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So you've made it to Nha Trang, exhausted, feeling a little grim but with a sense of freedom and expectation as you climb of the bus or struggle into town from the train station. What to do? Where to go? The resort city offers a bewildering and ever-changing choice of diversions for the gregarious traveller. ElephantGuide recently spent a few days checking out the best (and the worst) of Nha Trang. 

Saigon - Shopping capital of Asia? It's hard to imagine, yet every week hundreds - if not thousands - of tourists from around the region disembark at Than Son Nhat airport with one thing in mind: Spending money. 

Hue's charms are universal, but for some they can also be intensely personal.

Ana Mandara has announced the addition of Nha Trang's first professional spa facility to its already well-established resort &endash; to be managed by Six Senses Spas. 

Tourism officials from the three Central Vietnam provinces of Thua Thien Hue, Danang City and Quang Nam as well as travel industry professionals and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism have joined forces to form the World Heritage Road - a new initiative to develop and promote tourism to Central Vietnam. 

The worldwide reputation of Vietnamese and French food served at the Sofitel Metropole has led to the recent opening of the Metropole Cooking School.

Just a few paces away from its beautiful beach resorts, Nha Trang is a rough town. By night the main street is taken over by a loosely organized society of thieves, prostitutes and pimps. At sunrise the strip of sand in front of the fairground is littered with used hypodermic syringes and condoms. Close to the bottom of the pecking order are the homeless children, some as young as seven years old, who sleep on the beach and try to feed themselves by selling chewing gum, doughnuts or T shirts. Without families to protect them, they get shaken down by thugs.

Hanoi has developed at an amazing pace since Vietnam opened its doors to foreign travel and western markets and investment. Mark Lindesay reports from the city and examines its attractions for the tourist and business traveller. 

In less than a decade, Vietnam's hotels have gone from dreary hovels to dreams come true. Elka Ray enjoys unexpected levels of luxury at the country's best resort hotels.