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Vietnam Travel Handbook

Vietnam Travel Attractions

Major Cities

Can Tho

Can Tho has a tremendous reputation for being a welcoming place, where everybody is smiling and welcoming. Indeed the Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta are making good a saying that goes:
"Cần Thơ gạo trắng nước trong
Ai đi tới đó lòng không muốn về"
"Can Tho has white rice and clear water
Once being there, your heart won't leave."
Can Tho has a population well in excess of 1 million and is the biggest city in the Mekong Delta. The city is located on the south bank of the Hậu River, the bigger branch of the Mekong River. It is 169 km from Ho Chi Minh. Although developing fast (about 10% growth in 2004), it retains its charm as the center of a rural area, as the urban development is taking place in a rather orderly manner.

Da Lat

Dalat, also Da Lat (Đà Lạt), located in the South Central Highlands of Vietnam, was originally the playground of the French who built villas in the clear mountain air to escape the heat and humidity of the coast and of Saigon. The town is located 1500 m (4,920 ft) above sea level on the Langbiang Plateau in the southern parts of the Central Highlands
Đà Lạt is a popular tourist destination. It is the location of the Novotel Dalat (formerly Dalat Hotel) and Sofitel Dalat Palace (formerly Dalat Palace built in 1922).
The vast majority of visitors are Vietnamese on short package tours, drawn by the scenery, vivid blue skies, fresh air, flower-filled parks, and local edible treats. Dalat is a favorite destination for company weekend outings, family get-aways, and honeymoons. Most guidebooks for overseas visitors describe Dalat as a cheesy town with tacky tourist sites, which is partly true. Attend a "mountain tribe" dance performance, and your eyes might get stuck in the upward-rolled position. But Dalat remains a pleasant stop on a north-south tour, or a pleasant outing from Saigon. For overseas visitors, it offers mostly a chance to cool down, observe the Vietnamese at play, view a bit of the French legacy, and enjoy the atmosphere. Dalat is also surrounded by some of the best mountain biking, hiking and canyoning opportunities in Vietnam.

Da Nang

Danang is the largest city in central Vietnam and one of the country's most important ports. Ringed by mountains on one side and the East Sea on the other, Danang has numerous sites of natural beauty and historical interest.
The city’s origins date back to the ancient Champa Kingdom, established by Indonesian settlers in 192AD. At its peak, the Cham’s sphere of influence stretched from Hue to Vung Tau. The expansion of the Chinese, Vietnamese and Khmer led to the decline and fall of the Cham by the mid-15th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, French and Spanish traders and missionaries made landfall at Hội An, just south of Danang. By the 19th century, Danang had superseded Hội An as the most important seaport in the central region. The presence of the French in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the Americans in the 1960s, led to continued growth of Danang, and it is now Vietnam's fourth largest city.

Ha Long

The city's economy has recently switched from coal mining to tourism, due to the large amount of visitors drawn by the famous Ha Long Islets every year. At present, Halong is experiencing rapid growth not only in tourism sphere, but as a place upon the main road to southern China.
Halong city is divided into two parts: East Ha Long and West Ha Long. The eastern part ("Hon Gai"), where most of the official buildings and industry are concentrated, is connected by bridge with the western part ("Bai Chay"), considered to be the place of tourism animation. There are several good quality hotels in Halong city and plenty of budget accommodation, two hospitals and several private medical centers.
In the south of the city there is Bai Tho (‘Poem’) Mountain with its almost vertical seaward face, which was widely used by some famous local poets. The limestone peak is rich in bio-diversity and offers attractive views of the bay. There are also such places of interest as Cua Van Fishing Village, Hoang Gia Park, Ha Long Market, Bai Chay Trading Center, Quang Ninh Museum, Vietnam-Japan Cultural House, Children's Cultural House.

Ha Noi

Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Nội), the capital of Vietnam, is a fascinating blend of East and West, with Chinese influence from centuries of dominance, and French design from its colonial past. It is largely unspoiled by modern architecture of the 1970s and 80s, and is now going through a modernization that is making it a rising star in Southeast Asia.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is the largest city in Vietnam.Under the name Saigon (Vietnamese: Sài Gòn), it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. In 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding province of Gia Định and was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City (although the name Sài Gòn - formally known as District 1 - is still commonly used.)
The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, 60 kilometers (37 mi) from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers (1,094 mi) south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
The metropolitan area, which consists of Hồ Chí Minh City metro area, Thủ Dầu Một, Di An, Bien Hoa and surrounding towns, is populated by more than 9 million people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in Vietnam and Indochina. The Greater Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, a metropolitan area covering most part of Dong Nam Bo plus Tien Giang and Long An provinces under planning will have an area of 30,000 square kilometers with a population of 20 million inhabitants by 2020.

Hoi An

Hoi An (Hội An) is a beautiful city in Vietnam, just south of Da Nang. The Old Town of Hoi An is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hoi An, once known as Faifo, was a major international port in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the foreign influences are discernible to this day. While the serious shipping business has long since moved to Danang, the heart of the city is still the Old Town, full of winding lanes and Chinese-styled shophouses, which is particularly atmospheric in the evening as the sun goes down. While almost all shops now cater to the tourist trade, the area has been largely preserved as is, which is unusual in Vietnam, and renovation has proceeded slowly and carefully - it's mercifully absent of towering concrete blocks and karaoke parlors.

Hue

Hue is intimately connected to the imperial Nguyễn Dynasty, based in Hue, who ruled from 1802 to 1945. Hue is easy to get a grip on. The main landmark is the Perfume River (Hương Giang), with the old city and the Citadel on the north side and the newer city, including most hotels and restaurants, on the south side. Much of the riverside has wisely been done up as a pleasant promenade and park dotted with bizarre sculptures.

Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa)

Khanh Hoa is Vietnam’s most famous seaside resort-town. It's more lively and urban in character than other beach destinations like Mui Ne and Phu Quoc. It's also the scuba diving center of Vietnam.

Traces of human settlement in Nha Trang date back to the Cham Empire, though in times of Vietnamese rule, there wasn’t much more than small fishing villages. The French recognized that this beautiful bay, with its islands and white sand beaches, made for a perfect bathing spot, and began the transformation into a resort town. American soldiers agreed, and Nha Trang became a favorite vacation stop during the war.
The monsoon season is from October to mid December. Sea winds can be heavy, and sometimes the weather can get pretty chilly. Summer, naturally, brings many vacation goers into town and hotel rooms get somewhat more difficult to find.

Phan Thiet

Phan Thiết town is the capital city of Bình Thuận Province, in southeastern Vietnam.
Located on an arm of the South China Sea, Phan Thiết is one of Vietnam's most important fishing areas. Its population is roughly 205,333 (as of 2004). Hồ Chí Minh lived in Phan Thiết for a short time and taught at the Dục Thanh school.
During the Vietnam War, Phan Thiết was the site of the U.S. military base, which was located at the now closed airfield southwest of the city. In recent years, Phan Thiết (specifically Mũi Né Beach district) has been transformed into a resort destination. October 24, 1995 is considered to be the birth of tourism in Phan Thiết, when thousands rushed to Mũi Né to see the total solar eclipse. The event was commemorated on the same day in 2005 as the tenth anniversary of tourism for the province.

Phu Quoc island

Phú Quốc is the largest island of Vietnam, a very mountainous and densely forested Island of 1320 sq km, its 48 km in length from south to north and has a population of approx. 80,000 people. Situated in the Gulf of Thailand 45 km west of Ha Tien on the Vietnamese mainland and 15 km south of the coast of Cambodia, Phu Quoc is ringed with some of most beautiful beaches and best seafood in Vietnam.

Vung Tau

Vung Tau (Vũng Tàu) is a city in Southern Vietnam, about 125km from Ho Chi Minh City ( Saigon). Its close location to Saigon and its beauty and fresh air makes it a very popular destination for weekends.
Vung Tau is the tourist and commercial center of Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (an industrial province in Southeastern Vietnam). The whole city area lies on a peninsula which is separated from the mainland by a gulf river called Co May river.