Top Vietnam hotels
Stores & Markets Ho Chi Minh City
113 Reviews This is market for rich people or foriegner. yes of course they always start at a high price everythign here is overpriced for tourist. Just try to have fun talking them down. You don't have to be...
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Shopping Areas Hanoi
47 Reviews This is a very chic and cool shop, situated near Hanoi's most happening district (where Vincom Towers stand). It caters to young women's needs of finding a beautiful garment of fine quality at a...
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Clothes Ho Chi Minh City
29 Reviews This is a nice store near our hotel. Apparently, visiting foreign dignitaries buy their Aodais here. Aodai, the traditional Vietnamese dress. Silk is best. For the quality, the prices here are quite...
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Local Crafts Hanoi
42 Reviews This is the best quality of lacquerware I've seen in Hanoi, Saigon, Bangkok and northern Thailand. The prices are high compared to other shops, but the difference in quality is remarkable. Dishes,...
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Asian Food Ho Chi Minh City
8 Reviews This food chain serves all kinds of Vietnamese rolls. You can opt to have ready-rolled items or wrap them yourselves. Most use rice paper for the wrapping, with pork, beef or fish fillings, with lots...
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Food and Drink Hanoi
10 Reviews I found a good place to buy food & beverage, they are near Embassy of Sweden, they also have a website: http://thucphamplaza.com with free delivery service. Belgium Beers, Canned Fruits, Mineral...
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Books Ho Chi Minh City
6 Reviews The FAHASA in Q1 I think its on Nguyen Hue has a good selection of maps. You should at least have a map of sai gon which are cheap and easy to find. FAHASA locations -- www.fahasasg.com often can be...
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Books Hanoi
3 Reviews Trang Tien street at the lower end of Ho Hoan Kiem is the best place in Hanoi to purchase books. There are several bookstores that sell English books, although their choice is somewhat limited. For...
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In some places of Vietnam, specially in Saigon, you can find art copiers who make excellent reproductions of classic western art masters.I saw this walking by Pham Ngu Lao area in Saigon. He was copying this huge Monet painting from a little photo... and the detail was incredible for someone who hadn't seen the original piece!!!
In Hoi An I found some very convenient tailor shops... or should I say THEY found ME?I was walking by the streets some early morning when a thin girls came to me and asked me where was I from and all that stuff. She kept chatting along with me for a while and finally she told me her mother had a tailor shop in the tailors' market and could make me an "instant" suit, shirt, short or whatever.I was curious about it, so I went with her. Her "mother" showed me 5 or 6 catalogs with every imaginable clothing piece (western style), I chose 2 shirts and she did some measurements. I was leaving that noon, so I warned her about that and she said: "Oh, don't worry, come in 1 hour"Couldn't believe it, but when I returned in 1 hour I had it ready!! The same shirts I saw in the photos were there and fit me like a glove. 6 USD each! I should have ordered more...
Another annoying habit some Vietnamese salesmen & -women have, is bothering you too much.Say, you're looking for souvenirs. You enter one of many souvenirshops. Obviously, you wanna have a look around to find something for the loved ones at home. But then, the shop owner comes & interferes, pushing you a whole lot of things in your hands that are "very good" & "very cheap for you, sir". You want to keep looking in the nicelooking shop, but the vendor is desperate to make a sell and keeps pushing things into your hands. Eventually, you give up. Once again, the Vietnamese blew a likely deal by pushing too much...
Someone is offering you something you would like to purchase. After some negotiation, you reach an agreement on a fair price of 15000 dong (1 $). Then, when the transaction takes place, the seller says you misunderstood him: the price is 15$. You disagree (this is way too much!), but the seller won't agree on 15000 d anymore... In the end, no transaction takes place.Apparently, many Vietnamese still haven't discovered they're not doing theselves a favour by this trick
In Sapa, BacHa and all around in the minority villages women of all ages will try to sell you handcrafts. We bought quite a lot of them. The quality is usualy very high, which is surprising. The price on the other hand is very low. On top of it, u can argue the price, especially if you buy more items.They make beautiful gifts pillow cases, hats, table cloth, hanging ornamens Nothing over 10$, most items 2-3$
I stopped by Thuan Kieu Plaza last time and it was a pleasant shopping experience. Loved it.Looks like lots of shops accept Visa/Master cards....that's how I burned a big hole in my account when I came back to the US. Damn it...those items are just so cheap still. Anything you like. Cash is most prefered....but plastic will do well for larger purchases.
The famous old town Hoi An is in Central Vietnam. There are numerous tailors' where you can have your "ao dai", traditional costume for girls, tailored. It's much cheaper than in big cities like Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi, but the quality will be up to your satisfaction. Hope to see your new VT pics on those new tailored costumes :) About USD 30 for a "premium" one, including material and labor cost
From the market halls you get all your souveniers and other stuff for a really cheap price.Dont forget to barguin. Silk, electronics, clothes,..almost all are dirt cheap! Never the price, except the silk clothes are usually hard to barguin.For example, i bought an silky pyjama(trousers and shirt) and it costed around 6 USD(EUR), wrist-watch 7 USD(EUR), silk shirt 4 USD(EUR), and so on.
Always browse the shops and get the free no-obligation quote etc. Go crazy on all those purchases but don't forget that, if it's silk it will need to be dry cleaned when you have that night out...If it's raw then it most likely hasn't been pre washed so expect or factor in some shrinkage and don't forget that the dyes haven't set yet.
At most markets and shops, you are expected to negotiate prices. The vendor will always ask a higher price from a westerner then they would from a local Viet. They refer to this pricing system as "the American price and the Vietnamese price". If you accept their initial offer, they will gladly take your money but they will have no respect for you. I usually offer half of their asking price and tell them the product is not even worth that. If they don;t drop their offer price, I say good bye and start to walk away. The vendor usually needs to make a sale and they will drop the price immediately if they think you might buy. I then give them a little more than they asked if they came down a lot. Believe it or not, by being tough on bargaining, you will get a lot of respect from locals. I can frequently buy things for less than members of my Vietnamese family pay.
Park Hyatt Saigon Ho Chi Minh City
5 Reviews and 436 Opinions All rooms offer pool of City views with full luxury amenities. As true sense 5- Star hotel, it is...
Hanoi Elegance 2 Hanoi
5 Reviews and 712 Opinions I booked our family sized room for 2 adults and our teenage daughter direct with the hotel from...
Victoria Hoi An Resort Hoi An
4 Reviews and 444 Opinions It's worth the money to stay and enjoy the beach like in Victoria Hoi An. Price from 150$++ public...
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Q: could someone please help? where can i buy ao dai (preferably well made and silk) for my grand-daughters, they are only 2-3...
A: Loads of places in both cities to buy Ao Dai either already made or to measure. For the small extra cost, have them made to measure and take the mesurements before going...
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