Vietnam

Vietnam is best travelled the way its food works: course after course, north to south, each one distinct. Hanoi opens the meal with its thousand-year-old lake, its coffee culture and pho eaten on tiny stools at dawn. Ha Long Bay follows, two thousand limestone islands rising from jade water, ideally from the deck of a private junk with the anchor down and the kayaks out. The old lantern town of Hoi An slows everything to tailor fittings and river lanterns. Then Saigon arrives like a shot of espresso, all motorbikes and rooftop bars, with the Mekong Delta's floating markets waiting just beyond. Between stops: rice terraces, imperial tombs, beaches. Vietnam is vivid, affordable and generous. Bring an appetite for all of it.