Experience the best of Dien Bien Phu

Dien Bien Phu lies in the Muong Thanh valley, a broad rice-growing plain among the mountains of north-west Vietnam, not far from the border with Laos. In 1954 the valley was the site of the decisive battle between the Viet Minh and French forces, which ended in a French defeat and led to the Geneva Accords. The town's Victory Museum tells the story.

Hills around the town, among them Hill A1, hold trenches, bunkers and monuments, and the reconstructed command bunker of the French general de Castries stands by the Nam Rom river. The Victory Monument on Hill D1 overlooks the valley. Pa Khoang Lake, set in forest, and the Muong Phang base area in the hills give forest walks, and villages of the Thai and Hmong peoples dot the valley.

Highland cooking here includes sticky rice cooked in bamboo, smoked buffalo meat and grilled river fish, served with herbs and chilli dips. The dry months run from October to April and summers are wet, the valley harvest comes in autumn, and in spring white bauhinia flowers bloom across the hills.