Visas and entry
Most travellers use Vietnam's e-visa, applied for online before departure. It runs up to 90 days and comes in two forms: single entry at USD 25, or multiple entry at USD 50, with the fee non-refundable even if an application is turned down. Apply with enough lead time to allow for processing rather than at the airport gate, since Vietnam does not issue visas on arrival at land or river border posts.
A separate, unilateral exemption applies to citizens of 24 countries under Resolution 229, in effect from 15 August 2025 through 14 August 2028, covering a stay of up to 45 days for tourism. The list includes the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Japan and South Korea, and the Nordic countries, alongside twelve further nationalities added from 15 August 2025, among them Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Hungary. Separately, several ASEAN nationalities enter under bilateral exemptions of their own with their own length of stay, and people of Vietnamese origin, along with their direct family members, can qualify for a five-year multiple-entry exemption. None of these overlap automatically with the e-visa route above, so check the list against your own passport rather than assuming which one applies.
Payment
Bookings are confirmed with a deposit, with the remaining balance due a set number of weeks ahead of your departure date. The exact deposit percentage and balance due date depend on your itinerary, the season, and which hotels, cruises or trains are involved, since some suppliers require payment further ahead than others. Your booking confirmation sets out the specific figures and dates that apply to your trip, and that document, not a general figure quoted elsewhere, is the one to rely on.
Cancellation
Cancellation terms scale with how close to departure the change is made: a cancellation well ahead of travel carries a modest fee, while one in the final weeks can mean forfeiting most or all of what has been paid, since hotels, guides and any river or land border logistics are booked and paid for on your behalf ahead of time. The precise fee scale, the cut-off dates it is built around, and any non-refundable elements such as train tickets or river cruise deposits are all set out in your booking confirmation. We would rather point you to that specific document than print a general percentage table here that may not match the suppliers on your own trip.
Etiquette
- Cover shoulders and knees when visiting a pagoda, temple or shrine, and lower your voice around anyone praying, this applies as much at the Ba Chua Xu temple at Chau Doc as it does at any pagoda further north.
- Slip your shoes off before stepping onto the main hall of a temple or into someone's home; plenty of small shops expect the same.
- Ask before photographing people at a floating market or in a village. A trader at Cai Rang or a family on a canal-side homestay is not a photo prop, and a smile and a gesture toward the camera before you shoot goes a long way.
- Haggling is normal in markets and with boat drivers quoting an unposted fare; leave it aside in restaurants or shops with fixed, printed prices.
- Keep a stock of smaller notes. Vendors on boats and in rural markets often cannot break a large bill, and a coconut vendor at a floating market is not set up to make change for a note ten times the price of the fruit.
Good to know
A handful of practical points, mostly specific to the delta, are worth knowing before you travel rather than working out on the road.
- Seasons vary by region rather than nationwide: the north is warm and humid May to October and cool and often overcast November to April; the centre runs dry January to August with rain building through the autumn; the delta and Saigon follow a simpler wet season roughly May to November and dry season December to April, with peak saltwater intrusion in the delta falling late March into April.
- Wear the life jacket provided on any boat, without exception, and follow your guide's instructions when boarding or disembarking, particularly at a riverbank without a proper jetty.
- Mosquitoes are a real presence in the delta's canals and orchards, especially around dawn and dusk; bring repellent, and sun protection matters just as much on an open boat as it does on a beach.
- Stick to bottled or boiled water; it is provided in the vehicle and on boat days as part of every tour.
- Carry small-denomination cash once you are outside Saigon, Can Tho or another provincial centre; card acceptance and ATMs both thin out fast in rural parts of the delta.
- Mobile signal is generally reliable along the main delta towns and highways, but it can drop out on smaller canals and at some remote homestays, so do not count on it for anything time-sensitive.
- The fast boat between Chau Doc and Phnom Penh can get choppy in open stretches of river; if you are prone to seasickness, take precautions before boarding rather than once you are underway.