questions, and a two-page Need to Know presents essential information about the country. •COVERS: Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Nha Trang, Danang, Dalat, Phu Quoc, Hue, the Mekong Delta, Halong Bay, and more. ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts. Planning on visiting other countries in Southeast Asia? Look for Fodor's Thailand and Fodor's Hong Kong.