Shore excursions usually take time on the sea so consider the most optimal tour is necessary. By knowing helpful information, your trip to Vietnam will be much easier. Vietnam is attractive if you know how to enjoy it properly. The ultimate guides for shore excursion in Vietnam are listed below.
1. Boats arrive at these harbors in Vietnam
There are 7 harbors across Vietnam’s coastal land and you land at one of these. Knowing necessary information related to ports helps you have an overview for better planning and money management.
| No. | Harbors | Location | Time to the port gate | Time to downtown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lotus Port | Right in the heart of Saigon | 5 mins | 15 mins |
| 2 | Hiep Phuoc Port | Located in the South of Saigon | 10 – 15 mins | 40 mins |
| 3 | Phu My/Cai Mep Port | 70 km away from Saigon | x | 1,5 hours to Saigon45 mins to Vung Tau |
| 4 | Nha Trang Port | 7 km away to Nha Trang downtown | x | 15 mins |
| 5 | Tien Sa Port | 10 km away from Danang | x | 15 mins to Danang2 hours to Hue1 hour to Hoian |
| 6 | Chan May Port | 61 km away from Hue | x | 1 hour to Hue2 hours to Danang |
| 7 | Ha Long Port | 153 km away from Hanoi31 km away from Ha Long | x | 3 hours to Hanoi40 mins to Ha Long |
2. Save money from unnecessary expenses
Normally, there are 2 ways for you to catch taxis and start traveling:
- Tour companies pick you up inside the port. However, in this way, you have to pay an add-in fee of about $25/per person.
- You move ahead to the port’s gate and wait. There are a lot of unbranded and fake cabs as you make your way to the gate. However, when bargaining with them, take caution and wisdom because the price is very high. One piece of advice we’d give is to reduce the price by around 30–50%.
Another tip to save your budget is ride-sharing. You should proactively talk to the tour company about package prices and find other tourists on the same cruise to share prices. You can go on your tour group on the web, or social media to ask or airdrop everyone with a little invitation :-).
3. Priorly prepare for mainland travel
At the moment, Vietnam still takes advantage of cash in daily life so it is better for you to prepare cash. You should exchange small value money like 1 USD, 2 USD, 5 USD for convenient shopping. Supermarkets and malls can pay via credit card but in most places in Vietnam, people prefer paying cash. At some local markets, you should bargain to earn a better deal and try the Vietnamese habit.
Furthermore, in case of unexpected situations, you should save important contacts like the sailor, relatives, your tour company, etc. Double check means double secure so don’t mind asking for your information.
4. Quality transportation and infrastructure
Don’t worry much about the quality of the infrastructure. Roads and highways are in good condition and get you to the port and travel destinations swimmingly without worrying traffic jams.
Service transportation in Vietnam is now equipped with new modern infrastructure, especially good air conditioning. Common vehicles used for travel are 7-seat Ford or Toyota, 16-seat mini van Ford or Hyundai, 29-seat minibus Thaco or Samco.
5. Great food is everywhere
If you’re considering choosing where to eat then confidently try any restaurant because they are all delicious and reasonably priced. On average, food courts in the local market price at 2-5 USD/per dish, eatery’s prices are about 3-5 USD/per dish and the restaurants charge 5-20 USD/per dish. However, only restaurants accept credit card payment, preparing cash is necessary.
6. Be careful about scammers
There is good and bad anywhere, so is Vietnam. So be careful of those traveling traps to save your money. Here are some of the activities that often defraud customers.
- Rickshaw riding
- Bootblacks
- Coconut walking man
- Vietnamese donut ladies
- Cabs at the beginning of the day in museums and markets
The commonality between these is that they proactively approach you at tourist attractions and the needed thing is to act decisively and forcefully say no to them, walk away, and not interact with them any further. However, if you want to experience these activities, you should ask your tour guide to find legit places.
Call to action: If you want to discover authentic experiences, you should find the local tour companies because they know better and have more affordable prices than those on the boat. To meet your tour guide, you should walk or use cruise’s shuttle bus to get to the port’s gate instead of losing $25/per person. Also, local companies like Xin Chao Private Vietnam Tours can customize your tours based on your time, budget, hobbies, etc. They give you the most interesting, unique, memorable and value-for-money experiences at local tourist attractions.