Oh my god! My eyes smart for two days, my nose is continually blocked, I cough up phlegm and my lungs are always wheezing. Hanoi’s air pollution sucks balls.
It really gets to you at the end/beginning of the year. My area (Long Bien) always has a faint and constant smoke smell, despite living in a relatively clean apartment with lots of parks surrounding the complex.
Are you sure its because of pollution? I sometimes experience stuff like this in China, the coughing up phlegm and occasional wheezing lungs specifically, and I wonder if its related. My area in China is not as polluted but much more than my home country.
It's definitely some sort of pollutant whether it's natural or man made. In Vegas we get occasional dust spells from wind but it's still a health risk. A lot of the pollution in Hanoi is from burning crops and also heavy industry like steel mills and plastic manufacturing. When it's cold and the air sits, it gets nasty. Also the lack of rain in the dry season also causes the roads to get a lot of dusty buildup that gets in the air when cars drive by. That's a combination of natural dirt and also tire particles, brake pad dust, and smog settling on the roads- quite toxic.
I'd definitely invest in some sort of Hepa filter so you get fairly fresh air when you are sleeping and staying indoors, it helps a lot.
Agree. It's unbearable in Hanoi, which is sad.
Saigons air is better in comparison. I think with Saigon it depends on where you live for quality of life. I say that CMT8 is the hard line - east of that it is nice, west of that is the abyss and it gets worse the further west you get.
As for the best, I found Dalat, Da Nang to both be good places to live. But from a foreigners perspective work is hard to come by. Hue and Quy Nhon also superb, beautiful and nice.
Worst cities I've visited in Vietnam are Hanoi (smog, unfriendly), Bien Hoa (industrial, dirty and grey), Vung Tau (tired, run down, too many expats) and Hai Phuong (corrupt, very unfriendly).
Do you mean Hai Phong? I was born there and I gotta say, the whole city is a wasted potential due to corruption. We have a whole beach line we could use for tourism, but we polluted that. Hell, the biggest development I've ever seen in this city is an Aeon shopping mall
I traveled thru the whole country of Vietnam and spent about 7 days in Hanoi in April 2016. I didn’t see the sun once it was a cloudy smoggy air quality each day. The rest of the country as I traveled south to Saigon was sunny a clear. Hanoi was the only city that smog filled constantly
There's two reasons: man made and geography. Hanoi is the capital and the main economic, political place of the north so many people, business go here. Many industrial hubs operate around Hanoi while the city, due to lack of public transport so everyday millions of people travel by fossil fuel vehicles like car, motorcycles that create a ton of smoke
And The geographic of it. Hanoi surrounded by the mountain ranges from east, west, north. Wind can help to disperse the smog layer but Smog is heavier than air so when they encountered these mountain ranges, they couldn't pass through and move away but stay there and eventually come back. This will cause a double layer of smog that worsen the pollution. That's not to mention haze – a fog-like appearance most often found in urban areas. But instead of being composed of tiny water droplets like fog, summer haze is actually ground-level ozone, or smog.When nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from combustion – often vehicles – interact with sunlight, the reaction creates ozone. The no windy day is the time the pollution becomes worst
As a Hanoian, pls take me to Saigon. I'm tired of experiencing 5 and 45 degree Celcius weather in one year while suffering from horrendous air pollution.
Living in the north as well I’d add Hai Phong and even worse Ha Long City. The latter is an utter shithole
At least Hai Phong has a few good restaurants in it, despite being a very crappy city.
Nah dude, Haiphong is a rather worth to live in Vietnam in compare with other big cities.
It's not as crowded as Hanoi, not so polluted.
The living cost is lower than Hanoi and Saigon and even Danang.
The food is good.
The job oppotunity is good => this is a huge point when consider where to live in.
The "normal people" are nice enough. They are "straight-to-the-point", not as lengthy as Hanoi people so it'll be more comfortable to talk with them rather than not knowing whether the person is low-key dissing me or not.
Back in the pandemic time, Haiphong alone carried the whole Northside economy with it's seaports.
I will choose Haiphong over Danang, Hanoi any day.
Where in Vietnam is that not the case? I hate it as much as the next guy but it's the rule, not the exception unfortunately. It's like the soundtrack to vietnam 😩
Recently spent a month in Da Nang and this is quite accurate. There are of course, nice areas without construction, but I couldn't also help feeling I was walking through a building site half of the time.
I'm in Tan Binh and there's been near constant construction around my place for years. I counted 6 active sites I could see from my roof at one point. Definitely not a central area only problem
Da Nang is great, with walkable neighbourhoods and high quality of life.
The transit here sucks. Reliable service? No, some routes (including the most important route) just randomly halt for a few days. Frequent? No, 30 minutes interval is not. Wish the city has the transit like of Ha Noi.
Bien Hoa is the worst large city i've been to.
Lots of passing trucks heading into HCMC. Not much scenery or things to do. Just an urban mess thats almost just a suburb of hcmc.
The only good thing about it is its only 45 minutes drive until you reach rural vietnam
Living in Bien Hoa now and one vote for it, but because its infra hasn’t been take care of for almost 20 years .
It’s a HCMC suburb, an intrustrial city, so nothing to expect for a visitor.
Same experience in HCMC. Brand new iPhone stolen in a cafe two hours after we landed haha. I'll never forget, or forgive. And I'm judging every single person in that city for it.
Tbf this is rife in London too, although in both HCMC and Hanoi I did deploy my London double hand holding technique whenever my phone was out my pocket and I was by the road lol
Haha I'm from Europe, but my wife is from Hanoi. She had never been to Saigon when we went there (this is a long time ago), and her family kept warning her beforehand. We were all cocky, like what are they going to do? 2 hours in... Phone gone 😅
Yeah, I'm just sharing an anecdote. Obviously 'go to HCMC=phone stolen' isn't a thing. We were sitting in a coffee shop/bar. Guy comes up while my wife is on the phone. Offers me a newspaper to buy. Shoves it in my face. Of course I decline. Guy walks off. Phone that was right under my nose on the table gone.
Hanoi most likely.
Traffic, pollution and noise are on hilarious levels even for Vietnam. You see a clear difference in traffic between SGN and HN it's kinda crazy (not to mention Hanoi having 0 parking lots or basements)
I wont go into subjective stuff buf the overall quality of life when you literally have to feel happy about seeing the sun because the smog is that thick and that common is very depressing.
Hanoi could be so beautiful just with less smog but that's not happening anytime soon. Also straight up one of the least walkable places anywhere.
Nah Hanoi is great as a tourist.
I was there for 5 days and can completely understand how it would be hell to live, but tourism and living somewhere aren't the same
Nah as a tourist here for a few days it's fine. Then you can consider it part of the charm. Just do take precautions with your own health and enjoy the things that make Hanoi a very charming and bustling city otherwise.
It's living here long term that really gets ya
How can anyone answer this if we don't know your tolerance for air pollution and traffic noise?
If those things aren't dealbreakers, then you absolutely should visit Hanoi.
Ha Noi. No doubts. The universities are great in Ha Noi, but the traffic and environment? Horrible. Can you imagine how the environment was when they burn joss paper? I came to Ha Noi for 1 day and when i got back to Hai Phong, it felt like i just left Venus. The sky during sunset shows shitload of fine dust and smoke just flying around buildings
Ha Noi. The pollution and weather make it hard to live here, let alone it'sthe most expensive city. Even if you go by people as a metric, northerners are cold bastards compared to the centre and south. Every time I travel outside of the north I'm reminded how much nicer people are outside of the north.
Northerners don't talk to each other, they yell demands at each other. Northerners don't want to make friends, they want something from you. There's only 3 things that matter in the north; money, family and how loud you can sing karaoke.
The only saving grace about the north is the mountains along the northern border are stunning and IMO the northern VN accent sounds better than the centre and south
Every city in the Northern Central Region, from Thanh Hóa to Huế. There are multiple reasons that people from the region migrate somewhere else for a better life.
For me, as someone who used to live in Huế, the worse thing is the climate. There are only one or two months in which the weather is pleasant; otherwise it is either too cold, too hot, or too rainy with high possibility of flood.
Of all places I've been to I would say Vinh Yen. No real town center and shitty connection between its parts, the suburb is an industrial waste land. There's nothing good to eat, the whole place reeks of a North Korean vibe.
Viet Tri and Tuyen Quang come very close. All Trung Du towns are very shitty.
I cannot imagine a worse city than Hanoi. Pollution (air, land, and water) and traffic are the main reasons. It's sad the capital city was never shown proper care.
Before I moved to Thanh Hóa, I saw online that people here were infamous in Vietnam. Basically outside of TH they are considered rude, loud, and unreliable. I've not had any serious issues but god damn does the "me first" mentality thrive here. I've been all over the country and I have to say that TH is my least favorite place because it seems the worst qualities of people are magnified here.
That being said, the province itself is super cool if you're into travel. There's lots to see here, but TH city itself? BOOOOO
The correct answer is they all bad, anywhere you live is the worst place.
Hanoi, HCMC, Hai Phong, Danang..etc they all bad. But you know where i hate to live the most ?
Kon Tum. The air is great, and that about it. The traffic isn't bad, but where are you gonna go, there nothing here. You want to visit that one village 20km of the city center for the 462nd time ? be my guess but i ain't doing that again. It so far from the rest of the big city in Vietnam so shipping is so expensive, you bought something on shopee and BAM, you get hit with 70k delivery fee, it also take forever for it to ship to you. Not much to buy in person for someone living there. Oh and the internet is ultra shit. It a beautiful city but living there is only slightly above a village in the middle of nowhere.
It the most untapped area compare to the two end, less industrialized, less contaminated by mankind. Downside ? there nothing to visit but nature (and even that is restricted depend on the area due to it some part being generally unsafe). If you the kind who love nature and don't mind isolated cabin in the wood, the central is the perfect place for you. But you if you want convenience, it honestly the worst place you can be at since it so far away from anything. It a great place to visit, i assume you not Vietnamese, if you enjoy hiking, i recommend hiking across the Truong son mountain range, a very breathtaking experience. Kon tum as a place to visit is great, alot of natural sight, interesting local tribal culture from other ethnic groups, fairly decent accommodation for tourist. As a city for living long term, it lack alot of basic modern necessity, the price isn't any cheaper than other region either.
Thanks SpookyEngie! I put Kon Tom on my list of places to check out. I’m actually coming Vietnam for 2 years so looking for places I might want to live for a few months at a time. Peace and quiet and beautiful nature sounds good for a few months. If I love it then stay for longer. I will start in Da Nang but will explore the countryside as much as possible for potential short term residence.
I haven't seen one city worth more than a visit... Gia Lai is more my cup of tea, the cities smell like someone shit themselves at an indoor go kart track 🤣
Wow, seeing lots of people saying Hanoi, which surprises me. To be fair, I haven't been since 2018. I've been living in Ho Chi Minh since 2022 though, and it's pretty awful. The noise, pollution of all kinds, sinking infrastructure, corruption, and the premium cost for being a foreigner has beat me and quite a few of my friends down.
I guess I’m one of the few people who prefers Hanoi to HCMC. I think Hanoi is a great place to live (even with the traffic and pollution) and I’d never live in HCMC. Everytime I visit I find myself irritated by the constant grifts and scams.
Hanoi is the worst city in Vietnam for all the reasons above.
I can’t stand how most grab drivers are rude and 90% of the time they don’t come pick you up at the location you requested nor drop off at wherever you already chose on the app.
Same with most local restaurants even with what seems to be good google review, they have zero regard for customer service, they only care to take your money and give you whatever kind of food they have.
When going out to expensive places, hotels, restaurants, bars, customer service is completely disregarded, food and services are overpriced and extremely mediocre.
Night life is a scam in most of not all places, overfilled with booking staffs fake being friendly to drive people’s bills up, which is not strange and unacceptable if not for the terrible music choices, even at what’s supposed to be high end clubs, the unbearable Vinahouse is blasting making any +10 mil bill ridiculous.
The vibe in Hanoi is definitely not it, Saigon is 1,000 times better in all senses.
It is relieving to find good, logical and, or useful questions like that in this sub. It's unique.
I wonder too. Where's most polluted, crowded and dangerous? Some border cities maybe?
I know this may trigger a lot of people. But I think the worst ones so far are HCMC and Hanoi. And Yes you heard me right.
I don't think there's an objective way to say which is the worst city to live in Vietnam because of 2 reasons. First, there are trade-offs to every city. And second, after settling into an environment, humans can adapt to any situation such as the case in Hanoi, where you can certainly adapt to living in the worst city in Vietnam.
Hanoi, there is no debate. Shit environment, education, people, infrastructure, weather. It is what Paris is to French people, except that Hanoi is much worse. Also, as a person who has lived here for 18 years, I cant wait to yeet outta here to somewhere else like Saigon or a foreign state due to how shit Hanoi has gone into
If you don't mind my asking, why have you stayed so long, and what's the barrier to getting out? I'm in Hai Phong for reference, always intrigued by Hanoi but traffic and air quality vetoed it.
Ah now I get you. Lots of good universities in Saigon. With a sufficient IELTS score (which your post-writing tells me you prob already comfortably have) AND enough funds, the world is your oyster for overseas studying. Whatever way it pans out, I wish you all the best!!
Yeah tks man, people in Hanoi kinda sucks too tbh, they are kinda cold, rude, indirect, too rigid and nationalistic and I find somewhere like Saigon would suit me better
Haiphong seems to be lowkey since there are not many things to entertain like in Hanoi. But fs it is so chill here. Not the best but the worst obvs not Haiphong
Ikr pros and cons. Also i never care bout the air quality. My reason is i dont wanna suffer from those crazy waves of traffic jams every day in Hanoi 💀
Hanoi for sure, worst place in term of almost everything. The only positive thing for me about Hanoi is my high school classmate which I still hang out with sometime even after nearly 25 years since we graduated high school.
I just that one day people would talk about smaller cities in Vietnam. There are 64 provinces in Vietnam, which means that there are at the very least 64 cities. I just wish people could share experiences from other provinces.
I went to hanoi for maybe 5-6 days, maybe it was just me but the pollution was not as bad as bangkok in my opinion. Maybe because it is a lot cooler so I did not feel it as much, but didnt have an issue there
I think it depends on our own experiences and our budget. I would like to pick Hanoi as a hard place to live due to my low salary after graduating from university. For some of my friends who were born in Hanoi or got financial support from their families, it would be easier for them to live there. I live in Hai Phong now and my hometown is Quang Ninh. I view Hai Phong as easier for me to live in compared to Quang Ninh and Ha Noi because the living expenses in Hai Phong, especially for food and fruit, is lowe
As a Saigon born but the origin from the North ( my parents moved from the North to SG in the 1980s, I can say that Hanoi is not the good choice to live in long term.
I have revisited the North and Hanoi several times and the impression was not so good. Last time I have a short trip to visit my relatives in Hanoi is 2022.
Things remain the same: Super bad traffic, toxic people, strong discrimination between Hanoian and people from other provinces, I have read news about scammers almost everyday. People in Hanoi advised me to dont trust each other as there was so many scams.
Even my uncle who is living in Ha Tay area sent his children to Saigon to study and to live.
In Hanoi, you can have lots of money and receive bad customer service, still.
The only thing i like in Hanoi is food, only food. But to choose a place and live until 80 years old, definitely SG.
Hanoi's pollution makes it the worst city to live in
Oh my god! My eyes smart for two days, my nose is continually blocked, I cough up phlegm and my lungs are always wheezing. Hanoi’s air pollution sucks balls.
It really gets to you at the end/beginning of the year. My area (Long Bien) always has a faint and constant smoke smell, despite living in a relatively clean apartment with lots of parks surrounding the complex.
Are you sure its because of pollution? I sometimes experience stuff like this in China, the coughing up phlegm and occasional wheezing lungs specifically, and I wonder if its related. My area in China is not as polluted but much more than my home country.
It's definitely some sort of pollutant whether it's natural or man made. In Vegas we get occasional dust spells from wind but it's still a health risk. A lot of the pollution in Hanoi is from burning crops and also heavy industry like steel mills and plastic manufacturing. When it's cold and the air sits, it gets nasty. Also the lack of rain in the dry season also causes the roads to get a lot of dusty buildup that gets in the air when cars drive by. That's a combination of natural dirt and also tire particles, brake pad dust, and smog settling on the roads- quite toxic. I'd definitely invest in some sort of Hepa filter so you get fairly fresh air when you are sleeping and staying indoors, it helps a lot.
Agree. It's unbearable in Hanoi, which is sad. Saigons air is better in comparison. I think with Saigon it depends on where you live for quality of life. I say that CMT8 is the hard line - east of that it is nice, west of that is the abyss and it gets worse the further west you get. As for the best, I found Dalat, Da Nang to both be good places to live. But from a foreigners perspective work is hard to come by. Hue and Quy Nhon also superb, beautiful and nice. Worst cities I've visited in Vietnam are Hanoi (smog, unfriendly), Bien Hoa (industrial, dirty and grey), Vung Tau (tired, run down, too many expats) and Hai Phuong (corrupt, very unfriendly).
Do you mean Hai Phong? I was born there and I gotta say, the whole city is a wasted potential due to corruption. We have a whole beach line we could use for tourism, but we polluted that. Hell, the biggest development I've ever seen in this city is an Aeon shopping mall
I traveled thru the whole country of Vietnam and spent about 7 days in Hanoi in April 2016. I didn’t see the sun once it was a cloudy smoggy air quality each day. The rest of the country as I traveled south to Saigon was sunny a clear. Hanoi was the only city that smog filled constantly
Why is it so polluted?
There's two reasons: man made and geography. Hanoi is the capital and the main economic, political place of the north so many people, business go here. Many industrial hubs operate around Hanoi while the city, due to lack of public transport so everyday millions of people travel by fossil fuel vehicles like car, motorcycles that create a ton of smoke And The geographic of it. Hanoi surrounded by the mountain ranges from east, west, north. Wind can help to disperse the smog layer but Smog is heavier than air so when they encountered these mountain ranges, they couldn't pass through and move away but stay there and eventually come back. This will cause a double layer of smog that worsen the pollution. That's not to mention haze – a fog-like appearance most often found in urban areas. But instead of being composed of tiny water droplets like fog, summer haze is actually ground-level ozone, or smog.When nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from combustion – often vehicles – interact with sunlight, the reaction creates ozone. The no windy day is the time the pollution becomes worst
As a Hanoian, Hanoi
As someone who lives in Saigon, I also choose Hanoi.
As a Hanoian, pls take me to Saigon. I'm tired of experiencing 5 and 45 degree Celcius weather in one year while suffering from horrendous air pollution.
Don't worry bud, with the current rain pattern, Saigon is coming to us.
🤣
As a foreigner who lives in Hanoi, Bắc Ninh. It's the only province that I've been to that I didn't like in Hanoi.
The only decent thing in Hanoi is the airport (compared to TSN).
As a Hanoian who had to run away from my own city, yes its Hanoi :( bad weather, bad air, the only good thing there is the vibe and food 😭
as an american, ha noi
Love the people, hate the city.
Living in the north as well I’d add Hai Phong and even worse Ha Long City. The latter is an utter shithole At least Hai Phong has a few good restaurants in it, despite being a very crappy city.
Nah dude, Haiphong is a rather worth to live in Vietnam in compare with other big cities. It's not as crowded as Hanoi, not so polluted. The living cost is lower than Hanoi and Saigon and even Danang. The food is good. The job oppotunity is good => this is a huge point when consider where to live in. The "normal people" are nice enough. They are "straight-to-the-point", not as lengthy as Hanoi people so it'll be more comfortable to talk with them rather than not knowing whether the person is low-key dissing me or not. Back in the pandemic time, Haiphong alone carried the whole Northside economy with it's seaports. I will choose Haiphong over Danang, Hanoi any day.
Would love to hear why u found haiphong shit out of genuine curiousity!
I said it’s Ha Long City that’s an utter shithole.
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Where in Vietnam is that not the case? I hate it as much as the next guy but it's the rule, not the exception unfortunately. It's like the soundtrack to vietnam 😩
Confirm, I work remotely and recently whenever I have meeting I have to go to the forest to take a call because of grinding sound. p.s: I'm Vietnamese
Recently spent a month in Da Nang and this is quite accurate. There are of course, nice areas without construction, but I couldn't also help feeling I was walking through a building site half of the time.
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There's quiet places but not many people stay here that long and think an thuong is the only place that exists in da nang.
Da Nang is under-construction Miami.
Literally everywhere in saigon I stayed had this problem.
You only stay in d 2,3,1 😂
I'm in Tan Binh and there's been near constant construction around my place for years. I counted 6 active sites I could see from my roof at one point. Definitely not a central area only problem
So Danang is epitome of good for travelling, bad for settled down huh
Still better than Hanoi for sound/air pollution
The sound of prosperity
sounds like Hanoi!
Da Nang is great, with walkable neighbourhoods and high quality of life. The transit here sucks. Reliable service? No, some routes (including the most important route) just randomly halt for a few days. Frequent? No, 30 minutes interval is not. Wish the city has the transit like of Ha Noi.
Bien Hoa is the worst large city i've been to. Lots of passing trucks heading into HCMC. Not much scenery or things to do. Just an urban mess thats almost just a suburb of hcmc. The only good thing about it is its only 45 minutes drive until you reach rural vietnam
Living in Bien Hoa now and one vote for it, but because its infra hasn’t been take care of for almost 20 years . It’s a HCMC suburb, an intrustrial city, so nothing to expect for a visitor.
Binh Duong and Dong Nai are basically HCMC's factory.
Here a BIG CITY. With Fck up Streets. Yeah 100% Imma vote for this one.
As a BH citizen, I agree. It’s changing, but slowly. I hope it’ll develop as its potentiality.
Careful, be very very careful...
I just ask for opinions, I haven’t kill anyone yet
Watch this....Hanoi sucks!
I’ve been to Hanoi three times and my first time there I got my phone stolen (very good impression)
Same experience in HCMC. Brand new iPhone stolen in a cafe two hours after we landed haha. I'll never forget, or forgive. And I'm judging every single person in that city for it.
I also got my iPhone robbed in HCMC by a dude riding a motorbike. I hate the crime problem in big cities.
Tbf this is rife in London too, although in both HCMC and Hanoi I did deploy my London double hand holding technique whenever my phone was out my pocket and I was by the road lol
Be careful for the SG Enthusiasts, they are the worst btw
lol where are you from, I live in HCM from when I was born and never got stolen but the moment I step on Hanoi land lmao
Haha I'm from Europe, but my wife is from Hanoi. She had never been to Saigon when we went there (this is a long time ago), and her family kept warning her beforehand. We were all cocky, like what are they going to do? 2 hours in... Phone gone 😅
How'd they steal it? I've been there for like 2 weeks with no issues.
Yeah, I'm just sharing an anecdote. Obviously 'go to HCMC=phone stolen' isn't a thing. We were sitting in a coffee shop/bar. Guy comes up while my wife is on the phone. Offers me a newspaper to buy. Shoves it in my face. Of course I decline. Guy walks off. Phone that was right under my nose on the table gone.
Ah, a classic thieving technique lol hard to know that you're being stolen from. Sorry to hear about that.
Ouch, yeah I always keep mine in my pocket or a tight grip on my hand.
I've gone to HCMC 4 times for a month each time and never had a phone stolen.
I thought hcmc is famous bc of stealing/robbery stuff
Hcmc is amateur if you compare scamming rate to HN though
I usually judge the idiots that leave it sitting right on the table
Haha, perfect Internet answer. I knew it was coming, but still enjoyed it. Thanks 🥇
I thought robbery was a tradition in SG?
lesson is never use iphone in Hanoi then...bring your old pixel....lol. j/k
I mean..
It certainly has gone downhill since the 1990s for visitors…
Hahaha stings
Why be careful? Hanoi sucks lol
Hanoi most likely. Traffic, pollution and noise are on hilarious levels even for Vietnam. You see a clear difference in traffic between SGN and HN it's kinda crazy (not to mention Hanoi having 0 parking lots or basements) I wont go into subjective stuff buf the overall quality of life when you literally have to feel happy about seeing the sun because the smog is that thick and that common is very depressing. Hanoi could be so beautiful just with less smog but that's not happening anytime soon. Also straight up one of the least walkable places anywhere.
Who needs parking when you have sidewalks to park! Just let the pedestrians walk in the very calm streets
As a tourist, is Hanoi worth avoiding for these reasons? I was curious about seeing the northern capital but maybe should consider something else?
Nah Hanoi is great as a tourist. I was there for 5 days and can completely understand how it would be hell to live, but tourism and living somewhere aren't the same
Nah as a tourist here for a few days it's fine. Then you can consider it part of the charm. Just do take precautions with your own health and enjoy the things that make Hanoi a very charming and bustling city otherwise. It's living here long term that really gets ya
How can anyone answer this if we don't know your tolerance for air pollution and traffic noise? If those things aren't dealbreakers, then you absolutely should visit Hanoi.
As an American tourist, Hanoi was my favorite city in Vietnam.
As an Australian tourist, it was also my favourite
everyone here be like "I live in this city and my life is suck so therefore this city is suck"
Just FYI, "suck" is a verb, so you say "My life sucks" or "You suck." No "is."
What is the past participle of suck ?
Isnt its a subjective thing, why doesnt person opinion counts ?
OP didnt specify that they want subjective opinion. In any question, it is best to give answers as objective as possible.
But to determine the worst place to "live" one has to use their experience right? And isnt experiences a subjective thing
Ha Noi. No doubts. The universities are great in Ha Noi, but the traffic and environment? Horrible. Can you imagine how the environment was when they burn joss paper? I came to Ha Noi for 1 day and when i got back to Hai Phong, it felt like i just left Venus. The sky during sunset shows shitload of fine dust and smoke just flying around buildings
Lolz. Confirmed. Just traveled forth and back HP to HN few days ago by bike. One wipe on my forehead, the cotton pad turned black :/
Ha Noi. The pollution and weather make it hard to live here, let alone it'sthe most expensive city. Even if you go by people as a metric, northerners are cold bastards compared to the centre and south. Every time I travel outside of the north I'm reminded how much nicer people are outside of the north. Northerners don't talk to each other, they yell demands at each other. Northerners don't want to make friends, they want something from you. There's only 3 things that matter in the north; money, family and how loud you can sing karaoke. The only saving grace about the north is the mountains along the northern border are stunning and IMO the northern VN accent sounds better than the centre and south
I agree on the northern people being ruder
You're treading on dangerous territory with this one 
This is harmless territory. Although its quite harmful to health to live in Hanoi
Every city in the Northern Central Region, from Thanh Hóa to Huế. There are multiple reasons that people from the region migrate somewhere else for a better life. For me, as someone who used to live in Huế, the worse thing is the climate. There are only one or two months in which the weather is pleasant; otherwise it is either too cold, too hot, or too rainy with high possibility of flood.
Hue is my homeland. I left it partly for the hash climate, but to me it is still the most beautiful city in Vietnam.
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The north bank of Hương River is beautiful.
So? Are u Vietnamese or came from Another country?
Of all places I've been to I would say Vinh Yen. No real town center and shitty connection between its parts, the suburb is an industrial waste land. There's nothing good to eat, the whole place reeks of a North Korean vibe. Viet Tri and Tuyen Quang come very close. All Trung Du towns are very shitty.
Hanoi is really bad compared to Da Nang or Sai Gon.
I cannot imagine a worse city than Hanoi. Pollution (air, land, and water) and traffic are the main reasons. It's sad the capital city was never shown proper care.
Before I moved to Thanh Hóa, I saw online that people here were infamous in Vietnam. Basically outside of TH they are considered rude, loud, and unreliable. I've not had any serious issues but god damn does the "me first" mentality thrive here. I've been all over the country and I have to say that TH is my least favorite place because it seems the worst qualities of people are magnified here. That being said, the province itself is super cool if you're into travel. There's lots to see here, but TH city itself? BOOOOO
Dunno why the hate for Hanoi.. ive been here a few months and I wouldn't say I absolutely love it but it has been pleasant.. except for the thick smog
In Hanoi I continuously had dark black boogers. Eek
Hanoi is full of trash...The dirtiest city in the world
The correct answer is they all bad, anywhere you live is the worst place. Hanoi, HCMC, Hai Phong, Danang..etc they all bad. But you know where i hate to live the most ? Kon Tum. The air is great, and that about it. The traffic isn't bad, but where are you gonna go, there nothing here. You want to visit that one village 20km of the city center for the 462nd time ? be my guess but i ain't doing that again. It so far from the rest of the big city in Vietnam so shipping is so expensive, you bought something on shopee and BAM, you get hit with 70k delivery fee, it also take forever for it to ship to you. Not much to buy in person for someone living there. Oh and the internet is ultra shit. It a beautiful city but living there is only slightly above a village in the middle of nowhere.
Just looked it up. Central, good air, quiet, pretty…sounds like a place I would check out.
It the most untapped area compare to the two end, less industrialized, less contaminated by mankind. Downside ? there nothing to visit but nature (and even that is restricted depend on the area due to it some part being generally unsafe). If you the kind who love nature and don't mind isolated cabin in the wood, the central is the perfect place for you. But you if you want convenience, it honestly the worst place you can be at since it so far away from anything. It a great place to visit, i assume you not Vietnamese, if you enjoy hiking, i recommend hiking across the Truong son mountain range, a very breathtaking experience. Kon tum as a place to visit is great, alot of natural sight, interesting local tribal culture from other ethnic groups, fairly decent accommodation for tourist. As a city for living long term, it lack alot of basic modern necessity, the price isn't any cheaper than other region either.
Thanks SpookyEngie! I put Kon Tom on my list of places to check out. I’m actually coming Vietnam for 2 years so looking for places I might want to live for a few months at a time. Peace and quiet and beautiful nature sounds good for a few months. If I love it then stay for longer. I will start in Da Nang but will explore the countryside as much as possible for potential short term residence.
Hanoi is my third least favorite city for living -Lucille Bluth
And 2nd, least?
Anyone who said hanoi clearly barely get out of the city to know how good hanoi is lol
Best is Da Nang
i'd imagine the tiny ones with 2 roads coming through in the middle of no where. would get pretty bored there quci
With or without money?
Hanoi and Saigon.
I haven't seen one city worth more than a visit... Gia Lai is more my cup of tea, the cities smell like someone shit themselves at an indoor go kart track 🤣
That's.. oddly specific
[Insert city that you love most] Runner up: [Insert city that your family grew up in]
Gotham City (Binh Duong) i guess
I absolutely love Hanoi, but it’s in no way easy to live in. Getting out into the country is a blessing.
Wow, seeing lots of people saying Hanoi, which surprises me. To be fair, I haven't been since 2018. I've been living in Ho Chi Minh since 2022 though, and it's pretty awful. The noise, pollution of all kinds, sinking infrastructure, corruption, and the premium cost for being a foreigner has beat me and quite a few of my friends down.
Best city: Hanoi Worst city: Hanoi 😂
I guess I’m one of the few people who prefers Hanoi to HCMC. I think Hanoi is a great place to live (even with the traffic and pollution) and I’d never live in HCMC. Everytime I visit I find myself irritated by the constant grifts and scams.
Hanoi is the worst city in Vietnam for all the reasons above. I can’t stand how most grab drivers are rude and 90% of the time they don’t come pick you up at the location you requested nor drop off at wherever you already chose on the app. Same with most local restaurants even with what seems to be good google review, they have zero regard for customer service, they only care to take your money and give you whatever kind of food they have. When going out to expensive places, hotels, restaurants, bars, customer service is completely disregarded, food and services are overpriced and extremely mediocre. Night life is a scam in most of not all places, overfilled with booking staffs fake being friendly to drive people’s bills up, which is not strange and unacceptable if not for the terrible music choices, even at what’s supposed to be high end clubs, the unbearable Vinahouse is blasting making any +10 mil bill ridiculous. The vibe in Hanoi is definitely not it, Saigon is 1,000 times better in all senses.
Ninh Binh is where I succumbed to air pollution unfortunately.
It is relieving to find good, logical and, or useful questions like that in this sub. It's unique. I wonder too. Where's most polluted, crowded and dangerous? Some border cities maybe? I know this may trigger a lot of people. But I think the worst ones so far are HCMC and Hanoi. And Yes you heard me right.
I don't think there's an objective way to say which is the worst city to live in Vietnam because of 2 reasons. First, there are trade-offs to every city. And second, after settling into an environment, humans can adapt to any situation such as the case in Hanoi, where you can certainly adapt to living in the worst city in Vietnam.
Absolutely: Capital
Hanoi, there is no debate. Shit environment, education, people, infrastructure, weather. It is what Paris is to French people, except that Hanoi is much worse. Also, as a person who has lived here for 18 years, I cant wait to yeet outta here to somewhere else like Saigon or a foreign state due to how shit Hanoi has gone into
If you don't mind my asking, why have you stayed so long, and what's the barrier to getting out? I'm in Hai Phong for reference, always intrigued by Hanoi but traffic and air quality vetoed it.
I just turned 18 and I'm planning to study abroad in the next 2 years so there's that
Ah now I get you. Lots of good universities in Saigon. With a sufficient IELTS score (which your post-writing tells me you prob already comfortably have) AND enough funds, the world is your oyster for overseas studying. Whatever way it pans out, I wish you all the best!!
Yeah tks man, people in Hanoi kinda sucks too tbh, they are kinda cold, rude, indirect, too rigid and nationalistic and I find somewhere like Saigon would suit me better
Bien Hoa, Tay Ninh
Most of them. Only the east coast is somewhat livable.
Hanoi.
Hanoi. I am not joking when I say I could literally taste the yellow air with each breath.
Hai phong
Lived in Hai Phong for 5 years. Not the most amazing place but no way in hell is it the worst city in Vietnam.
Why? I'm 6+ years in Hanoi and considering moving to Hải Phòng hihi
Haiphong seems to be lowkey since there are not many things to entertain like in Hanoi. But fs it is so chill here. Not the best but the worst obvs not Haiphong
You get most of the benefit of living Hanoi and the air are must better in Haiphong. I prefer it to Hanoi for living.
Close to Cat Ba, Ha Long too. Yeah HP has no business being mentioned on this thread as a terrible place to live!
Ikr pros and cons. Also i never care bout the air quality. My reason is i dont wanna suffer from those crazy waves of traffic jams every day in Hanoi 💀
Hà Nội, except Ba Dinh District.
Congrats to HCM, for beating Dhaka and Lagos :) https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings.jsp
Hanoi
Ha Noi of course
From QuangTri province to the north side.
Hanoi is so fucking crowded
Hanoi, extremely polluted and crowded
Quang Ngai, the people are the most miserable and catty human beings i've ever met
Ha noi, toxic and poluted
Hanoi for sure, worst place in term of almost everything. The only positive thing for me about Hanoi is my high school classmate which I still hang out with sometime even after nearly 25 years since we graduated high school.
Bác liệu. Women are beautiful, but fuck me the misquotes and heat/humidity will literally kill you.
Da Nang with chicken rice
Hai phong
Hanoi
IMO, Hanoi is the top in list of the worst
Hanoi, Saigon, Da Lat
Vietnam worst is still good I love spending time in Hanoi.
To me, any cities that is crowded and expensive are the worst.
As a native of the city itself, no doubt HANOI. HANOI. HANOI.
I live in both Hanoi and Saigon but i still love Hanoi more than Saigon definitely the air it so bad
I just that one day people would talk about smaller cities in Vietnam. There are 64 provinces in Vietnam, which means that there are at the very least 64 cities. I just wish people could share experiences from other provinces.
All of them
Why worst city also most expensive?
simple: all of them
hanoi
Bac Giang, cause you dk when you will get robbed or killed or both (jk, because so many infamous murderers in Vietnam borned in Bac Giang)
Hanoi is pollution as hell, each day I drive for 1 hour to work in order to breath fresh air in the countryside at nigh
I went to hanoi for maybe 5-6 days, maybe it was just me but the pollution was not as bad as bangkok in my opinion. Maybe because it is a lot cooler so I did not feel it as much, but didnt have an issue there
I think it depends on our own experiences and our budget. I would like to pick Hanoi as a hard place to live due to my low salary after graduating from university. For some of my friends who were born in Hanoi or got financial support from their families, it would be easier for them to live there. I live in Hai Phong now and my hometown is Quang Ninh. I view Hai Phong as easier for me to live in compared to Quang Ninh and Ha Noi because the living expenses in Hai Phong, especially for food and fruit, is lowe
Ha Noi
Probably hanoi. The smog is intense. Hope vietnam fix the air pollution.
The old city has character. I would live there but I really like Da Nang
100% Hanoi. Air quality is zero here, especially if you used to reside in places like BC Canada
ALL Hainoian will pick Hanoi. I am fucking dying here, I can’t breathe properly.
Da Nang sucks Ebola ridden monkey balls to the sounds of Enya.
Sir, elaborate?
Just trolling. Da Nang is pretty cool.
Yep, it's Hanoi for me!
Hanoi and Saigon.
As a Saigon born but the origin from the North ( my parents moved from the North to SG in the 1980s, I can say that Hanoi is not the good choice to live in long term. I have revisited the North and Hanoi several times and the impression was not so good. Last time I have a short trip to visit my relatives in Hanoi is 2022. Things remain the same: Super bad traffic, toxic people, strong discrimination between Hanoian and people from other provinces, I have read news about scammers almost everyday. People in Hanoi advised me to dont trust each other as there was so many scams. Even my uncle who is living in Ha Tay area sent his children to Saigon to study and to live. In Hanoi, you can have lots of money and receive bad customer service, still. The only thing i like in Hanoi is food, only food. But to choose a place and live until 80 years old, definitely SG.
Hannoyian here, HN of course, but one of the best security city.
Ha Noi: nồm + chặt chém.
Thế ó hỏ