Homestay has become a very popular tourism service. It means you will live with the local people in their house, eat their food, sleep on their bed room and do what they usually do in daily life. It is the best way to discover and experience the lifestyle, traditions and cultures of a place you visit. Moreover, you also safe a huge amount of money when you homestay because it is much cheaper than stay at hotel or resort. And here are some tips for you when you homestay at Vietnam.

1. Preparation

You have to well-prepare when you want to choose this kind of accommodation, because you will live with the locals for a while. There are a lot of ways to prepare for your homestay trip in Vietnam, including booking on the website, email or call directly to the host to ask for details about locations, prices, etc. You should consider some points:

• Is the house located near the tourism site?
• Is it in safe and secured area?
• Is the house comfortable enough for you to enjoy the trip? ( the condition of the house is important, too)
• Is your host real local people?

You also should research really careful about the customs, traditions of the place you visit to avoid cultural taboos.

If you’re not sure about doing it by yourself, you should find the homestay service at a travel agent.

2. Be respectful and friendly

Respecting your host’s family is a must-do thing. Show your respect by ask them what kinds of domestic furniture and appliances you are allowed to use; ask for permission before doing something in their house or taking photos of their stuffs; respect their privacy; keep everything clean and hygiene.

Always say thanks and keep smile on your face to show your friendliness and gratitude toward them. Don’t forget to share about yourself with them, because they also have right to know who you are. You don’t need to tell them everything about you, just some basic information to let them know you can be trusted.

3. Accept the differences

If you choose homestay instead of hotel or resort, you have to accept that you will not be private and comfortable. You will live with the completely strangers from other country, other culture background. It means that the differences are inevitable, especially about religion and taboo. You have to accept that and sometimes integrate to those differences to experience the local life in the deepest way. Never show your viewpoints too directly and impolitely. Just relax and enjoy the differences, because that’s reason you homeseay.

4. Destinations

Normally, in Vietnam, visitors love to homestay in popular places such as Northwest, Red River Delta, South Central Coast, Mekong Delta, Central Highland. Each region is featured with its own cultural identities. You can choose to stay in stilt houses with ethnic minorities in Northwest provinces; experience the life at rural villages at Red River Delta region; being a fisherman at fishing villages in coastal regions, etc.