Lonely Planet Vietnam: Detailed Itineraries | Travel Like a Local | Insider Tips | Covers Hanoi & Halong Bay, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and Hoi An PLUS Angkor Wat

Lonely Planet Travel Guide

by Iain Stewart, Brett Atkinson, Katie Lockhart

Lonely Planet's Vietnam is our most comprehensive guide that extensively covers all the country has to offer, with recommendations for both popular and lesser-known experiences. Kayak through Halong Bay, sample street food in Hanoi and immerse yourself in a rich history; all with your trusted travel companion. Inside Lonely Planet's Vietnam Travel


Lonely Planet's Top Picks - a visually inspiring collection of the destination's best experiences and where to have them Itineraries help you build the ultimate trip based on your personal needs and interests
Local insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - whether it's history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, politics Eating and drinking - get the most out of your gastronomic experience as we reveal the regional dishes and drinks you have to try Toolkit - all of the planning tools for solo travellers, LGBTQIA+ travellers, family travellers and accessible travel Colour maps and images throughout
Language - essential phrases and language tips Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Covers Hanoi, Northern Vietnam, Central Vietnam, Southeast Coast, Southwest Highlands, Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor and more About Lonely Lonely Planet, a Red Ventures Company, is the world's number one travel guidebook brand. Providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973, Lonely Planet reaches hundreds of millions of travellers each year online and in print and helps them unlock amazing experiences. Visit us at lonelyplanet.com and join our community of followers on Facebook (facebook.com/lonelyplanet), Twitter (@lonelyplanet), Instagram (instagram.com/lonelyplanet), and TikTok (@lonelyplanet). 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.'  Fairfax Media (Australia)

Genres: Travel

416 pages, Paperback

Published October 17, 2023

Reviews

[Nicola Byrne]

As ever a good lonely planet reference tool. I've rated as 4 * as the pull out map is poor, next to useless in all honesty. You'll need to buy one for both Saigon and Hanoi if you need paper versions.

[Alper]

I found this recent edition of the LP Vietnam Travel guide extremely disappointing and lacking in a lot of key information and really poor formatting that makes it much harder to find information when trying to plan trips.

I honestly can't recommend this travel guide and your time (and money) would be better spent doing your own research or possible finding alternative travel guides which I will be doing from now on. I will compare it to the LP Thailand Travel Guide(2018) and list the pros/cons below:

Pros:
- Easy to travel with due to compact size (this is also negative due to less information)
- Images are nice
- Colour coded sections is a nice touch

Cons (I'll only list the main ones):
- The amount of detail has considerably been reduced. It's missing key getting there/away information which was vital to get around especially in areas where public transport is not readily accessible or difficult to find. This edition gives some vague information and the gist of it really comes down to download the Grab app and don't hop in the wrong car. Geez thanks.

- Formatting has made it so much harder to find information you need. It used be like this: Information about the city, A nice map of the city (usually town centre), top sights, activities, sleeping, eating, drinking, shopping, getting there/away. On top of that would be any information like cuisine that might be a speciality or particular scams to watch out for in that area. That consistency has gone and now you have to flip through the pages and when you realise you can't find what you want, you end up throwing the book away and googling.

- The pictures take up so much space on the pages it's clear LP cares more about prettiness/looks over practicality.

- Very minimal information in toolkit section. Previous editions would detail legality issues, responsible travelling, history, cultural etiquette far far better.

Download the LP app since I found that more useful to find eating/drinking places and be wary of the new editions of LP travel guides. I'm sure it can come of some use, but I can't understate my disappointment enough. I can go on for more but I spent enough of my time on this travel guide than it is worth.

[Brandon Barton]

Unfortunately the new lonely Planet format is poor. Things are just throwing randomly without any streamlining. They have removed almost all specific references to hours, times, hotels, etc, I presume because it was too much work and/or post pandemic times makes the internet better for this information. Unfortunately this means I will
Be shifting away from Lonely Planet, most other guides still have these things and are more useful. Still there are some good essays.