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 Traveller's Tales: Shopping suggestions in Vietnam
Get the best advice on shopping in Vietnam. You may read about shopping malls, souvenir items and best buys in the area. Also, you might want to read our
Central Vietnam city guide,
Halong Bay city guide,
Hanoi city guide,
Ho Chi Minh city guide,
Phan Thiet city guide,
and Hoi An city guide.
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| P Sibadogil |
22 December 2002 |
Stayed at Majestic Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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We started from Hanoi, then Hoi An & finished in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Hanoi was a bit of a disappointment as various people had gushed on & on about how charming & graceful it was. Sure, there are quite a few old colonial buildings but so has HCMC. I found Hanoi old & crumbly & dirty & polluted & traffic was sheer chaos as streets are very narrow especially in the Old Quarter.
However the people in Hanoi were very friendly & the food was heavenly! Restaurant food was not impressive but street food was delicious. Don't worry, eating by the side of the road on little stools might seem unhygienic but nothing happened to us. Our favourites were the ban xeo (pancake) & bun cha (pork & noodles).
Do most of your shopping in Hanoi! Much cheaper than HCMC especially for embroidered stuff, lanterns, chinaware, ao dai etc. Forget about visiting the ceramic village, silk village etc. It will take you 1/2 day to get around when the actual distance is only 15km as traffic & roads are so bad. There is nothing worth seeing there anyway!
Hoi An was very charming, peace & rest after Hanoi. Lots of charming little cafes serving mostly delicious food - try the 'white rose'. Be warned, tailoring might seem cheap especially to westerners but you get what you pay for. You might have to ask for 3 or 4 modifications before you are somewhat satisfied!
We stayed in a very charming hotel, the Hoi An Riverside Resort. Ask for a room facing the river. The view during sunset is beautiful. The owner of the Riverside Resort also owns Brothers Cafe, a beautiful restaurant by the river. Food was the pits! & expensive. We expected something far better as most reviewers had very good comments about the place. Just go for the ambience my dears!
Cua Dai beach in Hoi An is also very nice, comparable to Bali. Big stretch of clean sand. Tell the massage & pedicure ladies to buzz off if you prefer peace & quiet while you luxuriate in the sun. Worst so-called massage in the world. You can get a far better pedicure in HCMC for US$2. We were surrounded by these ladies & had a very good time chatting to them & listening to their life stories, as we are suckers for massage & pedicures & little trinkets. The people of Hoi An are a joy to meet even when they are pestering you to buy their wares.
HCMC is clean & commercial with well-maintained colonial buildings in between up & coming skyscrapers. There is a sense of prosperity here compared to Hanoi. But sad to think that since my last visit 2 years ago, it has become even more commercialized.
Beautiful stylish shops & restaurants. But marked up to the hilt! Embroidered bedsheets were 5 times more expensive than Hanoi. & people are less willing to offer discounts. Be wary of Ben Thanh market - vendors can get a bit unpleasant if you haggle. Do not even think of buying those beautiful "antique & diamond" watches in the shops around District 1. We also had 2 unpleasant experiences with taxi drivers. One had a meter that shot up incredibly fast & another who got abusive over our fares.
Quite a few trendy nitespots like Vascos, clustered around the Caravelle hotel. Temple Club has the best desserts! Go for the crepes & creme caramel & choc mint. Decor is exquisite too. Opposite is a little coffee-shop - get a table under the trees outside & have their vemichelli noodles with crab claws, prawns & minced pork. Indochine's decor is out-dated but the food & service quality is still maintained. Reasonable prices too. We stayed at the Majestic which had a great location, great staff & great buffet breakfast.
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| P Mcardle |
17 December 2002 |
Stayed at Sofitel Metropole Hanoi - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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The hotel listing of shops by category is great. We visited several by cyclo, the drivers know the area/streets and took us from shop to shop.
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| M Gunn |
17 December 2002 |
Stayed at Caravelle Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Excellent destination but three weeks were not sufficient. Hanoi was great - Kangaroo Cafe - good for organising tours - went to Halong Bay/Cat Ba Island, Golf 3 hotel at Dalat was very good. Hai Au Resort, Ham Tien, Phan Thiet City was very good - nice beach.
I found Vietnameese food quite bland and realised towards the end of our trip that there is one menu for the locals and another for the tourist - the food that is served to locals is much hotter, we had some and it was wonderful - sorry we did not have the experience throughout the whole holiday.
Recommend Creations Boutique, 47 Dong Khoi St, HCMC - had some suits made and they were so well finished and made in just over a day.
Stayed at the Guoman Hotel in Hanoi - would not recommend it to anyone - found the receptionist very rude (thankfully it was not my first impression of Vietnam), definitely not the face of Vietnam. I am sure they could find much more plesant people to work on reception. The guys who covered reception at night were very good, maybe they should change shifts.
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| R Williams |
12 December 2002 |
Stayed at Omni Saigon Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Had a great vegetarian meal at the Rex Hotel in Saigon. Hoi An was a wonderful town-- very friendly and very used to tourists, but in a good way. Hoi An had great silk clothes and good knock-off backpacks for sale. Hanoi is the place to buy CDs.
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| C Bartholomew / gail ritchie |
11 December 2002 |
Stayed at Chain First Eden Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Walking is best within Hanoi. It's possible to cover a lot of the city that way. Our trip to Halong Bay was organised by the hotel and was fine. There are several choices of 1, 2 or 3 day trips. Do visit the Women's museum, and the "Hanoi Hilton" shopping is best in Hang Gai street but more expensive. Prices are good. Embroidery and lacquer ware are the best buys.
There is a pottery village just outside the city that is well worth a visit. Prices are extremely good. Lots of good restaurants - Seasons of Hanoi excellent.
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| S Wu |
29 November 2002 |
Stayed at Bong Sen Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Saigon was a disappointment in that there are not many great sites to see. In the 2 days we stayed, we took 5 photographs (a far cry from the 2-3 rolls per day in Angkor, our previous destination). The Reunification Palace, supposedly the best place in Saigon cost 15,000 dong (or USD1) was also disappointing. The river is very dirty so we did not attempt a river boat tour.
We ate at the Vietnam House. Food was good, however, strangely enough they would not accept our Visa card and we had to pay cash (even though the credit card of the neighboring table was accepted). The restaurant waiter claimed that the machine was broken. Do not recommend the Pho at the Cool restaurant at Dong Khoi - the Pho in the San Francisco bay area is better!
The Ben Thanh market was lively and a good place for everything but artwork. There is not as much bargaining as before so be prepared to pay close to what the original price offered is. As this is my second visit to Saigon, would probably not come back as there is not much but shopping here.
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| A Ersoy |
28 November 2002 |
Stayed at Ana Mandara Resort - Nha Trang, Vietnam.
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Mainly chilled on the beach and on apartment balcony. The market was fun, Viet-Lac was a great souvenir shop.
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| M Gagné |
27 November 2002 |
Stayed at Sofitel Plaza Hanoi - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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The best time to go shopping in old quarter around Hang Gai street is early morning from 8 AM, it is a lot less crowdy, no rush circulation. Take tours around city the best place is Hoa Lu, look like Halong bay but on the ground and take sampan ride.
A private guide for a day cost around $20 US and a car with driver $35 US for day, very cheap you can book it from hotel. Take time to walk around the Ho Hoan Kiem lake after your shopping, it is peaceful and quiet away the rush circulation.
Take hotel taxi, the city taxi charge you more because they do not take the shorter way and they do not talk English. The distance to the airport is around 40 km and take around 45 minutes, take hotel taxi it is more expensive but when you take city taxi you never know where he will bring you do not take chance to lose your flight. The Hanoi airport is new but nothing to do there 3 shop (expensive).
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| D Phillips |
20 November 2002 |
Stayed at Hoi An Riverside Resort - Quang Nam, Vietnam.
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Hoi An is a great break between HCM City and Hanoi. Lovely setting, compact, good restaurants. Walked and biked everywhere. We're not shoppers but we had some clothes made here - silk kimonos and shirts - at very good prices.
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| A Soh |
04 November 2002 |
Stayed at Omni Saigon Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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1) Cu Chi tunnels is definitely worth a look. Better understanding of how the Viet Cong army defeated the Americans, although they were outnumbered as well as ill-equipped.
2) Minority Farm. The dances were a little repetitive, but more time should be spent looking at the different races and their living habits, very diverse but yet small similarities are found from neighbouring country cultures.
3) Ben Thanh market worth a shopping trip, if you're looking for ladies shoes, slippers & handbags. Very cheap and bargaining is definitely needed.
4) Pho 2000, on the right of Ben Thanh market, serves USD1 per bowl of traditional Viet beef noodles. The place is clean and many tourists and locals visit it.
5) Getting around in the taxis are a breeze. Since it's difficult to get the right pronunciation of roads, suggest you write down the street name and shop number, they are able to read and find the place. Use the meter, its quite cheap.
6) The shuttle from the hotel to the city is very convenient. But plan your time well, so that you do not miss the 1.5 hr interval shuttles.
7) Tour the city on foot as it's only about 30-45 mins from one end to the other. Not worth taking a city tour, as you will miss the experience of getting across the roads!
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