Today in Vietnam golf is becoming more popular. One of the greatest golf club there is the Dalat Palace, which sits in the heart of the small old city at 5,000 feet above sea level. There are a dozen clubs or courses and as many as 30 more are being planned.

The Sofitel Dalat Palace is in fact a renovated palace of the Francophile emporer Bao Dai’s, with breathtaking views over the lake that touch the golf course. With its quiet staff and air of formality, it is the kind of place where whispering seems most appropriate.

Squeezed between the South China Sea and the largely unimpressive southern city of Phan Thiet, a slow, four-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City, Ocean Dunes is essentially a renovated 1980s Russian beach hotel with a golf course out back. The Ocean Dunes course, designed by Nick Faldo, has a more Floridian feel. Ocean Dunes is a narrow corridor of palm trees ending on a green with stunning views of the water. The greens at Ocean Dunes are aerated by hand.