The Question That Started It
I was talking with a friend about a trip she'd just taken to Hà Giang. She asked if I'd been. I said yes. She asked about Cao Bằng next door. I hesitated. Had I passed through, or actually spent time there? I wasn't sure.
That uncertainty stuck with me. I'd been moving around Vietnam for years — work trips, family visits, solo trips, weekend getaways — but I had no real picture of where I'd actually been versus where I thought I'd been. "I've been up north a few times" is not the same as knowing which provinces you've meaningfully visited.
So I built something to answer the question properly.
What "Where Did I Go?" Actually Is
It's a simple travel tracker — travel.hoangviet.io.vn — that maps all 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam and lets you mark which ones you've visited. The map fills in as you check things off. There's a percentage at the top that tells you how much of the country you've actually explored.
No account required. No app to install. Just open it, click the provinces you've been to, and you have a visual record of your travels across Vietnam.
When I finished marking my own visits, the number came back: 74.6% — 47 out of 63 provinces. Higher than I thought. But looking at the map, the gaps were obvious and a little embarrassing for someone who's lived here their whole life.
What the Map Showed Me
The north was mostly filled in — years of work trips to Hà Nội, visits to family, a few proper adventure trips. The central coast was solid too. But the Central Highlands had real gaps. The far south had gaps. And some provinces I had apparently only ever passed through on the way somewhere else, which barely counts.
Seeing it visually changed how I think about travel planning. It's easy to say "I want to travel more" in the abstract. It's much more motivating to look at a map with 16 provinces still blank and think: those are specific places, with specific roads and food and people, that I haven't seen yet.
The remaining 16 are now a loose bucket list rather than a vague intention.
Why I Made It Instead of Using an Existing App
There are travel tracking apps out there, but most are built for international travel — they track countries, not provinces. For someone travelling within Vietnam, ticking off "Vietnam" once tells you nothing about the scale of what you've seen or missed.
I wanted something specific to Vietnam's administrative divisions, that worked instantly without sign-up, and that I could share easily with a link. Building it took less time than evaluating existing options would have, and the result is exactly what I needed.
The source is on GitHub if you want to look at how it works or adapt it.
The Provinces I Want to Visit Next
Looking at my map, the places I'm most curious about closing the gaps on:
- Điện Biên — a long way from anywhere I've usually been, but the history alone makes it worth the trip.
- Kon Tum — I've been to neighbouring provinces but somehow never through here.
- Bạc Liêu and Cà Mau — the very tip of the country. There's something appealing about reaching the southernmost point.
None of these are on a fixed timeline. But having them named makes the intention more real than "travel more someday."
Try It Yourself
If you're Vietnamese or have spent time travelling around Vietnam, I'm curious what your number comes out to. The tracker is at travel.hoangviet.io.vn. Takes about two minutes to fill in.
And if you've been to somewhere on my blank list that you think is genuinely worth visiting — send me a message. I'm always looking for a good reason to go somewhere new.