I am thinking about living in Da Nang from January to March 2027

I am looking for an ex-pat buddy who can help me through the process and is totally grounded in Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City. What can you tell me! I would like to live comfortably for the 3 months that I will be there. I don't need a 5 star place, but definitely clean and connected to the ex pat community. I enjoy nightlife, the beach, eating the local cuisine, etc. If you feel like you have the time to provide advice, I am all ears! - @Doug1964

When you physically arrive here in Đà Nẵng, I'm happy to meet you for coffee.

Unfortunately, I don't have the energy to be your private advance man, except to offer one bit of advice:

Under no circumstances should you attempt to finalize a long-term reservation prior to actually arriving in Vietnam as scams and deceptive ads/photos are legendary here.

At most, most of us recommend booking a decent and affordable hotel for between 3 and 10 days through one of the more established apps/websites such as Agoda or BookingDOTcom.

That will give you plenty of time to personally check out what's actually available at that time.

I personally never, ever, ever recommend Airbnb if you aren't physically here in the country to check out the place before you agree to rent it.

Even then, I still don't recommend Airbnb as the landlords are repeatedly involved in violations of the lodging laws here and often situate you within a building where your presence is resented and resisted by whatever means the management can employ (denial of use of common areas such as pools, etc).

The governments in different cities here have started to clamp down on the use of Airbnb, so there's no reason you want to get in the middle of those battles.

You will be arriving in the off season so there shouldn't be any pressure to lock down something prior to your arrival, as vacancies will be significantly higher than during high season.

It's worth noting that Tết (Lunar New Year's Day) will fall on February 6th, with the lunar month prior becoming somewhat hectic during preparations for the celebration and the month afterward slowly getting things back to normal, some businesses closed for significant amounts of time and some basic fresh foods becoming scarce. Transportation within the country can also be disrupted during that overall time period, as significant portions of the population travel home from major cities before the holiday and then return en masse after the core 3 day celebration is complete.

If you have some further questions about Đà Nẵng, post them as comments in this thread and I'll do my best to deal with them.

Added Note:

It's really a myth that there is some sort of "expat community" in Đà Nẵng or any other city in Vietnam, unless you were talking about hanging out at the most popular bar...

@Doug1964

hello. So you plan to stay in Vietnam for 3 months. Personally I agree with OceanBeach, to think about  a place to live is too hurry. Better do a booking in a Hotel, explore the cities for a couple of weeks and then you would consider to rent an appartment.

In other hand, to avoid bad sittuations, you should consider this other advises: 1) You must know that you cannot sleep lawfully at any place without reporting your temporary homestay at the Police, so be careful whenever you are invited to sleep at your friend's and always wear your passport if you will. 2)  You are permitted to ride a scooter under 50cc without a driver license (only Vietnam). If you would like to rent a car or bigger motorbike bring your US License, and here you can revalidate it for abiut 100 usd. An International License issued by USA is not accepted in Vietnam, nor China, but you can use it in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, etc. 3) Ensure your banks can send you codes to your email, or better if you activate SMS roaming. And 4) Bring your Single Status Certificate with Apostille issued in USA (you will not get one at Embassies abroad)... In 3 months nobody knows what could happen 😉 .

Good luck

@Doug1964
..... If you would like to rent a car or bigger motorbike bring your US License, and here you can revalidate it for abiut 100 usd.....  - @ajairon

Here I have to clarify that Tourist Visa holders cannot convalidate their own drivers licenses. Therefor United Statians cannot ride nothing over 50cc or 5HP until get a TRC via other visa types... Again, none knows what could happen in 3 months

This is exactly the advice that I needed and I thank all of you for your wisdom!  I will respond back to each of you individually but thought this post might reach you all.  Absolutely OceanBeach 92107 coffee is a must and it will be my treat, and thanks for the airbnb advice.  I will look for a hotel on the sites provided.  Thanks to you too ajairon and I am not sure I would scoot around if transportation is readily available at an appropriate price.  That being said, anything else that you would like to tell me feel free to do so   I certainly appreciate it.   This is all new to me but I am excited to travel there and experience the culture.  Ideally, I will stay for about 80 days or so.  I will acquire the right visa through the proper channels.  Let me ask, if I may, how much money would one need to stay in a safe and secure place for about three months, eat reasonably, experience some culture and nightlife, etc.  All information received is totally terrific.  Maybe if it is not too intrusive, share some ballpark figures

I forgot this one....what is a single status certificate with Apostille?  What would my status matter?

4) Bring your Single Status Certificate with Apostille issued in USA (you will not get one at Embassies abroad)

Once again, many thanks!

Nevermind, I just did a quick review on the internet.  I do not plan to find a wife, been there, done that, and happy to live the rest of my days as a totally free person!  (happy faces)

Doug - before we go down the cost of living rabbit hole for the thousandth time in this forum, why don't you just tell us your preferred monthly budget.

It's not important for you to know what it cost us to live here.

Better for you to tell us your basic expectations and your budget and we can work with that.

As far as transportation goes, I frequently tell people that I've know well over a dozen people who have come to Vietnam and been in motorcycle accidents; everything from small ebikes to very large Harley hogs.

However, in eight years, I haven't known anyone who has been in a taxi accident.

Grab is the equivalent of Uber and Lyft here, but it's incredibly cheaper. My bonus daughters use a motorbike my wife and I bought them, and I have an eTrike and she has an e-bike for nearby needs here on the Bayside of town.

But if we are going anywhere out of our neighborhood, we always book a grab car.

@ajairon

Per your responded "here you can revalidate it for abiut 100 usd".  What do you mean by that statement?  to convert your U.S license to Vietnamese license? cost $100 U.S.A? How long does it good for? As your visa validation?  How does this process work and where we can get it done?  Thank you!