Vietnam Tourism | Vietnam Travel
About Vietnam:
Vietnam was then unified under a Communist government, but was politically isolated and impoverished. In 1986, the government initiated a series of economic and political reforms, which began Vietnam's path towards integration into the world economy.By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Its economic growth has been among the highest in the world since 2000, and according to Citigroup, such high growth is set to continue. Vietnam has the highest Global Growth Generators Index among 11 major economies, and its successful economic reforms resulted in it joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. However, the country still suffers from relatively high levels of income inequality, disparities in healthcare provision, and poor gender equality.
Geography of Vietnam:
The northern part of the country consists mostly of highlands and the Red River Delta. Phan Xi Pang, located in Lào Cai province, is the highest mountain in Vietnam, standing 3,143 m (10,312 ft) high. Southern Vietnam is divided into coastal lowlands, the mountains of the Annamite Range, and extensive forests. Comprising five relatively flat plateaus of basalt soil, the highlands account for 16% of the country's arable land and 22% of its total forested land. The soil in much of southern Vietnam is relatively poor in nutrients.
The Red River Delta (also known as the Sông H?ng), a flat, roughly triangular region covering 15,000 km2 (5,792 sq mi), is smaller but more intensely developed and more densely populated than the Mekong River Delta. Once an inlet of the Gulf of Tonkin, it has been filled in over the millennia by riverine alluvial deposits, and it advances 100 meters (328.1 ft) into the Gulf annually. The Mekong delta, covering about 40,000 km2 (15,444 sq mi), is a low-level plain no more than 3 meters (9.8 ft) above sea level at any point. It is criss-crossed by a maze of rivers and canals, which carry so much sediment that the delta advances 60 to 80 meters (196.9 to 262.5 ft) into the sea every year.
Vietnam Weather:
Vietnam Food:
The most common meats used in Vietnamese cuisine are fish, chicken, pork, beef, and various kinds of seafood. The Vietnamese also have a strong vegetarian tradition influenced by Buddhist values.
Vietnam Tourist Attractions:
Ha Long Bay:
Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2, including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km2 with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem. Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park:
The park was created to protect one of the world's two largest karst regions with 300 caves and grottoes and also protects the ecosystem of limestone forest of the Annamite Range region in north central coast of Vietnam.
The park derives it name from Phong Nha Cave, containing many fascinating rock formations, and Ke Bàng forest. The plateau on which the park is situated is probably one of the finest and most distinctive examples of a complex karst landform in Southeast Asia. This national park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in 2003 for its geological values as defined in its criteria viii. In April 2009, the world's largest cave, was discovered by a team of British cave explorers of British Caving Association.
Hanoi:
The city is located on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is located at 1,760 km (1,090 mi) north of Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City:
Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochin-china and later of the independent republic of South Vietnam from 1955–75. South Vietnam, as an anti-communist republic, fought against the communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, with aid from the United States of America and countries including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Saigon fell when it was captured by the communists on 30 April 1975, bringing an end to the War with its enemy's victory. Vietnam was then turned into a communist state with the South overtaken. On 2 July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Ðinh Province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after Ho Chí Minh (although the name Sài Gòn is still commonly used.)
The metropolitan area, which consists of the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area, Thu Dau Mot, Di An, Biên Hòa and surrounding towns, is populated by more than 9,000,000 people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in Vietnam and the countries of the former French Indochina. The greater Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area, a metropolitan area covering most parts of Ðông Nam Bo plus Tien Giang and Long An provinces under planning, will have an area of 30,000 square kilometers with a population of 20 million inhabitants by 2020. According to the Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Economist Intelligence Unit and ECA International, Ho Chi Minh City is ranked 132 on the list of world's most expensive cities for expatriate employees.
Huế:
Hue is well known for its historic monuments, which have earned it a place in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The seat of the Nguyen emperors was the Citadel, which occupies a large, walled area on the north side of the Perfume River. Inside the citadel was a forbidden city where only the emperors, concubines, and those close enough to them were granted access; the punishment for trespassing was death. Today, little of the forbidden city remains, though reconstruction efforts are in progress to maintain it as a historic tourist attraction.
Nha Trang:
Nha Trang is well known for its pristine beaches and excellent scuba diving and is fast becoming a popular destination for international tourists, attracting large numbers of backpackers as well as more affluent travellers on the Southeast Asia circuit. It is already very popular with Vietnamese tourists. Nha Trang Bay is widely considered as amongst the world's most beautiful bays. Tourists are welcome to participate in the Sea Festival, held biennially. Nha Trang was the site of the Miss Universe 2008 Pageant on July 14, 2008 and Miss Earth 2010 held December 4, 2010. Besides, Nha Trang was also approved to host 2016 Asian Beach Games.
Commercial flights to Nha Trang no longer use the city's municipal airport, but fly to the larger Cam Ranh International Airport, a former U.S. Air Force Base (built during the Vietnam War) located approximately 35 km south of Nha Trang (see the Transport section below for additional details).
The French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin (who discovered the Yersinia pestis bacterium) identified himself with Nha Trang's life for 50 years (affectionately known as Ông Nam). He established the Indochina Pasteur Institute (now known as the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute) devoted to research on the bubonic plague. Yersin died in Nha Trang on 1 March 1943. A street in the city is named after him, there is a shrine located next to his tomb, and his house has been converted into the Yersin Museum.
Hoi An:
The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lâm Ap Php (Champa City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth. The former harbour town of the Cham at the estuary of the Thu B?n River was an important Vietnamese trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled. During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho (Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the "Japanese Bridge" (16th-17th century). The bridge (Chùa cau) is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side.
Cu Lao Cham Marine Park:
The Biosphere reserve area covers 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) including 165 hectares (410 acres) of coral reefs and 500 hectares (1,200 acres) of underwater plant life. 947 aquatic species have also been identified in the biosphere.
Sa Pa:
Sapa, is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa District in the Lao Cai province in northwest Vietnam. It was first inhabited by people we know nothing about. They left in the entire valley hundreds of petroglyphs, mostly composed of lines, which experts think date from the 15th century and represent local cadastres. Then came the highland minorities of the Hmong and Yao. The town is one of the main market ones in the area, where several ethnic minority groups such as Hmong, Dao (Yao), Giay, Pho Lu, and Tay live. groups, as well as by smaller numbers of Tày and Giay. These are the four main minority groups still present in Sa Pa district today. The Kinh (lowland Vietnamese) never originally colonised this highest of Vi?t Nam’s valleys, which lies in the shadow of Phan-Xi-Pang (Fansipan, 3143 meters), the highest peak in the country.
Cat Ba Island:
Cat Ba is the largest island in the Bay and approximately half of its area is covered by a National Park, which is home to the highly endangered Cat Ba Langur. The island has a wide variety of natural ecosystems, both marine and terrestrial, leading to incredibly high rates of biodiversity. Types of natural habitats found on Cat Ba Archipelago include limestone karsts, tropical limestone forests, coral reefs, mangrove and sea grass beds, lagoons, beaches, caves, and willow swamp forests. Cat Ba Island is one of the only populated islands in Ha Long Bay, with roughly 13,000 inhabitants living in six different communes, and 4,000 more inhabitants living on floating fishing villages off the coast. The large majority of the population can be found in Cat Ba Town which is located at the southern tip of the Island (15 km south of the national park) and is the commercial center on the Island. Since 1997, Cat Ba Town has grown rapidly and has become a tourist hub for both the Island and greater Ha Long Bay. Especially, almost all surface of this island is deployed free wifi access points as well as 3.75 generation mobile networks, which can make visitors can easily work when traveling.
Tam Coc - Bich Dong:
The Tam Coc (“three caves”) portion is a three-hour excursion by small boat along the Ngô Ðong river, beginning at the village of Van Lam and proceeding through a scenic landscape dominated by rice fields and karst towers. The route includes floating through three natural caves (Hang Ca, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba), the largest of which is 125m long with its ceiling about 2m high above the water. The boats are typically rowed by one or two local women who also sell embroidered goods.
Tam Coc - Bich Dong with Phat Diem Church, Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, Bai Dinh Pagoda, Trang An, Cuc Phuong is the destination of Ninh Binh Province.
Hai Van Pass:
The twisting road on the pass has long been a challenge for drivers traveling between the cities of Hue and Ðà Nang. Since the completion of Hai Van Tunnel, traffic flow and safety have improved. The pass has been the scene of at least two of Vietnam's most serious rail accidents, and at least one air crash.
Mui Ne:
Mui Ne Beach is a popular tropical beach. Strong sea breezes make it very popular for kitesurfing and windsurfing. The tourist season is from December to May. The average temperature is 27°C, and the climate is hot and dry for most of the year.
Phu Quoc:
Perfume Pagoda:
Mekong:
From the Tibetan Plateau this river runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam established the Mekong River Commission to assist in the management and coordinated use of the Mekong's resources. In 1996 China and Burma (Myanmar) became "dialogue partners" of the MRC and the six countries now work together within a cooperative framework.
The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in this river have made navigation difficult. The river is a major trading route linking China’s southwestern province of Yunnan to Laos, Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand to the south, an important trade route between western China and Southeast Asia.
Thien Mu Pagoda:
The pagoda sits on the Hà Khê hill, in the ward of Huong Long in Hue. It is around 3 km from the Citadel of Hue constructed by the Nguyen Dynasty and sits on the northern bank of the Perfume River.
Thiên Đường Cave:
The access road and internal road of this cave was built by a local company (Truong Thinh Group) and the cave has been opened to tourists since 3 September 2010. The car paking is 1.6 km from the entry of the cave, and tourists will go by golf car or walk on a paved road to the cave mouth. Only 1 km is open to tourists.
Vietnam Facts:
Capital: Hanoi; 3,977,000
Currency: Dong
Area: 331,114 square kilometers (127,844 square miles)
Language: Vietnamese, English, French, Chinese, Khmer, local languages
Religion: Buddhist, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Christian, indigenous beliefs, Muslim
Life Expectancy: 72
GDP per Capita: U.S. $2,300
Literacy Percent: 94
Vietnam Hotels:
Luxury Hotels Vietnam:
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi
Silk Path Hotel
Sofitel Plaza Hanoi
Crowne Plaza West Hanoi
Moevenpick Hotel Hanoi
Golden Silk Boutique Hotel
InterContinental Hanoi Westlake
Hilton Hanoi Opera
Prestige Hotel
Park Hyatt Saigon
InterContinental Asiana Saigon
Hotel Nikko Saigon
Legend Hotel Saigon
Six Senses Ninh Van Bay
Vinpearl Luxury Nha Trang
Fusion Maia Resort
Furama Resort Danang
Budget Hotels Vietnam:
Trung Nam Hai Hotel
Hanoi Serenity Hotel
Hanoi Mike's Hotel
Brothers Hotel
Golden Wings Hotel
Hanoi Sans Souci Hotel
Bodega Hotel
An An Hotel
Tan Hai Long Hotel 3
Hoang Hai Long 1
Green Peace Hotel
Thanh Thanh Hotel
Canary Hotel
Tran Ly
Truong Giang
Van Hai Hotel
Golden Halong Hotel
Vietnam Map:
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