We spent a week in Da Nang this June, based in An Thuong — the beach neighborhood most first-timers end up googling about — and walked or Grabbed through every other area you’d consider staying in. This guide is the answer I wish I’d had before booking: what each part of Da Nang actually feels … Read more
We spent a week eating our way through Da Nang this June, based in the An Thuong neighborhood behind My Khe Beach — and the biggest surprise wasn’t any single dish. It was the range. In seven days we went from 40,000 VND noodle soups at plastic tables to a Korean BBQ dinner ordered entirely … Read more
Most people treat Hoi An as a full-day trip from Da Nang. After spending a week in Da Nang this June, I’m convinced that’s the wrong way around: the magic hours in Hoi An’s Old Town run from late afternoon to about 9 p.m., when thousands of silk lanterns switch on and the yellow shophouse … Read more
Cat Ba is the budget adventurer’s answer to a Ha Long cruise: the bay area’s biggest island, where you sleep in a $20 guesthouse, charter day boats into Lan Ha Bay’s quieter karsts, kayak through lagoon arches, and hike a jungle national park — the same UNESCO seascape, self-directed and at backpacker prices. Here is … Read more
The Mekong Delta is Vietnam’s rice bowl and its slowest world: nine river mouths, orchard islands, boats as daily transport — and Can Tho, the delta’s easy-going capital, is the right base to meet it. The one rule: stay the night. The floating market peaks at dawn, and dawn belongs to people who slept in … Read more
Nha Trang is Vietnam’s biggest, brashest beach city: a six-kilometer urban bay backed by high-rises, island-hopping boats fanning across turquoise water, seafood streets that run past midnight — and a reputation problem among Western travelers who dismiss it as “too built-up.” The honest verdict: as a city-beach hybrid it beats its reputation, especially for divers, … Read more
Mui Ne is Vietnam’s strangest landscape: Sahara-style sand dunes meeting the sea, a fishing-boat harbor painted every color, and a 20-kilometer resort strip that boomed for Russian tourism, cooled, and is now quietly reinventing itself as Vietnam’s kitesurfing capital. Two days here, timed to the dunes at dawn, deliver photos nothing else in the country … Read more
Da Lat is Vietnam with a sweater on: a 1,500-meter highland town of pine forests, coffee farms, French villas and strawberry greenhouses where the air smells like campfire and the evenings genuinely need a jacket. Vietnamese travelers adore it; Western travelers mostly skip it — and both are being rational. This is the honest guide … Read more
Ha Long Bay is Vietnam’s most famous postcard — and its most mismanaged expectation. Day-trippers come back talking about buses and crowds; overnight cruisers come back converted. The rules are simple: never day-trip it, seriously consider the quieter Lan Ha Bay side, and buy the mid-range boat, not the cheapest. Here is the honest cruise … Read more
Hue is where Vietnam keeps its imperial memory: a walled citadel city on the Perfume River, emperor tombs scattered through pine hills, royal recipes that shrank palace banquets into street food. Squeezed between Hanoi and Hoi An on every route, it usually gets half a day and a rushed citadel walk. Give it one full … Read more