At one time Da Lat was an ideal holiday retreat, set amongst the low hills of the Central Highlands. It was originally founded in 1897 by Alexander Yersin and Dalat city was established in 1912. The city served as a hill station for the French trying to escape the heat of the plains and delta. The city enjoys a year round spring like climate and this lovely setting and ideal climate have made the city a hit with domestic and foreign tourists alike.

Da Lat has a charming French district behind the Rap 3-4 cinema, which is well worth exploring. This is also where a number of the good hotels in Da Lat are situated. In the centre of town there is a large fresh produce market which sells some of the nicest strawberries (when in season) that you can ever hope to taste! Da Lat is also the centre of kitsch in . Keep an eye out for the Dalat Cowboys, who ride around the town on horseback. You an also take a ride on a swan boat in the lake or buy one of the dozens of tacky trinkets on sale in the market. Da Lat has a lot worth visiting, especially if you are into kitsch. Dalat has the only eighteen hole golf course in Vietnam, and anyone can play a round there! A few hours could quite easily be spent riding bikes around the lake a stopping off at the interesting sights near it. The Botanical gardens also offers a lovely place to hang out.

Bao Dai's Summer Palace Set atop the ridge overlooking Dalat, this residence is one of the more bizarre building you can visit. The building is best described as complete art deco, designed perhaps to be in rather than Dalat. It used to be relaxing place of Bao Dai, the last feudal king of Vietnam which was overthrown during the August rebels in 1945. The palace is deep in a pine forest with flower gardens and the embroidering artworks made by talented charming girls are really worth a half-day visit.

Ben Tre Ben Tre is made up of seven districts with Chau Thanh being the main city, surrounded by many islands that are covered in coconut trees. Ben Tre is known throughout Vietnam for its masses of coconut palms, and during the war the coconut oil was used as a valuable substitute for kerosene. This are is relatively untouched by tourism, and this is evident in the fact that NOBODY speaks English in Ben Tre. Even the tourist office has trouble communicating. Communication problems aside, you will find the people of Ben Tre to be exceedingly friendly and the countryside is beautiful. There is also a daily fresh produce market that is extremely colorful and worth visiting. Due to the limited exposure to tourism, Ben Tre can leave you with a purely cultural experience.

Ca Mau Ca Mau is situated in one of the largest swamplands in the world, surpassed only by the Amazon basin. This provides Ca Mau with its unique attraction of the U-Minh mangrove forest.

U-Minh Forest U-Minh, which in Vietnamese means "twilight" and which is red as "ou ming" is the largest mangrove swamp forest that can be found in the world excepting the Amazon. Once in U-Minh forest you can take very interesting walks around the rice fields, indigo and mangrove forests and honeybee breeding areas. It is very quiet and spacious, making a worthwhile day trip from Ca Mau. Unluckily, the newest of this zone is a very bad news that a vast area had been burnt during the dry season in early 2002 and thus limited most of the present visits.

Bird Parks There are two bird parks that you can visit from Ca Mau. The first, Bac Lieu bird garden can be found about 3 km out of Bac Lieu. The second bird garden is in Minh Hai in Vuon Chim in the Bam Doi District.

Cao Bang town Cao Bang town is in the proximity of the Chinese border which recently made it a veritable boom town with quite new flash development (tourists can get Vietnam visa on land at the border). The only reason to stop at Cao Bang is to recharge your batteries for a bit before reaching other sightworthy points in the neighbourhood, of which Ban Gioc Waterfall is the best. Located right on Quy Son river which divides the two countries, from where you can either see and reach China. Ban Gioc is a bone of border contention. At over 90 km from Cao Bang and more than 2 hours driving each way, it worths a full day's outing and looks spectacular in the rainy season, i.e. May to September, but not so exciting in the rest of the year. Another attraction is Pac Bo Cave, 54 km to the Northwest of Cao Bang, also next to the Chinese border. It was the base of and his comrades after he returned to Vietnam in 1941 after 30 years living and acting in revolutionary movements overseas to encourage all supports for the Vietnamese patriots.

Chau Doc Chau Doc sits on a tributary of the Bassic River and is an incredibly friendly bustling little city. The people here are known for being very warm and approachable. Chau Doc is also right on the Cambodian Border and if you were able to enter Cambodia by boat, you would pass through here.

Sam Mountain The main attraction of Chau Doc is Sam Mountain. Situated 7 km from town along Bao Ho Thoai Street, the mountain has a number of pagodas at its base, and some kind of army listening post on the top. The main pagoda gets full marks for kitsch. Although the pagodas at the base of the mountain are nothing to write home about, the view from the top of the mountain is well worth the climb.

Market Chau Doc has a large covered street market on Le Cong Thanh Street. Here you can get everything from something tasty to eat to a new HiFi. There is also a great food market by the river, past the post office.

Ba Chuc Ba Chuc is situated between Chau Doc and Long Xuyen where there is a temple and ossuary dedicated to over 3,000 Vietnamese that the Khmer Rouge massacred in September 1978. It is very moving and well worth visiting.