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It's absolutely amazing! The food, the sights, the people - it's all really beautiful. Me and the missus said that one day when we're old we would move there to retire. Obviously this is my opinion, but if you love discovering new cultures then you'll lovw Vietnam.
I found a reddit post about it and, surprisingly, only one or two people had negative comments about it. I'm a big foodie and I was looking at popular dishes besides phó and banh mi and it all looks SO GOOD.
Do you have any recommendations on what to do/where to stay or any advice for an american who hasnt really travelled? I'm a pretty frugal person who doesn't need 5 star accommodations or anything like that
Edit: I say surprisingly bc redditors are notorious assholes not because there is anything wrong with Vietnam
If you're a foodie and like Asian cuisine, then Vietnam will be paradise! General rule - don't be afraid to eat the street food! Lot of people get discouraged for some reason and instead opt to eat in restaurants..
Well we spent a month in there, travelling south to north - if I was to do it again, I would go North to south (the climate is generally colder in the north) We did Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, Hue,Hoi An, Da Lat, and Ho Chi Minh..honestly, if you're going first time, everywhere you'll go will be an adventure and something different to see, so you don't need to worry to be bored!
There's a lot of hostels and cheap hotels with pretty "high" standard, most of the time we booked on the spot, and when we couldn't find any, we went and booked trough Booking.com or similar (not sponsored)
As with most of SEA, the most expensive are the flight tickets. The atmosphere, the food, the people - you'll not regret travelling there :)
Are there a lot of night markets and things like that? One of the more exciting things that I think about when travelling is trying the street food! Everyone is getting me so excited lol. I've only ever traveled outside of the US once, I need to get a new passport.
Any advice on travelling or anything as a USian that's never been to SEA?
Rightfully so! The markets are everywhere, night markets mostly in bigger cities.
The only advice is travel light - make it a backpacking experience. If you're changing places often, you'll want to be mobile. :)
Good luck! PM me if you have any other questions!