Nice By Vietnam

  Resorts in Phu Quoc Island are seen from above, January 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh. The tourism ministry plans to trial a six-month vaccine passport program in Phu Quoc Island from October, and hopes to receive 40,000 foreign tourists during the period. The draft proposal by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said 2,000-3,000 foreigners would come to Phu Quoc every month by charter flights during the first three months of the trial, and only be allowed to stay in sequestered resorts and tourist areas approved by it. In the next three months the number would increase to 5,000-10,000 with tourists arriving by commercial flights. Some of Vietnam's major tourism markets with high Covid-19 vaccine coverage the ministry is eyeing include China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the U.S., Germany, Russia, the U.K. and France. To enter Phu Quoc, foreign tourists need to furnish a vaccination certificate showing they have got two shots of a Covid vaccine approved by Vietnam. T...

  Without tourists, luxury hotels in Vietnam are providing culinary tours, river cruises and other entertainment services to maintain cash flow amid the Covid-19 pandemic. With the fourth coronavirus wave growing worse in many localities, resulting in lockdowns and travel restrictions, five-star hotels across Vietnam stand near empty. Though room prices have been reduced by up to 60 percent, current occupancy rates remain at less than 10 percent. Without revenues, five-star hotels have been forced to offer luxury services to local tourists to remain afloat. Culinary tour The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi is offering a culinary tour of the world called "Tour du Monde", with dishes combining typical flavors from Morocco, the Middle East, America, the Mediterranean, Europe, Cuba and Southeast Asia. Sofitel Legend Metropole in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of the hotel. From now until September, diners can choose from a six-course set menu at the Le Beaulieu restaurant inside the hotel,...

  A Vietnam Airlines aircraft at Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi, September 19, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. Vietnam Airlines will reopen international commercial flights connecting Hanoi and HCMC with Australia along with several Asian and European destinations starting this week. The national flag carrier said flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney would depart every Thursday and Sunday starting July 15, and return flights on Tuesday and Saturday. Flight from HCMC to Melbourne would depart every Tuesday from July 20 and the return flights every Thursday. Flights from Hanoi to Frankfurt are scheduled to depart July 25 and 28 and August 21 while two flights from Hanoi to London will commence on Aug. 13 and Sept. 2. Return flights from Frankfurt are scheduled on July 26 and 29 and August 22, and from London on August 14 and Sept. 3. The national flag carrier stated flights from Hanoi to Tokyo would depart every Wednesday and Saturday starting July 17. From Aug. 1, it would resume fli...

  People are seen at Hamad International Airport, in Doha, Qatar, January 11, 2021. Photo by Reuters/Ibraheem Al Omari. Qatar has placed Vietnam in its yellow travel list of 87 countries and territories unvaccinated visitors from where need to undergo seven-day hotel quarantine on arrival. Under updated travel policies that take effect Monday, visitors then have to take a PCR test on the sixth day. Al Sharq  newspaper reported however that people who got two shots of a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization are exempt from quarantine, and would take an anti-bodies test on arrival. They must furnish a negative PCR test certificate from an accredited health center in the country of departure valid for 72 hours after arrival. This also applies to visitors who are not vaccinated. Qatar is resuming issue of family and tourist entry visas on Monday. Egypt also updated entry rules, requiring vaccinated passengers from high-risk countries impacted by the highly transmissibl...

Visitors cycle through paddy rice fields in Ninh Binh Province. Photo courtesy of Amica Travel. With traditional sightseeing tours suspended due to new Covid wave, exploring nature-friendly destinations near Hanoi on bike are worth a try. A two-day-one-night itinerary is open every Saturday and Sunday and guides cycling enthusiasts through limestone landscapes in Ninh Binh, around 60 kilometers from Hanoi and dubbed 'Ha Long Bay on land', given the limestone mountains that rise out of its paddy fields. Along the way, visitors will cycle through peaceful villages in Hoa Lu, formerly the ancient Dinh Dynasty (968-980) capital, limestone caves in UNESCO-recognized Trang An Landscape Complex and yellow rice fields in Tam Coc (Three grottoes).   Trang An is seen from above. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Trang. Unlike other areas in Vietnam, Tam Coc only has one rice crop per year due to the rise in the river’s water level during the monsoon, making farming on its banks impossible. Betwee...

  Sao Beach on Phu Quoc Island off Kien Giang Province. Photo by Shutterstock/Evgeny Drablenkov. The tourism ministry is working to complete later this month a pilot Covid-19 vaccine passport program to have foreign tourists back on Phu Quoc Island. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is closely working with authorities in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, home to Phu Quoc, on the pilot program’s content, which will allow tourists from Europe, America and some Asian countries to visit the island. While several localities have proposed the vaccine passport program for themselves, Phu Quoc has more advantages, deputy tourism minister Doan Van Viet told  VnExpress . Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest island off the southern coast, is relatively isolated from the mainland with adequate infrastructure such as airport and accommodation facilities, so it is convenient to pilot the vaccine passport program there, he said. Viet also said that in addition to ensuring safety and ...

  From only VND1 million ($43.35), visitors can book a spot at these resorts in Ninh Binh Province, not far from Hanoi and isolated amid mountainous hills and rice fields. Toki Cottage Photo courtesy of Toki Cottage. The resort is in Dam Khe Trong Village of Ninh Hai Commune, Hoa Lu District, about 130 kilometers from Hanoi. It consists of four tiled houses surrounded by a swimming pool suitable for couples or small families to escape the sizzling heat of the capital and avoid large crowds. It is recommended by travel bloggers due to its proximity to popular tourist attractions like Tam Coc – Bich Dong, part of UNESCO heritage site Trang An Landscape Complex, Van Long Lagoon and Bai Dinh Pagoda. The price per room ranges from VND1-1.3 million a night. An's Eco Garden Photo by An's Eco Garden. An's Eco Garden resort is in the middle of the mountains of Thung Chuoi in Binh Khe Village of Nhat Ninh Commune right next to Trang An Landscape Complex. The resort has 17 bungalows a...

  These aerial shots taken by a Can Tho-based engineer takes you past iconic tourist attractions and symbolic bridges strewn across the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's agriculture and aquaculture hub. A farmer works on a salt field in Dong Hai District of Bac Lieu Province as dawn breaks. Bac Lieu is one of the country’s biggest salt producers, with production primarily taking place in Dong Hai and Hoa Binh Districts. In Bac Lieu, salt is harvested once a year during the dry season from December to April. In 2019-2020 it produced 50,000 tons, including 4,700 tons of white salt, across 1,670 hectares of flats. Around 50 kilometers from Bac Lieu is Nga Nam floating market in Soc Trang Province. The photo was taken during the recent Lunar New Year holiday in February, with buyers and sellers traveling on different sized boats, loading, unloading, buying and selling numerous goods. The Nga Nam (intersection of five routes) floating market acquired its name from the convergence of five canals -...

  A person in Hanoi holds Vietnamese passports. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do. The Vietnamese passport ranks 94th among 116 positions in a global travel freedom index, far behind Southeast Asian toppers Singapore and Malaysia. With access to 54 countries, the same as last year, the Vietnamese passport shares its ranking with Cambodia, Niger and Mali. Singapore and Malaysia hold the most powerful passports in the region, ranking 2nd and 13th with visa exemptions to 192 and 179 countries and territories, respectively. In Southeast Asia, a Vietnamese passport is only more powerful than Laos (97th) and Myanmar (100th), which have visa free access to 50 and 47 destinations respectively. Vietnam was in 88th among 107 positions in  last year’s ranking . The rankings are contained in the 2021 Henley Passport Index released earlier this month by British global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners. The annual list ranks all the world's passports according to the numb...

  Passengers at Da Nang International Airport in central Vietnam, September 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong. Vietnam Airlines will trial a digital travel pass for Covid test results and vaccine certificates on a flight each from Tokyo's Narita Airport to Da Nang Airport on July 15 and 23. The carrier signed an agreement with the International Air Transport Association in May to test the IATA Travel Pass initiative that allows people to store verified Covid-19-test and vaccination certificates on a smartphone app. Passengers need to get a negative Covid-19 result and vaccination certificate issued by authorized facilities registered with IATA, the carrier said in a statement. They have to register on its website at least three days before departure, download the IATA Travel Pass application to their phone, create their digital health passport and enter their flight information. During the trial phase, passengers will still have to present test results on paper if demanded by au...

  Foreigners residing in Oman, wearing face masks, queue with their luggage at the check-in counter at a terminal in Muscat International Airport ahead of their repatriation flight from the Omani capital, May 12, 2020. Photo by AFP. Authorities in Sri Lanka and Oman have decided to extend an entry ban for arrivals from Vietnam until further notice amid rising fears over the Delta variant of Covid-19. Though Sri Lanka allowed fully vaccinated travelers to visit the country from Thursday with only one-day in quarantine, those with a travel history in Vietnam spanning the past 14 days are still banned from entering until further notice. India, South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe face the same extended entry ban. Sri Lanka, which has reported nearly 270,000 infections and 3,391 deaths, banned entry for arrivals from Vietnam starting June 1. The Sultanate of Oman has also decided to extend its suspension of entry for arrivals from...

  Passengers at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC, February 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. Only 1,700 passengers are allowed to fly from HCMC to Hanoi each day from Friday as the southern metropolis entered a 15-day social distancing period with more stringent measures. The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said the quota is to reduce the number of people going to other localities from HCMC and enable effective social distancing at airports. Vietnam Airlines is allowed to sell a maximum of 700 seats a day, Bamboo Airways and Vietjet Air can sell 400 each and Pacific Airlines’s quota is 200. In the last few days carriers have operated 13 flights daily with around 4,000 seats. From Friday all passengers on flights arriving from HCMC to other destinations are required to furnish a Covid-negative certificate. Currently there are flights to only seven domestic destinations from HCMC, down from 19 earlier. The country’s commercial hub began applying the most stringent social dist...

  Housed in some of Hanoi's oldest apartment blocks, these coffee shops may be hard to find for first-timers but ideal for meetups. Xiu Cafe Photo by VnExpress/Khanh Tran. This cafe attracts young Hanoians thanks to its Japanese style. Right from the first step into the shop, visitors will be impressed by a small garden paved with stones and lots of green trees. The space inside was renovated from the first floor of the old apartment building. Simple wooden tables and chairs are not suitable for working but the cafe is a perfect place to chat with friends. It is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The menu includes Vietnamese coffee, Italian coffee, yogurt and tea that cost from VND29,000-65,000 ($1.74-2.82). Address: 103 B5 Nghia Tan Street, Cau Giay District. Cu Xa cafe Photo courtesy of Cu Xa Cafe. Cu Xa Cafe takes its name from the now largely forgotten word for subsidy period apartment blocks, better known as  khu tap the . Situated on the second floor of the Khuong Thuong ...