How to get to Vietnam by air, road or sea: airports, land crossings, cruise ports, the e-visa and the pre-arrival declaration...

Since 2026, Vietnam has introduced a new online entry form for foreign travelers arriving by air: the Vietnam Pre-Arrival form. This free digital arrival card, also known as the Pre-Arrival Information form or PAI declaration, generates a QR code that may be checked by immigration officers when you land. In this guide, you’ll find out who needs to complete the form, which airports it applies to, when to submit it and how to fill it out step by step, so you can arrive in Vietnam prepared and avoid last-minute stress.

On a map, Phu Quoc and Koh Rong sit across the same stretch of the Gulf of Thailand, and in photos both come out as pale sand and calm water. The trips themselves hardly overlap. Phu Quoc is Vietnam's largest island, with an international airport, long resort strips and a growing list of theme parks. Koh Rong is a boat ride from Sihanoukville, with rough tracks rather than roads between most beaches and a very different idea of what an evening looks like. This guide is built around the question most people are really answering: how much effort will you accept to reach the beach, and how much comfort do you want once you are there? It also covers how to string the two islands together.

Phu Quoc and Koh Rong sit less than 100 km apart in the Gulf of Thailand, and it still takes a full day to get from one to the other. No boat or plane links them directly, so the trip is a relay: a fast boat to the Vietnamese mainland, a walk through a land border, a ride along Cambodia's south coast and a second boat out to the island. This guide walks through the three practical ways to make the trip, how long each one takes, what the tickets cost in October 2026, and the visa detail that catches out people who flew into Phu Quoc without a visa. If you are still choosing between the two islands, start with Phu Quoc or Koh Rong, where we compare them side by side.

Coffee in Saigon is strong, sweet and usually iced. Most cups are made from Vietnamese robusta, dripped through a small metal phin filter and poured over ice with condensed milk. You can drink it on a plastic stool on the sidewalk for under a dollar, or in a specialty cafe for around four.