I will be visiting Vietnam in February. Doing the stretch of the country. Hanoi-Hue-Hoi An-Saigon.
I was wondering how often I can expect to be able to use my Monzo to pay for goods? Our hotels and flights, the big stuff, are already paid for. Can we expect to mostly rely on cash for food and drinks etc?
spent more than 6 months travelling Vietnam. It’s a fast growing society with tech but still massively cash based for many restaurants. However you can use your card a lot in shops like the 7/11 type big chain shops and the nicer stores in the malls, even Apple Pay on my phone in Starbucks. I’d end up using my card wherever possible and having a chunk of cash in the places that only accept cash, which was often at restaurants. the good thing is if you go to the right ATMs it can be free to withdraw cash or if not free you can find ATMs that only charge £1 odd to withdraw. You can use Grab Taxi which is Asia’s equivalent of Uber, Grab Taxi actually bought Uber out in Asia, then everything is tracked and paid for without cash to avoid dodgy drivers taking you on long routes, plus Grab taxi is way cheaper than the usual white and green taxis.
Hey Dear
Vietnam in February sounds amazing The weather should be pretty comfortable cooler in the north and warm down south Are you planning to stick to one region or travel across the country?
Also just a heads up some areas can be tricky to get around especially if you are hopping between cities A few travelers I know found it helpful to arrange trusted local transport ahead of time For trips in other countries I seen services like VipRide4U Limousine come in handy for that kind of thing.What on your must see list while you are there?
The previous post was Jan 2023 so I would assume that they have been to Vietnam by now