>> World Heritage Sites in Vietnam

1.Ha Long Bay

In 1994, Ha Long Bay was recognized as a world natural heritage site in the first time. Next, in 2000, it was recognized as a world geological heritage site and as one of new seven wonders of nature in 2011.

Ha Long Bay is a small bay belonging to the west of Bac Bo bay in the area of north-east sea in Vietnam, including a part belonging to Ha Long city, Cam Pha town and another in Van Don island district.It has the area of 1,553km² including 1,960 islands; most of them are limestone islands. The centre of the bay has the area of 334km² consisting of 775 islands.



Ha Long Bay - Quang Ninh province - Vietnam (Source:: http://getvietnamvisa.org)


The combination of environment, climate and geologic makes Ha Long Bay become aggregation of biodiversity including tropical evergreen bio-system, (o to dieu khien tu xa) costal and sea bio-system with a lot of sub-biosystem. In which, 14 endemic flora species and 60 endemic fauna species are discovered among millions of animals and plants in Ha Long Bay.

2.Phong Nha - Ke Bang national park

In 2003, Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park was recognized as a world natural heritage.Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park is located at Bo Trach and Minh Hoa districts, Quang Binh province, about 50km at the northwest from Dong Hoi city and 500km at the south from Hanoi city.

It’s in the area of limestone mountain with 200,000ha wide. The core of the park has the area of 85,754ha. This national park is found to protect one of two largest carxto in the world with about 300 caves and north Truong Son bio-system reservation.
The characteristic of this national park is the limestone creation, 300 caves, underground rivers and endangered flora and fauna in Vietnam Red Book and World Red Book. Caves here have the total length of more than 80km.

3.Hue


Old capital, Hue, was recognized as a world cultural heritage in 1993. The historical relics of Hue consist of historical – cultural relics since Nguyen dynasty built during earlier 19th century and half beginning of 20th century in old capital Hue (Hue city now).

Relics of Hue can divide into construction system including outside construction of Hue and inside ones. In which, inside ones consist of Old capital Hue, Hue Citadel, Imperial Citadel, outside ones have system of kings’ tombs and other relics.

4.Hoi An Ancient Town.

Hoi An Old Quarter was recognized as a world cultural heritage site in 1999. Located on the banks of poetic Thu Bon river, Quang Nam province, it was ever a busy international trading port during 17th and 18th century.

Nowadays, Hoi An old town becomes a special sample about a traditional port in Southeast Asia which is well-preserved. Most of house here is built following the traditional architecture from 17th to 19th century. Parallel with old houses, religious structure proved for formation, development and decline of the town.

Hoi An is also a place of cultural exchange. Today, the town is an attractive destination for local and international tourists because of its history, traditional architecture and crafts, especially textiles and ceramics. Many bars, hotels, and resorts are built in Hội An and the surroundings. The port mouth and boats are still used for both fishing and tourism.

5.My Son Sanctuary

My Son Sanctuary was declared as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1999. Located at Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, it is a combination of Champa temples in a 2km valley, surrounded by hills and mountains.

Most of the temples were made of red brick except from one named B1 which was made of stone. Until now, the construction techniques of Sanctuary have not been found completely. This is the place of worship for Champa kingdom as well as tombs of Champa kings. Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary is regarded one of the foremost Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is the foremost heritage site of this nature in Vietnam.

6.Citadel of Ho Dynasty

Citadel of Ho Dynasty was recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2011. It was constructed in 1397, this was a great construction built of unique stone blocks.

In its underground area, there are still relics of castle, roads, decoration art, old villages and total sights of mountains, lakes. Citadel of Ho Dynasty is the cultural exchange between Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Besides, other world heritage sites are recognized by UNESCO include, Complex of Hue Monuments, central sector of the imperial Citadel of Thanh Long – Hanoi, Ba Be lake, Cat Ba archipelago, Con Moong cave, Huong Son Complex of natural beauty and historial monuments, the area of old carved stone in Sapa, Trang An scenic landscape Complex, the cultural space of Gong in the Central Highlands, Nha Nhac or the Royal Refined Music of Hue, etc.

>> How can travel in Vietnam within a week?

If you wish to travel in Vietnam someday, you wonder that how long is enough to travel around Vietnam. The answer is that to explore the potential beauty of a nation, even the residents there cannot discover all in the whole life. However if you have time to visit Vietnam, you can spend from one month to three months traveling all the most beautiful landscapes in Vietnam.

But if you have only a week to travel, I advise you to choose some special places to enjoy your holiday. I will give some suggestions you can choose depending on your interests.

1.If you want to visit big cities with many attractive destinations and amusement parks

Firstly, you shouldn’t miss visiting Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Hanoi attracts a large number of tourists annually by its wonderful destinations and the special cuisine. No travelers can forget the flavor of ‘pho’, ‘bun cha’, spring rolls, etc. You can find more information about Hanoi food from www.virtualvietnam.org. Beside delicious dishes, Hanoi is famous for many landscapes such as, Old Quarter, Opera House, Temple of Literature, lakes, and museums and so on.

Secondly, Ho Chi Minh city is known as a modern and big city with many historical sites and amusement parks. Some places you can visit here are Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Museum of Vietnamese History, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Dam Sen park, Ben Thanh market, night market. Besides, you can spend time traveling in Mekong Delta, Cu Chi tunnels, etc.

2.If you like the natural beauty of mountains,

You can choose some destinations in the north. Sapa is the first choice for the amazing natural beauty and cultural diversity. Ham Rong mountain is covered by many various flower species, fruits and a lot of fresh vegetables. Sapa is famous for Silver waterfall, paddy terraces, the gate of heaven and ethnic minorities living here. Specially, locals here speak English quite well so you will feel comfortable when asking the way or the history of sightseeing spots. If you don’t have much time, you can spend 2-3 days to visit here.

Secondly, if you’re really exciting with the adventures, you can come to north-west region in order to experience 4 biggest passes: Pha Din, O Quy Ho, Khau Pha, Ma Pi Leng. With the fresh atmosphere and the majestic beauty, you will be attracted at the first sight and have many beautiful shots. You can spend whole week here or only 4-5 days or just 1-2 days for your favorite pass.

Third is coming to Cao Bang province to enjoy the fourth biggest waterfall named Ban Gioc waterfall in the world, you will surprise with the splendid beauty here. You can visit here for 2-3 days, after that you travel other famous landscapes in Cao Bang such as, Nguom Ngao, Thang Hen lake, Thang Luong lake or some historical sites like Pac Po.



Ban Gioc waterfall - Cao Bang province


Finally, you can spend 2-3 days in Moc Chau plateau with picturesque destinations and cultural diversity of ethnic minority groups and don’t miss to visit famous cow farm here.

3.If you want to have a week holiday in beaches,

Vietnam is well-known for long coastline, so you don’t need to wonder if Vietnam has beautiful beaches or not, but the thing makes you wonder is that which beaches you should go within a week. I will give you some suggestions.

Ha Long Bay, a famous heritage site, is the ideal travel destination. If you don’t have much time, you can live here for 2-3 days. Ha Long is one of seven new natural wonders in the world, so there are a lot of wonderful sites you can visit such as, Tuan Chau beach, Bai Chay beach, etc. Beside beaches, you should spend time traveling in some grottoes like Thien Cung, Me Cung, Trinh Nu, Tam Cung and so on.

Moreover, you shouldn’t miss to visit Da Nang. It is a beautiful city with friendly and hospitable locals. Some special places here are Lang Co beach, Hai Van pass and Ba Na hill. Besides, you should spend time traveling in Hoi An, Mi Son.

In addition, you can spend a week in Nha Trang, Da Lat. Nha Trang attracts a lot of international tourists with excellent scuba diving and backpacking here. Nha Trang Bay is considered as one of most beautiful bays in the world. Some destinations you can visit are Vinpearl Land like a traveling heaven, Tri Nguyen aquarium, centre Thap Ba hot spring, Hon Sam, etc. After that you should spend some days in Da Nang, a land covered by many various kinds of flower.

Coming to Da Nang, you can visit three palaces and summer home of the colonial-era and last emperor of Vietnam Bao Dai, Crazy House- a striking, not-quite-finished fantasy house designed by the daughter of an independence war hero, the hill-top pagoda coupled with a brief cable car ride over the pine forest, flower gardens, Xuan Huong lake, love valley and so on.

(Source :: http://getvietnamvisa.org)

>> Cat Ba island – a biosphere reserve of the world

Cat Ba is the convergence of forests and beaches. It was recognized by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve of the world. It is also one of 367 islands belonging to Cat Ba archipelago in northern Vietnam, which is adjacent to Ha Long Bay world heritage site.

Cat Ba is also known as a pearl island at the average height of 70m above sea level, about 25km from Hai Phong city. In the island, there are an east-southern town and six communes. Cat Ba is crowded with the locals and tourists when festivals take place noisily and exiting to celebrate a new travel season in the beginning of April.

Amongst 1,969 islands in Ha Long Bay, Cat Ba is the largest one in which Cat Ba national park covers approximately half of its area. In many years, this park is the attractive destination of numerous domestic and international tourists, especially who love adventure. It has 4,500 hectares of primary forest mixed by board-leaved forest and coniferous one developing in limestone karsts. The park includes many endangered animals and plants, so this is various gene reserve area.

The unique of park is up to 22 species recorded in Vietnam Red Book and 6 species in World Red Book. Among them, Cat Ba national park has the white head langur. It is said that Cat Ba is home this specie. Taking a tour to Cat Ba national park brings tourist strange feelings.




From Cat Ba town, about several dozen minutes on large road to the park, travelers can enjoy the fresh air and the natural beauty around here.

The first stop of tourists is the place to introduce the highlight and characteristic of the park. This is also place to keep many photos and samples of park in times of search and survey. But it is not all about this park because coming to Cat Ba forest, the most interesting thing is discovering it by yourselves. It is not easy to travel all parts of forest on foot because its area is very large. However, with over 10km going through the forest, tourists will explore many exciting things which nature bestows Cat Ba forest when they enjoy old trees, lakes in mountain, if more luckily, visitors will see white head langurs and the unique caves.

Not only having forests, Cat Ba but also attracts many tourists by its fresh and blue beaches. Travelers can see small fishes under clean water when they choose to travel on cruise. Cat Ba beach has many small cruises to help tourists travel on the sea. Marine tourism service is very good, travelers only need to info for the hotel where they live, and after that there will have a cruise to take them to travel. Besides, Cat Ba is famous for Lan Ha Bay belonging to Ha Long Bay. If traveling on Lan Ha Bay to enjoy scenery of mountain and sea, that will bring tourists many interesting experiences.

It takes tourists 20 minutes to come to monkey island. In recent years, monkeys have brought here to live with nature but they are very friendly with the locals and tourists. In fact, its name is Cat Dua, one island on Lan Ha Bay. This island is an ideal destination for traveling and swimming. Not only Cat Dua, the cruise will take you to many other islands on the sea. The special thing at Cat Ba beach is a lot of small beaches around the foot of islands. It is considered as a prominent advantage of Cat Ba travel.

There are such many islands on the bay that they cannot name for all but they always give great impression in tourist’s heart. It takes all day to travel all around the bay but each destination here brings travelers strange feelings. Therefore, Lan Ha Bay is always the most attractive one with the domestic and international tourists.

(Source :: http://getvietnamvisa.org )