Welcome to Viet Nam
Vietnam has recently opened its doors, showing travelers the beauty of its landscapes and the richness of its cultural heritage. As the haunting images of a war-torn country – visions that have fueled cinema and literature time and time again – fade, visitors discover a land of great geographical and ethnic diversity and a civilization three thousand years old.
Dragon country
Stretching like a long dragon 1,650 km between the Gulf of Tonkin and the Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam is divided into three distinct physical regions: North or Bac Bo, the Tonkin of the French colonizers; Center or Trung Bo, formerly Annam; and the South, or Nam Bo, formerly Cochinchina. The country is presented within this geographic framework, following thematic itineraries from north to south, around three main centers: Hanoi, capital of unified Vietnam; Hué, the old imperial city; and Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Northwest of Hanoi and in the lowlands of the Tonkin Delta, a densely populated agricultural center of the north, lie forested mountains with a cooler climate, home to diverse ethnic minorities with a rich cultural heritage. A series of narrow coastal plains lapped by the South China Sea connect the vast deltas of the Red River and the Mekong, the country’s two rice bowls. In the center is Hue, where the Nguyen dynasty ruled Vietnam from the early 19th century to 1945.Further south, just outside Danang, the red-brick shrines of the ancient Champa kingdom dominate the landscape. To the west, the Annamite Mountains (Truong Son) gradually rise to Dalat before merging into the Highlands, the domain of the Ba-na, Xodang, Rha-de and Gia-rai, the ancient “peoples of the mountains”; French ethnography. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic capital and most populous city, seems light years away from Hue and Hanoi with its southern easygoingness. After the hectic pace and crowded streets of South Vietnam’s ancient capital, the beaches of Vung Tau and Nha Trang to the north and the vast Mekong Rice Delta to the south offer travelers true oases of calm. Almost all regions of Vietnam are now open to tourists, but the roads are often in poor condition and the means of transport offer only limited comfort. For individual travelers who want to deviate from the main routes, connecting connections can become problematic.
Good to know
Country name
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Visa required
Visa exemption for citizens of 5 European countries in force until 2025.
Official languages
Vietnamese
Money
Vietnam DONG
Surface area (km2)
330.000 km²
The must-sees in Vietnam
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