Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

A real trans-Vietnam tour usually takes two or three weeks, with many landscapes from the North to the South. In the North you can visit Sapa and Mai Chau, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon and Hoi An are essential stops in the Central region and Saigon and Vinh Long are some in the South.

To meet higher demands of tourists for this kind of tour, Ho Chi Minh City-based tour operator Ben Thanh Tourist offers its own Trans-Vietnam-tour option.

The starting destination will be the Mekong Delta. There, tourists have the opportunity to walk along villages full of many kinds of fruit trees, including mango, plum and lemon.

Cai Rang Floating Market in Can Tho City is one of highlights there. You can see the daily activities of residents on boats in the early morning (about 4 a.m.). The views of the market, among the conversations of young women, make the experience more special.

The trip is divided into many periods to cater to the character of each region.

The company reports that international tourists, especially Americans, like to travel to Sapa, which is famous for being the only place that snows in Vietnam. Tourists can climb to the top of Ham Rong Mountain for a sweeping view of Sapa. Looking down, you can see houses with red roofs covered in mist.

It is said that German and Dutch tourists especially like to visit Halong Bay, a world cultural heritage site with about 1,500 various islets and many caves.

Thien Cung, Dau Go, Sung Sot, Lu Huong, Cho Da and Ga Choi are some of them. When visiting them, tourists can hear interesting legends about them while enjoying their beauty. For example, at Thien Cung Cave there are many stalactites of many shapes, sizes and colors, and you can hear the story of King Tran Hung Dao fighting against the Chinese army in the 13th century at Dau Go cave.

The South has Cai Rang Floating Market and the North has Sapa. What does the Central have? Hoi An Ancient Town, which is recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site, with many famous places like Japanese Bridge Pagoda, Tan Ky Ancient House or Phuc Kien Club. A pleasant walk around the town to investigate ancient houses and local life is a must-do.

You can visit the area by the left bank of the Hoai River, once home to Chinese and Japanese streets and the most important trade center of the country during the 17th and 18th centuries, where merchant ships from Asia and Europe visited.

Standing on the Cau (Bridge) Pagoda - the symbol of Hoi An’s cultural heritage - you can see the Hoai River. You also cannot miss travelling around the bay by boat.

The central region has another place worthy to be visited - Hue City, Vietnam’s royal capital city and now home to many beautiful structures like King Tu Duc Mausoleum and Thien Mu Pagoda.

Source: SGT