Salzburg

Dong Hoi is a pleasantly untouristed port and seaside town. It enjoys an attractive location, clinging to the banks of the Nhat Le River, and has beaches to the north and south. Recently established air links to Haiphong (for Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island) and the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai promise to significantly increase the city's appeal as a destination. Dong Hoi also has excellent transport links to the Phong Nha region.

Set in an idyllic valley, hemmed in by hills, the Mai Chau area is a world away from Hanoi's hustle. The small town of Mai Chau itself is unappealing, but just outside the patchwork of rice fields rolls out, speckled by tiny Thai villages where visitors doss down for the night in traditional stilt houses and wake up to a rural soundtrack defined by gurgling irrigation streams and birdsong.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is Vietnam at its most dizzying: a high-octane city of commerce and culture that has driven the country forward with its pulsating energy. A chaotic whirl, the city breathes life and vitality into all who settle here, and visitors cannot help but be hauled along for the ride.

Beyond the urban buzz and excitement of Ho Chi Minh City, the attractions of the surrounding region include fascinating cultural and historical sights such as the Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai Holy See temple at Tay Ninh. Also worth exploring is the Unesco-accredited area around Can Gio, especially the extensive mangrove forests that were an integral part of the Viet Cong resistance effort during the American War.

There’s much more to northeast Vietnam than Halong Bay. The sinking limestone plateau, which gave birth to the bay’s spectacular islands, continues for some 100km to the Chinese border. The area immediately northeast of Halong Bay is part of Bai Tu Long National Park.

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.

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.

Plonked about midway between My Tho and Can Tho, Vinh Long is a major transit hub and the capital of the province. For travelers, it's a gateway to island life, Cai Be floating market, abundant orchards and rural homestays.

Highlights of the Danang region include the city's impressive urban energy, the rapidly evolving beach scene to the east of the river, and more remote and spectacular coastal scenery of the nearby Son Tra Peninsula. Look forward to some of Vietnam's best seafood and street food. It's worth booking a walking tour with a local to best understand Danang.

Dien Bien Phu (DBP) plays a star role in Vietnam's modern history. It was in the surrounding countryside here, on 7 May 1954, that the French colonial forces were defeated by the Viet Minh in a decisive battle, and the days of their Indochina empire became numbered.