South Vietnam

The south moves faster, eats better and stays warm all year. Ho Chi Minh City, still Saigon to everyone who lives here, is a city of motorbike rivers and café balconies, where French colonial landmarks like the Central Post Office and the Reunification Palace sit among glass towers and rooftop bars. History runs deep: the War Remnants Museum and the tunnels of Cu Chi, dug by hand over twenty years, give travellers a sense of the country's past that no guidebook can.

Two hours south, the pace changes completely. The Mekong Delta is a world of water, where sampans glide along palm-lined canals, coconut candy is made by hand and the floating market of Cai Rang comes alive before sunrise, boats trading fruit and noodles from deck to deck. A night in a garden homestay or a colonial-style river cruise is the best way to feel it.

Off the southwest coast, Phu Quoc closes the journey with white sand and long sunsets over the Gulf of Thailand, from beach resorts to quiet stretches like Sao Beach and the national park behind them.