Got some spare time, money and drive to see Asia? Helen Raine gives an overview of how to get the most out of a month exploring the nooks and crannies of Vietnam, so long as you manage to steer clear of the rice wine...

I recently chatted to a backpacker about his trip to Vietnam. He muttered something about flying into Ho Chi Minh City, seeing Uncle Ho, heading to Ha-Long Bay and then said: “Hmm, it’s a bit of a blur, I drank a lot of rice wine.”

Which is a shame, because visited sober, Vietnam is a wonder, a marvel, a cornucopia of cheap and challenging travel experiences.

But locals are friendly and that rice wine is stronger than you think – so you might want to consider abstaining if you want to manage anything on this schedule.

Week One

There are more than 10 times as many motorbikes in Vietnam’s principal southern city as there are people in Malta.

Once you’ve slept off the jetlag, hop on one to get your bearings. www.xotours.vn will rent you the bike and guide you through the maze of streets too. A 2.5-hour tour starts at €29, or you can upgrade to the ‘foodie’ for €54.

They will also teach you how to cross the road on foot. This is a surprisingly useful skill and advice generally consists of “step out, keep going into the mass of traffic, don’t stop”.

Next morning, hit the pho for breakfast. Vietnamese demolish large bowls of this noodle soup to start the day.

Ben Thanh Market is a good place to try it, as the food is fresh and hot.

After you’ve eaten, explore the rest of the market, which sells everything from Angry Bird pillows to pointed Vietnamese hats.

Follow up with a foot massage (€3.50) or better still, a hair wash.

This is no run-of-the-mill hairdressing experience; you’ll get a head and shoulder massage, face wash and mask, a blow dry and a style.

Since we can’t hear Vietnam without thinking war, a visit to The War Remnants Museum is a must.

They haven’t held back in presenting images and artefacts from war (stillborn babies in jars are not usually a sign of restraint), but the museum has an interesting slant on the conflict and powerfully brings the horror home.

Drink a ‘coffee milk ice’ (excellent black coffee with condensed milk) afterwards to recover.

Many people in Vietnam will have a good go at speaking to you in English, especially in the capital, but for a really good chinwag with a local, try a free tour (www.hochiminhfreetours.wordpress.com).

A local student will guide you round the key city sights (the Independence Palace, Notre Dame Basilica, City Post Office, Saigon Opera House and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Building) and you’ll get a chance to ask a real local all those questions you’ve been storing up for the past couple of days. Obviously, tips are appreciated.

While you’re in the far south of the country, take a trip to the Mekong Delta, where the mighty Mekong ends its headlong rush to the sea in a triangular swathe of canals, rice paddies and orchards. You can be rowed by a local along lushly vegetated back streams.

There are more than 10 times as many motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City as there are people in Malta

A tour to Cu Chi tunnels should be on your radar too. They were an essential defence system during the war for the Viet Kong and criss-crossed under the American lines for hundreds of kilometres.

They are claustrophobically narrow and utterly dark, with little trapdoors that spring up into the forest periodically. If you really want to go the whole hog, you can fire off an AK47 for around €0.75 a bullet afterwards.

An ideal tour would combine a visit to the tunnels with a trip to Tay Ninh to see the Cao Dai Holy See, a sight that, love it or loathe it, will stop you in your tracks.

Speak to fellow travellers to find the best tour as quality varies dramatically.

Week Two

You’re off to the highlands via the gateway of Da Lat, known as the City of Love for its evergreen forests, waterfalls and lakes. You’ll be in the fresh air at 1,500m, which will be very welcome after the sometimes swampy atmosphere of Saigon.

Mountain villages, trekking and rafting are the main draws here, although there are also some quirky oddities, such as the dragon whose scales are made out of thousands of beer bottles (in the Da Lat Pagoda), the Zen University and the Crazy House built by architect Dang Viet Nga, which looks like the love child of Gaudi and a Star Wars set-builder.

From there, a Dalat Easy Rider (essentially, a local bloke with a motorbike www.dalat-easyrider.com ; they can also organise tours) will take you to Hoi An.

The town was an important trading port from the 15th to 19th centuries and its eclectic architecture and vibrant feel reflects that.

Try to coincide your visit with the 14th day of the lunar month when the electric lights go out and the town lights up with lanterns instead.

There’s also a beautiful temple and a Japanese covered bridge.

From here, get a taxi or bike to Da Nang, 25km further north, then take the train to Dong Hoi. Why are you coming to Dong Hoi? Because Oxalis Travel can pick you up there and this company is the only one that can get you into Son Doong Cave in Phong Na Ke Bang National Park.

And if you want to be the kind of cutting-edge traveller that other people read about, you simply have to book a trip here.

The world’s largest cave was only discovered in 1991 and was first explored in 2009.

Now, just 224 tourists per year are given a permit to visit and you could be one of them.

The only way to get in is by abseiling. You’ll then camp on the cave floor, swim in a mysterious river with a hidden source, see terraces of cave pearls (formed when calcite from water drips crystallises on to sand grains over millennia) and misshapen stalactites and stalagmites.

You can join six-day adventures run by www.oxalis.com.vn, with three nights spent in the cave, thought it’s not cheap at €2,158 per person. It is, however, visually stunning and intensely atmospheric, so if you can’t possibly afford it, don’t visit the website with its mind-blowing pictures – unless you want to acquire a very large overdraft.

Week Three

While you’re in the far south, take a trip to the Mekong Delta, where the mighty Mekong ends its headlong rush to the sea in a triangular swathe of canals, rice paddies and orchards

You’ve conquered one of earth’s great underground wildernesses; now prepare to experience the wave of activity that is Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital of pagodas, European architecture, boulevards and, lately, skyscrapers.

Key sights include the Old Quarter, the Chua Tran Quoc pagoda and Huu Tiep Lake with its downed B-52 bomber plane.

The presence of communist revolutionary and President Ho Chi Minh is very much in evidence here: literally, in fact.

You can see the embalmed former leader in his mausoleum if the mood takes you.

After that surreal experience, you’ll find the sea is calling. Get on a bus to Ha-Long Bay to answer that siren call. Two days, three days… you might even want to spend a week here.

Quirkily-shaped rock formations have splashed down as if a giant were throwing miniature islands. Some have cute little fringes of sand around them. There are fully-forested islets and others that consist almost entirely of sheer cliffs.

The water they’ve landed in is an otherworldly green-blue, dotted with traditional ‘junk’ sailing boats.

The islands are misty in the early morning, looking like the end of a fantastical dream. It’s even possible to have dinner in a cave beneath one of them. Most people cruise around these 3,000-plus rocks on a live-aboard boat for at least a couple of nights.

It’s hard to pick the right boat, so ask around, and try to ensure that you get to go caving at least once, visit a floating village, swim and kayak and ideally, eat an atmospheric dinner in a lightly lit cave and/or have a night on Ca Bat island.

All meals should also be included. If you pay just €29 for all of this, expect it to be correspondingly poor quality in terms of food and service, although you’ll still see the sights.

By the mid-€50s, the quality should improve dramatically (in theory) and anything you can afford above that is just a bonus.

Week Four

Northern Vietnam is often uncharted tourist territory. There are many different ethnic minority tribes here as well as remote national parks and dramatic mountain scenery.

Spend a few days to the west of Hanoi on a Mai Chau Hilltribe Homestay where you’ll find a mosaic of rice paddies, bamboo groves, and the homes of the White Thai people.

Travelfish.org has a good description of what’s available in terms of accommodation.

And to finish your trip on a high, make the effort to get to Ba Be National Park in the far north. This remote park is wonderfully low-key.

Forget the outside world by trekking around the still water of its beautiful lakes, which mirror the incredible limestone mountains towering above. It’s one of the best places to see birds in Vietnam too.

Visit www.babenationalpark.com.vn, which offers a two-day trip from Hanoi for €75, but you can also do it by public transport (bus from Hanoi to Phu Thong, bus to Cho Ra, then motorbike into the park).

It will take about seven hours to get here but it’s so worth it for a final glimpse into Vietnamese culture and wildlife.

You’ll find caves to explore, see chalk cliffs laden with tumbling vegetation and vines and undulating mountain tracks and you’ll stay in an ethnic village, eat their food and share a story or two under the stars.

It’s hard to beat as a finale.