Too late to book for Vietnam?

chris85

Considering going to Vietnam late July or early August for 14 days for a holiday. Have done a little research online on flights and going to drop into Trailfinders tomorrow to get better idea on prices but am wondering am I mad doing it with only few months before i got to book flights? Concerned flight prices will be prohibitive to going.

I know it will be cheap enough when i get there for accomodation, food and other things so hoping a trip to trailfinders tomorrow may give a better idea on flight prices.

More just looking for peoples experiences and thoughts on this?

Also 14 days is how long i got. Should I just do North or South and which one should I do.

jadie

Trailfinders are very expensive why not look on skyscanner.net, you can always fly to Bangkok and get a connecting flight.

belcampprisoner

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/weather


it might be cheaper from London


http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/

chris85

Thanks for posting guys. I had been looking around at skyskanners and ebookers and other websites for flights beforehand as well as on a few airline websites.

Aware of the weather but most opinions online seem to be ok with it. Its warm and humid and short heavy tropical rains spells. Most the seem to say just pick a good hotel with a/c and a pool for some restbite from heat and rain. Hotels seem cheap also. Just for reference guide I looked at a very highly rated hotel from tripadvisor in hanoi and they could be got from ebookers for €350-€450 for 2 weeks. This was just for reference and wont be spending all time in one place or in the one city so should be cheaper than that.

Will check that option of flying from London. I booked a previous trip to SE Asia and Australia from London so can do again.

Any other info that can help is always welcome here.

Also do you think a budget of €3500 will do it for two people for two weeks. €1800-€1900 flights, €500 accomodation, €1100-€1200 spending.

jadie

That's a huge budget for Vietnam,:eek: when I was there never spent more than 20 dollars on accomodation. It's cheap, esp in Hanoi. Watch yourselves in Ho Chi Minh, loads of bags are snatched there. Enjoy the trip.

chris85

jadie wrote: »

That's a huge budget for Vietnam,:eek: when I was there never spent more than 20 dollars on accomodation. It's cheap, esp in Hanoi. Watch yourselves in Ho Chi Minh, loads of bags are snatched there. Enjoy the trip.

Yeah the flights are the real killer in to to be honest. I want to have some nice accomodation so willing to pay. Have done the backpackigng/campervan and all that so want something a bit more comfortable.

Thanks for the info on bag snatching, usually I am good at keeping my wits about me in other countries so will take the usual precations. Did you go before? Was there much scamming?

Is it worth going?

jadie

I'll be honest with you was my least favourite country I visited in Asia. But only my opinion! I found a lot of people will try and rip you off alright. By the way stayed in nice guesthouses for that price, not hostels

Theresalwaysone

Do the North much more variety.

I cant imagine flights costing that much.

3500 for two weeks is loads.

Dont worry too much!

chris85

Cool cheers all, also keeping my options open a little so any other opinions on how to spend two weeks in Asia within my budget I would be happy to hear.

Hoping to get something booked next week at the latest.

okiss

For flights I would try http://www.kayak.co.uk. On the top right hand side of this website you can change the currency into euro.
I have priced flights with the above and found it good value.
Just be aware to read details on the flights - some cheaper flights could have a very short stopover time if you have to change planes.

For a place to stay I would try http://www.trivago.ie. They price a number of websites for the one hotel stay.

chris85

okiss wrote: »

For flights I would try http://www.kayak.co.uk. On the top right hand side of this website you can change the currency into euro.
I have priced flights with the above and found it good value.
Just be aware to read details on the flights - some cheaper flights could have a very short stopover time if you have to change planes.

For a place to stay I would try http://www.trivago.ie. They price a number of websites for the one hotel stay.

Great will check them also.

Was looking on skyscanner.net again as considering flying towards the end of August and flights are looking like €700 return each so that gives a lot more to work with for accomodation and the likes. A little goes a long way over there.

Tipperary animal lover

Just spent 6weeks in vietnam(3rd time) and for the two of us we spent €2000 between us.... Hotel food beer etc.... The north is much more interesting, but be careful with all the scams that are there especially hcmc. Saw two different people having there bags snatched all in one day near to bien thanh market.

chris85

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Just spent 6weeks in vietnam(3rd time) and for the two of us we spent €2000 between us.... Hotel food beer etc.... The north is much more interesting, but be careful with all the scams that are there especially hcmc. Saw two different people having there bags snatched all in one day near to bien thanh market.

Yeah will keep an eye out for the scams and bag snatching. Tend to keep bag very close and money out of sight hidden on me, also always handy to leave spare credit card in hotel safe in case you do get robbed or whatever.

Is it safe enough in general? I am used to bit of harrassment from locals from being in Thailand before. Can be annoying but very much know how to deal with it to not let it annoy me.

If you have any other tips they are always welcome.

Tipperary animal lover

It's nothing near as bad as Thailand for the hawkers, but they are hawkers around a no will do usually!!! Don't hop on the cyclos the drivers will screw you over and bargain hard in the markets but always with a smile!!
Bring sun lotion with you it's cheaper here(tesco have it on sale now).
Have a great time it's fantastic country, plenty of accommadtion to suit everybodies needs and good value.

chris85

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

It's nothing near as bad as Thailand for the hawkers, but they are hawkers around a no will do usually!!! Don't hop on the cyclos the drivers will screw you over and bargain hard in the markets but always with a smile!!
Bring sun lotion with you it's cheaper here(tesco have it on sale now).
Have a great time it's fantastic country, plenty of accommadtion to suit everybodies needs and good value.

Yeah was reading that you should haggle good, they are happy with that but always with a smile as the culture is all about saving face so if not happy with a deal to not get angry and be polite about it and smile.

Thailand was a bit annoying. Bangkok was bad and Koh Samui was bad on the main strip but no problem dealing with it. ive heard its grand outside the main cities. Considering a few days in Hanoi, do Halong bay, train down south stopping in big town on way down. Go to HCM city, some nice spots down there, also maybe a couple of days to Cambodia if it works out. Will see.

Gatica

Out of the 4 SE Asian countries we visited, Vietnam was our favourite. We went to Sapa for a few days to do the treks across the rice-fields and a couple of days in Hanoi and onto Halong Bay. Only visited the North. Loved the food. The people are friendly and as long as you're comfortable saying no to them trying to sell you stuff all the time, you'll be grand.
I highly recommend visiting those spots. The accommodation is quite cheap and if you have money to splash out you can get an amazing hotel for relatively little.

chris85

Gatica wrote: »

Out of the 4 SE Asian countries we visited, Vietnam was our favourite. We went to Sapa for a few days to do the treks across the rice-fields and a couple of days in Hanoi and onto Halong Bay. Only visited the North. Loved the food. The people are friendly and as long as you're comfortable saying no to them trying to sell you stuff all the time, you'll be grand.
I highly recommend visiting those spots. The accommodation is quite cheap and if you have money to splash out you can get an amazing hotel for relatively little.

Good stuff, now the main thing I need to do is make sure can get holidays from work at the time I want to go and just book the flights. Once I book the flights I can get moving on planning the trip and where to go.

chris85

Ok, flights booked to go in August.

Tipperary animal lover

chris85 wrote: »

Ok, flights booked to go in August.

Who'd You book with? get a good price? Don't forget your visa!!! Happy travels you'll really enjoy the country.

chris85

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Who'd You book with? get a good price? Don't forget your visa!!! Happy travels you'll really enjoy the country.

€800 was the cheapest per person return, flying with Malayasian Airlines, have heard good things about them. Also says I am flying in the Airbus A380 so a nice modern plane there and back for the long flights. Always wanted to fly in one.

Tipperary animal lover

Yeah there a good airline, you can book your seats now but pay a small fee or 48hr before the flight, all the good seats will be snapped up, on the upper deck there's economy seats at the back, with two seats by the windows these are great seats if you can get them!!! Have a look on seatguru and see.
If booking 48hr before you fly you'd better be on line on the dot or just before as all the seats will disappear ASAP.

chris85

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Yeah there a good airline, you can book your seats now but pay a small fee or 48hr before the flight, all the good seats will be snapped up, on the upper deck there's economy seats at the back, with two seats by the windows these are great seats if you can get them!!! Have a look on seatguru and see.
If booking 48hr before you fly you'd better be on line on the dot or just before as all the seats will disappear ASAP.

Thats good advice, much appreciated. Cant wait to fly on A380.

BillyMitchel

Hi, what site did you go on to book? I was looking up flights last week (USIT) for Aug and I was getting quoted at 1200!!

chris85

BillyMitchel wrote: »

Hi, what site did you go on to book? I was looking up flights last week (USIT) for Aug and I was getting quoted at 1200!!

Will double check later but think was with Skyscanner.ie. Never been a big fan of agents such as USIT for prices. Have always found them to be too expensive

solerina

If your flying straight into Hanoi(or HCMC) then you can get a pre approval visa for less than it will cost you through the London embassy. We used www.myvietnamvisa.com and found them to be very easy to deal with. It cost $50 each I think (as apposed to 80 euro via london)...$25 for the letter and another $25 at the airport (bring dollars so you have cash to pay this)...after we arrived we just withdrew DNG as we wnt along.

Tipperary animal lover

solerina wrote: »

If your flying straight into Hanoi(or HCMC) then you can get a pre approval visa for less than it will cost you through the London embassy. We used www.myvietnamvisa.com and found them to be very easy to deal with. It cost $50 each I think (as apposed to 80 euro via london)...$25 for the letter and another $25 at the airport (bring dollars so you have cash to pay this)...after we arrived we just withdrew DNG as we wnt along.

The price for the visa stamp has gone up to $45 since January, for two people getting visa through visa on arrival is about €120(all in) compared to embassy €210 bring $90 for stamp at airport, we're booked to go again later in the year and used trailfinders(we always book online) as they had a great price(Malaysian airlines) and also they booked the seats(upstairs A380) if you book online you pay extra for booking seats(we got for free).

chris85

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

The price for the visa stamp has gone up to $45 since January, for two people getting visa through visa on arrival is about €120(all in) compared to embassy €210 bring $90 for stamp at airport, we're booked to go again later in the year and used trailfinders(we always book online) as they had a great price(Malaysian airlines) and also they booked the seats(upstairs A380) if you book online you pay extra for booking seats(we got for free).

Went into Trailfinders as had used them before but their quote was about 20% more expensive for basically the same route. Didnt bother. Also your man in there was an ass. I asked for flight price for two weeks there. He then asked if I had booked accom/trips, I said no and always have planned/organised trips myself and politely told him I was not interested.

His face then went to this contorted look as if "What, you are going to book it yourself". The prices for a two week planned trip were €2600 per person excl flights which is way above what would be prepared to pay. The other half looked at me on the way out of there and also thought he acted very weird. I know he is there to sell these things but I said no and always book myself and he has now tainted my view of trailfinders in future.

Tipperary animal lover

We just used them for longhaul flights this time, would never book accommadtion or tours.... You'll find good accommadtion in the $20 to $30 bracket in every city or town and there's tourist office/kiosks on every corner of every town.... Just check a few and see what suits ye. As I say it's the first time in a long long time booking through travel agent and it worked ok for us....wait till ye get there and see how cheap it is there and how easy it is to arrange things yourselves, ye'll love it!!!!

Graham_B18C

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

The price for the visa stamp has gone up to $45 since January, for two people getting visa through visa on arrival is about €120(all in) compared to embassy €210 bring $90 for stamp at airport, we're booked to go again later in the year and used trailfinders(we always book online) as they had a great price(Malaysian airlines) and also they booked the seats(upstairs A380) if you book online you pay extra for booking seats(we got for free).

Just from my experience on the A380, it looked as if business class and first class were upstairs. We were told we had upstairs seats also but when we boarded our seats were downstairs. We weren't even allowed go upstairs for a look

Tipperary animal lover

Graham_B18C wrote: »

Just from my experience on the A380, it looked as if business class and first class were upstairs. We were told we had upstairs seats also but when we boarded our seats were downstairs. We weren't even allowed go upstairs for a look

Flew with them two years ago up stairs no flies on me... I'll eeeeek out anything extra I can out of airlines... Have a look at seatguru a380 it shows economy seats at the back upstairs with rows of two by the window.

chris85

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Flew with them two years ago up stairs no flies on me... I'll eeeeek out anything extra I can out of airlines... Have a look at seatguru a380 it shows economy seats at the back upstairs with rows of two by the window.

Cheers, will keep that in mind, going to chance my arm for an seat upgrade when at airport, I know few people its worked for. Be myself and the girlfriend so hopefully it may work, most likely wont!

I'd recommend staying in the north and maybe getting a cheap flight down to hoi an (da nang airport) for a couple of days.. Interesting but touristy little town. The south is fine but two weeks are far better spent around Hanoi/Sa Pa/Ha Long.

If you're a bit more adventurous and would get on a motorbike, then the North has the potential of being the best holiday you'll ever have. My brother has been living and travelling around the world for 15 years and he said our 4 day bike trip around Ha Giang/Dong Van/Meo Vac was hands down the best thing he'd ever done. It's by far my favourite place in the world.

chris85

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd recommend staying in the north and maybe getting a cheap flight down to hoi an (da nang airport) for a couple of days.. Interesting but touristy little town. The south is fine but two weeks are far better spent around Hanoi/Sa Pa/Ha Long.

If you're a bit more adventurous and would get on a motorbike, then the North has the potential of being the best holiday you'll ever have. My brother has been living and travelling around the world for 15 years and he said our 4 day bike trip around Ha Giang/Dong Van/Meo Vac was hands down the best thing he'd ever done. It's by far my favourite place in the world.

Yeah I want to see both North and South, a visit to Chu Chi tunnels and mekong delta also down south are part of the plan. I would not be hugely interested in doing it on a bike, I am fine on a bike but the other half would not be.