Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the most compelling destinations in Southeast Asia: in a single trip, you can cruise among the emerald waters of Ha Long Bay on a traditional junk, lose yourself in Hoi An's lantern-lit alleyways, slurp a steaming bowl of pho on a Hanoi pavement at dawn, and drift down the Mekong River past floating villages in a flat-bottomed sampan. This S-shaped country, stretching 1,650 km from north to south, delivers extraordinary geographical, cultural and climatic diversity — so much so that Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City feel almost like two different nations, separated by decades of history and the 1954 dividing line.

What strikes visitors immediately is the sheer intensity of street life: morning markets overflowing with unfamiliar vegetables and smoked meats, the frenzied two-wheeled choreography of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, street vendors balancing loads on bamboo shoulder poles, the chorus of bia hoi drinkers spilling across the Old Quarter's intersections. Beneath this kinetic energy lies a culture of great sophistication, shaped by millennia of Chinese, Khmer, Cham and French influences, and by a tenacious resistance that forged one of Asia's most distinctive national identities. Vietnam is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites — Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, Hue, My Son, Phong Nha-Ke Bang among them — and a cuisine that ranks among the continent's most refined.