Slow Travel Vietnam – A Local’s Guide to Moving Mindfully in 2025

Jul 10, 2025·By Kim Ngan

Slow Travel Vietnam – A Beginner’s Guide to Moving Mindfully
By Kim Ngân

Vietnam doesn’t rush. Why should you?
There’s a rhythm to Vietnam that lives beneath the scooters and market calls.
It’s the gentle clinking of a tea cup in Hội An,
The creak of a wooden boat gliding down the Mekong,
The hush of incense rising between gray rain in Huế.

As someone born in the Mekong Delta and now living in Saigon,
I’ve come to realize:
Vietnam doesn’t ask you to keep up.
It invites you to slow down — and stay a while.

What is Slow Travel – And Why Vietnam Is Made for It
Slow travel is not just about skipping the tourist traps or spending a few extra nights in one city.
It’s about being present.
About waking up to the sound of a rooster instead of an alarm clock.
About choosing a home-cooked meal over a restaurant with reviews.

Vietnam, in all its layered complexity, welcomes this approach.
It doesn’t perform.
It simply is — warm, raw, poetic.

Here, the pace is not dictated by itineraries but by seasons, by meals, by conversation.
You don’t visit Vietnam.
You live it — even if only for a moment.

Where to Go – Places That Breathe in Slowness
Some places in Vietnam seem to have made peace with time.
They don’t rush forward. They linger.

• Hội An – Lanterns, riverboats, and streets that remember
Wander slowly through old town in the early morning before the crowds come.
Sit by the river at dusk. Light a candle. Make a wish.

• Huế – Rainy afternoons and echoes of the past
There’s a tenderness to Huế.
Not in its imperial palaces, but in the way the city lets you be quiet without asking why.

• Ninh Bình – Still waters between limestone dreams
A boat ride in Tam Cốc feels like time has curled up and gone to sleep.
Everything here moves at the pace of reflection.

• Đà Lạt – Pine forests, cold coffee, quiet cafés
In this mountain town, the air is crisp and the mornings are made for wool scarves and long reads.

• Mekong Delta – Where I come from
Life here is still tied to the water.
You’ll learn patience watching a floating market wake up,
or sipping sugarcane juice in a hammock by the river.

How to Travel Slowly in Vietnam – A Local’s Suggestions
✅ Stay in homestays or quiet guesthouses
Choose places where hosts greet you with tea, not check-in forms.

✅ Use the train
Take the Reunification Express from Hanoi to Saigon. It’s not fast — and that’s the point.

✅ Visit local markets, not malls
Wander without buying. Watch. Smell. Listen.

✅ Wake up early
Vietnam belongs to the mornings.
From monks collecting alms to vendors steaming rice rolls, there’s a gentle kind of poetry at dawn.

✅ Eat slow, eat local
Skip the fancy. Find the woman with a tiny cart and a quiet smile.
That’s where the best phở usually is.

✅ Don’t plan everything
Leave space in your itinerary for serendipity. Some of the best moments are unplanned.

Moments That Changed Me – A Personal Note
I once spent a morning doing absolutely nothing in Hội An.
I sat by the Thu Bồn River with a warm bánh mì and watched the water move.

No camera.
No checklist.
No “must-see.”

Just the river. And me. And the sense that — maybe for the first time in weeks — I was actually here.

That’s when I understood what slow travel meant.
It wasn’t about how long I stayed.
It was about how deep I sank into the moment.

Slow Travel Isn’t a Trend – It’s a Return
In a world obsessed with speed,
Slow travel is not a luxury.
It’s a way to come back — to your breath, your senses, your life.

And Vietnam, with its quiet alleys, its sun-dappled hammocks, and its gentle people,
Offers the perfect place to begin again.

So if you're tired of rushing,
If you crave something real,
Come slowly.

Vietnam will wait for you.