Travel guide
Vietnam Travel Guide
Vietnam rewards travellers with an intensity few countries can match. Ha Long Bay's limestone karsts rank among Asia's great natural wonders, typically visited on an overnight cruise with sunrise over the bay. Hoi An's UNESCO-listed old quarter of silk lanterns and tailor shops is widely considered Vietnam's most beautiful town, while Hanoi's Old Quarter runs 36 guild streets around Hoan Kiem Lake. Ho Chi Minh City pulses with French colonial architecture and a nightlife that never stops. The rice terraces of Sapa in the northwest turn golden at harvest time, the imperial city of Hue carries its citadel and royal tombs, and Phong Nha-Ke Bang holds Son Doong, the largest cave on earth. The Mekong Delta's floating markets and Phu Quoc's beaches round out the south. And the food — pho, banh mi, bun cha, cao lau, fresh spring rolls — is reason enough for the trip on its own, with Vietnam remaining one of Southeast Asia's most affordable countries to travel.
Updated 2026-08-16
Ways to Experience This Destination
Pho (the national dish), banh mi (crispy baguette with meat and herbs), bun cha (grilled pork with noodles — Obama's famous Hanoi meal), cao lau (Hoi An exclusive), fresh spring rolls, egg coffee, and Bia Hoi draught beer poured fresh daily at a genuinely low price. Vietnam's cuisine ranks among the world's finest and remains remarkably affordable.
Hanoi's 36-street Old Quarter and thousand-year history, Hoi An's UNESCO lantern-lit ancient town with world-famous tailors, Hue's imperial citadel and royal tombs (UNESCO), Ho Chi Minh City's French colonial landmarks and Reunification Palace. Four UNESCO sites within easy reach of each other.
Ha Long Bay's 1,600 limestone karsts (UNESCO), Sapa's rice terraces and hill tribe villages, Phong Nha-Ke Bang with the world's largest cave (Son Doong), the Mekong Delta's floating markets, and the Ha Giang Loop in the far north — Vietnam's most dramatic mountain scenery.
Phu Quoc's white-sand tropical beaches, Da Nang and Hoi An's An Bang Beach, Nha Trang's bay, Con Dao as an untouched island paradise, and Mui Ne for kitesurfing. Vietnam's coastline stretches over 3,400 km with options from budget backpacker to luxury resort.
The Hai Van Pass (Hue to Hoi An, called one of the world's most beautiful coastal roads by Top Gear), the Ha Giang Loop (3-4 days of breathtaking mountain roads in the far north), trekking in Sapa, kayaking in Ha Long Bay, and cave expeditions in Phong Nha. Easy Rider tours with experienced local guides are the safer alternative to self-driving.
The Cu Chi Tunnels near Saigon, the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) near Hue, Hue's imperial history, and Hanoi's Ho Chi Minh era landmarks. Vietnam's modern history is moving, sobering and impossible to ignore.
Deep dives
Deep dive
The Ha Giang Loop: The Plateau and the Road That Reached It →
The Ha Giang Loop's dramatic scenery isn't just scenic backdrop — it's a UNESCO-recognized karst plateau that only became rideable because of a road hand-carved by volunteer laborers in the 1960s. Understanding both explains the route better than a list of viewpoints.
Deep dive
Vietnam's Tunnel Networks: Combat Network and Underground Village →
The Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City and the Vinh Moc Tunnels near the former DMZ both get filed under “war tunnels,” but they were built for genuinely different purposes — one a combat network for a mobile guerrilla force, the other an underground village built to keep an entire community alive under sustained bombing.
Itinerary
Vietnam in Two to Three Weeks: The Open-Jaw Route →
Vietnam's two major gateway airports sit at opposite ends of the country, which means a well-planned route never needs to backtrack — fly into one end, work steadily toward the other, and fly out from there. Building the itinerary around that shape, rather than a round trip, is the single most useful planning decision.
City guides
Frequently asked questions
It varies significantly by region, so there's no single perfect time to visit the whole country. The north (Hanoi, Sapa, Ha Long) has a genuine cool winter and hot summer; the centre (Hue, Hoi An, Da Nang) gets heavy rains from September to December; the south (Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc) stays tropical year-round with a May-to-November rainy season.
Either works as a starting point — the more useful question is whether to fly open-jaw, entering one and exiting the other. Vietnam's elongated shape means a route naturally moves in one direction from north to south or south to north, and an open-jaw ticket avoids backtracking to the original entry city entirely.
For a single region with a specific route in mind, like the Ha Giang Loop, yes, provided the rider has genuine experience or joins a guided Easy Rider tour. For general point-to-point travel between cities, trains, sleeper buses and domestic flights cover the distances far more practically than a rental motorbike would.
Entry rules, visa types and practical notes live on the Vietnam overview.
Visaja keeps this page's contact details and visa guidance under continuous review — still, requirements can change at short notice, so confirm the essentials with the mission or the official government portal before you travel.