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Lang Co is an attractive island-like stretch of palm-shaded white sand, with a turquoise lagoon on one side and 10km of beachfront on the other. As a beach resort it's more geared to Vietnamese day trippers than Western travellers, but if the weather's nice the ocean is certainly inviting (if you stay away from the central section, which could be cleaner). High season is April to July. From late August to November rains are frequent, and from December to March it can get chilly.

The site of Vietnam’s most extensive Cham remains, My Son enjoys an enchanting setting in a lush jungle valley, overlooked by Cat’s Tooth Mountain (Hon Quap). The temples are in poor shape – only about 20 structures survive where at least 68 once stood – but the intimate nature of the site, surrounded by gurgling streams, is still enthralling.

Practically obliterated during the American War, Vinh was rebuilt with East German aid – hence the brutalist concrete architecture dominating downtown. The only reasons to stop here are if you're a Ho Chi Minh devotee (he was born in a nearby village), or if you're heading to Laos.

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.

Established as a hill station by the French colonialists in 1922, Sapa today is the tourism centre of the northwest.

Once upon a time, Mui Ne was an isolated stretch of shoreline where pioneering travellers camped on the sand. Times have changed and it's now a string of beach resorts, which have fused into one long coastal strip. These resorts are, for the most part, mercifully low-rise and set amid pretty gardens by the sea. The original fishing village is still here, but tourists outnumber locals these days. There are a handful of luxury hotels (and a smattering of cheap guesthouses) but Mui Ne is mainly a midrange resort.

With 307 species of bird, 133 species of mammal, 122 species of reptile and more than 2000 species of plant, Cuc Phuong National Park is one Vietnam’s most important protected areas.

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.

Ha Tien may be part of the Mekong Delta, but lying on the Gulf of Thailand it feels a world away from the rice fields and rivers that typify the region. There are dramatic limestone formations peppering the area, which are home to a network of caves, some of which have been turned into temples. Plantations of pepper trees cling to the hillsides. On a clear day, Phu Quoc Island is easily visible to the west.

Mustiga nudelkok, frasiga rispannkakor, färskpressad passionsfruktjuice och vidunderlig cao lau. Vi reser från södra till norra Vietnam och testar Asiens bästa street food.