Hanoi
This excellent and highly informative museum showcases the roles of women in Vietnamese society and culture. Labelled in English and French, exhibits…
Hanoi
This excellent and highly informative museum showcases the roles of women in Vietnamese society and culture. Labelled in English and French, exhibits…
Ho Chi Minh City
Cholon’s main market has a great clock tower and a central courtyard with gardens. Much of the business here is wholesale but it’s popular with tour…
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
This gigantic cave is very close to Hang Son Doong; both have been featured in a National Geographic photographic spread. Getting here involves a trek…
Hanoi
One of the Old Quarter’s best-restored properties, this traditional merchants’ house is sparsely but beautifully decorated, with rooms filled with fine…
Phan Rang & Thap Cham
These imposing Cham towers date from the end of the 13th century. Built from brick as Hindu temples, they stand on a platform at the top of Cho’k Hala, an…
Ho Chi Minh City
The city's landmark French-era post office is a period classic, designed by Marie-Alfred Foulhoux (though often credited to Gustave Eiffel) and built…
Mekong Delta
Around 35km southeast of Cao Lanh is the magnificent 52-hectare Xeo Quyt Forest near My Hiep village. One vast swamp beneath a beautiful thick canopy of…
Bac Ha
This Sunday market is Bac Ha’s big draw. There's an increasing range of handicrafts for sale, but it’s still pretty much a local affair. Bac Ha Market is…
Bai Tu Long Bay
Most Vietnamese visitors make a beeline for Hong Van Beach – and justifiably so. It's nearly 3km of fine, white sand lapped by blue water and backed by a…
Mekong Delta
Also known as Phuoc Dien Tu, this temple is halfway up the western (far) side of Sam Mountain, with amazing views of the surrounding countryside. The…
Quy Nhon
The long sweep of Quy Nhon’s beachfront extends from the port in the northeast to distant wooded hills in the south. It’s a beautiful stretch of sand and…
Dao Tien Endangered Primate Species Centre
Cat Tien National Park
Set on an island in the Dong Nai River, this rehabilitation centre with a stellar reputation hosts golden-cheeked gibbons, pygmy lorises (both endemic to…
Hoi An
Built for worshipping family ancestors of the Tran (陳) clan, this chapel (more accurately an ancestral hall) dates back to 1802. It was commissioned by…
Chau Doc
This immense 800,000-hectare forest is home to an astounding number of wading birds. Much of the wetland is off-limits to visitors so that the birds'…
Can Tho
In a fantastic location facing the Can Tho River and decorated with huge, constantly burning incense coils, this Chinese temple is set inside the…
Mekong Delta
This wonderfully atmospheric 1895 house on the riverfront was once the residence of Huynh Thuy Le, the son of a rich Chinese family who had an affair with…
Mekong Delta
Originally built in wood in the 18th century, this magnificent Khmer pagoda was completely rebuilt in 1923 but proved to be too small. From 1969 to 1985…
Hanoi
Two kilometres south of Hoan Kiem Lake, this temple was founded in 1142. A statue shows the two Trung sisters (from the 1st century CE) kneeling with…
Robert Taylor Museum of Worldwide Arms
Vung Tau
Come here for a stupendous private collection of military arms, uniforms and paraphernalia from across the globe. One section is dedicated to the conflict…
Con Dao Islands
Perhaps the best all-round island to visit is Bay Canh, to the east of Con Son Island, which has lovely beaches, old-growth forest, mangroves, coral reefs…
Con Dao Islands
Reached via a dirt track 1km before the airport on Con Son Island, Bai Dram Trau is a sublime, remote 700m half-moon crescent of soft sand, fringed by…
Ho Chi Minh City
Originally built by the French and destroyed three times, this 19th-century house of worship is one of the city's largest churches, with good views from…
Haiphong
Haiphong’s elegant Roman Catholic cathedral was built in the 19th century and comprehensively restored in 2010. The building’s grey towers are a local…
Hoi An
By Unesco decree, more than 800 historic buildings in Hoi An have been preserved, so much of the Old Town looks as it did several centuries ago. Eighteen…
Ho Chi Minh City
The inner walls of this sanctuary, famed as the repository of a sacred relic of the Buddha, are adorned with paintings depicting the Buddha’s life…
Hue
This tomb (completed in 1867) is the most popular, imposing and impressive of the royal mausoleums, designed by Emperor Tu Duc himself before his death…
Cat Ba Island
Cat Ba's beautiful national park is home to 32 species of mammal, including most of the world's 65 remaining golden-headed langurs, the world's most…
Ho Chi Minh City
Built around the turn of the 19th century, this decaying light-caramel-painted church exudes a sleepy, tropical feel. A pew in the church is marked with a…
Phu Quoc Island
Long Beach is draped invitingly along the west coast from Duong Dong to An Thoi. Development concentrates in the north, near Duong Dong, where the…
Ho Chi Minh City
Dedicated to Marshal Le Van Duyet (1763–1831), this shrine is also his burial place, alongside that of his wife. The marshal was a South Vietnamese…
Ho Chi Minh City
Built between 1939 and 1942, this temple is said to be the only pure Taoist temple in Vietnam and is unique for its colourful statues of Taoist disciples…
Hanoi Region
Formerly a French hill station, the triple-peaked Ba Vi Mountain (Nui Ba Vi) has been attracting visitors for decades and remains a popular weekend escape…
Hanoi
In the tradition of Lenin, Stalin and Mao, Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is a monumental marble edifice. Contrary to Ho Chi Minh’s desire for a simple cremation…
Mekong Delta
Founded in the 1820s to house a statue of Lady Xu that’s become the subject of a popular cult, this large temple faces Sam Mountain, on the same road as…
Ho Chi Minh City
With its airy corridors and verandas, this elegant 1929 colonial-era, yellow-and-white building is stuffed with period details; it is exuberantly tiled…
Ninh Binh Province
Chua Bai Dinh is a bombastic Buddhist complex, built on a vast scale, that rises up a hillside near Ninh Binh. Construction was completed in 2014, and it…
Nha Trang
This small museum is dedicated to the scientist Dr Alexandre Yersin (1863–1943), who founded Nha Trang’s Pasteur Institute in 1895. The Swiss-born Yersin…
Hanoi Region
Located 16km north of Hanoi's Old Quarter and dating from the 3rd century BCE, Co Loa Citadel was the first fortified citadel in Vietnamese history and…
Con Dao Islands
The notorious cells dubbed 'tiger cages' were built in 1940 by the French to incarcerate nearly 2000 political prisoners; the USA continued using them in…
Mui Ne
Mui Ne is famous for its enormous red and white sand dunes. The 'red dunes' (doi hong) are conveniently located north of the main strip, but the 'white…