Gem of the Indochinese peninsula, Vietnam is a diamond whose every facet shows us unique landscapes, unexpected encounters, and many other surprises that reflect a page of its history and culture with diverse influences.
These are all reasons to discover this country that has opened up to tourism for twenty years, and whose history was mixed with France for almost a century.
Today, Vietnam is a destination more and more popular because it remained a country with "hidden charms", between tradition and modernity.
Located east of the Indochinese Peninsula, Vietnam stretches 1,600 kilometers from north to south. The 3,250-kilometer stretch of coastline is washed by the Gulf of Thailand, the Gulf of Tonkin, and the South China Sea, while the land borders mark the boundary between Vietnam and neighboring China, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia.
Vietnam has 2 large river plains: the Mekong in the south and the Red River in the north. To the west, along the borders, are the areas of mountains and plateaus. The highest point is Mount Fansipan (3 143 m), located in the north of Lao Cai (ex Tonkin), a mountainous area that surrounds the vast plain of the Red River. It is this same river that bathes Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
The country is one of the planet's biodiversity hotspots: lush forests are home to amazing wildlife, while fish, crustaceans and birds abound in the Mekong Delta.
The national language of the country is Vietnamese; it is one of the rare languages of South-East Asia, with Malay and Indonesian, to be written in Latin characters. The 53 ethnic minorities each have their own dialect.
English is commonly used in hotels and the tourism sector in general. It is spoken more easily in the South than in the North, because of the American presence during the Vietnam War. It is by far the most common foreign language today.
Have a nice trip to Vietnam!