Vietnam Quick Facts

Money matters: £100 will get you a princely 3,531,445 Vietnamese đồng, which sounds like you’ve suddenly become a millionaire, until you realise a coffee still costs 60,000.

Weather watch: In late October, Hanoi sits at a balmy 30°C, often cloudy, sometimes steamy, and always just humid enough to make you wonder why you bothered packing socks.

On the road: Traffic in Vietnam is a glorious kind of chaos — a swirling ballet of mopeds, horns, and near-misses, somehow choreographed into something that just about works. Crossing the street feels like an extreme sport, but after a few goes you start to move like a local, slow and steady, trusting the mopeds will simply flow around you.

Sunday serenity: Every Sunday, the roads around Lake Hô Hoàn Kiếm in Hanoi’s Old Quarter are blissfully closed to traffic, turning the heart of the city into a pedestrian playground of street music, bubble sellers, and families on evening strolls.