Rating: 
Summary: misleading
Review: I took this book to Vietnam as my best resource for travel. According to the book, I would find a country full of good food, friendly people and have a good time. Shortly after deplaning my fellow nursing faculty was arrested. It went downhill from there and I was frightened to my core. We were monitored, detained and taught our volunteer courses under the worst discomfort I have ever known abroad. The food was terrible, rats the size of dogs in the university, and were clearly unwelcome Americans. I have not travelled since, and would caution the reader that this guide is very unrealistic. I would never had gone if I had read a more objective account of what to expect in Vietnam. I will never buy Lonely Planet again.
Rating: 
Summary: I used the 4th edition and thought it was great
Review: I travelled in Vietnam for three weeks in October, 98. This was my first visit to Vietnam and my first visit to Asia. Lonely Planet Vietnam was my first Lonely Planet book. I found it easy to use, funny and informative. I liked a lot. My fellow traveller (who does not need travel information) kept asking to borrow it so I gave it away and had to buy another copy for myself. I enjoyed my trip to Vietnam, unexpectedly beautiful country with very friendly and hospitable people. Lonely Planet added greatly to the many pleasures.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I travelled to Vietnam earlier this year with this guidebook, having been very favorably impressed with the Lonely Planet Guides to China and Turkey. This time, though, I found that I couldn't trust the information given on places to eat or places to stay. Eateries that were given excellent reviews turned out to be mediocre; some hotels which were barely mentioned turned out to be excellent, while others that were given very good reviews were non-descript. I wound up trusting the advice of the xi-clo drivers rather than relying on the book.
Rating:
Summary: Look somewhere else
Review: I travelled to Vietnam in Sept/99 and unfortunately was loaned this LP handbook so thought I would take advantage and use it. I was as usual disappointed with the type and presentation of the information provided. I grew tired of all the commentary in the book and so much so that it is difficult to select the facts. For example, instead of providing factual information on transport, hotels, etc., the book is filled with tidbits which are essentially useless for everyday travelling and end up being conversation between a bunch of backpackers in the travel cafe. This LP handbook has managed to dominate the minds of all travellers to Vietnam and, as in my case, I found everyone reading it and complaining, but they had no other option. I hope travellers to Vietnam can find some other guidebook so they do not follow the all to well beaten track through Vietnam as so many other backpackers do and perhaps may discover some things on their own.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful.
Review: I used this new edition of the LP Vietnam on a two week trip from Hanoi to Saigon shortly after its release in April/May 1999. I found the book to be very useful and accurate at all my stops: Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Cat Ba Island, Nha Trang, Dalat, and Saigon. In addition, it's well written with lots of interesting (and often humorous) historical and cultural footnotes along the way. This new edition is a complete overhaul of the previous edition with new authors, and is tons better in my opinion. A must-have if you're going to see this beautiful country in the near future.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lonely Planet is getting lazy in Vietnam.
Review: In comparision with the older versions of the Lonely Planet Vietnam guides, the latest one (April 2001), does not add much. Bit of a lazy job if you ask me. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that LP insists on recruiting writers who have been 'slot machine repairmen', 'rodeo riders' and 'monkey keepers'. This probably to enforce the idea that a multi-media multinational company can still harbour and, moreover sell a hippy/backpacker image and that you and I may benefit from their 'bohemian' inclinations. Problem is that most 'rodeo riders' stay in the saddle for a couple of seconds only. The (co)-author of the 6th edition of the LP/Vietnam falls into this category. Notwithstanding the editors' attempts to portrait our wild west friend as 'quite a character', a gifted writer on Vietnam he is most certainly not. Disappointing and not worth the additional expense. Perhaps have a look at the Rough Guide on Vietnam first.
Rating:
Summary: Rough Guide better than Lonely Planet, Footprint
Review: Just came back from a three week trip to Vietnam with three books: the Lonely Planet, the Rough Guide, and Footprint Handbook. The Rough Guide is the best guidebook around for the country. It is superior to the Lonely Planet guide in the breadth and depth of coverage and especially its accuracy. I liked LP for other countries but here they did a very poor job. I have not found even one instance where Lonely Planet provided information that Rough did not have. If you are traveling to the north, you may want to consider reading Footprint before you leave -- it has some interesting information. Also, all hotels -- even the top ones -- can be negotiated down in price. Send them an e-mail and ask for special rates, corporate rates, etc. You can stay at the Metropole in Hanoi for less than half their rack rate.
Rating:
Summary: Good only for basic info
Review: LP Vietnam is an O.K. book if you just want to know how to get around, basic accomodations, etc. There are some good information in the book, but not enough. If you are interested in knowing about modern Vietnam, you are much much better off reading Catfish and Mandala by Andrew Pham and Shadows and Wind by Robert Templer. These two authors did an extraordinary job of describing what is happening in Vietnam right now. I am very disappointed at the guide books to Vietnam such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Fodor's etc. Should they be unbiased sources who actually tell the readers the stories behind the sights? Nope! they didn't do the job that well. Instead they rely too much on the information which is given by the government propaganda machine which is totally fabricated. For example, on page 467 of the Lonely Planet Vietnam book, the story about the One Pillar Pagoda is mentioned that it was destroyed by the French before they left Hanoi. Guess what? The French didn't destroy it, it was the Communists themselves who destroyed it at the time because it was described as a remain of a feudalistic, decadent, reactionary past (a sort of Cultural revolution that is copied from China). It was rebuilt not because Hanoi suddenly had a change of heart to treasure the national treasures. It was rebuilt because of the tourists' money. What a disappointment for these supposedly guide books that really mislead the readers.
Rating:
Summary: Good only for basic info
Review: LP Vietnam is an O.K. book if you just want to know how to get around, basic accomodations, etc. There are some good information in the book, but not enough. If you are interested in knowing about modern Vietnam, you are much much better off reading Catfish and Mandala by Andrew Pham and Shadows and Wind by Robert Templer. These two authors did an extraordinary job of describing what is happening in Vietnam right now. I am very disappointed at the guide books to Vietnam such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Fodor's etc. Should they be unbiased sources who actually tell the readers the stories behind the sights? Nope! they didn't do the job that well. Instead they rely too much on the information which is given by the government propaganda machine which is totally fabricated. For example, on page 467 of the Lonely Planet Vietnam book, the story about the One Pillar Pagoda is mentioned that it was destroyed by the French before they left Hanoi. Guess what? The French didn't destroy it, it was the Communists themselves who destroyed it at the time because it was described as a remain of a feudalistic, decadent, reactionary past (a sort of Cultural revolution that is copied from China). It was rebuilt not because Hanoi suddenly had a change of heart to treasure the national treasures. It was rebuilt because of the tourists' money. What a disappointment for these supposedly guide books that really mislead the readers.
Rating:
Summary: A victim of its own popularity
Review: LP Vietnam, as several others have mentioned, is misleading and out of date. But even worst, is that it tries to scare most travelers into following its suggested itinerary instead of venturing out on their own. I was going to outline some of the more glaring mistakes, but other reviews beat me to the punch. In defense of LP, who have produced decent guidebooks in the past, Vietnam may be changing at such a fast pace that as soon as it was published much of the information was already out of date. However, not all the mistakes can be blamed on a country in the throws of rapid changes and as such as easily dismissed. Hopefully the next edition will have greatly improved and won't be written in such an amateurish way. However, I think I'll pass and try the Rough Guide or take my chances without a guidebook! What a novel idea...
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