Best city in Vietnam for expats

Welcome! I agree with your observations about the usefulness of this site. It has been invaluable to me.
I have just returned to the States, involuntarily due to an injury, but had travelled from south to north since January---train, plane and bus. I miss it. VN is simply great. Am very anxious to return!!
My needs parallel those you have described. I'm not a high maintenance fella; not even remotely so. Of the areas I visited, DaNang struck my fancy the most. It is on the economic upswing; not too large; has modern amenities; is affordable; near Hoi An and I was treated kindly everywhere. The beaches are superlative and the downtown area is quite nice. My commentary should not serve to diminish the qualities of Hanoi, HCMC, Nha Trang, SaPa or others. I simply prefer DaNang. Since it is such a subjective determination, travel the country (it is easy) and judge these areas for yourself. Be well and best of luck. Layne

HI!
I recently spent a few weeks travelling Vietnam. Every city I went to was absolutely beautiful. I fell in love with Vietnam pretty quickly. The city that will stay very close to my heart was Hanoi in the north. It is an amazing, beautiful city. The architecture was astoning. the busy streets and the people were so friend and kind hearted. The beautiful lake is amazing.

Nightlife in Hanoi is so much fun. Despite the curfew laws, clubs and pubs go off at night time!

The city to move to is the one  you like best. Come over, travel around and decide. Most people choose between Saigon, Can Tho, Dalat, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Danang, Hue or Hanoi. I've been to then all and chose Nha Trang. Although I love to visit Dalat, Hue and Hanoi, it is Nha Trang that is best for me to live. It has an equitable climate, good facilities, beaches, mountain streams, great restaurants, a province library with an excellent range of English language reference books, and the province hospital and staff are being  upgraded continually.  Come over and find out where you like.

freyyfreyy wrote:

HI!
I recently spent a few weeks travelling Vietnam. Every city I went to was absolutely beautiful. I fell in love with Vietnam pretty quickly. The city that will stay very close to my heart was Hanoi in the north. It is an amazing, beautiful city. The architecture was astoning. the busy streets and the people were so friend and kind hearted. The beautiful lake is amazing.

Nightlife in Hanoi is so much fun. Despite the curfew laws, clubs and pubs go off at night time!

Yeah! Thumbs up for Hanoi! Bring me around when you visit Hanoi again! 

CanadianDude wrote:

Hello everyone,

First I'd like to say this is an amazing website full of useful information. I've been reading it everyday since I discovered it.

I'm looking for adventure, so I'm planning on moving to Vietnam next year. Everybody is talking about Saigon and how great it is for expats, but I'm wondering, are there other cities just as good?

Saigon seems great, but it seems to be the most expensive city with many tourists and high prices. I'm looking for:

- Low cost living: I don't need fancy stuff, I can be fine with an average lifestyle.
- Not looking to work locally, as I don't need it
- A place with enough English or French speaking people to make some friends ( I speak both)
- A place with a low rate of crime

I don't go to the restaurant often, club often and I'm not a big spender, all I need is access to the Internet and a gym with barbells.

So in your opinion, what would be the best city for me? Saigon, Hanoi, Da nang...

Thanks and looking forward to meet some of you there.

The expat community probably has 4 categories:

1. the relocation (probably have loved ones here)
2. the retire (experienced the ups and downs in life and choose to settle down)
3. the entrepreneurs (looking at potential of Vietnam and decide to fight a battle here)
4. the job posting (those who posted here by their company)

Each category has different needs and looking at Vietnam from a different angle. Depending on what is it you want, different city provide different needs.

Danang is a much liked province by many as the province leader adopted part of a Singapore policy to curb corruption and boost tourism.

Examples include
1. The police in Danang is the most paid in terms of welfare and remuneration as compared to the rest of the cities.
2. The city is comparably cleaner on the streets.

The former leader of Danang was recognised by the country and was supposedly posted to the capital to strategise a "clean up". However, sadly, he was pronounced dead few months after he was posted to the capital.

I respected him as a "rank and file leader" and contributed much to the country by turning a city to what it is.

People who visited Danang feedback nothing but compliments. Even though as compared, the prices are a little higher than other provinces. Even the local Vietnamese around flocked to Danang, wanted to change their "hometown citizenship" to Danang so as to enjoy the privileges of Danang policy and to avoid the suffer of corruption in their own hometown. The number is so huge that they had to have a policy to curb this.

As for me, i am in Hanoi purely for business. As an emo guy, though it hurts to see the state of this country while reading reports and inside info of some, I think we just have to accept what this country is and do what we can within our means to do the little changes.

Thanks everyone for the information, that's very nice.

Danang seems like a wonderful place : a good mix between modernity and nature. I just hope there are enough English/French speakers there.

Hi there,

I m not totally an expart like you but i came to HoChiMinh from the North so I m a new baby in here too. Based on your concerns, I think HoChiMinh could be a better choice. If you chose to stay in district centre then the price of rent is higher but you still can choose many other district for example district 3, 7 with 10-15 minutes access to city centre by motobikes. Not everything is expensive here, it is very flexible, you could spend lots of money at ecpensive places but you also could enjoy local street food with local people which is pretty cheap as my experience of two year living here. I live in district 1 but not expensive place and i could go downstair and find bunch of tasty food around. In the meantime, you could easy to find many english and french speakers here too.
Good luck with your decision.

T.

Vung Tau, small lovely city, 120 km away from Ho Chi Minh City (1,5 hours moving by bus ), where I've grown up, best place I've ever known. 

We have long beach, cool wind all seasons, many places low living cost for retired expats. 

in my opinion, the best city you can visit is Hochiminh city. It has a lot of famous places, delicious food and good services for tourists

Persons who recommend Ho Chi Minh City - how would you comment it being the no. 12 top polluted cities in the world by Numbeo 2017 poll? It has 94.64 out of max 103.92 pollution points.

With Hanoi being no. 20, Chiang Mai no. 70 and Bangkok no. 100, for comparison.

As I wouldn't go to BKK for any money, SGN/HCMC sounds even more concerning.

Too bad there are very few aqicn.org stations there in VN for a more accurate picture, which is a huge red flag as for every highly censored and / or corrupted societies / governments (such as ID, for example).

Hi,

It still depends on your tastes and choices though.

- Work opportunities, conveniences, parties, travelling (bus stations and TSN airport...): (definitely) Saigon

- A more relaxing city but still close enough to Saigon: Can Tho

- Coastal cities: Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hai Phong.....

- For exploration in the North: Hanoi.

My choice: Can Tho

Hope you are going to get settled down happily ^ ^

Nhung

For my money I think Dalat is the best. But that is a very subjective question and my answer is very subjective as well. But based on the needs you described , which are much like mine you just can't get me off the mountain. I have lived in the lowlands. But once I discovered DL I have not left and done plan to. In fact when I must go to HCM or Nha Trang it is only a day or so ( an hour in the case of HCM) that I am ready to get back onto the mountain. If I were inclined to move I am getting more and more impressed wit DaNang and that is where I would move to. But some need to work when they live here. Ninety-Five percent of the countries GDP comes from HCM. Stands to reason that is where the money is.

As one would expect the OP can not know anymore about making a choice than when he started as we all have our built in bias. I read the replies and say what....! But you take some of those same people and they come to the relatively constant weather of 78 degrees of DaLat and they are freezing.  Looks like the OP is going to ave to travel around the country and find his place. The information provide by the gentleman about DaNang is spot on. They have done many things to curb some annoying things. Lottery ticket peddlers for one. My number 2 city is still Danang.

Ah heck, I did not realize this is a rehash of an ancient thread!!!

Diazo wrote:

Ah heck, I did not realize this is a rehash of an ancient thread!!!

That's OK Diazo.  Sometimes it never hurts to bring up interesting topics again.  Besides, you gave me an opportunity to use this:   

>Diazo Today 10:07:57 Report #15
> 155 posts
>Ah heck, I did not realize this is a rehash of an ancient thread!!!

OK, possibly my fault, as I have not had developed a habit to check previous poster's message timestamp yet.

Live and learn.

But on topic, was the situation drastically changed re. Da Nang as of being the most attractive city for a long term living as a foreigner / expat?

I am quite seriously interested in Da Nang after having deeply researched & explored the SEA region.

No problem. This topic is current whenever it resurfaces again. Like I said, if you could drag me off the mountain DaNang would be my choice. Even living here I go down there often and play golf. You have Ba Na Hills which is in the mountains 15 miles from DaNang as well. Not a place you would probably want to live as it is quite a distance to the city. But a very nice day trip. The Manager of Montgomerie links told me that it is the goto destination now. Lets us know what you think once you get settled there. Not sure of the cost of housing. Here in Dalat it is as cheap as I have found. In fact her4e it is hard to find a villa that is not to big for you. It seems they are smaller VNese style or huge Western style. Of course, I wanted a Western style villa.

Diazo Today 11:19:59 Report #18
156 posts

Hey Diazo,

Da Lat sounds awesome.

Do you happen to have high speed fiber / 4G internet available there?

Are there shared/private swimming pools of 30m+ in existence?

Thanks for sharing.

Da Lat
City in Vietnam
Đà Lạt, the capital of Lâm Đồng Province in southern Vietnam's Central Highlands, is centered around a lake and golf course, and surrounded by hills, pine forests, lakes and waterfalls. Known as the “City of Eternal Spring” for its distinctive temperate climate, Đà Lạt was developed as a resort by the French in the early 1900s, and many reminders of its colonial heritage remain.
Weather: 21°C, Wind SW at 6 km/h, 88% Humidity
Elevation: 1,500 m (4,900 ft)
Province: Lam Dong Province

Yes, we/! have high speed fiber optics 20 upload and download, can't recall the last ping. I don't believe 4G is in VN yet, but we do have 3G. I us Mobiphone and am very happy with them. On the fiber side I use VNPT which has a money back guarantee policy. We have had the undersea cable cut several times over the years. I just note my lost days and take it to the office and get it refunded. Pools, this is not in my wheelhouse. But we do have a public pool and Dalat-Saigon will let anyone swim in their pool for a very small fee. It is a very nice indoor pool. I have seen the pool many times, but I am not an avid swimmer. I is almost always empty or very few people in it. They call DL the little Paris of Vietnam. Reminds me a great deal of the Colorado Rockies and we are at 5,000 feet. Most people who do not know Vietnam well or have never been to VN think your lying when you say you live high in the line forest of Vietnam where the weather is perpetual Spring 365 days a year. Although it has been a tad hot as of late at 81 degrees. But it is not a swinging town. They roll up the sidewalks early here. But they do a great job, by VNese standards of keeping the city center very clean. There are workers out sweeping 24/7.

Hey Diazo,

They call DL the little Paris of Vietnam.

Looks more like a super clean Switzerland.

This is a gem, Diazo. Amazing.

Is there a way I could buy you a beer online?

I have more questions like where to find (1) a reliable realtor, (2) a taxi service, (3) an interpreter, (4) a lawyer, (5) a gardener, (6) cleaning service - but I will figure this out as I always do.

Thank you very much.