I had planned to put together a single coffee guide highlighting all of my favourite coffee and cafe discoveries from my recent trip to Vietnam. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover a lot of great places on my two-week trip, so I've decided to split the guide into two parts. This first part covers Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Hoi An; part two, which I will post next week, will focus on Hanoi. I also spent two days in Hué but didn't find any particularly good coffee shops.

Vietnam has been on my travel to-do list for a number of years. I hadn't been to Southeast Asia and decided that Vietnam with its rich culture and history, bustling cities and beautiful scenery, and, of course, delicious food was the best place to start. I had 15 full days in the country; this meant I could take advantage of the current visa waiver for UK visitors to Vietnam for stays of up to 15 days.

Numerous tour companies run trips from Saigon to the Mekong Delta, a huge region of southwest Vietnam that begins about 50 miles southwest of Saigon. There are thousands of villages and towns, as well as more rural areas and tiny river tributaries to explore. When researching this trip, I soon realised that you really need at least a couple of days to get even a flavour of the region, but I only had a day and so I booked onto a one-day tour.

My hectic day on Saturday meant that I slept perfectly on Saturday night, only waking to the sound of my alarm. I left my Ho Chi Minh City hotel before 8 am, hoping that it might be a little cooler and it was — but only by a degree or two. First on my to-do list was coffee. 

I left London around noon on Friday and, after a layover in Hong Kong just long enough to grab a decent macchiato from the Illy Cafe and soak in some of those moody, mountainous views, I arrived in Saigon (AKA Ho Chi Minh City; I've been calling it Saigon, as most of the locals seem to) at around 10.30 am local time on Saturday.