6 Best Sights in Vietnam

Rio has Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city, Vung Tau has Christ the King, a 105-foot-high statue on a 13-foot-high platform atop Mt. Nho, looking out over the East Sea with his arms outstretched. Even though tackling the 847 steps up Mt. Nho is a challenge in the hot and steamy conditions, expect to be overtaken by tiny Vietnamese grandmothers in thick acrylic suits. Take plenty of water. There's a little shop at the top selling drinks and snacks, and an art gallery inside Jesus's legs, but the opening hours seem to change to suit the caretakers' own schedules.

This small memorial between West Lake and Truc Bach Lake marks the capture of one of the Vietnam War's most famous American POWs. On October 26, 1967, Navy lieutenant commander John McCain's jet fighter was shot down, sending him parachuting into Truc Bach Lake. Suffering from badly broken bones and severe beatings, he was imprisoned in the "Hanoi Hilton" and other North Vietnamese prisons for more than five years. He went on to become an Arizona senator and a vocal advocate of reconciliation between the United States and his former captors, and was a presidential candidate in 2008. The underwhelming red-sandstone memorial features a bound and suspended prisoner with his head hanging low and the letters U.S.A.F. (the memorial is incorrectly labeled, as McCain belonged to the navy and not the air force).

This marks the site of the Battle of Long Tan, which took place on August 18, 1966, between a regiment comprising 105 Australians and three New Zealanders and a Vietcong force estimated at between 1,500 and 2,500. The fierce battle fought during a torrential downpour in a rubber plantation left 18 Australians and 245 Vietnamese dead and 21 Australians and many more Vietnamese wounded. August 18 is now Vietnam Veterans' Day in Australia and every year on this date, and on Anzac Day (April 25), a small ceremony is held at the Long Tan Cross. People who want to attend one of these ceremonies should register their interest well in advance with the Australian Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. The Long Tan Cross is politically sensitive and is on private land and should not be visited without an official tour guide. Those wishing to visit the site must notify the Dat Do District People’s Committee in writing (in Vietnamese) by fax three days in advance of their visit, either individually or through a travel agent.

On the west side of Lon Mountain is a 25-meter (82-feet) high statue of the Virgin Mary holding aloft a baby Jesus. The statue is part of the Our Lady of Bai Dau (Mulberry Beach) church complex. There's a path that leads from near the statue to the peak of Lon Mountain. At the end of the path are the 14 Stations of the Cross.

Located about 28 km (17 miles) southwest of Phan Thiet, Ta Cu Mountain has the largest reclining Buddha in Southeast Asia, a 49-meter-long white concrete statue in the pose of Buddha entering Nirvana, at the top of a large temple complex. Access is via a cable car (or a very hot two-hour climb) that provides stunning views of the flat, low-lying area full of dragon fruit farms. There are usually pilgrims praying and lighting incense throughout the temple.

Located in the center of Buon Ma Thuot's biggest roundabout, this monument honors North Vietnam's victory over the city on March 18, 1975. The battle and Buon Ma Thuot's capture was the start of North Vietnam's decisive 1975 spring offensive, the first domino of a campaign that moved south to Saigon, which would fall only a few weeks later on April 30. The monument features a replica tank and fighters, arms raised in victory. There's no need to make a special trip to the monument as you'll likely pass it as you enter the town.