The Vietnam visa from Pakistan
Vietnam
The short answer. Vietnam runs an e-visa, applied for online before you travel. It is one of the simpler applications on this page. The two things that go wrong are the port of entry you name on the form and a photograph that does not meet the specification.
Vietnam has become the value trip of the region: four or five days, a long way from the usual, and cheaper than almost anything comparable. The tours page carries four Vietnamese itineraries, and the shortest is the least expensive international departure on the whole list.
The two things that go wrong
The port of entry. The form asks which airport or border you will arrive at, and the answer matters. Arriving somewhere other than the port you named is a problem at the counter rather than a formality. If your flights are not finalised, finalise them before you apply, not after.
The photograph. The application wants a passport-style photograph and a scan of the passport page, both to specification. A phone photograph of a printed photograph is the most common reason one comes back, and it is an entirely avoidable week lost.
Beyond those: the passport with the validity required, the dates of the visit, and where you will be staying.
Where people actually go
Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, the trip most families take, where the overnight boat on the bay is the thing people remember.
Da Nang and Hoi An, shorter and cheaper, beach on one side and an old trading town on the other.
Phu Quoc, the island, which is a beach holiday rather than a sightseeing one.
Three climates in one country
Vietnam is long and narrow, and the north, the centre and the south are in different weather at the same time. Hanoi has a real winter and is cold and grey in January in a way people do not expect. The centre has a typhoon season. The south is warm all year.
This matters for the booking rather than the file. A trip planned for the wrong month in the wrong third of the country is a holiday spent indoors, and we would rather move the dates than let that happen.
Is the Vietnamese application really all online?
The e-visa route is genuinely online, which is unusual on this page. What it still needs is correct documents and a correctly named port of entry, and that is where the applications we are brought to repair have usually gone wrong.
What if my flights change after it is issued?
If the port of entry changes, that is a real problem and not a small one. Tell us before you change the flight rather than after, because a flight can often be rerouted more easily than a permission can be amended.
Is halal food available?
In the cities and the tourist areas, with some arranging. Vietnam is not Malaysia; halal is something to organise rather than assume. We choose hotels and restaurants with it in mind and tell you honestly where it will be harder.
Is four days enough?
For Da Nang and Hoi An, yes. For Hanoi and Ha Long Bay it is tight, because the bay takes a full day and a night out of the trip; five is better. Both lengths are on the tours page with their prices, so you can see what the extra day costs.
Before you pay anything
Vietnamese entry arrangements, the eligible ports of entry and the document specifications change. We confirm the current position before every application rather than trusting any list, including this one.
Send us the passports and your flight plan. We will check the photograph against the specification before it goes rather than after it comes back.