55 days in Southeast Asia Itinerary

While most Southeast Asian countries have at least one booming metropolis, none seem to bustle nearly throughout like Vietnam does. While busy locals zoom about on motorbikes, visitors fill their Vietnam vacations with a mix of cultural sightseeing and exploring the landscape. Big cities and towns boast colonial architecture, open-air markets, outstanding spa complexes, and modern restaurants. The country also features over 3,200 km (2,000 mi) of coastline dotted with sandy bays that attract scuba divers and kitesurfers. Away from busy urban centers, a tour of Vietnam reveals a rural landscape of lush rice paddies, jagged mountain peaks, and timeless villages unspoiled by the outside world.

The largest of Vietnam's islands, Phu Quoc combines tradition with modernity, and nature with nurture. Known for its pepper farming and fish sauce brewing, the island retains a charming rusticity in its fishing towns and inland plantations. Phu Quoc Island tourism developed rapidly, with a number of resorts sitting on the golden sands along the southwest coast. With half of the island registered as a national park, the dense jungles and mountains of the interior remain protected from overdevelopment--good news for wildlife living there, including slow lorises, macaques, owls, and tortoises.

Interlaced with rivers and canals feeding rice-growing plains and lush wetlands, the Mekong Delta impresses with its bustling floating metropolis. Tours of the Mekong Delta revolve around boat trips to floating markets and even whole towns on stilts, and trips to tranquil inland villages with slow, traditional lifestyles. As the rice bowl of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta offers foodies plenty to sink their teeth into: tours of rice paddies and orchards, fresh produce from floating stands, and delicious freshwater fish dishes. Other possibilities for a Mekong Delta itinerary include temples with ornate pagodas, wartime bunkers, and mangrove forests sheltering rare waterfowl and migratory birds.