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The high-rise, high-energy beach resort of Nha Trang enjoys a stunning setting: it's ringed by a necklace of hills, with a turquoise bay dotted with tropical islands.

A French-era hill station, this national park reaches a peak of 1450m at Bach Ma mountain, only 18km from the coast. The cool climate attracted the French, who built over a hundred villas here. Not surprisingly the Viet Minh tried hard to spoil the holiday – the area saw some heavy fighting in the early 1950s and again during the American War.

Cat Tien comprises an amazingly biodiverse area of lowland tropical rainforest. The 72,000-hectare park is one of the outstanding natural treasures in Vietnam, a true jungle, and the hiking, mountain biking and birdwatching here are the best in the south of the country. At weekends and public holidays it gets busy with domestic tourists – it's worth calling ahead to book the most popular excursions.

Few parts of Vietnam stir the imagination with the lure of adventure quite like the highlands. The ribbon that is the Ho Chi Minh Hwy winds its scenic way past coffee plantations, pine-studded mountains, rice paddies with their wallowing buffalo, enormous reed-covered lakes and peaceful villages, laying down the challenge of a two-wheeled journey.

The epicentre of the Mekong Delta, Can Tho is the largest city in the region and feels like a metropolis after a few days exploring the backwaters. As the political, economic, cultural and transportation centre of the Mekong Delta, it’s a buzzing town with a lively waterfront lined with sculpted gardens, an appealing blend of narrow backstreets and wide boulevards, and perhaps the greatest concentration of foreigners in the delta. It is also the perfect base for nearby floating markets, the major draw for tourists who come here to boat along the many canals and rivers leading out of town.

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.

This stupendous coastline of ravishing white sands and azure bays is Vietnam's premier destination for beach holidays.

Heading east of Hoi An, new housing and hotels mix with older rice paddies, and the riverbank meanders for around 5km to sandy beaches. This palm-fringed coastline extends north to Danang, and despite the development, there are still a few quieter stretches; it's a good area to explore independently on two wheels.

Welcome to an alternative reality populated by European royalty, film stars and the otherwise rich and secretive. For the average punter not able to afford an uber-luxurious hotel, this place doesn’t exist. Well, at least not before 2017, when the mother-of-all flashpacker retreats opened here on a private bay.

Northern Vietnam's most appealing city has a distinctly laid-back air with its tree-lined boulevards host to a bundle of colonial-era buildings. Caffeine-aficionado heaven, the central area buzzes with dinky cafes where tables spill out onto the pavements – perfect for people watching.