Vietnam with kids, a country with three climates at once
Vietnam with kids by age band and region, with the e-visa rule for children, the month each third of the country works and the beaches that suit toddlers.
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Vietnam is a very good family destination with one structural difficulty that no amount of good planning removes: the country is about 1,650 km long and has three separate climates, and they are rarely all in season together.
Get the month and the region right and it is easier and cheaper than Thailand. Get it wrong and you have booked rain in two thirds of your trip.
Vietnamese dong. Convert any figure on this page into your own currency at today's published rate.
Open the currency converter →The paperwork, including for the children
Every passport holder needs their own Vietnam e-visa, and there is no age exemption. A child with their own passport gets their own individual application linked to that passport.
The one exception: a child under 14 whose details are recorded inside a parent's or guardian's passport can be included in the family's joint application rather than filing separately.
There is exactly one official site. Apply on the immigration department's own e-visa portal. The number of convincing lookalike sites charging a markup for this is high, and families filing four applications are four times as likely to land on one.
Short tourist stays only. Checked 21 Aug 2026; rules change without notice and the government page is the source of truth.
Check your own passport →The three climates, and what that means for a fortnight
North (Hanoi, Ha Long, Sapa, Ninh Binh): a real winter. December to February is cool and often grey, with a persistent drizzle. Hot and wet May to September.
Centre (Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An): a distinct typhoon and heavy rain season around September to November, and its best months from February to May.
South (Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong, Phu Quoc): warm all year, with a wet season roughly May to October that mostly means a heavy afternoon downpour rather than a lost day.
The two windows where most of the country works at once are March to April and October to November, and even those are compromises. The best time to visit Vietnam has the month table properly.
The practical family conclusion: if you have two weeks and small children, do not do the whole country. Pick two regions, or pick one and stay. A fourteen-day north-to-south run is three internal flights and four hotel changes, which is a lot of packing with a four-year-old.
Where to actually go with children
The centre, which is the answer for most families
Hoi An and Da Nang. This is the easiest part of Vietnam with children and it is the part we would book first.
Hoi An is a small, flat, walkable old town of merchant houses and tailors, pedestrianised in the evenings, hung with silk lanterns, with a river you can take a small boat on. It is genuinely magical after dark and it is compact enough that a tired child is never far from the hotel.
Da Nang, thirty minutes away, has My Khe, a long sandy beach that is calmer than most of Vietnam's coast in season, plus the Marble Mountains and the Golden Bridge held up by two enormous stone hands, which is exactly the kind of thing a seven-year-old wants to see.
What we cannot show you: Hoi An is not in our catalogue, so there is no live room shelf for it here. That is a real gap, because it is the single best family base in the country. Da Nang, thirty minutes away, is in the catalogue, and the shelves below are real rooms and real tours for your dates.
The north, which is more beautiful and more work
Hanoi is dense, loud and endlessly interesting, and it is hard with a pram: pavements are parked on, traffic is constant, and crossing a road is a skill.
The technique, and teach it to older children: walk at a slow, steady, predictable pace and do not stop or run. The scooters flow around you. Stopping in the middle is the dangerous thing.
Ninh Binh is the family highlight of the north: limestone karsts, flooded rice paddies, and a rowing boat through caves that children love. Two hours from Hanoi and far better than a Ha Long day trip, which is six to eight hours in a coach around two hours on the water. Three days in Hanoi has the full argument.
Sapa is spectacular and involves a long journey and serious walking. Ten and up.
The south
Ho Chi Minh City is a big, hot, fast city and it is the least child-oriented part of the country. The War Remnants Museum is important and is genuinely distressing; we would not take under-twelves.
The Mekong Delta as an overnight works well: boats, fruit orchards, and a slower pace.
Phu Quoc is the beach island with the most family infrastructure.
The age bands
Under two. Manageable and warm, in both senses. Vietnamese strangers, especially older women, will engage with your baby directly and may pick them up. This is meant kindly and is a genuine cultural difference worth being ready for.
Two to five. The centre. Beach, lanterns, boats, short distances. Skip the north's long journeys.
Six to eleven. The best age here. Add Ninh Binh, cycling in Hoi An, a cooking class, snorkelling.
Twelve and up. The full two-week route works, including Sapa.
Checked 21 Aug 2026.
Everything we check for Vietnam →Practical things
Food is easier than in Thailand with cautious eaters, because the chilli is usually on the table rather than in the pot. Pho, banh mi, rice, spring rolls, and fruit that will ruin supermarket fruit for you.
Traffic is the main daily risk. Scooters, few crossings, and pavements used for parking. Hold hands, cross slowly and steadily, and never put a child on the back of a scooter.
Mosquitoes. Dengue is present. Repellent, long sleeves at dusk, air conditioning or a net.
Cash still matters outside the cities, and small notes are useful. The currency has a lot of zeros on it, which children find hilarious and adults find briefly confusing.
Medical care in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City has good international clinics. Insurance that covers them is not optional.
What to skip
The whole country in a fortnight with under-sixes. Two regions.
Ha Long Bay as a day trip. Six to eight hours of coach. Do Ninh Binh instead, or give Ha Long an overnight on a boat.
The War Remnants Museum with young children.
A scooter with a child on it.
Sapa with under-tens. Long journey, steep walking, cold in winter.
Paying a third-party site for a child's e-visa. One official portal.
Before you book
Two weeks in Vietnam is the adult route north to south, the best time to visit Vietnam has the three-climate month table, and three days in Hanoi covers the capital including Ninh Binh against Ha Long. Thailand with kids is the direct comparison, Bali with kids is the other regional family option, and how to plan a family trip is the method behind all three.
The Da Nang city guide and the Vietnam country guide carry the practicalities, and there is more in the with kids hub. When you are ready, Da Nang rooms are here and the bookable half is here.
Entry rules and seasons checked September 2026. Vietnam's e-visa scope has changed more than once in recent years and the national tourism administration is a better source for the current position than any guide, this one included. Here is how we research and re-check guides.
