Countries
Vietnam Postal Codes and Addresses: A Complete Guide
How Vietnam's six-digit postal codes and ward, district and city addresses work, who runs the postal system and how UPCS codes fit in.
Updated 14 October 2026 · 3 min read
Vietnam has a national postal code system built around six-digit codes, and an addressing tradition built around the house number, street, ward, district and city or province. The two do not always appear together: in daily life, many people give an address without the postal code, relying on the written locality names and sometimes a phone number to reach the recipient.
How the national system works
The national postal operator is Vietnam Post (VNPost). Its postal codes are six digits long and are tied to administrative areas, so the first digits indicate the province or centrally run city, and later digits narrow to a smaller delivery area. The details are in the Vietnam postal code format page.
Vietnam's administrative structure has been reorganised in recent years, with province-level units being merged and lower levels renamed or removed. Because of that, you may see older and newer place names in circulation. When filling in a form, follow the structure the form asks for and check against a recent official source rather than assuming a name from an older address is still current.
How addresses are typically written
A Vietnamese address is written from the small to the large: the house or building number, the street name, the ward or commune, the district (where still used), and the city or province. Words such as "Phuong" (ward), "Quan" (urban district) and "Thanh pho" (city) usually accompany the names, and Vietnamese diacritics are used in the original script. Many cities have narrow alleys, written with a slash-separated numbering style such as 12/3/4, which the address format page explains.
How UPCS codes work in Vietnam
UPCS generates a short code for an exact location chosen on a map. For Vietnam the prefix is VN, followed by two blocks of letters and digits, for example VN-XXXX-XXXX. Each code corresponds to a 3 m by 3 m grid cell, so the same coordinates always return the same code.
It is important to be clear about what a UPCS code is not. It is not an official postal code, it is not issued by Vietnam Post or any government body, and it does not replace the six-digit postal code or the written address. Its value is as a complement: in a dense street network with deep alleys and similar house numbers, a code pins the exact doorway on a map.
In this guide
- Vietnam postal code format: the six-digit structure and common mistakes.
- How to write a Vietnamese address: order of elements, alleys and diacritics.
- How to find a Vietnam postal code: lookup and verification.
- Delivery and addressing challenges: alleys, high-rise buildings and how an exact-location code helps online shops.
To see how a code is generated, open the map on the UPCS home page and select a point.
In this guide
Frequently asked questions
Does Vietnam use postal codes?
Yes. Vietnam has a six-digit postal code system run through the national postal operator, Vietnam Post. In everyday life, however, many people write addresses without the code.
Is a UPCS code a Vietnamese postal code?
No. A UPCS code such as VN-XXXX-XXXX is not issued by Vietnam Post or any government. It marks an exact map location and can be used together with the normal address.