For me I went to my travel agent and got a 5 year visa with multiple entries for around 120

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I let the travel agent do mine as well for $60

Would you mind sharing who your travel agent was? Thanks

What areas should I choose to stay in Saigon

Pham Ngu Lao Street, Ben Thanh, Japanese area, etc...
and any hotel recommendations...3 stars preferably.
Partying with my white friends.

Pham Ngu Lao is one big dumpster but it really depends on what kind of things you will be doing and how you are traveling. If you are back packing then its fine I guess.

I would suggest on or near Hai Ba Trung right around where the Park Hyatt is or a few streets down on Thai Van Lung. Lots of Bars, Restaurants in that area and good walking around streets too.

We've always stayed off Hai Ba Trung. Market is just down the street. Close walking distance to everything.

Anybody have some suggestions or hookups for places to stay in Nha Trang, Da Nang and Hanoi? I'm going with 2 of my buddies (3 guys in total) I've read most of the forum but wanted to ensure it's relatively current.

Thanks in advance!

HCMC is fucked at the moment with major construction through Nguyen Hue Street essentially cutting district 1 in half. Major bitch to get around now.

Sil-300, what is your budget and when are you coming? I am currently based in Nha Trang.

I'm going from South to North in the middle of January. Budget is flexible, but we're looking for something reasonable, as in something more middle of the road.

Hanoi:
Tons of hotels that can be recommended, from 1 - 4star, best bet is figuring out what area you want to be in and go from there. Would suggest something near Hoan Kiem Lake, Truc Bach Lake, Back Packers Area or West Lake. If you want 5 star then would suggest Sofitel Metropole or Intercontinental.

In Nha Trang there are two decent options for hotels that could be around 60USD - 80USD a night. 5 Star by Vietnam standards but located directly across the beach in good areas.
Muong Thanh Hotel M??ng Thanh Nha Trang
Havana Best Western Hotel http://www.havanahotel.vn/index/

There are a ton of hotels from 1 - 3 stars located throughout Nha Trang that can be found on Agoda/Trip Advisor if your looking for something else.

HCMC: There is a chain of hotels called A&EM. ezHotel.vn: ??t phòng khách s?n They are little boutique 2/3 star hotels but located throughout District 1 in key areas. For 5 star would suggest Park Hyatt or Intercon. If A&EM doesnt seem a good fit then check around a bit as lots of 3/4 stars that are good too.

For Nha Trang:

Ms. Huong?s Apartments and Houses for rent in Nha Trang, Vietnam
About US$30/night and you get pretty much an apartment (queen bed, washing machine, shower, sofa, TV, kitchen). Hell of a lot cheaper than a hotel and the location is walking distance to the beach and also to area where the bars are.

Go check out the local clubs, Havana, Eva Lounge and Yasaka (in that order, Yasaka is the oldest but still decent)

Yasaka is really the only decent VN club left in Nha Trang. Havana and Eva Lounge are a waste of time IMO.

Sailing Club is worth checking out on weekends, gets pretty packed. Beach Party on Saturday.

You do know that both Havana and Yasaka have the same owner, right?
And a lot of the workers from Yasaka went to Havana after it opened.

Just speaking from my last trip there in November, the DJ was waay better at Havana than Yasaka.

Although I think Havana > Yasaka, Phap > Hai

Music isn't on my list for what to look for when entering Vietnamese clubs. Generally speaking the Vinahouse music is about the same across the country with some places doing slightly more update to date with fast remixes of popular songs.

I've always found the service better at Yasaka than at Havana.

thanks for the recommendations guys - ill post back here once we get our shit together and have a better idea. lol

Gonna be arriving to hcm tmr! Can't wait

Went Apocalypse last night.
Music was whack n tons of working girls.

Went to 'le pub' before Apocalypse and the music they play there is very similar to van.

Currently in HCM. Been here for a week so far. Heading down to da nang and hoi an tomorrow morning for three days. Then coming back to drop off friend going home to van. Also going to hai phong on the 11th of Jan for a week. But staying in Saigon for the rest of the trip which is Feb 11th. So far we stopped by an dong market today to do some shopping. Bought bunch of lashes here for 24,000. Went to Ben Thanh in the day time in the market building and night market outdoors. You guys should stop by zest spa to get treatment with the fish eating dry skin on your foot and full body/hit stone massage for 400,000 (takes about an hr and a half)

Went to Ace night club and 030 after hours and it was Soo fun. Blacked out and woke up in the hotel bath tub don't even remember how I got there LOL. Ace plays really bumping edm not that typical Vietnamese beat..

Also went to go see aly & fila for NYE in district 7..raves are so much better here then in van for sure hands down

If you liked Ace, try Sin. Same owners and just down a bit from Ace at 20 Le Thanh Ton.

If your looking for after hours try Gold 02 Club - Vietnamese Disco style

After that is done head over to the back packer area, Buffalo and Go2 Bar. Be warned though these places are shady as fuck, maybe even more so than Basement in Vancouver.

Typical mix of shady Nigerians, hookers, tourists looking for hookers, people fucked up and Vietnamese.

Got to vung tal yesterday leaving here tmr
Every where we go to eat, we can hear the store owners call us viet q

People were much friendlier in hcm

Calling someone a Việt kieu is not an insult. Pretty common term

It also means they will charge you more :agree:

Two days in Hoi an so far and I'm really loving the Hue. It's so muh nicer and cleaner.less hectic than HCM for sure and the beaches are so beautiful! I was supposed to go to Cham Island to go snorkeling yesterday but the weather wasn't sunny enough to go so they switched our tour to going to the My Son ruins. Late at night we went to the hoi an phu loc village and nightlife is soooo alive!! Red lanterns and music being played.. You could buy a lantern and put it in the water to let it float away for 10K. Make sure you try mi cao lau and mi quang out in the street instead of in the restaurants. It's legit!!!! Heading to danang for my final day in hue well see how it goes! Gonna have lunch at the intercontinental hotel

Any other suggestions on what to do where to go in HCM? Going to be here for a long time I'm running out of things to do LOL

Are there any good clubs to goto in HCMC on a Tuesday night?

Ladies night at Lush will be the most busy.

Chill Skybar is always good.