2 weeks ago
4
November 19, 2025 — 5:00am
I still think about the pho at Phu Vuong in Ho Chi Minh City. It was perfect: fragrant, balanced, delicate, hearty, topped with mountains of bean sprouts and herbs.
The aroma of that soup, a distinctive fragrance mixed with scooter exhaust and humid Saigon air, still lives with me. I will eat it again. I have to.
This is the thing with Vietnam. It sticks with you. It drags you back. I have been visiting this country for more than 20 years now (one of the first emails I ever sent was to a guesthouse in Hanoi) and never for a second have I been tired of it, or even considered the notion that I maybe won’t go back.
Because I will return, for the soup at Pho Phu Vuong, but for many other reasons. For the misty highlands and culture in Sapa, in the far north; for the narrow streets and hustle of Hanoi; for the beauty of Halong Bay, the casual joy and freedom of a Mekong Delta exploration, the beachy good times of Nha Trang, the cool relief of Dalat.
I’m not the only one who has figured this out. Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing destinations for Australian travellers right now, a nation we are rapidly becoming obsessed with.
There has been a huge jump in the number of Australians visiting Vietnam recently: a 35.4 per cent increase in the 2024-25 financial year compared to the previous year. From August 2019 to August this year, there was an increase of almost 58 per cent.
These raw numbers still don’t compare to juggernauts such as Indonesia, New Zealand or Japan, but the trend is undeniable. And the attraction of Vietnam can be compared to our other current and lasting obsession, Japan.
Japan is popular because it’s easy to get to, a single flight with very little time difference – and Vietnam is the same. Only, with the likes of VietJet and Jetstar, and less pressure on limited flights, Vietnam is cheaper to access.
Japan is a hit with Australians, too, because it offers cultural immersion, a feeling that you couldn’t be anywhere else. Vietnam is the same, though with an added sense of the unpredictable.
We love Japan because of its diversity of locations, everything from mountains to beaches to lakes to huge cities. Vietnam has the same.
And many Australians travel to Japan for the food, which you could and absolutely should do in Vietnam. The food scene in this country is so diverse and complex and incredibly accessible, both in terms of price point and the style of dining.
Of course, Japan also has snow, which is where the comparison ends. But you see what I’m getting at.
Much of what we love – and what I love – about Japan, a country that has seen a massive increase in Australian visitors in the past decade or so, can also be found in Vietnam, and often for a fraction of the price. All the stuff you probably can’t afford to do in another country (in Europe, the US or even parts of Asia), you can do in Vietnam.
And there’s more here to love, more to explain the obsession. There’s a raw thrill to Vietnam that you don’t get in many other places.
One of the best travel experiences of my life was riding a scooter around the Mekong Delta, stopping off at roadside stalls to drink Vietnamese iced coffee, pulling in to small towns to eat banh xeo (crisp pancake filled with pork and seafood) for lunch, staying overnight in simple guesthouses and eating noodle soup for breakfast in local markets.
It didn’t hurt, of course, that my partner and I could wrap that experience up and then go stay at the Reverie Saigon, a super-luxe five-star hotel in central Ho Chi Minh City where you can get a room for less than $400 a night (Fusion Original Saigon Centre, another five-star hotel, is $250 a night).
That’s one of the great things about Vietnam, that you’re able to dip in and out of different experiences, different styles of travel, and it will all be great. You can be eating “oc”, or barbecued snails, and drinking beer at an open-air restaurant one night, and then check out some upmarket bar with fancy cocktails the next. Or do it all in one night.
Travel by rough-and-ready night train on your way up north, then take a flight on the way back. Easy. Accessible.
There’s an in-your-face joy to Vietnam, too, that you don’t get in other places: you meet so many people, you see into their lives and they into yours, in a way that feels balanced and natural. The cities of Vietnam are dynamic and exciting, filled with young people running businesses, studying, roaring around on scooters, dining and drinking and having fun. These are great places to be.
I don’t see this growing interest in Australians travelling to Vietnam waning any time soon. In fact, I think it will increase. Many visitors going for the first time now will understand that Vietnam rewards return visits, and that those visits will be easy and accessible. You will go again.
Not least because you will be forever craving that noodle soup.
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