Famous landmarks in Vietnam

Vietnam is a long, S-shaped country in Southeast Asia, along the eastern edge of the Indochinese Peninsula. It borders China to the north and Laos and Cambodia to the west, and its long coastline faces the South China Sea, called the East Sea in Vietnam. The capital is Hanoi in the north, and the biggest city is Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

Vietnam is known for emerald bays, rice terraces, river deltas, ancient towns and delicious noodle soup. On the globe you can find Ha Long Bay, Huế's Imperial City, the Japanese Covered Bridge in Hội An, the Golden Bridge held up by giant stone hands, Saigon's Notre-Dame Cathedral, Landmark 81, the Bitexco Financial Tower and Hang Sơn Đoòng, the world's largest cave.

Geography and nature

Vietnam has two big, flat river deltas: the Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong Delta in the south, both covered with rice fields. Between them, the narrow middle of the country is squeezed between mountains and the sea. In the far north, Fansipan, about 3,143 metres, is the highest peak in Indochina. Ha Long Bay has around 1,600 limestone islands rising from green water. Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park hides enormous caves, and forests shelter rare animals such as the saola, discovered only in 1992.

People, languages and culture

Vietnamese is the official language and is written in the Latin alphabet with marks that show its six tones. The Kinh people are the majority, and there are more than 50 other ethnic groups, many living in the mountains. Many people follow folk religion and Buddhism, and there is a large Catholic community. Pho, a noodle soup, and banh mi, a filled baguette, are loved worldwide. Vietnam is one of the world's biggest coffee growers. Tết, the Lunar New Year, is the biggest holiday, and water puppet theatre is a centuries-old art.

History in a nutshell

Over 2,000 years ago, the Đông Sơn culture made large bronze drums. China ruled the north for about a thousand years until Vietnam won independence in 938. Later dynasties expanded south, and the Nguyễn dynasty, the last, ruled from Huế from 1802. France made Vietnam part of French Indochina in the late 1800s. Vietnam declared independence in 1945, but decades of war followed, first against France and then the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975. The country was reunified in 1976.