Vietnam's most famous landmarks are its nine UNESCO World Heritage sites, led by Ha Long Bay-Cat Ba Archipelago with its 1,133 islands and islets, Hoi An Ancient Town, the Hue monuments and the caves of Phong Nha-Ke Bang. Add two city icons, Hanoi's Temple of Literature (built in 1070) and Da Nang's Golden Bridge, and you have the short list most trips are built around.
The trouble with most lists of Vietnam landmarks is that they've aged badly. The World Heritage list changed in 2023 and again in 2025. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is shut for its yearly restoration until November 2, 2026. And the Golden Bridge's famous stone hands aren't stone.
Vietnam's Nine World Heritage Sites at a Glance
The cleanest way to rank Vietnam's landmarks is to start with the World Heritage list. Vietnam has nine UNESCO World Heritage properties: six cultural, two natural and one mixed. That count is newer than plenty of travel pages, which still say eight.
| Site | Type | Years on the List |
|---|---|---|
| Complex of Hue Monuments | Cultural | 1993 |
| Ha Long Bay-Cat Ba Archipelago | Natural | 1994, 2000, 2023 |
| Hoi An Ancient Town | Cultural | 1999 |
| My Son Sanctuary | Cultural | 1999 |
| Phong Nha-Ke Bang and Hin Nam No National Parks | Natural | 2003, 2015, 2025 |
| Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Hanoi | Cultural | 2010 |
| Citadel of the Ho Dynasty | Cultural | 2011 |
| Trang An Landscape Complex | Mixed | 2014 |
| Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex of Monuments and Landscapes | Cultural | 2025 |
The newest entry, the Yen Tu complex, was inscribed in 2025, and two of the big natural sites changed shape in recent years: Ha Long Bay took in the Cat Ba Archipelago in 2023, and Phong Nha-Ke Bang became a cross-border property with Laos's Hin Nam No in 2025, according to UNESCO's Viet Nam page. One name you'll see on ranking pages isn't on the list at all. The Cu Chi Tunnels went onto Vietnam's Tentative List in 2026, which is the pool a country nominates from later. Being on it isn't inscription.
Ha Long Bay-Cat Ba Archipelago: The Bay Got Bigger in 2023
If Vietnam has one postcard, it's this one. The World Heritage property now covers 65,650 hectares and 1,133 islands and islets in the northeast of the country, within Quang Ninh Province and Hai Phong City. The name changed when the boundary was extended to Cat Ba in 2023, so a night on Cat Ba Island is no longer a side trip from the landmark. It's part of it.
Most people see the bay from the deck of a boat, and the choice between a day trip and an overnight sailing shapes the whole visit. Our guide to Ha Long Bay cruises covers that decision. Watch the calendar too: UK travel advice says the tropical cyclone season normally runs May to November, so leave a spare day in a summer or fall plan in case the weather moves your sailing.
Hanoi: The Citadel, the Temple of Literature and the Mausoleum
The capital holds three of the country's best-known monuments, and each runs on its own schedule. Get the schedules right and you can do all three in a day or two. Get them wrong and you'll be standing at a locked gate.
Thang Long Imperial Citadel: The Seat of Power
The Ly dynasty built the Thang Long Imperial Citadel in the 11th century to mark the independence of Dai Viet. UNESCO describes it as the center of regional political power for almost 13 centuries without interruption, and its central sector was inscribed in 2010.
Temple of Literature: Go After Dark
Van Mieu, the Temple of Literature, was built in 1070 under King Ly Thanh Tong, and the first Confucian civil service examination followed in 1075. Quoc Tu Giam, the national academy, was set up beside it in 1076. The doctoral steles went up from 1484, UNESCO recognized them as documentary heritage in 2011, and 82 of them became National Treasures in 2015.
The site opens 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, then runs an evening program from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. If daytime tour groups put you off, go after dark.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: Check the Calendar First
The mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square was inaugurated on August 29, 1975 after two years of construction. Visits are Tuesday through Sunday mornings only, never Monday or Friday, and from November 1 to March 31 visiting starts at 8 a.m.
There are three exceptions to the Monday and Friday rule. The mausoleum also opens on May 19, September 2 and the first day of Lunar New Year, even when those dates land on a closing day.
⚠️ The mausoleum is closed from September 4 to November 2, 2026. It shuts every year for a restoration that typically lasts two to three months, and it reopens on November 3. An itinerary copied from an older list will send you to a closed building, so check the dates before you build a Hanoi morning around it.
Ninh Binh: Trang An's Karst by Small Boat
Trang An is Vietnam's only mixed natural and cultural World Heritage site, inscribed in 2014. It's a karst landscape of enclosed basins joined by underground waterways, some of them navigable by small boats, and its caves hold traces of human activity over a continuous period of more than 30,000 years.
That's the part that sets it apart from Ha Long Bay. Here the limestone isn't scenery you look at from a deck; the boats run through the caves themselves. Treat it as part of a Hanoi stay rather than a separate trip, and give it a full day.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang: Asia's Oldest Large Karst
The karst here began forming around 400 million years ago, which UNESCO says makes it the oldest large-scale karst system in Asia. More than 220 kilometers of caves and underground waterways have been documented. Since 2025 the property is shared with Laos's Hin Nam No National Park, which is why its full name now carries both.
This is cave country, and the headline cave is Son Doong, which needs its own planning; our Son Doong cave guide covers it. For the wider park, Vietnam's tourism authority describes caving trips that run from an afternoon to four days, with kayaking, cycling and hiking above ground.
⚠️ October and November are the wrong months for caves. Vietnam's tourism authority says most caves are inaccessible in the October to November rains and names March and April as the best months. UK travel advice adds that central Vietnam has seasonal flooding in October and November, which also affects Hue and Hoi An.
Hue: The Nguyen Dynasty's Capital
Hue became the capital of unified Vietnam in 1802 and stayed the political, cultural and religious center under the Nguyen dynasty until 1945. The Complex of Hue Monuments was the first Vietnamese property on the World Heritage list, inscribed in 1993.
It's a complex, not a single building, so budget a full day rather than a stop between flights. Hue sits on the central coast between Phong Nha and Hoi An, which makes it the natural middle of a north-to-south route. Because it's in central Vietnam, the fall flooding in the callout above applies here as well.
Hoi An: A Trading Port and Its Japanese Covered Bridge
UNESCO calls Hoi An Ancient Town an exceptionally well-preserved Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to the 19th century, and it was inscribed in 1999. Its symbol is the Japanese Covered Bridge (Chua Cau), about four centuries old.
The bridge reopened after a 19-month restoration completed in late July 2024 by Vietnamese and Japanese experts, who kept 60% of the wood and 30% of the roof tiles. Photos of it wrapped in scaffolding are out of date. Like Tan Ky House and the Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, it's one of the historic sites inside the Ancient Town that need an entry ticket, so buy one before you head for the bridge.
My Son Sanctuary: Champa's Religious Capital
Between the 4th and 13th centuries, a culture with its spiritual roots in Indian Hinduism grew up on the coast of present-day Vietnam. My Son was the religious and political capital of its Champa Kingdom for most of that time, and what survives is a series of tower-temples in a dramatic setting, inscribed in 1999.
It shows a side of Vietnam's past the imperial capitals don't: a Hindu-influenced kingdom on the coast. Hoi An and My Son were inscribed in the same year, and many travelers see them on the same trip. Our My Son Sanctuary guide covers getting there and what to look for among the towers.
Da Nang's Golden Bridge: The Hands Aren't Stone
Da Nang's Golden Bridge (Cau Vang) opened in June 2018, more than 1,000 meters above sea level in the Ba Na Hills. If you've searched for the "Vietnam hand bridge," this is it. The weathered hands holding up the walkway look like ancient stone. They're steel mesh, concrete and fiberglass, which makes it a modern set piece rather than a ruin.
The bridge sits inside Sun World Ba Na Hills, a hilltop park reached by cable car, so walking it means a visit to the park. The operator lists hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and warns they can change, so check on the day before you ride up.
Ho Chi Minh City: A Cathedral Under Repair and the Cu Chi Question
Saigon's Notre-Dame Cathedral was built between October 7, 1877, and April 11, 1880. A restoration led by Belgian specialists began in July 2017, and as of March 2026 key sections were done and the scaffolding was coming down, but conservation work was still going on.
The south's other big name is the Cu Chi Tunnels. They're on Vietnam's Tentative List as of 2026, not the World Heritage list, whatever the tour flyers say. That doesn't make them less worth seeing. It just means the label is wrong.
⚠️ Plan to see Notre-Dame from the outside. With conservation work continuing as of March 2026, interior access isn't something to build a day around. Admire the facade, then move on.
Building a Route: A Few Parting Notes
These landmarks string out north to south. Hanoi, Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh fill the north; Phong Nha, Hue, Hoi An, My Son and Da Nang run through the center; Ho Chi Minh City anchors the south. With a week, pick one region and do it properly. With more time, link them, and use our top places to visit in Vietnam for the stops between.
On the visa side, Hanoi (HAN), Da Nang (DAD) and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) airports are all on the government's eVisa list, which covers 83 border crossings in total. An eVisa can be valid for up to 90 days, single or multiple entry; choose multiple entry if a side trip takes you out of Vietnam and back in. Pick the entry gate you actually plan to use when you apply. Some passports don't need a visa for a short stay, so check whether you need a visa first.