Border Gates Getting into Vietnam

Vietnam can be accessed by road, by air and by water ways. Adding to Visa post before, this is the complete guide to enter Vietnam smoothly and connect with tour activities.

Vietnam has over 3000km coastline and shares border with Laos, Cambodia and China. There are 3 ways to get into Vietnam mainland: via land, via air and via sea

Getting into Vietnam via land

• Bavet (or Moc Bai - Tay Ninh province) for passengers want to take adventures to South Vietnam including Mekong delta, Sai gon, river cruises.... Closest sightseeing site is Cao Dai temple.
• Kaam Samnor (or Vinh Xuong - An Giang province) for passengers want to take adventures to very South Pole of Vietnam including Mekong delta, Phu Quoc island... Closest sightseeing sites are Chau Doc, Tra su forest.
• Phnom Den (or Tinh Bien - An Giang province) for passengers want to take adventures to very South Pole of Vietnam including Mekong delta, Phu Quoc island... Closest sightseeing sites are Chau Doc, Tra su forest.

• Donsavanh (or Lao Bao - Quang Tri province) for passengers want to take adventures to Central of Vietnam including Dong Ha, Phong Nha National Park, Hue city... Closest sightseeing site are Phong Nha park with Swallow cave to the north and Hue to the south.
• Nam Phao (or Cau Treo - Ha Tinh province) for passengers want to take adventures to North Central of Vietnam including Phong Nha National Park, President Ho Chi Minh homeland... Closest sightseeing site is President Ho Chi Minh homeland.
• Tay Trang (Dien Bien Phu province) for passengers want to take adventures to North West of Vietnam including Dien Bien Phu, Son La, Lai Chau... Closest sightseeing site is Dien Bien Phu, former battle fields.

• Youyi Guan (or Huu Nghi Quan – English name is Friendship Pass) for passengers want to take adventures to North East of Vietnam including Lang Son, Quang Ninh... Closest sightseeing site is Halong bay, Quang Ninh.
• Hekou (or Lao Cai) - for passengers want to take adventures to North of Vietnam including both East and West eg: Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Ha Giang... Closest sightseeing site is Sapa.

Getting into Vietnam via Air

This is the most convenient way to enter Vietnam. Formalities at Vietnam’s international airports are generally smoother than at land borders, as volume of traffic is greater.

1. Network of Airports in Vietnam

• For both International and Domestic flights: Noi Bai (35km northwest of Hanoi), Tan Son Nhat (in Ho Chi Minh City), Danang (in Danang city).
• For Domestic flights only (North to South): Muong Thanh (in Dien Bien), Son La (in Son La), Cat Bi (in Hai Phong), Vinh (in Nghe An), Phu Bai (in Hue), Pleiku (in Pleiku), Buon Ma Thuot (in Buon Ma Thuot), Cam Ranh (in Nha Trang), Lien Khuong (in Dalat), Tra Noc (in Can Tho) and Phu Quoc (in Phu Quoc island).

For international flights Cities having direct flights to Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airport includes: Bangkok, Beijing, Franfurt, Fukuoka, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Kuala Lumpur, Kunming, Manila, Melbourne, Moscow, Osaka, Paris, Phnom Penh, Pusan, Seoul, Siem Reap, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Vientiane.

If entering through Danang airport, you can fly directly from Singapore by Silk Air and HongKong by Dragon Air.

If there’s no direct flight to Vietnam, the most popular transits are Narita (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Hongkong for passengers from North America; Singapore, Bangkok for passengers from Australia and EU countries. You can either stay there several days for leisure (recommended for shopping) before flight to Vietnam. As they are greatest hubs of Asia (many flights daily), you can depart at flexible time and have significant savings on ticket prices.

2. With international flights

Passengers have to pay US$14 per person for leaving Vietnam at Noi Bai airport (Hanoi) or Danang airport (Danang), US$12 per person for leaving Vietnam at Tan Son Nhat airport (Ho Chi Minh City). With domestic flights From Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or Danang, the tax of VND25,000 per person (around US$1.7) is always added in your ticket fare. Tax for departing from Hue and Hai Phong is VND20,000 per person (US$1.3) and from other airports is VND15,000 per person (US$1).

Below are some major airliners flying to and from Vietnam which you can search for information and reservation:

Name	Website	Hub	Airline Code
Aeroflot	www.aeroflot.com	Moscow	SU
Air France	www.airfrance.fr	Paris	AF
All Nippon Airways	www.ana.co.jp	Tokyo	NH
Asiana Airlines	www.us.flyasiana.com	Seoul	OZ
Cathay Pacific	www.cathaypacific.com	Hong Kong	CX
China Airlines	www.china-airlines.com	Taipei	CI
China Southern Airlines	www.cs-air.com	Guangzhou	CZ
Japan Airlines	www.jal.co.jp	Tokyo	JL
Korean Air	www.koreanair.com	Seoul	KE
Lao Airlines	www.laoairlines.com	Vientiane	QV
Lion Air	www.lionair.co.id	Jakarta	JT
Lufthansa	www.lufthansa.com	Frankfurt	LH
Malaysia Airlines	www.malaysiaairlines.com	Kuala Lumpur	MY
Philippine Airlines	www.philippineair.com	Manila	PR
Qantas	www.qantas.com	Sydney  Melbourne	QF
Siem Reap Airways	www.siemreapair.com	Phnom Penh	FT
Singapore Airlines	www.singpareair.com	Singapore	SQ
Thai Airways	www.thaiair.com	Bangkok	TG
Vietnam Airlines	www.vietnamairlines.com	Hanoi Saigon	VN

Domestic routes

Domestic flights are operated by Jetstar, Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines (mostly), the state-owned flag carrier with modern fleet of Airbuses and Boeings. They offer a lot of daily flights and give many options for air travel throughout the country. Now Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet are the main players in the market. Vietjet is a newer one and targets to budget market then their prices are very much cheaper. Vietnam Airlines, however, has bigger fleets with modern aircraft models (they even has Boeing DreamLiner 787 or Airbus A380) and better services.

All airlines in Vietnam use e-Ticket system and allow bookings online and payment online by Credit/debit card securely.  ActiveTravel Asia uses Vietnam Airlines only for our domestic flights due to its more reliable time schedule.
 

Ticket reconfirmation

Depended on airliners’ policy, when you are in Vietnam, you should reconfirm the tickets 48 hours or 24 hours prior departure time to avoid any delay or cancellation or unsecured seat, especially in peak times. Reconfirmation can be done at any their booking offices in Vietnam. Normally, your travel agent in Vietnam will do it as it takes a bit time.
 

Vietnam Airlines
Hanoi: 1 Quang Trung Str., Hanoi, tel: (84-4) 832-0320
Saigon: 116-118 Nguyen Hue Blvd., tel: (84-8) 829-2118

Getting into Vietnam via sea

With over 3000km coastline, Vietnam has many ports for world-size liners to dock. From the dock, passengers can join off shore excursions to get further into our mainland. Depending on the cruise docking time, the offshore excursions are often 01 day tours, sometimes 2 days tour if the cruise gets overnight at the port.

The most popular docks are:

• Cai Lan port in Halong bay - most popular excursions are Halong cruise trips, kayaking in Halong, Hanoi city tour
• Hai Phong port - most popular excursions are Vinh Bao tour, Hanoi city tour, Hai phong city tour
• Chan May port in Hue - most popular excursions are Hue city tour
• Danang port - Most popular excursions are Danang city tour, Hoi an tour, My Son tour
• Cam Ranh port in Nha trang - most popular excursions are Nha trang tours, Island tour
• Phu My port in Vung Tau - most popular excursions are Sai gon city tour, Vung tau city tour
• Nha Rong port in Sai gon - most popular excursions are Sai gon tour, Mekong tour, Cu Chi tunnel tour