Vietnam Travel Magazine, Vietnam Travel News

According to one tourism industry local, Da Nang has been asleep for 15 years. And while the city's cyclos still move along the leafy avenues at a sleepwalker's pace, there is definitely some stirring going on. Glossy new apartment complexes and shopping malls line the riverfront, where the scent of new paint seems to mingle with the salty harbour air. Some of the city's more important avenues have been widened, while buildings and hotels are continually being torn down and rebuilt -- don't be surprised if you show up somewhere to check out a room, and find the lobby covered in scaffolding.

The historic capital of Vietnam, Hue, sits astride a truly majestic and beautiful river, the Song Huong (Perfume River). The north-bank is host to its share of hotels and restaurants, but the area is dominated by the old fortified city known as the Citadel, spread across more than 5 square kilometres of ground, crowding out development on that side of the river. As a result, guesthouses, hotels and restaurants have sprung up on the south bank, starting with the river road, Le Loi Street, and stretching further south. The south bank of the river has been developed as park cum promenade, with an eclectic variety of public sculptures on display.

Pale yellow houses draped in bougainvillea, shopfronts lit with the glow of silk lanterns, women in conical hats lifting baskets of slippery fish from their boats -- life in old town Hoi An looks like a picture postcard of a Vietnamese country town. Of course, that didn't happen by accident. In 1999, the riverside town was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in an effort to preserve its core of historic architecture, a unique mix of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and European styles. The listing gave Hoi An the resources and impetus to better protect and maintain its wonderful architecture, and to market itself as a tourist destination. It worked, and the town now attracts visitors by the droves.