Vietnam

Lonely Planet Travel Guide

by Iain Stewart, Brett Atkinson, Anna Kaminski

#1 best-selling guide to Vietnam

Lonely Planet Vietnam is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Eat, drink and shop til you drop in beautiful, ancient Hoi An; kite surf in Mui Ne; or visit the impressive pagodas and royal tombs of Hue; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Vietnam and begin your journey now!


Inside Lonely Planet Vietnam Travel Guide:

Colour maps and images throughout

Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests

Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots

Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices

Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss

Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, people culture, food drink, arts architecture, environment

Free, convenient pull-out Ho Chi Minh City Hanoi map (included in print version), plus over 86 maps

Covers Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Halong Bay, Mui Ne, Hue, Danang, Nha Trang, Dalat, Sapa, Siem Reap the temples of Angkor (Cambodia) and more

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Vietnam, our most comprehensive guide to Vietnam, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Asia, Guides, History

520 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 1991

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought the electronic version of this and found myself disappointed at/by two factors: firstly, it was very difficult to navigate around and required jumping pages to follow links which didn't need to be in a different place, and secondly, there's a serious lack of photographs and diagrams (especially later in the book).

Great mine of information, presented poorly.

[Ming Wei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of top information provided in this book, very useful of people planning/considering a trip to Vietnam, top quality travel related book, books internal layout is excellent, easy to follow. Very good

[Huy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Có cuốn này đi du lịch bụi chả sợ gì cả, đúng là kinh thánh của những người thích lang thang.

[Suzie Brazda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So helpful, such yummy wonderful restaurants

[Phong Pham · Rating 3 out of 5]

this bad boy (before it got nicked along w/ my man-bag that had all my important memories/items sans passport + wallet; but i digress) just got me through my month in viet nam. but a lot of the times the places that LP recommends end up being lame b/c they think they're justin timberlake b/c they made it into LP and always jack up their prices (mostly talking about some restaurants but it's hit or miss b/c some of the shit they recommend is legit). but whenever you're travelling alone and are looking to link up w/ some new mates, just do the things LP recommends b/c that's what we're all doing out here. the maps could've been better and i coulda used more color photos though. but word on the skreet is the next edition comes out the end of this august.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s easy to find yourself overwhelmed as a big vacation nears closer and closer. Start preparing as early as possible. You’ll never go wrong picking up a travel guide and fortunately, this one has just about everything a travel guide should have. There’s a good amount of information and suggestions on places everyone must visit and places you may not have known to be worthwhile. It also works well if you need to narrow down activities if you’re strapped on time. I wish the guide had made room for more visuals. I don’t think I’d know what was being talked too well without some prior knowledge to said location. I’m excited for Vietnam, but not too thrilled for the 19 hour flight

[Aileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's face it. No one travel book is going to have all the info/answers that you want and Lonely Planet is no exception. If, however, I could bring just one guide book to Vietnam with me, this would be it.

[Bertie Morley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unashamedly read cover to cover on holiday, might be dad-core but still interesting

[Stan Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spent three weeks in Vietnam. Found book very useful in terms of planning and navigation. Didn't find sections on where to stay particularly useful as there were many good options not covered by book. Where to eat section, particularly in smaller places, were useful. Note, and true for all LP books, as soon as printed pricing guides are quickly out of date (in Asia, once establishment makes it into LP prices go up by 50%).

[Karl Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used the electronic version of this - available for free through Amazon Prime Reading in Dec 2018 to Jan 2019 at least - to get ideas on what to do and where to go.

Gave us some great insights at various places, and helped us know of the major places to hit in Ho Chi Minh City. We didn't always hire someone to give us the tour, and didn't always acquire the audio tour, so this book helped us get some great insights at a number of places.

Recommended, especially for $0 on Amazon Prime Reading!

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is pretty outdated by now. I remember using this (2005 edition) in 2007. The map of Ha Tien town showed a bridge that was no longer there and the guy in a guesthouse 'with extra smiles' (according to this book) was terribly rude.
Upgrade to a newer version if you want reliable information.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was full of misinformation. It listed the nightclub Apocalypse Now (which can possibly be the most famous nightclub in all of Vietnam) in Hanoi when it really is in Saigon. I stopped reading it once I saw that because I couldn't believe anything else listed in this guidebook.

[Jojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the 2009 edition so the cost estimates are out-of-date, but the information is still quite good and helpful to read through while I'm here in Vietnam. I especially like the side-bar-like information boxes.

[Melissa]

[2011.12.23] Used 2009 10th Edition to plan the Central & South Vietnam portion of our Nov-Dec 2011 trip (approx 11 days). Sections used: Central, Ho Chi Minh City, Around Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong. No major complaints.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never did make it to Chicken Village.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

have read through once, reading again as we are planning to travel in Vietnam. Won't know if it's really good until we are there!

[Rhona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly out-of-date.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative as usual with lonely planet guides. I wish I had it before my trip to Vietnam but it clarifies a lot for me.

[Y C]

Preparing for my first trip to Vietnam...

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential for any trip to Vietnam!

[Larry Hoyt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and detailed.

[Oriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great holiday companion with good food recommendations and history facts.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Restaurants were hit or miss, though the local food descriptions were good. It seemed like a lot of the recommendations were for upscale western style places so wandering around and picking street food or hole-in-the-walls served as equally well and was cheaper. We ended up not staying at any of the recommended hotels because prices and availability varied drastically. Booking.com and TripAdvisor were better better bets. Also, the guide was missing some good transit options like Good Morning Cat Ba/Sapa buses, Chapa Express overnight trains, and Uber/GrabTaxi phone apps. The maps, tourist attractions, traveler information, and general price guidelines were all great and useful.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Lonely Planet turned out to not be any more helpful than free content for my recent trip to Japan and Korea, and after Lonely Planet changed its format to contain less of the boring-but-important stuff I once bought it for, I decided against buying a new edition for my upcoming Vietnam trip, and instead just reread the one I already own, hence this review is for the 2012 edition.

I recall that this book was very useful for my earlier trip, after my next trip I will update this review with whether it's still useful

[Turkey Support · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Anne Roossink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Online versie aangeschaft. Erg handig voor een reis door Vietnam. De combinatie van informatie uit dit boekje met informatie van locals geeft leuke activiteiten. Vooral fijn om wat extra informatie te hebben voor je bepaalde plekken bezoekt. Hierdoor heeft een bezoek meer waarde en snap je beter waar je op dat moment bent.

[Piret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vietnam is a country currently in a rapid changing process and you get the overview from the book. However, circumstances change so rapidly that it is quite normal to find restaurant suggested in a book released in 2016 to be no longer such a good choice or it may even no longer exist.

[Kasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the new (red ) edition. Highly recommended if you are going to Vietnam!

[Lasairfhíona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this on my 'currently reading' shelf from November 2019.. remember travelling? This was, as always, a good overview. Probably will need some major updating post-covid!

[Col · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good resource to have while travelling.
maybe I'm getting older... but they just don't make Lonely Planets like they used to.