Where to go in Vietnam

Vietnam

A tantalizing mix of stimulating cities and soothing countryside, imbued with history and culture

Colorful lanterns overlap overhead, filling the frame with patterned fabric and spokes in soft light under soft daylight.

The places that pull us back

Explore our team’s favorite destinations. Not the entire map, but a handful of places we love returning to.

A kayaker paddles through calm jade-green waters between towering limestone karsts in Ha Long Bay.

Ha Long Bay

This UNESCO World Heritage site is painted in rich greens and blues: emerald waters, lush limestone islands, and iconic karst formations rising from tranquil bays.

A tall pagoda tower rises above trees at quiet dusk, with a palm frond and hazy sky framing the Hanoi skyline.

Hanoi

Political, poetic, and artistic, Hanoi is Vietnam’s cultural heart – a place that holds its past close to the present.

A busy Ho Chi Minh City street is filled with motorcycles beside a pink colonial clock tower.

Ho Chi Minh City

Formerly known as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City is a buzzing, dynamic metropolis and the main economic hub in southern Vietnam.

Silk lanterns in vivid red, yellow, and blue hang above a golden-walled street in Hoi An at dusk.

Hoi An

If travel to Vietnam makes you wistful for lantern-lit alleyways, vibrant markets, and beautiful architecture, Hoi An can’t be missed.

The ornate red and gold Minh Mang Temple is framed by tropical trees and a garden in Hue.

Hue

Hue is the former capital of the 19th-century Nguyen Dynasty, and the vestiges of the country’s last feudal kingdom span its forested hills and riverbanks.

Hmong girls running through white buckwheat flowers, Ha Giang Vietnam

Mai Chau

This mountainous region in northern Vietnam is a stunning and slightly more accessible alternative to Sapa for travelers wanting to explore by trekking or cycling during their trip to Vietnam.

A vendor in a conical hat paddles a wooden boat through a floating market on the Mekong Delta.

Mekong Delta

A sampan—a traditional flat-bottomed wooden boat—meandering through the waterways of the Mekong Delta’s technicolor floating markets might be the most iconic image of Vietnam.

Traditional boat sailing among limestone islands, Ninh Binh Vietnam

Ninh Binh

Just over three hours by car from famous Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam is Ninh Binh, an area in the Red River Delta known as “Ha Long Bay on Land”.

Colorful wooden boat entering Phong Nha cave, Vietnam

Phong Nha

In the 1990s, the largest cave in the world, Son Doong, and its surrounding labyrinthine network was discovered, thrusting the sleepy village of Phong Nha into the spotlight.

A Hmong woman in traditional dress carries a basket through terraced rice fields in Sapa.

Sapa

Dive deeper into the nature and culture of Vietnam by journeying north to Sapa.

Aerial view of boat on pristine turquoise beach, Con Dao Islands Vietnam

Vietnam Coast

Take a pause or decompress at the end of your time in Vietnam with a visit to one of the country’s languid coastal destinations.