Ever since reopening for international tourism in the late 1990s, Vietnam was often seen as an emerging travel destination; a place where intrepid travelers could venture for a particular brand of rugged adventure. But visit now, and the nation tells a different story. Thanks to a booming economy, a young and forward-facing population and vast investment on the tourism front, Vietnam has fully emerged as a world-class vacation hotspot with everything from historic highlights and high-brow culture to wellness retreats and beach breaks–often with fewer crowds and lower prices than overdone neighboring spots like Bali and Thailand.
Of course, it’s impossible to cover everything in a single trip, but there are some destinations, in particular, that shouldn’t be missed on a first-time visitors’ jaunt. Counted among these must-see spots are the country’s dual hubs: the capital of Hanoi in the north and the country’s largest city of Ho Chi Minh in the south, sometimes still called Saigon. 2025 makes for an especially exciting time to visit, as April marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, which led to the reunification of North and South Vietnam. Here’s the beginners guide for where to start when planning a trip to the Southeast Asian country.
In northern Vietnam, pretty Hanoi is both the literal capital and the cultural one, with leafy streets shaded by banyan and ficus trees and a frenetic, photogenic Old Quarter fenced with skinny, tall nha ong (tube houses) and marked by Train Street, an audaciously narrow lane with an in-use train track running through it. The city seems to be cast in a sepia shadow of faded Indochine glamor—especially in the French Quarter, built during the French colonial period and home to the country’s most iconic hotel, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, birthed in 1901. With a staff dressed in wine-red velvet ao dais and throwback rooms outfitted with rotary telephones and whirling wooden ceiling fans, this atmospheric hotel tells the city’s 20th-century story, first as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1945, then later as a wartime hub. In 2012, the hotel’s bomb shelter was rediscovered beside the blue-tiled, temperature-controlled pool, and tours are now offered to guests.
“Hanoi was bombed badly, but the hotel was fortunately not,” the Metropole’s historical guide and Hanoi local, Huyen Han, who leads hotel guests 13 feet underground into the bunker, tells Observer. “I’ll never forget the sound of the voice coming from the speakers, announcing for the people to go into the bunker.”
There is no shortage of personal stories like this in this hotel, and other echoes of the past in these walls can be heard in Le Beaulieu, the city’s oldest French restaurant. Another story: Egg coffee is also said to have been created here in the 1940s, after a dairy shortage inspired a bartender to mix whisked egg yolks and condensed milk into coffee instead of cream.
A nation of coffee drinkers and the world’s second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil, coffee—including rich and frothy egg coffee, as well as newer twists like salted coffee and coconut coffee—can now be found all over the city, typically brewed from Robusta beans grown in the central highlands. Stop by Cafe Dinh, run by the daughter of the egg-coffee inventor. Lastly, while the hotel is home to one of the city’s only formal Vietnamese food restaurants (the excellent Spice Garden, with a table-side fish sauce trolley), venture out for the city’s famous plastic stool-festooned street food joints, like the hole-in-the-wall Phở Bò Ấu Triệu for northern-style pho, rich with warming spices.
From Hanoi, most travelers venture to the nearby natural beauty spot of Ha Long Bay (Halong Bay) for a boat ride through karsts-studded, blue-green waters, then onto Hoi An, one of the best-preserved trading ports in Southeast Asia, dating back to the 15th century. (To get there, fly into Vietnam’s third biggest city, Da Nang). Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site famed on social media for its glowing lanterns and skillful tailors, the town is a charm-filled look at ancient Vietnam, but it does get overrun by tourists. With not too many hotel options in town and to escape the overcrowded streets, most visitors stay along the strip of soft-sand beaches just north of the town, and there’s no better option than Tia Wellness Resort. A sanctuary for the soul with a name that means “ray of light,” Tia not only has a 22-treatment room spa and three master Rieke healers in-house but also offers mindful, cultural escapes that get guests into the surrounding area.
Meditate at dawn in front of Vietnam’s tallest Lady Buddha statue at the holy Linh Ung Pagoda on the Son Tra Peninsula; climb the 200-step mountainside stone staircase and do tai chi in the sacred caves and ancient nooks of the Marble Mountains; or try your hand at calligraphy classes with a master calligrapher in a Hoi An museum. Afterward, relax back at Tia with an iced green tea in your private pool villa or go for a lotus root scrub the spa.
Other top activities in Hoi An: rent a motorbike or scooter and peddle out to the nearby rice paddy fields (Coffee Xóm Chiêu has lovely views and makes for a nice pit stop) or get measured for custom couture at Yaly. And don’t forget to sample Anthony Bourdain’s favorite banh mi—served on an oven-warm rice-and-wheat flour baguette—at Banh Mi Phuong.
With 2025 marking 50 years since the fall of Saigon and the reunification of the country, the sprawling southern financial hub of Ho Chi Minh City (a one-hour flight from Da Nang in Central Vietnam; Vietnam Airlines has multiple flights per day) is for history buffs with an interest in the Vietnam War (often called the American War in Vietnam) with must-see stops like the somber War Remnants Museum and the frozen-in-time Reunification Palace, HQ for the President of South Vietnam during the war.
As the largest city in the country, where to stay proves important. You might be tempted to stay in one of the storied hotels (like The Continental, where Graham Greene lived for two years while penning his novel The Quiet American, or Caravelle, where all the foreign correspondents hung out during the war), but they’re not what they used to be with dated and gaudy interiors. Instead, try the designy and centrally stationed Hôtel des Arts Saigon in District 3, which buzzes with stylish locals and jetsetters and shows off the city’s side as a modern metropolis. This is an of-the-moment hotspot with a roaring brunch trade and showcasing a new restaurant by Kirk Westaway (famed for the two-Michelin-starred Jaan in Singapore). Pop into the popular Social Club Rooftop Bar, an ultra-cool poolside party spot, which serves some of the best vistas over the ever-changing skyscraper-studded skyline and motorcycle-clogged streets.
About two hours from the city, the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam, with its floating markets, makes for a popular day trip. Most day tours start and end in Ho Chi Minh and include the riverfront village of Cai Be, home to a busy floating market where vendors on wooden, flat-bottom sampan boats sell brightly colored fruit and vegetables. If time allows, try the biggest floating market in Cai Rang or a less-touristy one in Long Xuyen, but as these are farther from the city, they will require an overstay stay in the Delta.
With a coastline running along the whole of its eastern border, Vietnam has become synonymous with a beach break, with the best options along the south-central coast. For an easy beach escape (no flying required), there’s the laid-back beach town of Mui Ne, just a two-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City care of a sleek new highway CT01, which opened in April 2023. For public transport, there are public buses available for around $10, and private transfers are around $100 (cars and drivers are easily arranged via your hotel). The drive is a scenic pleasure, through plantations of rubber trees and red dragon fruit farms for which the area is known.
Not only is Mui Ne accessible, but it also has some of the best conditions, with the greatest days of sunshine per year in Vietnam and year-round swimmable conditions (plus, it’s known around the world as a kite surfing hotspot). The most luxe place to stay is Anam Mui Ne, a tropical Indochine dream of coffee-hued teak, jungle-inspired landscaping, and decorative tile floors. Owned by a Vietnamese businessman, run by a 99-percent-local team and designed by a Hanoi-based interiors firm, this homegrown hotel is an emblematic and confident reflection of Vietnam’s realized potential, a pitch-perfect counterpoint to the big international chain hotels.
Some of the rooms have pitched, thatched ceilings, and bathrooms come dressed in green stone with slatted wooden blinds and freestanding baths. For use during your stay, there are weaved beach bags and conical bamboo nón lá hats, which are still worn throughout the country and much needed at the hotel’s sun-blasted, talcum-soft-sand beach. Should you want a break from all that sunshine, the hotel can also arrange tours to local attractions like the so-called Fairy Stream, a walk through a sandy-bottomed, ankle-deep stream in which fairies are said to bathe.
Other beach options are further afield, often requiring a flight. Cam Ranh (fly into Nha Trang) is one of the most popular spots with some of the best beach weather. Unlike the barefoot beachy Mei Ne, this is a full-blown resort town, with super-sized hotels set along the Cam Ranh peninsula, much like the Riviera Maya in Mexico.
The 75-acre Alma is an ideal spot for big families and larger groups; it’s a veritable village with 580 rooms, 12 pools and a knock-out kids’ club. Recently voted the best resort in Southeast Asia in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards, it boasts a dreamy beach studded with thatch parasols and fringed with wrinkled green hills. With around 10 restaurants, including Vietnamese seafood spot Atlantis and the market-like Food Court with indoor food trucks, you will eat very well here. Don’t miss the mangos, for which the area—Cam Lam in particular—is famed.
“Instead of soil, we have sand,” local guide Christina Nguyen of Zazen Travel tells Observer. “The temperature is right for making these mangos bigger, and the flavor is different: sweet but also sour.” Nguyen hosts tours of local mango farms with nearly 100-year-old trees (“older trees make mangos with better flavor,” says Nguyen), and then leads cooking classes back at the hotel, whipping up mango-focused favorites like tangy green mango salad with seafood. If you don’t feel like cooking, Alma’s restaurants have plenty of mango treats to try, like mango milk tea and mango sago sweet soup.
Most Vietnam tourist visas can be applied for online (general instructions for Vietnam visas here).
The Vietnamese dong is the local currency. At the time of writing, 1 USD is approximately 25,500 VND.
Travel insurance is available via World Nomads.
Unforgettable Travel Company offers custom-made tours of Vietnam. A 12-day private itinerary starts from $3,650 per person, including four to five-star accommodation, daily breakfast, private tours and transport with English-speaking guides and private drivers, internal flights, all entrance fees and permits. International flights are excluded.
Cathay Pacific has the most frequent flights to Vietnam. There are other options, but they are not ranked as highly, nor do they have the same frequency. Voted one of the world’s top five airlines in the 2024 World Airline Awards by Skytrx and holding a five-star rating, the luxury Asia-based airline has a multitude of United States/Vietnam flight options via New York JFK, Chicago ORD, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and, soon, Dallas DFW (starting in April 2025). The carrier flies to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City 189 times per week via Hong Kong. The other option would be Vietnam Airlines, which has a four-star rating on Skytrax, and offers one direct flight from the United States via San Francisco. There are no direct flights from the United States into Hanoi as of the time of this story.
