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With limestone outcrops amid serene rice paddies, Tam Coc is best appreciated on a languorous rowing-boat ride, with the soundtrack of the river lapping against the oars.

Wow, the vistas. This is Vietnam's big-sky country; a place of rippling mountains, cascading rice terraces and the winnowed-out karst topography for which the region is famed.

This really is a tale of two cities: Phan Rang hugging the shoulders of Hwy 1 and Thap Cham straddling Hwy 20 as it starts its long climb to Dalat. Anyone travelling Vietnam from north to south will notice a big change in the vegetation when approaching the joint capitals of Ninh Thuan province. The familiar lush green rice paddies are replaced with sandy soil supporting only scrubby plants. Local flora includes poinciana trees and prickly-pear cacti with vicious needles.

Often referred to as the Ba Be Lakes, Ba Be National Park was established as a national park in 1992. The scenery here swoops from limestone mountains peaking at 1554m down into plunging valleys wrapped in dense evergreen forests, speckled with waterfalls and caves, with the lakes themselves dominating the very heart of the park.

Draped along the banks of the Hau Giang River (Bassac River), Chau Doc sees plenty of travelers washing through on the river route between Cambodia and Vietnam. A likeable little town with significant Chinese, Cham and Khmer communities, Chau Doc's cultural diversity – apparent in the mosques, temples, churches and nearby pilgrimage sites – makes it fascinating to explore even if you're not Cambodia-bound. Taking a boat trip to the Cham communities across the river or heading to nearby Sam Mountain and Tra Su Bird Sanctuary are other highlights, while the bustling market and intriguing waterfront provide fine backdrops to a few days of relaxation.

Northeast Vietnam includes Halong Bay, one of the region's biggest draws. Reasons to linger after your boat trip include the lesser-known but stunning Bai Tu Long Bay, the intersection of nature and culture that is Ba Be National Park, the otherworldly karst landscapes outside of Cao Bang and the urban options in Haiphong.

A popular weekend escape from HCMC, Vung Tau rocks at weekends when beach-starved locals and expats descend in numbers, but it is relatively quiet during the week. The city enjoys a spectacular location on a peninsula, with ocean on three sides; the light and sea air make it a refreshing break from sultry Saigon.

Dalat is an alternative Vietnam: the weather is spring-like instead of tropical hot, the town is dotted with French-colonial villas rather than socialist architecture, and the surrounding farms cultivate strawberries, coffee and flowers instead of rice.

Tra Vinh, one of the prettiest towns in the Mekong Delta, is a peaceful place to explore the region's little-touted Cambodian connection. Around 300,000 ethnic Khmer live in the surrounding province and the area is dotted with more than 140 Khmer pagodas. With wide boulevards shaded by lines of trees, the town itself is more symbolic of the French colonialist era, but get beyond the outskirts and you'll soon discover that Khmer culture is still alive and well in these parts of Vietnam. Tra Vinh also has a small but active Chinese community, one of the few such communities that remain in the Mekong Delta region.

Pronounced ‘hway’, this deeply evocative capital of the Nguyen emperors still resonates with the glories of imperial Vietnam, even though many of its finest buildings were destroyed during the American War.