The energetic, cultural hub of Ho Chi Minh City – formerly Saigon - has a rich history and offers a myriad of wonderful landmarks, including the Notre Dame Cathedral, Old Saigon Post Office, the former Presidential Palace and vibrant Ben Thanh Market, alongside many fascinating museums. The city is a mishmash of architecture, reflective of its varied history, with French colonial-style buildings and wide boulevards sitting aside modern skyscrapers interspersed with beautiful pagodas. The dominant religions within Ho Chi Minh City are Buddhism with Taoism and Confucianism, worshipped in the many ornate temples dotted around the city. A wonderful gastronomic scene can be found here, from vibrant street stalls offering delicious local delicacies through to fine dining restaurants, and a couple of days spent wandering the city allows one the chance to become fully immersed in urban Vietnamese life.

The Mekong Delta lies just south of the city, and an overnight cruise aboard a converted wooden rice barge offers a wonderful opportunity to explore these verdant waterways. As the boat drifts through lush tropical scenery, one will feel a sense of passing back in time as local villages reveal themselves along the banks, alongside fruit orchards, traditional boat yards, fields of sugar cane and handicraft markets offering colourful wares.

The verdant expanse of Cat Tien National Park encompasses the largest remaining area of lowland tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forest in southern Vietnam, supporting an incredible diversity of flora and fauna.

This is one of the best birding sites in Vietnam, with highlights including Germain’s Peacock-Pheasant, Green Peafowl, Blue-rumped and Bar-bellied Pittas, the beautiful Siamese Fireback and the elusive Orange-necked Partridge, alongside an array of flowerpeckers, cuckoos, trogons, hornbills, barbets, woodpeckers, pittas, broadbills, bulbuls, ground babblers and sunbirds. The mammal list, too, is impressive, and includes Leopard Cat, Lesser Mousedeer, Gaur, Northern Slender-tailed Treeshrew, Small Indian Civet, Javan Mongoose, Pygmy Loris and three beautiful primates: Black-shanked Douc Langur, Silvered Langur and Buff-cheeked Gibbon, as well as the endangered Siamese Crocodile, which can be seen at Crocodile Lake alongside birds such as Green Peafowl, Grey-headed Fish Eagle and Lesser Adjutant. Indeed, Cat Tien is also considered one of the best sites in the country to view mammals.

Butterflies at Cat Tien are also excellent. Mud pooling often attracts swallowtails, pierids and blues, including Lesser and Spotted Zebras and Chain Swordtails, with a broad array of other species also seen in the Park, including Golden and Common Birdwing, Common Clubtail, Red Helen, Great Orange Tip pierids, Common Yeoman, Striped Albatross, Common Palmfly, Great Mormon and Peacock, Grey and Yellow Pansy. Amongst the dragonflies, the beautiful red-winged Fulvous Forest Skimmer is often recorded, with Eastern Scarlet Darters frequenting pools. Common Tree Frogs hold a constant presence, and reptiles include vibrant Tokay Geckos and the impressive Indochinese Flying Lizard.

Together, the Kontum Plateau and the airy hill station of the Dalat Plateau form Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Vegetation at Dalat comprises mixed montane evergreen, coniferous and secondary forest, and there is much to explore! Mount Lang Bian, a 2,169 metre-high peak cloaked in pine and montane evergreen forests, located 20 minutes from Dalat, offers spectacular views of the city - alongside a leading cast of birds - and the shores of Ho Tuyen Lam, a man-made lake surrounded by remnant tropical evergreen forest just outside the town, are well worth a visit.

Designated by BirdLife International as an ‘Endemic Bird Area’, Dalat is home to several of Vietnam’s endemic bird species, including Orange-breasted Laughingthrush, the beautiful and skulking Collared Laughingthrush, Black-headed Parrotbill and Vietnamese Greenfinch, as well as many distinctive local endemic subspecies, including Rufous-backed and Black-headed Sibia and Red Crossbill.  Intriguing near-endemics in the area include Grey-crowned Tit, White-cheeked and Black-hooded Laughingthrushes and Vietnamese Cutia. The wonderful Ta Nung Valley, a small but very ‘birdy’ area of remnant evergreen forest 10 kilometres from Dalat, is the most accessible site for the rare and endemic Grey-crowned Crocias. Very distinct endemic subspecies of Blue-winged Minla, Black-throated and Mrs Gould’s Sunbirds can also be found here, as can the beautiful yellow-breasted form of Indochinese Green Magpie.

Dalat is also an excellent area to view many striking butterflies, including the Paris Peacock, Plain Hedge Blues, Red Helen and Restricted Demon, as well as the distinctive Striped Ringlet. A variety of orchid species can also be seen within the forests here.

Due to its altitude, Dalat is favoured by a pleasant climate; often referred to as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’, the average temperature is around 18°C, offering a welcome respite from the heat and comfortable wildlife viewing.

Hội An, once known as Faifo, was the principal port of the Cham Kingdom between the 7th and 10th centuries, from which spices were traded with surrounding regions such as Indonesia. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, Hội An then held the torch as the best trading port in Southeast Asia. Today, the wonderfully atmospheric and historic Old Town is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for good reason. Wandering the network of winding streets lined with well-preserved architecture, which has taken its influences from the eclectic mix of nationalities that have visited or called the city home through its history, one is transported back to a time when nations stretching across the globe came together to trade a plethora of goods, including many beautiful ceramics.

The centre of the city is pedestrianised, so exploration is on foot or via bicycle, adding to the historic atmosphere, and there is much to explore, including the iconic covered ‘Japanese Bridge’, with its unique interconnected ancient Buddhist temple, alongside a plethora of historic merchants’ homes little changed over the centuries. One can sample the city’s delicious and unique cuisine at one of the many vibrant markets; a fusion of influences from the many nationalities that once traded here, and even partake in a cooking class, purchasing fresh local ingredients from the river-side markets. Hội An’s speciality dish is Cao lầu; a traditional noodle delicacy with leafy greens, plentiful fresh herbs and spices, bean sprouts and sliced pork served within a delicious broth.

The city also provides an excellent base from which to visit the nearby Son Tra Nature Reserve.

Located a three hour drive south of Hanoi, Cuc Phuong is Vietnam’s first established National Park, being established in 1962 by President Ho Chi Minh. Encompassing an area of limestone hills clothed in evergreen-dominated primary and secondary forest, specialities here include Red-collared Woodpecker, Bar-bellied, Blue-rumped and Eared Pittas, Silver-breasted Broadbill, White-tailed Flycatcher, White-winged Magpie, Greyish Limestone Babbler, Limestone Leaf Warbler, Fujian Niltava and Pied Falconet. Large numbers of thrushes can be found overwintering in the park, best spotted early in the morning along the access road. The park can be explored via a superb network of walking trails, taking one deep into the centre of the park and the best birding spots.

Time spent exploring Cuc Phuong works well with a visit to the nearby Van Long Nature Reserve, whose dramatic limestone cliffs are home to the largest population of the critically endangered Delacour’s Langur. Birds that can be seen at Van Long include several duck species, White-browed Crake, bitterns, herons and egrets and, if one is particularly lucky, Bonelli’s Eagle.