What to Pack & What to Rent: Vietnam with Kids

The simple rule that saves your holiday

Every experienced family traveller learns the same lesson: the gear that ruins the journey is the bulky stuff, the stroller gate-checked and returned scratched, the car seat wrestled through three airports, the cot you never had room for. None of it needs to travel with you. In Da Nang and Hoi An you can hire all of it, clean and set up on arrival, and keep your luggage for the things that actually have to come from home.

So the whole decision comes down to one question for each item: is it small and personal, or bulky and generic? Small and personal travels with you. Bulky and generic gets rented.

Pack vs rent: an at-a-glance guide

What to pack from home

These are small, personal, and hard to replace on the road, so they travel with you:

• A soft baby carrier or sling for airports, markets and Hoi An's narrow lanes.
• Light, breathable clothing and plenty of swimwear, Central Vietnam is warm year-round.
• Kid-safe sun protection, wide-brim hats and UV swim tops.
• A compact first-aid kit and any prescription medicines, in original packaging.
• Comfort items and a few familiar toys for sleep and long journeys.
• All the baby formula you'll need for the trip. NZ and Australian brands are hard to find in Vietnam and often cost around double, so bring your own rather than relying on buying it here.
• Swim nappies. They're a mission to find locally and much more expensive, so pack plenty, you'll want them for the beach and pool.
• A few days of your usual nappies to start, standard nappies are easy to top up locally.
• Your own bottles, cups and feeding kit your children are used to.
• Travel insurance details covering every child.

What to rent on arrival

This is the bulky, heavy gear that makes flying miserable, and it's exactly what we deliver clean and set up across Da Nang and Hoi An:

• A stroller or pram, cabin-sized, ready for beaches and old-town lanes.
• A car seat or booster, correctly fitted for the airport transfer and day trips.
• A travel cot, arriving clean and ready to sleep in from night one.
• A high chair for calm mealtimes at your hotel or villa.

Renting a full set of baby equipment means you land with hands free and everything waiting, no gate-checking, no damage, no assembly after a long flight.

What you can buy locally

Supermarkets and pharmacies in Da Nang and Hoi An stock standard nappies, baby food, wipes and toiletries, so those are easy to top up once you arrive. Two things are worth bringing from home, though: baby formula (NZ and Australian brands in particular are hard to find and often around double the price) and swim nappies (a real mission to track down locally and much more expensive). Pack enough of both for the whole trip. Tap water isn't for drinking, so use bottled or boiled water for formula and brushing teeth.

Travelling with kids of different ages

The pack-vs-rent rule scales with your family. With a newborn or baby, prioritise a cot and car seat. With a toddler, a compact stroller and a high chair earn their keep. With older children, a high-back booster keeps car trips safe, and you can travel lighter on gear overall. Whatever the ages, the heavy items are the ones to rent, and we can match a car seat or booster to each child's age and weight.

Putting it together

The families who enjoy Vietnam most are the ones who arrive light. Pack a carrier, clothes, medicines and comfort items; rent the stroller, car seat, cot and high chair; and buy the consumables locally. For a printable baby-focused list, see our packing checklist for Vietnam, and for the full trip picture, our guides to Da Nang with a baby and Hoi An with a toddler.