Quite possibly the friendliest city in Vietnam, when people stop you on the street in Kon Tum to ask where you’re from, it’s because they’re actually interested.

 In the Bahnar villages, discreetly hidden behind trim rows of Vietnamese houses on the town’s outskirts, the kids love to pose for giggly photos and the adults may even invite you into their homes for a chat.

So far Kon Tum remains largely unspoiled and the authorities remain blessedly invisible. There are several sights in the town itself, and this is also a gateway to the historic Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Like elsewhere in the highlands, Kon Tum saw its share of combat during the American War. A major battle between the South and North Vietnamese took place in and around Kon Tum in the spring of 1972, when the area was devastated by hundreds of American B-52 raids.

www.lonelyplanet.com