Viet Nam and Bangladesh are vulnerable to weather-related extreme events. Climate change and changes to climate variability will increase risks for both countries in the future. This article reflects on the lessons learned from a collaborative research activity carried out jointly in the Vietnamese city of Huế and the Bangladeshi city of Satkhira (the focus on secondary cities was intentional as they face unique challenges — a combination of rapid growth and development, climate impacts, and in many cases less institutional adaptive capacity to respond than primary cities). Whilst numerous assessment toolkits already exist, these have typically been developed for rural contexts. The objective was, therefore, to develop a flexible suite of assessment methodologies targeted specifically to the urban environment; as well as being suitable for use by local practitioners at city and neighbourhood scales. The article summarizes the stages of the assessment exercise and highlights the main findings from each of the case study cities. It also critiques the assessment process to determine what worked well and what was less successful in order to distil some recommendations for future climate assessment activity in secondary cities in the Asia-Pacific region.