Saigon & the Dalat Highlands, 6 Nights

A short drive in from Tan Son Nhat, and time to rest before the afternoon. The War Remnants Museum documents the American war through photographs and captured hardware and is not easy viewing; the Reunification Palace, where the war ended when tanks broke through its gates, is a period piece of 1960s design with the command bunkers still in the basement. In the evening, Nguyen Hue, the pedestrian boulevard down to the river, is where the city walks.

Out of the city early to My Tho on the Tien river, the nearest arm of the Mekong. Vinh Trang pagoda mixes Vietnamese, Khmer and colonial architecture in its gardens. A motorboat then crosses to the river islands for coconut sweets, tropical fruit, a little southern folk music and a ride in a small rowing boat along a canal hung with water-coconut fronds. Back in the city by late afternoon.

Checkout, then north-west to the Cu Chi tunnels, the underground network the Viet Cong used to fight within reach of Saigon. The guide shows trapdoors, air vents and underground kitchens, and there is a widened section to crawl through for anyone who wants to. Back in the city by early afternoon, then to the airport for a short evening flight up to Dalat at about 1,500 m. The air is noticeably cooler on arrival; bring a jumper in the hand luggage.

Bao Dai’s summer palace, an art deco villa of the 1930s kept much as the last emperor left it, starts the day. The Crazy House is next, a guesthouse begun in 1990 by the architect Dang Viet Nga and grown like a giant tree of concrete branches and burrows. Then the flower gardens and a stop by Xuan Huong lake in the centre. In the afternoon the Robin Hill cable car glides over the pines towards Tuyen Lam lake, and Mongo Land, a hillside garden themed on Hmong culture, ends the day.

A very early start, around four, to reach a hilltop before sunrise, when on the right mornings the valleys below fill with cloud and only the ridges stand out; a hot drink at a hillside café follows. After breakfast the Datanla alpine coaster runs on rails through the forest down to the falls, a ride most children love. Langbiang, the mountain north of town, takes the afternoon: a jeep climbs to the viewpoint over the valley and Dalat’s greenhouses.

Breakfast, a last walk by the lake or through the market, and the transfer to Lien Khuong airport for the short flight back to Saigon. The rest of the day is yours. Ben Thanh market is the obvious stop for coffee, lacquerware and silk; the red-brick Notre-Dame cathedral and the French-built Central Post Office opposite are a short walk away, and the rooftop bars of District 1 are good at sunset.

Breakfast and free time until checkout, usually at noon. A last coffee at one of the old apartment-block cafés on Nguyen Hue is an easy final hour. The drive to Tan Son Nhat is short on paper but slow in rush-hour traffic, so leave three hours before an international flight.