Early morning in Ho Chi Minh City - or Saigon as the locals call it - and the traffic is jaw-dropping. A sea of mopeds running more than 10 rows deep along the stretch of road. A bike buzzes past laden with a family of four carrying a huge basket of kitchen utensils and a rolled-up carpet. Another has a fridge strapped to the rider's back and another bouquets of flowers.

All I want to do is get across Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street in one piece.

In Ho Chi Minh City, this is tricky. You walk slowly into the endless traffic, never stopping until you reach the other side.

It's heart-stopping stuff yet the region offers tranquility too. My journey begins in Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in the north, dropping to Hoi An before finishing south in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hanoi

Getting there

Package: Experience Travel Group offers a 10-day tour of Vietnam, including the destinations featured here, from £2,567 per person, including flights, transport, accommodation and some excursions. experiencetravelgroup.com; tel: 0203468 6268
Fly: Vietnam Airlines offers the UK’s only non-stop flights to Vietnam from Heathrow to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Return fares to Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi start from £391 or £425 per person respectively, inclusive of taxes. vietnamairlines.com
Note: Vietnam is currently offering UK passport holders visa-free entry for 15 days until June 2016

Crossing the Red River into Vietnam's capital brings the curtain up on a 1,000 years of history. Ageing French colonial architecture rubbing shoulders with mossy roofed temples and pagodas, with Hanoi's 30-odd lakes offering open spaces and calm throughout the city.

Hoan Kiem Lake is in the centre of town and it's just a short walk to Hanoi's lovely Old Quarter, a warren of around 50 twisty streets each named after the products that were sold there. There are still bargains to be found in shops that have been handed down through generations, particularly silk, lacquer-ware and embroidery.

I grab a cyclo, Vietnam's version of the rickshaw, for a tour. "Silk! Silk!" shouts my panting driver pointing to a row of silk shops on one street. "Jade! Jade!" he shouts as we pass another. Clearly my man is a little light on witty tour talk, but it's a fun ride, and at 100,000 dong (£3) very cheap. I couldn't be in Uncle Ho's town without paying my respects.

President Ho guided communist North Vietnam during its war with the United States 40 years ago. His compound contains the simple stilt house he favoured over the presidential palace next door. The city boasts the Ho Chi Minh museum chronicling his life and the mausoleum where his embalmed remains are visible through his glass coffin.

Hoa Lo Prison is also a must see. Built by the French in 1896 it later became infamous as the "Hanoi Hilton" when US airmen were interred there. Other highlights are the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, the Temple of Literature, the Long Bien Bridge and the handcrafted Ceramic Mosaic Mural stretching four kilometres along a dyke wall.

Ha Long Bay

A three-hour drive from Hanoi or 45 minutes by sea plane, Ha Long Bay is nature's masterpiece; 2,000 Unesco-protected limestone islands and islets dotted around an emerald green sea.

A one or two-night cruise on a traditional junk is the way to explore this stunning landscape and a romantic single cabin with a private crew is even better.

Hoi An

Just an hour's flight south from Hanoi to De Nang's central region coast brings me to Hoi An, a preserved traditional village which somehow escaped the scars from Vietnam's conflicts.

Ancient Japanese merchant houses and Chinese temples hold hands along narrow streets leading down to the Thu Bon River. These days, the lovely merchant houses trade in tourism, the tea chests long gone in place of tailors, trinket shops, restaurants and bars, but the market still buzzes with local life and after dark, the old town still has a charm about it.

I relax and enjoy Vietnam's beach culture for a few days, staying at one of Hoi An's luxury beach resorts; close enough to take a bike and pedal into town past rice fields, rivers and tiny villages.

Ho Chi Minh City

Hoi An's calm stands me in good stead for the thrill-a-minute ride that is Ho Chi Minh City. This iconic city has been reborn into a thriving 24-hour commercial metropolis of harmony and chaos.

District 1 is the centre where I take in the Opera House, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Saigon Central Post Office (designed by Gustave Eiffel) and Ben Thanh market with its 3,000 stalls.

I get away from the tourists and explore the nearby twisty alleyways of the Phu Nhuan district - a world away from the bustle of the city's traffic.

The echoes of Ho Chi Minh City's war history (1954–75) reverberate throughout the city; the Reunification Palace (famous for the photo of the North Vietnamese Army tanks crashing through the gates) the War Remnants Museum, a grim reminder of the horrors of the conflicts.

The former CIA station house building at 22 Lý Tu Trong Street where the last American helicopter took off from the roof in 1975, and the Cu Chi tunnels, part of the 250-kilometre-long underground network used by the Viet Cong fighters, are an hour outside the city.

Vietnam is such a joy and incredible value. It hard to believe it is still a communist country, but just make sure you cross the road in one piece.