As a 50+ couple, we have taken many short trips to various countries. Currently, we visit places for a short period of time. These short visits typically include sightseeing excursions, hotel stays, and dining out experiences. We are in our go-go stage of life; our travel pace is faster than it will be when we move into our slow-go stage.

Every time we visit a place, we also assess it for a potential longer stay. We use two separate criteria when considering where we go next. Our first criterion is for short visits. If we have enjoyed our time, we then use our slow travel criteria to decide if a longer stay would work for us. We used Vung Tau, Vietnam, in this blog post to demonstrate our thinking.

Our Criteria for short visits

We use short visits to experience a place as a typical tourist. We ask ourselves the following questions to prepare for our short stays:

• What is the weather like? When’s the best time of year to visit?
• Where will we stay?
• What can we do there?
• What foods should we try?
• How will we get there?
• What kind of transport is available?

While we are enjoying the sights on a short stay, we also consider the place for an extended stay. When staying in a place for a month or longer, the type of questions we ask changes.

Vung Tau, Vietnam, was a great place to visit for a short time, and we would also consider it for a slow travel destination.

What is Slow Travel?

Slow travel to us is less about seeing the tourist hot spots and more about the quality of life to be experienced. This slower-paced travel means staying in one location for a least a month at a time. When you plan to stay longer in a location, the criteria for a good stay change. These are the questions we ask of a place to determine its potential for a slow travel stay.

• How long can we stay on our VISA?
• Is there an active group of other nomads/expats to connect with?
• Where will we stay? Airbnb? serviced apartment? Hotel suite?
• Is there a season to avoid?- burning season, rainy season, etc.
• What kind of medical access is available?
• How will my fitness level be affected by altitude, humidity, pollution, or infrastructure?
• What does daily life look like?

We are approaching our slow travel years. If you haven’t been to a place for a short time, it’s difficult to plan a longer stay. The best way to determine if a place, like Vung Tau, is right for you is firsthand experience.

The second-best way to determine if a place is great for slow travel is to connect with someone currently living there.

And finally, the third-best way to find potential slow travel destinations is to follow other travel bloggers who share their lived experiences.

Trial visit: a weekend in Vung Tau, Vietnam

Vung Tau is a popular weekend getaway from Ho Chi Minh City. We took advantage of a weekend visit a couple of times while we were residents of Ho Chi Minh City. We believe that visiting a place for a few days or a week is a good way to test the waters before committing to a longer stay. We explored Vung Tau twice: once on a weekend in the fall and again for a 2-day mid-week visit in summer to discover its attributes and any limitations.

Getting There

Vung Tau is about 95–125 km from Ho Chi Minh City and is one of the easiest coastal getaways from the city. Here are some current 2026 options:

• High-speed ferry: GreenlinesDP adult fares are VND 320,000 (about CA$17.50) one way, Monday to Friday, and VND 350,000 (about CA$19) on weekends. The ferry connects Bach Dang in central Ho Chi Minh City with Vung Tau and takes about two hours. Senior and child fares are lower.
• Bus or limousine: Current shared limousine fares start at VND 300,000 (about CA$16.40), with departures at 8:00, 10:00, 12:00, 15:00 and 17:00. The trip takes about 2–2.5 hours.
• Private car: A private 7-passenger car service starts at VND 1,200,000 (about CA$66). Larger private vehicles are about VND 2,300,000–2,500,000 (about CA$126–137). Door-to-door pickup makes this convenient for couples, families or groups with luggage.

We chose to take the ferry both times to avoid the horrific traffic jams in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Hotel Options for a Short Visit

We stayed in 5-star hotels for both of our stays in Vung Tau. We booked the Pullman for our first visit, and it was quite a luxurious stay. We splurged on the breakfast buffet one morning, which was a reasonable price in comparison to Canadian brunch prices. The hotel was within walking distance of the local beach for early morning swims.

Our second hotel was across from the main beach, called The Imperial Hotel. It was also a very comfortable stay.

Things to Do

We enjoyed walking along the sea wall and watching the fishing boats at sunrise and sunset. The fishing boats brought fresh seafood to our dinner plates. We enjoyed swimming at the nearby beach in the early morning.

On our second visit with family, we climbed the many stairs to the top of Mount Nho in immense heat. My son-in-law was the only one brave enough to continue up the stairs inside the statue! The 32m statue of Jesus Christ is the largest of its kind in Asia. The city is big enough to explore for many days.

Dining Options

There are many places to eat in Vung Tau. Coffee culture in Vietnam creates a demand for many cafes. For coffee, Lightroom Coffee is a popular choice close to the ferry terminal, with a scenic setting and views. It is a nice place to stop for coffee and a relaxed breakfast or brunch. There are many cafes, so you could easily stay here for a month and not be bored with the choice.

There are many traditional street food stalls, night markets, and restaurants serving fresh seafood in Vung Tau. For dinner, Gành Hào Seafood Restaurant on Trần Phú is a popular waterfront choice. It specializes in seafood and has tables overlooking the water, making it especially attractive around sunset.
There are also many establishments that serve international cuisines to satisfy all tastes. Again, the number of options ensures a variety of options for a longer stay.

Why Vung Tau Makes a Great Weekend Getaway

Vung Tau is a great weekend escape because it gave us a genuine change of pace without requiring a flight. In roughly two hours, we could escape the busyness of Ho Chi Minh City and enjoy beaches, ocean views, cafes, fresh seafood, and coastal walks. It is compact enough to explore over a weekend but has enough restaurants, viewpoints, and beaches to keep the visit interesting. It is also a reprieve from Ho Chi Minh City’s traffic congestion and air pollution.

Reasons why Vung Tau could work for a longer stay

Vung Tau is a place that meets many of our slow travel criteria. Here are the reasons we would choose to stay for an extended stay.

Easy access to Ho Chi Minh City

It is possible to travel to Ho Chi Minh City for activities and access the International airport while being based in Vung Tau. It means the conveniences of Ho Chi Minh City are nearby, but without the daily traffic, noise, and pollution of the big city.

A coastal lifestyle

There is a slower pace to daily life in Vung Tau. Beaches, seaside walking areas, cafes, seafood restaurants, and mountain viewpoints make it easy to build everyday activities around being outdoors. The sandy beaches are warm and inviting.

A practical base for slower travel

Vung Tau has a well-established infrastructure for accommodation, restaurants, and services. For example, as a slow traveller, renting an apartment for a month or two will be much cheaper than staying in a hotel. Access to entertainment and health care is also available in Vung Tau.

An active international and expat community

One of the most important aspects of a city when choosing a slow travel stay is a sense of community. That makes it worth considering for travellers who want to settle into one place for several weeks or months rather than constantly moving on. Being able to tap into a community of like-minded travellers is invaluable. They will become your social network and help you navigate the new routines in Vung Tau to ensure a enjoyable stay.

Being able to connect with a slow traveler in Vung Tau is invaluable.

Traveling Savvy Seniors– The second-best way to learn about Vung Tau

If you can’t make a short visit to Vung Tau, then connecting with a current resident would be the next best option to learn about slow travel opportunities.

If you are considering a stay in Vietnam or want to know more about the slow-go lifestyle, Mary Johnson is currently living in Vung Tau, Vietnam. She has developed many resources to support 50+ travellers who want to slow travel. Mary has included several free resources and can also answer slow travel-related questions.

Read her blog or follow her on her social media channels at https://travelingsavvyseniors.com/. She has lived in several different places and would be an excellent resource person. Since Mary and I both write to encourage the 50+ traveller to explore, we have collaborated on a few blog posts. Here are the links to those posts:

• Mary’s Traveling Savvy Seniors blog: She Sold the House, She Booked the Flight– an interview about our time living in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
• Our LifeAfter 50 Travel blog: What Moving to Vietnam Taught Me About Starting Over After 50

We also co-planned this post to help our readers find each other’s travel blogs. We have experienced Vung Tau for short visits, and Mary has insight into what it is like to live in Vung Tau as a slow traveller.

Other Slow Travel Destinations

We have travelled to several places that we feel would make good slow travel stays based on our criteria. If you are curious, here are our posts about our short visits to the following places:

• Riga, Latvia- There’s Lots to Love about Riga, Latvia
• Chiang Mai, Thailand- Elephant Encounter in Beautiful Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Medellín, Colombia- Mountainous Medellín, Colombia is Beautiful

After reading these posts, you might consider taking a short trip to these destinations to determine if they would be a good fit for you.

Stay Curious! Research from Fellow Travellers

Part of our trip preparation is learning about the pros and cons of a destination. Some of this research is done by viewing and reading about the experiences of other Slow Travellers. It’s helpful to find fellow travellers who are of a similar age. This is our third way to discover potential slow travel destinations.

Here are a few couples we follow on social media:

• Amelia and JP have visited several places in South America and Europe. They were the first couple who introduced us to the idea of slow travel. They have a Turtle Club you can join to find fellow slow travellers.
• EatWalkLearn– Chris and Steve have visited many European places and are great at discovering ways to keep a mid-range budget while slow travelling. We have learned several travel tips from them.
• Our Freedom Project, Jason and Nancy have been to many places on their $4000 USD monthly budget.
• No Fly Zone Nomads are a Canadian couple slow travelling in Asia without taking flights.

We follow many slow travellers, but these are our favourites at the moment. They are all 50+ travellers, and they all do slow travel a little differently, which we love to see!

Where are we hoping to visit in the near future?

We are curious about several places as slow travel destinations. There are many possibilities, but based on our preferences and research, this is our current list of places we’d like to visit that may become a slow travel options in our slow-go years.

• Quenca, Ecuador
• Merida, Mexico
• Danang, Vietnam
• Penang, Malaysia
• Valencia, Spain

Where do you want to visit for a short trip or a longer stay?

Comment below if you have places we should add to our travel list!