Advice Help me choose Vietnam city (1 Viewer)

[Langelf]

I plan to move to Vietnam and live there permanently. I've never been to SEA and all my knowledge comes from external sources, so I'd like some advice on which city will be the best for me. My end goal is to find a loyal, not overly westernised girl that is working/studying to have a ltr with and just enjoy chill life together.

Some info about me:

• 27yo 5'11 slav, pale skin, grey eyes, brown hair
• Remote job with European salary
• Don't know the language but will start studying it and might try language school there

What I'm looking for in a city:

• Beach access
• Good weather most of the year (so I don't need to move to other cities when it's bad)
• Not overrun by expats (especially other slavs, I don't want to be around them)
• Not a megacity of millions of people (I don't enjoy the rush of life and hordes of strangers around me)
• Decent dating options (>300k population with enough 20-25yo women)
• Good quality air judging by IQAir (relatively, whole Vietnam seems to have bad air)

And here's how popular cities fare against these criteria based on what I've been able to research on my own. If something of what I mention is not true please correct me.

Low tier:

• Hanoi, HCMC - megacities with shitty air and no beach access so get no pass, even though there's probably lots of dating options as young women tend to flock to major cities
• Da Nang - good beaches, okay air, but overrun by expats, has shitty weather like half of the year, even typhoons. Perhaps decent dating options due to size(1.2M) but I fear there's competition from other expats
• Vung Tau - not overrun by expats, decent population(~500k), tourism from nearby HCMC brings young women, decent air quality. But bad beaches?(heard people complain that litter from the river upstream ends on the beaches which sounds horrible) and shitty weather half of the year.
• Rach Gia - few expats, okay air, okay beaches, but shitty weather half of the year
• Phan Thiet - industrial/fishing city, few expats, okay air, bad beaches, shitty weather half of the year
• Da Lat - popular tourist city, okay air, but somewhat cold weather most of the year and not a coastal city

Mid tier:

• Nha Trang - good weather for ~9 months of the year, good beaches, decent air, but overrun by expats, especially other slavs
• Cam Ranh - good weather for ~9 months of the year, okay beaches, okay air, few expats, but also too small (~130k population)

Top tier:

• Quy Nhon - good weather for ~9 months of the year, good beaches, okay air, decent population(~500k), tourism and Quy Nhon university might attract additional young women. And from what it seems, not too many expats live there yet.

Would like to hear your opinion on this, and any other advice regarding moving to Vietnam is also welcome.

 

[myeyes]

If you’ve never been to SEA I would recommend trying a few countries and cities before deciding to settle there permanently. Boring advice but there’s a reason people always repeat stuff like that

 

[AlexBrown84]

What I'm looking for in a city:

• Beach access
• Not overrun by expats (especially other slavs, I don't want to be around them)
• Decent dating options (>300k population with enough 20-25yo women)

gonna be tough to get these three all in one

just go da nang but live in the beach area north of the airport. not many foreigners around there

tbh even the last time i was there back in january, i was still able to find cafes full of locals just 5 minutes from the main tourist area, my an

 

[Langelf]

If you’ve never been to SEA I would recommend trying a few countries and cities before deciding to settle there permanently. Boring advice but there’s a reason people always repeat stuff like that

I agree, but still I'd like to have sort of a priority list, not to spend my time on bad options since I don't have all the time in the world. If something doesn't work out for me in the first city I'll move to the next one until I'm satisfied with the place.

gonna be tough to get these three all in one

just go da nang but live in the beach area north of the airport. not many foreigners around there

tbh even the last time i was there back in january, i was still able to find cafes full of locals just 5 minutes from the main tourist area, my an

Do you mean the beaches along Da Nang Bay? Also, what about the weather there, I've read it's raining for half a year, some say it's bearable some say it sucks so Idk.

 

[myeyes]

Finding somewhere with that criteria is gonna be super hard. If you’re okay with cities in other countries Davao in the Philippines fits most of them, but other downsides are earthquakes and general Filipino dysfunction