Archive for month: June, 2014

The Trang An Tourism Complex in the northern province of Ninh Binh has long become a favorite destination for a short trip from Hanoi. And good news recently released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is that this Complex was recognized as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO on June 23, 2014.

With this acknowledgement, Trang An has become the Vietnam’s 8^th cultural and natural heritage site.

The recognition is granted in accordance with the principles of the Convention on the Protection of World Culture and Natural Heritages including cultural, aesthetical, and geological-geomorphic values and the preservation of heritage.

Covering an area of nearly 2,000 hectares, the complex consists of three conjunctional sites: the Hoa Lu ancient citadel, Trang An-Tam Coc-Bich Dong natural scenic site, and the Hoa Lu primeval forest. It boasts 47 historical relics with numerous caves decorating with unique shape of stalactites and stalagmites inside stunning limestone karst mountain ranges. The lyric and picturesque landscape of Trang An is a harmonic combination of mountain, valley, and system of lakes.

Not only serving as a cradle of civilization of ancient Vietnamese, Trang An also used to house the first capital of the Vietnamese feudal and independent state, Hoa Lu, more than 1,000 years ago. Its rugged landscape provided a favourable location for a secure and easily defended citadel.

Moreover, Trang An owns diverse ecological system. It is surrounded by primary forests with variety of floral and fauna systems including 310 types of tracheophyta, many kinds of fungi, moss and algae, some rare trees like Dalbergia tonkinensis, Chukrasia tabularis, Burretiodendron hsienmu, over 30 animals, 50 types of birds, reptiles, especially rare animals like Capricornis sumatraensis, Neofelis nebulosa, white chest gibbon, Buceros bicornis.

If you have chance to Northern Vietnam, remember to take a trip to Trang An complex and see how it attracts so many tourists.

A good news for travelers to Bai Chay tourism area of Halong city is the recent operation of the first free bus route which connects Halong Plaza Hotel and the new Marina Bay beach area.

With this bus route, the visitors to Halong have one more cost-saving option when traveling for sightseeing and shopping in Bai Chay tourism area.

Covering over 12 places of interest, such as hotels, trade centers, marinas and beaches along Halong and Hoang Quoc Viet streets, Marine Plaza bus is the first free bus route in Halong city. In its first phase, the bus route operates daily from 3pm to 10.10pm, four trips per day with a maximum capacity of 29 passengers per trip.

This is a type of shuttle bus which runs constantly on a fixed and short route. It is quite common in many other tourist cities but is new to Halong city.

Many people upon filling the Vietnam visa application may feel confused in choosing between a single entry visa and a multiple entry visa. This post will give you an overview about the differences between these two kinds of visa, so that you will find it much easier to select the one that fits your itinerary.

The biggest difference between a single entry visa and a multiple entry visa to Vietnam lies in their number of entries. The single entry visa allows you – the visa applicant to enter Vietnam and stay in the country ONCE only during the visa validity. And when you exit Vietnam, your single entry visa will automatically become invalid. Therefore, this kind of visa is also called “one-time entry visa”. But the multiple entry visa is different, it allows you to enter and exit Vietnam as many times as you want during your visa validity.

In terms of visa on arrival, there is another minor difference between a single entry visa and a multiple entry visa. Although with both kinds of visa, you can exit Vietnam by any means of transport, the single entry visa requires all the visa applicants to arrive Vietnam by air to get visa stamped at the arrival airport, the multiple entry visa requires your first arrival in Vietnam by air only to have visa stamped and then you can exit and re-enter Vietnam by any means of transport.

With such information about differences between a single entry visa and a multiple entry visa to Vietnam, we hope you have a clearer understanding about which visa you should choose for your travel to Vietnam.

For more information about Vietnam visa and Vietnam travel, please visit https://vietnamvisa.sg/info/vietnam-guide/.

I am a UK citizen currently traveling the world. I plan to visit Vietnam during July and will be entering by land, not air. Can I get the visa from Singapore? How long does it take to process? Can I make an appointment? How much does it cost?” Soraiel.

Dear Soraiel,

Be kindly informed that you can apply for a visa at any Vietnam Embassy all over the world. However, the procedure and cost for visa processing vary from embassy to embassy. So you should contact directly the Vietnam Embassy for more information.

Here is the contact detail of the Vietnam Embassies in Singapore:

• Address: 10 Leedon Park St., SINGAPORE 26788
• Phone: (65) 64625994
• Office hours: Mon – Fri 8.30am – 12.00pm | 2.30pm – 5.30pm
• Visa Hours: Mon-Fri 9.00am – 12.00 noon

Wish you have your visa arranged soon and have an enjoyable trip to Vietnam.

Vietnamvisa.sg