When my friends first broached the idea of doing a bachelorette party, I was hesitant. It usually comes with a set of problems with organization, coordination, and ownership. However, I had told my girlfriends that I was open to doing a bachelorette as long as they handled all the details end to end.
At that point, we were deciding between Taiwan and Vietnam. I go to Taiwan at least once a year for my parents, and my friend Ivy mentioned that Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City specifically, would be a really interesting place to host a bachelorette party. At that point, I was game for anything, and so I ended up having an epic bachelorette party in Ho Chi Minh City.
It might come as a surprise to a lot of people because brides in the states would tend to go to Vegas, New York, or somewhere more domestic in the States.
Because I have a global breadth of friendships and my friends from Asia couldn’t make it to my bridal shower in San Francisco, I thought it was a really great and fun idea to host a bachelorette in Asia. HCMC was a city I’ve never been to before, but previously having gone to Danang, Hoi An, and Hanoi, I loved Vietnam as a place to visit and knew HCMC would also be as epic.
So planning a bachelorette trip to Vietnam?
Here’s exactly how we spent 4 days in Ho Chi Minh City — from street food tours to a sunset cruise, a perfume-making workshop, and everything in between. You can save this as your template if you’re planning your own trip.
How We Structured the Trip
Before diving into the day-by-day, here’s the system we used via Google Sheets we used to keep the group happy without over-planning every second:
- Blue = group activities — things we all did together
- Green = optional / pick your own — downtime built in on purpose
- Yellow = logistics — check-in, check-out, and other things to remember
If you’re planning a group trip, I highly recommend this color-coding method. It made it so easy for everyone to glance at the itinerary and know what was required vs. flexible. Additionally, it helps the introverts and the extroverts set the right expectations on what to expect, giving people down time and time to explore as they freely want. During the trip, the girls also broke out in their own groups to do spa day, nails, hair, exploration, things like that.
Before Your Arrival
One of the stressful moments of this trip was offboarding and exiting through the entrance at the airport. A lot of people will come up to ask you if you need sim cards, a Grab driver, or a private driver.
I definitely felt a little bit overwhelmed, but more at ease because I had a working sim card already for Vietnam, and I had prebooked my car. I actually booked a driver on booking.com, which was only $10 to $15. Additionally, we had no issues with it. The person actually came out with a sign and was able to identify me, and then he drove me straight to the hotel.
Get the Best e-Sim in Vietnam (SIM LOCAL) – This was my number one priority as I wanted to be connected to my friend group and make sure I could connect with my driver. Sim Local has flexible eSIM plans you can choose between a few GBs or unlimited data. Obviously as a creator, I went with unlimited data so I could post content, communicate with my friends, and keep connected with people back at home. Traveling with a laptop, tablet, or a friend who conveniently “forgot” to get their own SIM? Hotspot and tethering are included at no extra charge, so you can share the love without paying more for it.
Running low mid-trip isn’t a problem — you can top up right in the SIM Local app, no vendor hunting required. As for where it actually works: expect strong, dependable coverage in the big cities — Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, all solid. If your itinerary swings toward Sapa’s mountains or deep into the Mekong Delta, just know signal can get spottier out there, which, honestly, tracks for most connectivity in remote regions.
And if anything goes sideways during your trip, support is available over WhatsApp.
You can also choose a local plan with MobiFone, one of Vietnam’s leading mobile operators, offering fast 4G data and reliable coverage across all major cities and rural areas. Affordable data, calls, and texts.
Notify Your Embassy – I always notify the US embassy STEP program about my whereabouts when I am traveling. Not that I’m going to dangerous war zones, but it helps a lot for safety. It’s a habit I practice, as it’ll keep you informed of any updates or threats, as well as connect you or know where you are while traveling.
Book Your Driver on Booking.com – Since I didn’t want to call a Grab right out of the airport, I simply prescheduled my trip on Booking.com with E-Life Limo. You can find airport transfers for a decent price. My one way hotel transfer was USD 13.25 total. The driver reached out to me via Whatsapp in advance, let me know where to go, and the pick up was very smooth.
Check if you need a Visa to go into Vietnam – Americans and Canadians need a visa. Actually, I did my visa three weeks before the trip, and it was processed in three to four days. However, I’ve heard horror stories that it’s taken way longer than that, so if I were you, I would definitely do the visa way in advance. I would also double-check the website that you’re using. SEO currently pushes these visa services, but the government website is the most legit so stick to using that site. Unless you need a rush order for your visa, then consider others.
Items you can consider packing:
- charcoal pills or travelers diarrhea medicine
- lots of sunscreen or coverage–the heat is no joke
- some Vietnamese dong but a lot of places take card now
Find a place to store your luggage – We used Bounce, a luggage storage app. It’s great because our checkout was at 11 am, but our flight was at 9 pm. We had to find a place to safely store our luggage. My friend used Bounce in the past in Europe, and we used it again in HCMC. Luckily there was a hotel spa that allowed us to store our luggage.
Day 1 (July 3): Arrival & Street Food
- 3:00 PM — Check-in at the villa / Airbnb
- 7:00–9:00 PM — Street Food Tour through District 4 (Vinh Khanh Food Street)
- 11:30 PM — Drinks at Summer Experiment cocktail bar beforehand for anyone who wanted an early start to the night
We kept day one light on purpose: landing, checking in, and easing into the trip by ordering Grab food instead of overloading the schedule. We didn’t end up going to the food market since we had too much going on, but it was nice to get some rest. If I go back, I would consider going to the market and trying more food.
Day 2 (July 4): Brunch, Downtime & a Chinese Dinner Show
- 10:00 AM — Coffee
- 11:00 AM — Brunch at Man Moi (make a reservation)
- 12:00–2:00 PM (optional) — Either explore activities downtown (go shopping) or head back to the villa to rest
- 3:00 PM — Back to the villa to get ready for the night
- 5:00 PM — Sunset drinks at Social Club Rooftop Bar (sunset was right around 6:15 PM)
- 7:15 PM — Chinese dinner with a live performance
- 11:30 PM (optional) — Summer Experiment Bar beforehand
This was our “main event” day — sunset drinks into a dinner show made for great group photos and gave the trip its centerpiece night out.
Here’s a list of shopping spots you should hit up:
- Wardrobe Arc
- 11 Garmentory
- DMDSTUDIOS
- Compound Garment
- into.eight
- Kiaa Concept
- Real Clothes
Day 3 (July 5): Perfume Workshop & Dinner Cruise
- 9:00 AM–12:00 PM — Choose your own morning: chill at the villa, grab coffee, shop, or get massages. My favorite matcha place was at TEA’SPACE – SAIGON PEARL
- 12:00 PM — Lunch at Pizza 4P’s (Tran Ngoc Dien location, reserved in advance)
- 2:00 PM — Perfume-making workshop at The Scent Lab (~USD $40–60, we booked the 50ML option)
- 6:00 PM — Board the dinner cruise (boarding from 6:00 PM, cruise departs around 7:30 PM, returns to port by 9:30 PM)
- 10:00 PM — Late-night chilling and chatting back at the villa
This was our most activity-packed day, but it worked because the morning stayed unstructured. Pairing the perfume workshop with the cruise made for a nice mix of hands-on and relaxed. I had a really good time at the perfume workshop. We did a workshop with other groups, so it was really interactive and fun.
For the cruise, I would say it’s definitely worth it for the views and the experience, but just know that the food isn’t that great. The food is a mix of American, Japanese, or local Vietnamese, and I would not go back for the food. I would go purely back for the cruise experience.
Day 4 (July 6): Check-Out
- Check-out day — the only note here was making sure a couple of us had somewhere to store luggage post-checkout before our next move.
- We ended up using Bounce, which is an app that allows you to book and store your luggage securely. My only concern is that these are third-party vendors, so don’t leave your valuables in your luggage. Just bring your passport and cards with you wherever you’re going, but we ended up storing our luggage at a hotel spa, and we had no problems with it whatsoever. It was nice because they were open quite late. When we returned around 9:30 PM, we were able to grab our luggage quickly, call a cab, and head back to the airport.
Takeaways for Planning Your Own Bachelorette Trip to Vietnam
- Build in optional blocks. Not every hour needs a plan — the green “pick your own” slots kept the trip from feeling exhausting. Say that we are in the majority of our late twenties and early thirties, so we needed a lot of time for rest and respite.
- Get all the free stuff. It was really hilarious because at every location we went to, including a pizza parlor, my friend had told them it was my bachelorette. We ended up getting free ice cream, free drinks, free shots. Definitely milk it and let people know that you’re here for a whole celebration.
3. Reserve your must-do activities early. Pizza 4P’s, the perfume workshop, and the dinner cruise all required reservations — book these as soon as your dates are locked. Surprised by how fast these reservations go. I would additionally always try to contact them via WhatsApp, which is a popular communication platform that they use there.
4. Balance high-energy nights with slow mornings. Sunset drinks and dinner shows are more fun when you’re not also rushing around all day beforehand. Take time to rest, since HCMC itself is quick paced and energy draining at times. We took a lot of rest stops, some girls went back home early to nap, but I felt like we managed everything quite well.
5. Color-code and set time expectations. Seriously — it’s a small thing that made a big difference in keeping everyone aligned without needing to explain the plan five times. One thing I would also recommend is to not micromanage the group, but just to let people know that, hey, you have this much time, or we need to leave at this specific time. Be very specific in your plans of communication and create a group chat.
6. Don’t stress out about the small details. The reason why is because it’s pretty chaotic in Ho Chi Minh City, similar to the traffic and the way people do life there. It’s fast-paced and speedy, but also magical. It was fascinating to see the rush hour happen, but also to watch pedestrians and experience it for myself, walking across the flow of traffic while being one with the hundreds of motorcycles coming at you. The key is to walk confidently at a similar pace and not do anything sporadic, like running or sprinting across. You just have to walk at a steady pace, and the traffic will flow around you.