3 Best Sights in The South-Central Coasts and Highlands, Vietnam

Around 15 minutes from the tourist strip of Mui Ne, the Red Sand Dunes are a very strange sight in a country renowned for its jungles, and provide great sunrise and sunset views. However, these are peak times for busloads of tour groups, so if you're after some more quiet, visit around 4 pm when the weather begins to cool a little and the sea breeze picks up. Children offer plastic mats for rent so tourists can slide down the dunes. Mats cost roughly 20,000d for an hour, plus tip.

Also known as the Cathedral of Kon Tum, this church (completed in 1918) combines Roman and Bahnar architectural styles in a unique and beautiful building with wide verandas. The church is usually open, so you can go inside and admire the stained-glass windows that light up the airy interior. There's an orphanage behind the church that welcomes visitors and some interesting workshops in the grounds. Masses are held at the church daily at 5 am and 5:30 pm and on Sunday, at 5 am, 7:30 am, and 4 pm.

Circumscribed by a walking path, Xuan Huong Lake is a hub of leisurely activity, including swan-shape paddleboats. Although there's traffic nearby, the lake provides a pleasant place to walk and bike. The dam-generated lake takes its name from a 17th-century Vietnamese poet known for her daring attacks on the hypocrisy of social conventions and the foibles of scholars, monks, mandarins, feudal lords, and kings.