Good to know about Vienam

About Vietnam
The country lies in the eastern part of the Indochina peninsula, bordered by China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the East Sea and Pacific Ocean to the southeast. Its surface is about 330.000 kms, its length from North to South is 1,650 kms, its width stretches from 600 kms in the North to 400 kms in the South and only 50 kms on the central coast. Total coast line is 3,260 km long and its inland border measures 3,730 km.

Tourism administration
Even if the country makes effort to attract more and more tourist, the best way to get information is through travel agencies.
Vietnamtourism.com is not Vietnam tourism national office, but only a tour operator.
Officiel tourism administration site : www.vietnamtourism.gov.vn

Visas
Bureaucratic hassles will be your first problem in getting a visa. It's usually best to get it through a travel agency. Expense is the other problem; tourist visas valid for a single 30-day stay cost about US$40.
Health risks: Dengue fever, hepatitis, malaria, rabies. The last epidemy of Sars has been very well managed by the Vietnamese Health authorities.

When to go
There are no good or bad seasons to visit Vietnam. Basically,when one region is wet, cold or steamy hot, there is always somewhere else that is sunny and pleasant.
The south has two seasons: the wet (May to November) and the dry (December to April); hottest and most humid time is from the end of February to May.
The central coast is dry from May to October and wet from December to February.
The highland areas are significantly cooler than the lowlands, and temperatures can get down to freezing in winter.
The north has two seasons: cool, damp winters (November to April) and hot summers (May to October).
Possibility of typhoons between July and November, affecting the north and central areas.

Events
Travellers should take the Tet New Year festival (late January or early February) into account when planning a trip. Travel (including international travel) becomes very difficult, hotels are full and many services close down for at least a week and possibly longer.

Getting around
Vietnam Airlines has a near-monopoly on domestic flights. The departure tax on domestic flights is about $US1.50, payable in Vietnamese dong only.
There are 'express' buses, but rarely average more than 50kmh (31mph). The alternative, used by many foreigners, is to charter a minibus. Ask at hotels.
Hire cars and drivers are available at reasonable prices. You'll still be stopped by the police to pay all sorts of 'fines', but at least you'll have a local with you to do the negotiating. You can hire a motorcycle to drive yourself if you have an International Driver's Permit endorsed for motorcycles, but you'll need nerves of steel.
Best local transport is by taxi (some metered, some not) or cyclo (pedal-powered vehicles that are cheap and plentiful).
Cycling is the national way of transportation. In the streets thousands and thousands of cycles and motorcycles transport one to four or five people and mountains of goods and parcels
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