Last updated September 2024 | Words and photos by Vietnam Coracle

Tom Divers is the founder and creator of Vietnam Coracle. He’s lived, travelled and worked in Vietnam since 2005. Born in London, he travelled from an early age, visiting over 40 countries (he first visited Vietnam in 1999). Now, whenever he has the opportunity to make a trip, he rarely looks beyond Vietnam’s borders and his trusty motorbike, Stavros. Read more about Tom on the About Page, Vietnam Times and ASE Podcast.

Essential knowledge for any adventurous, independent traveller in Vietnam, nhà nghỉ means ‘guest house’. Offering simple but comfortable, cheap and clean accommodation throughout the nation, nhà nghỉ is a key resource for off-the-beaten-path travel in Vietnam. If you want to explore the furthest corners of the nation, away from the tourist trail and popular destinations, then you will almost certainly be staying at a nhà nghỉ. Very few places, no matter how remote, are lacking at least one nhà nghỉ. However, this form of budget accommodation usually goes unnoticed by foreign travellers because the signs are often in Vietnamese and most of them do not appear on booking websites. In addition, some nhà nghỉ operate as ‘love hotels’ with a seedy underside which has (unfairly) tarnished the reputation of nhà nghỉ as a whole. But the majority of nhà nghỉ are cosy, friendly places run by local families. I’ve been travelling all over Vietnam for more than a decade and it would not have been possible without the hundreds of nhà nghỉ I’ve stayed in along the way.

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Comfortable Budget Accommodation in every Corner of the Nation

This guide is a general introduction to nhà nghỉ aimed at helping travellers understand what they are, when to use them, how to find them, what to expect and how much they cost. If you’re an independent traveller, familiarizing yourself with nhà nghỉ will open up the entire country for exploration, giving you the opportunity to travel further off the beaten path while always being confident of finding a place to stay, no matter where you are. (For more useful resources like this see Related Posts.)

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CONTENTS:

What is a Nhà Nghỉ?

When to Stay at a Nhà Nghỉ

How to Find a Nhà Nghỉ

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What is a Nhà Nghỉ:

In Vietnamese, nhà means ‘house’ and nghỉ means ‘rest’. A nhà nghỉ is essentially a mini-hotel, a guest house, an inn, a motel: any form of small-scale budget accommodation. Nhà nghỉ are often, but not always, family-run establishments and they can be found in just about every city, town and village in Vietnam, no matter how remote or off-the-beaten-path. Nhà nghỉ are generally aimed at domestic tourists or business travellers and they come in many forms: town houses in cities, villas in the highlands, wood-and-thatch homes in the forest, repurposed shipping containers on the beach. In terms of value for money nhà nghỉ offer some of the best accommodation in Vietnam.

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Nhà nghỉ typically offer private rooms with ensuite bathrooms with one, two or three beds, sleeping between 1-6 people, suitable for solo travellers, couples, groups of friends or families with children. Prices generally range from 150,000-800,000vnđ ($6-$30) per night depending on room type and number of guests. Although quality varies a lot from one to another, nhà nghỉ are usually clean, simple, comfortable and adequately appointed, with most rooms featuring air-con, floor fan, hot and cold running water, shower, toilet, free Wi-Fi, a small refrigerator, TV and modest furniture, such as a desk and chairs. The Vietnamese phrase đầy đủ tiện nghi, (roughly translated as ‘fully equipped’) is the standard that most nhà nghỉ meet.

That’s not to say that everything is always perfect when staying at a nhà nghỉ. There are some common quirks and inconveniences at many guest houses, such as comically bad plumbing in the bathrooms, bedside lamps that function only as decoration rather than a source of light, soap coming in the form of impossible-to-open single sachets of shampoo, noisy air-conditioning units, and windows that open onto a bare brick wall. But these are minor issues that are more than offset by the low prices and convenience of staying at a nhà nghỉ.

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The majority of nhà nghỉ are homey, friendly and welcoming places to stay for any kind of traveller. However, there is another side to nhà nghỉ which foreign travellers should be aware of. Mention the word nhà nghỉ to young Vietnamese people and you may receive a bashful giggle. Over the years, nhà nghỉ has become a euphemism for ‘love hotel’, which in itself is sometimes a euphemism for ‘brothel’. Some nhà nghỉ rent rooms by the hour to accommodate the romantic needs of young couples looking for some privacy away from the watchful eyes of their family, or, in some cases, they serve the late night needs of men who pay to have them satisfied. Prostitution is illegal in Vietnam, but it is nonetheless commonplace. Obviously, it’s best to avoid these kinds of places and it’s fairly easy to do so: see How to Find a Nhà Nghỉ.

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When to Stay at a Nhà Nghỉ:

Nhà nghỉ open the door to much deeper exploration of Vietnam, giving adventurous travellers greater freedom of movement as they venture further off the beaten path and away from the tourist trail. As a foreign traveller in Vietnam, once you are familiar with nhà nghỉ you will be able to find them wherever you go, meaning that you can travel anywhere in the nation and still be confident of getting a place to stay the night. In particular, nhà nghỉ are indispensable for anyone travelling Vietnam by motorbike or bicycle: you can take virtually any road and still find a place to sleep at the end of a long day in the saddle. Similarly, if you are travelling by bus or even on foot, you’ll almost always be able to find a nhà nghỉ when night falls. If you are a budget traveller, nhà nghỉ offer the cheapest form of accommodation in Vietnam, helping you to reduce costs. I have used nhà nghỉ for all of the above reasons on countless occasions.

Vietnamese travellers use nhà nghỉ for a number of purposes: travelling business people stay in them during business trips to the countryside; travelling friends, couples or families break long road journeys by overnighting at a roadside nhà nghỉ; vacationers stay at nhà nghỉ in popular tourist destinations if they are travelling on a budget; and, yes, some people use nhà nghỉ for a hour or two of intimacy. But that doesn’t mean that all nhà nghỉ with hourly rates are ‘love hotels’. Some Vietnamese travellers choose to rent a room for a couple of hours during the hottest part of the day (between 11am-3pm) to avoid travelling under the sun and to have a siesta and a shower before resuming their journey in the cooler temperatures of the afternoon. This is a very civilized concept, especially is a country where most people travel by motorbike, totally exposed to the elements; whether that’s tropical sunshine or monsoon rain. I have used nhà nghỉ many times just to have a refreshing shower and a rest before continuing on my way.

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How to Find a Nhà Nghỉ:

In general, guests don’t book a nhà nghỉ in advance by calling ahead, emailing or using an online booking site (although it is possible to do so, if you have the contact number and speak some Vietnamese). Instead, most guests just turn up and get a room, in much the same way that people use motels in the United States. At the end of a day of travelling, wherever you happen to be when the sun starts to set, just look for signs saying Nhà Nghỉ. Alternatively, ask a local “Nhà nghỉ ở đâu?” (‘Where is a guest house?’). Another option is to type nhà nghỉ in the search box on Google Maps. As a traveller in Vietnam, once you are familiar with the word nhà nghỉ, you will start to see signs for them everywhere: on the sides of main roads, in tiny mountain hamlets, on the backstreets of fishing villages, down alleyways in city centres. Other words that will help you find a place to stay, and often synonymous with nhà nghỉ, are nhà khách (guest house), khách sạn nhỏ (mini-hotel) and nhà trọ (usually a dorm-style room).

Prices are sometimes listed at the reception area, but other times guests are simply told the room rate upon arrival. A bit of polite bargaining is quite common, especially if you arrive late in the evening and are planning on leaving early the next morning, in which case it’s worth trying to shave off a dollar or two from the room price. Bear in mind that, especially when travelling off the beaten track, English may be limited, but translation apps will help, as well as good old-fashioned non-verbal communication, such as gesticulation and even a pen and paper.

Always ask to see the room before agreeing to take it. Apart from the obvious reasons for doing this – to check cleanliness, comfort, amenities, natural light, etc. – it’s also the easiest way to determine whether the nhà nghỉ is a genuine guest house or a ‘love hotel’. If the room has a full-length mirror hung horizontally on the wall next to the bed or there are semi-erotic 90’s-style Baywatch-esque images on the wall or a ‘sex chair’ (usually a slim, curving couch) it’s safe to assume that this is a room intended for activities other than sleeping. However, the majority of nhà nghỉ are not like this and it really isn’t very difficult to distinguish a guest house from a ‘love hotel’: it’s pretty obvious.

*Disclosure: I never receive payment for anything I write: my content is always free and independent. I’ve written this guide because I want to: I like local guest houses and I want my readers to know about it. For more details, see my Disclosure & Disclaimer statements and my About Page