24 places worth the trip in Vietnam, grouped by what they are. Every guide explains what to see, the best time to go and the practical details, checked against official sources. Best time to visit Vietnam: Feb–Apr, Oct–Nov.
A small historic port near the mouth of the Thu Bon River whose 30-hectare old quarter keeps more than a thousand timber-frame buildings from its trading heyday. Chinese, Japanese and later French influences sit side by side, and the town was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
ExploreThe Imperial City (Hoang Thanh, also called Dai Noi) is the palace enclosure at the centre of the Hue Citadel, built for the Nguyen dynasty after Hue became the capital of a unified Vietnam in 1802. Its gates, halls, temples and gardens form the core of the Complex of Hue Monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993.
ExploreVan Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam, founded in 1070 as a temple to Confucius and soon afterwards home to the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. Its five walled courtyards hold the Khue Van Cac pavilion and 82 stone stelae honouring successful candidates of the royal examinations.
ExploreA landscape of limestone towers, flooded valleys and river caves south of Hanoi, protected as the Trang An Landscape Complex, a mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Site. Visitors explore it by rowing boat, passing through caves and stopping at temples on the water.
ExploreThe Nguyen emperors built their tombs as landscaped complexes of gates, courtyards, temples, lakes and pavilions in the hills south and west of Hue. The three most visited, those of Minh Mang, Tu Duc and Khai Dinh, are part of the UNESCO-listed Complex of Hue Monuments and show how imperial taste changed over a century.
ExploreA group of Hindu tower-temples built by the kings of Champa over about ten centuries, set in a basin of forested hills about 36 kilometres from Hoi An. Despite heavy war damage, the surviving fired-brick towers and sandstone carvings make it one of the most important Cham sites in South-East Asia, listed by UNESCO in 1999.
ExploreAn extensive network of hand-dug tunnels about 70 kilometres north-west of central Ho Chi Minh City, used as shelters, supply routes and command posts during the wars against France and the United States. Two sections, Ben Dinh and Ben Duoc, are open to visitors as a historical relic site and memorial.
ExploreThe capital of Vietnam, founded as Thang Long in 1010 on the banks of the Red River. Its historic centre around Hoan Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter mixes temples, French colonial buildings, narrow shophouses and street kitchens.
ExploreDa Nang is the largest city in central Vietnam, spread along the Han River and a long sandy coastline between the Son Tra peninsula and the Marble Mountains. With an international airport, My Khe beach and the Dragon Bridge, it is the usual gateway to Hoi An, Hue and the Hai Van Pass.
ExploreNha Trang is a coastal city whose long, palm-lined beach faces a bay scattered with islands, including the Hon Mun marine protected area. Behind the high-rise seafront are the Po Nagar Cham towers, Long Son Pagoda and a busy fishing harbour.
ExploreDa Lat sits at about 1,500 metres in the Central Highlands, where pine forests, lakes and flower farms surround a city founded as a French hill station. Its mild climate, colonial architecture and coffee and produce farms make it a popular escape from the heat of the coast and lowlands.
ExploreVietnam's most populous city and economic engine, still widely called Saigon. Visitors come for its French colonial buildings, museums of the 20th-century wars, markets, Chinatown temples and above all its street food and restless energy.
ExploreLan Ha Bay lies off the south-east coast of Cat Ba Island, continuing the limestone seascape of Ha Long Bay with smaller crowds, sheltered beaches and floating fishing villages. Since 2023 the Cat Ba Archipelago has been part of the Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago World Heritage Site.
ExploreCu Lao Cham is a group of eight islands about 16 kilometres off the coast near Hoi An, the largest of which, Hon Lao, holds two small fishing villages. The surrounding waters form a marine park within the UNESCO-recognised Cu Lao Cham – Hoi An Biosphere Reserve, known for coral, seaweed beds and a ban on single-use plastic bags.
ExploreA tropical island of about 575 square kilometres in the Gulf of Thailand, off Vietnam's south-west coast. It combines long beaches and clear water with a forested national park in the north, fishing villages, pepper farms and fish sauce factories.
ExploreAn archipelago of 16 mountainous islands and islets about 230 kilometres off Ho Chi Minh City, much of it protected as Con Dao National Park. Visitors come for forest trails, clear water, coral reefs and nesting sea turtles, and to learn about the colonial-era prison that made the islands infamous.
ExploreA bay of around 1,550 square kilometres in north-east Vietnam, scattered with well over a thousand limestone islands and pillars, many hollowed into caves. Together with the Cat Ba Archipelago it forms a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the country's best-known seascape.
ExploreThe vast, flat delta where the Mekong reaches the sea, covering more than 40,000 square kilometres of southern Vietnam. It is the country's rice bowl and fruit garden, and visitors come for boat trips along palm-lined canals, early-morning floating markets and the slow rhythm of river towns such as Can Tho.
ExploreA national park of forested limestone mountains on the Laos border, known for hundreds of caves and underground rivers, including Phong Nha Cave, Paradise Cave and Son Doong. UNESCO listed it in 2003 and in 2025 extended the site across the border to Laos's Hin Nam No National Park.
ExploreA national park of about 70,000 hectares around 150 kilometres north of Ho Chi Minh City, protecting one of the largest areas of lowland tropical forest left in Vietnam. It is one of the country's best places for wildlife, with gibbons, primates, gaur, Siamese crocodiles and well over a hundred bird species.
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