8 Best Sights in Vietnam

This huge park, a block behind the Reunification Palace, has a little something for everyone: walking paths for strolling or jogging; tall trees for shade; open areas where exercise classes are held in the morning and evening; a miniature Cham tower; a replica Hung King Temple; and an extensive children's playground. There's also a space across the street from the Cach Mang Thang Tam entrance where every morning bird fanciers bring their feathered friends here for singing practice. Feel free to order a coffee from the adjacent cafe and enjoy the scene of the bird owners fussing over their charges. The birds are usually taken home by 9 am—by motorbike, which is a spectacle in itself. Leading up to Tet, the lunar new year, a spring festival is held in the park, with live entertainment and food and handicrafts stalls.

A large government-owned tourist park, Van Thanh is a lovely escape from Ho Chi Minh City's urban chaos, with its artificial lake, restaurants, swimming pool, and small children's playground. The food isn't brilliant but dining in a little hut over the lake is fun, and the grounds and buildings are picturesque "ancient Vietnam" style.

Shady and green, this park is the site of early morning tai chi classes and nighttime strolls, where locals sit at sidewalk stalls drinking fruit shakes and eating sweets and roller skaters zoom by. Near the southwestern edge stands a massive statue of local heroine Le Chan, and there's a colorful daily flower market. Kids enjoy the playground and amusement rides in the attached children's park.

This 50-acre park behind the Presidential Palace was designed by French landscape engineers in 1890 as jardins botaniques. After defeating the French in Hanoi in late 1954, the state repurposed the gardens and opened the grounds and its extensive network of trails to the public. Athletes congregate here for pickup soccer games, badminton, tai chi, and jogging. Lovers looking for seclusion head to the sculpture garden on the east side of the park, or cross the bridge to an island in the middle of the tree-shaded, preternaturally green lake.

One of Vung Tau's more quirky sights, Front Beach Park, sometimes called Statue Park, has a children's playground, fitness stations, walking trails, and an extensive collection of statues, including some that are quite racy for conservative Vietnam.

Literally translated as "fresh water lake," the artificial lake has become the town centerpiece with swan-shape paddleboats, garden cafés, a children's playground, and green space. Ho Nuoc Ngot usually hosts the opening ceremony for the annual Ghe Ngo boat races, part of the moon and harvest festival Ok Om Bok, one of the most important celebrations for the southern Vietnamese Khmer community. The boat racing, which takes place on the adjacent Maspero River the 13th, 14th, and 15th days of the 10th lunar month (usually October/November), honors the half-snake water god Naga and symbolically see the rains off to the ocean at the end of the growing season.

In 1983, city authorities created this park by clearing the Cimetière Européen, which had been established in 1859 by the French navy as the final resting place for soldiers and sailors who died in the city. Some superstitious locals won't go to the park because of its previous incarnation and the ghost stories that have been circulating ever since the cemetery was decommissioned. Ghosts aside, with its large shady trees, this is a great spot for people-watching early in the morning, with games of badminton, ballroom dancing, aerobics, jogging, and stretching going on. The park, which occasionally hosts book and agricultural fairs, is also a popular spot for Vietnamese couples to steal some privacy after dark.

This long skinny park at the end of Ho Chi Minh City's backpacker district was built on the site of the city's former train station, which was demolished after the last war. The lush park, with its tall trees, is a pleasant spot to rest awhile after a long day of sightseeing. There's a small children's playground, a duck pond, and walking trails, which are full of locals exercising in the mornings and evenings. After dark, the park is where young couples sneak a bit of privacy, sitting on their motorbikes and cuddling. In the weeks leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year), the park is a blaze of color, with a temporary flower market selling potted flowers and shrubs, including bright yellow chrysanthemums, apricot blossoms, and miniature kumquat trees, as well as depictions of dragons and other animals made from fruit and flowers.

The park's proximity to the backpacker area makes it popular with scammers, who try to open a conversation by asking to practice their English or claiming to recognize you. The conversation usually moves on to offers of card games, visiting bars, or going to their home. Never accept any of these offers.