Overview

With tumult firmly in the past, Vietnam and Cambodia are now opening up to exploration, seducing travellers with their sublime beauty and traditional charms.

Vietnam is a land of brilliant green paddy fields, pristine beaches and beguiling cities. Visit elegant Hanoi and you will find wide boulevards, shimmering lakes and narrow streets dotted with temples. Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it is still known by locals, is Vietnam’s vibrant capital. Its French colonial past still resonates in its architecture and lively café society, yet this is a quintessentially Asian city, where life, in all its noise and colour, is lived on the streets. For 10km of white-sand beaches, warm waters and excellent diving, head for Nha Trang. For culture, a must-see is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hoi An. One of South-East Asia’s main trading ports between the 15th and 19th centuries, it retains a distinctively Chinese atmosphere in its narrow streets lined with wooden merchants’ houses.

Cambodia’s World Heritage Site of Angkor is well worth the pilgrimage. Built between the 9th and 13th centuries by the Khmer kings, the ancient city is home to the spectacular temple complex of Angkor Wat.