Postage in Vietnam is fairly inexpensive and reliable. There are tens of companies servicing postal service within Vietnam and between Vietnam and other countries such as VNPT, EMS, Saigon Post, DHL, FedEx...to name a few.
As Vietnam is a member of the World Trade Organization and Vietnam's international trade is growing, it's expected that there are more and more postal companies expanding their network to Vietnam.
1/ Post Office Opening Hours
The government-run post office system is available in all residential areas in Vietnam. The open time is 07:30 - 08:00 A.M and the close time is 17:00 in rural areas and 21:00 in cities.
2/ Postcards and stamps
Post cards and stamps are available at all post offices and most souvenir shops in cities. All postal stamps have glue. Normally stamps and postal service are available right at the souvenir shops and at some hotels. If the traveller wants to send post cards abroad, then it's recommended to send them from cities rather than from far-flung mountainous regions.
3/ Posting Items
When posting a parcel, the sender must leave it open for inspection. All incoming parcels are expected to be opened for inspection. The sender or receiver may have to pay export/import tariffs for outgoing/incoming parcels depending on the items sent/received.
There are tens of shipping companies in Vietnam servicing worldwide. Normally for fragile items, the shipping companies take the responsibility to buy insurance to cover possible incidents. Still this should be written in the agreements between the cargo owner and the shipper/or shop owner (if the item bought from a shop).
4/ Telephone
Telephone service in Vietnam for both domestic and international is very good and reasonably priced. International direct dialing (IDD) is available from any location in the country. There are also different networks for internet phone which require dialing certain codes when calling and which make the cost much cheaper. Calls made after 21:00 hours and before 05:00 hours have discounted rates. Making phone calls from hotels are likely much more expensive than from a public phone booth or post office.
5/ Fax
Fax service is available at most hotels and post offices.
6/ Mobile Phones
Mobile phones are very advanced and developed with GSM or CDMA technology. GSM network seems to be more popular at the time of writing. GSM phone signals are available almost all areas of Vietnam including many far-flung mountainous regions.
GSM phones are for sales everywhere with very inexpensive prices. Once having a GSM mobile phone with a local SIM card or with a SIM card from your home country of which roaming service is registered, you can make phone calls from your phone without any difficulty. The GSM network in Vietnam supports signal range of 850-900 MHz.
For the traveller equipped with a mobile phone from a country in Asia, South Pacific Region and Europe, then having a Vietnam SIM card or having registered the roaming service with your phone company is all you need to do to make/ or receive phone calls on your phone. People from the USA may need to acquire a signal-converter to make your GSM phone usable in Vietnam as your GSM mobile phone from the US supports only 1900 MHz.
When acquiring a SIM card, be sure you know which company you are buying the SIM card from. Some companies offer very good rates, but acquiring phone cards to put money into your phone account requires great efforts as the sales network is limited, or simply the signals are not widely available. So it's recommended you check with the vendors, your local friends or tour guides for more information.
At the time of writing, if you have a SIM card with the beginning numbers like 090, 091, 092, 094, 098, then you are more able to buy cards for putting money into your phone account in most cities and towns. As more and more companies providing mobile phone service in Vietnam with better and better quality and rates, it's recommended you check with the local when arriving.
7/ Making Phone Calls
Domestic local calls (within province/city), just dial the phone number. Example: 1234567
Domestic calls (inter-provincial/city), dial: 0 and area code and phone number (for example: 0 243 1234567 with the area code of 243 )
International calls from Vietnam, dial: 00 and country code and area code and phone number (for example:call from Vietnam to Thailand: 00 66 78 000000), alternatively you can replace 00 by one plus sign ‘+’: +66 78 000000;
International calls to Vietnam, dial: "+" (84) (area code) (phone number) (for example, call Paradissa from the USA: +84 83 9279204 ) (note: The plus sign "+" indicates international calls, if you make phone calls from a mobile phone, then using the plus sign "+", if calling from a fixed phone, then replace the plus sign "+" with your country international dialing code, this can vary from country to country such as 00, 001...depending on each country).
8/ Vietnam Area Codes
The area codes in Vietnam are changed from time to time and it is hard for even local people to remember. It is better you search on the internet when in need.
At the time of writing the area codes are as follows:
No. Province/City Dialing code Postal Code
1 An Giang 296 880000
2 Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu 254 790000
3 Bạc Liêu 291 260000
4 Bắc Cạn 209 960000
5 Bắc Giang 209 220000
6 Bắc Ninh 222 790000
7 Bến Tre 275 930000
8 Bình Dương 274 590000
9 Bình Định 256 820000
10 Bình Phước 271 830000
11 Bình Thuận 252 800000
12 Cà Mau 290 970000
13 Cao Bằng 206 270000
14 Cần Thơ 292 900000
15 Đà Nẵng 236 550000
16 Điện Biên 215 380000
17 Đắk Lắk 262 630000
18 Đắk Nông 261 640000
19 Đồng Nai 251 810000
20 Đồng Tháp 277 870000
21 Gia Lai 269 600000
22 Hà Giang 219 310000
23 Hà Nam 226 400000
24 Hà Nội 24 100000
25 Hà Tĩnh 239 580000
26 Hải Dương 220 170000
27 Hải Phòng 225 180000
28 Hậu Giang 293 910000
29 Hòa Bình 218 350000
30 Hồ Chí Minh 28 700000
31 Hưng Yên 221 160000
32 Khánh Hòa 258 650000
33 Kiên Giang 297 920000
34 Kon Tum 260 580000
35 Lai Châu 213 390000
36 Lạng Sơn 205 240000
37 Lào Cai 214 330000
38 Lâm Đồng 263 670000
39 Long An 272 850000
40 Nam Định 228 420000
41 Nghệ An 238 460000 – 470000
42 Ninh Bình 229 430000
43 Ninh Thuận 259 660000
44 Phú Thọ 210 290000
45 Phú Yên 257 620000
46 Quảng Bình 232 510000
47 Quảng Nam 235 560000
48 Quảng Ngãi 255 570000
49 Quảng Ninh 203 200000
50 Quảng Trị 233 520000
51 Sóc Trăng 299 950000
52 Sơn La 212 360000
53 Tây Ninh 276 840000
54 Thái Bình 227 410000
55 Thái Nguyên 208 250000
56 Thanh Hóa 237 440000 – 450000
57 Thừa Thiên Huế 234 530000
58 Tiền Giang 273 860000
59 Trà Vinh 294 940000
60 Tuyên Quang 207 300000
61 Vĩnh Long 270 889000
62 Vĩnh Phúc 211 280000
63 Yên Bái 216 320000
9/ Internet
Internet in Vietnam is very easy to access. With more and more ISPs, better and better internet traffic and service quality are expected. Some ISPs are testing their 5g infrastructure. Local people can watch online films, play online video games... from their laptop computer or hand phone.
There are still internet cafes, or cyber centers in big cities such as Ha Noi, Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, Sai Gon...But they are not as ubiquitous as they were once as most people have their computers or hand phone with internet access.
All hotels offer high-speed internet, wired or wireless. If you have a laptop computer or smart phone, then you can surf the web from your own room or hotel. Normally the hotels don't charge their staying guests for using the internet from their laptop computer or hand phone, but it's reported that some luxury hotels charge a hefty sum for this.
Alternatively there are several cafes with free WIFI Internet in most cities in Vietnam.
Another option is that you purchase a SIM card with 4g service, then you have internet access anywhere in the Vietnam. Top-up cards for you to charge your SIM card account are for sales almost everywhere in the country.
