Da Nang, Hoi An & Phu Quoc, 6 Nights

Da Nang’s airport is almost in the city, so the first afternoon is a short transfer and a rest, perhaps a swim at My Khe beach across the river. At seven the driver collects you for an hour and a half on the Han River, a relaxed boat trip beneath the city’s bridges, each lit in changing colours. The Dragon Bridge is the one to watch; on Saturday and Sunday nights at nine it breathes fire and then water from its head.

West into the Truong Son range and up the long cable car to Ba Na, a French hill resort of the 1920s rebuilt as a mountaintop park at about 1,400 m. The Golden Bridge comes first, before the crowds, a gilded walkway looping out over the forest in the palms of two moss-covered hands. Then the formal flower gardens, the Linh Ung pagoda with its big white Buddha, lunch, and the indoor Fantasy Park of rides and games for the afternoon.

A free morning on the beach, then south to the Marble Mountains, five limestone hills rising from the sand. Thuy Son, the largest, has stairs up to pagodas and caves with Buddhas lit by shafts of daylight; the Non Nuoc village at its foot has been carving stone for generations. Hoi An is twenty minutes on, at its best as the lanterns come on: the Japanese covered bridge, the Chinese assembly halls, the old merchant houses along the river. Dinner is in the old town.

Breakfast and a slow morning until checkout, then the transfer to Da Nang airport for the flight south to Phu Quoc, off the Cambodian coast in the Gulf of Thailand. The island is lower, greener and quieter than the central coast. From the airport it is a short drive to the hotel, where rooms are ready from mid-afternoon. The rest of the day is for the pool or the beach, and a west-facing sunset.

The island’s north-west corner holds its big attractions next to one another. At Vinpearl Safari a bus carries you through open ground where the larger animals roam free, and a walking loop covers the enclosures; it closes in the afternoon, so it comes first. VinWonders next door is a full theme park with rides, a water park and an aquarium. Grand World, a canal quarter built for evening strolling, is lit after dark and close by.

Down to An Thoi harbour at the island’s southern tip, where a canoe runs out past a dozen islets to four of the larger islands. Mong Tay has a long white beach and water clear enough to see the bottom; Gam Ghi is the snorkelling stop, over coral and rock; May Rut has a shallow lagoon. Lunch is on an island. The return is on the Hon Thom cable car, with the fishing fleet of An Thoi laid out below.

Breakfast and the morning free for a last swim. Checkout is around noon and the airport is close, so the transfer is short. Phu Quoc has direct international flights to some regional hubs, and many itineraries fly home via Ho Chi Minh City; we time the transfer to whichever you choose.