Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam has a lengthy art history, dating back to traditional times and its French Indochina era. For a detailed look, Sophie's Art Tour, which takes in private collections, museums and contemporary art spaces, is well worth the half day.

Like Lion Brewery, Brauhof has German-trained brewmasters. It offers an intimate drinking experience and its beers, which include a pilsner, a malty dark beer and – a rarity in Vietnam – a red beer, Chimay Rouge from Belgium, are reckoned to be among the best in the city.

Hardly a shining example of Ho Chi Minh City's newfound glitz, but rather of the quiet pubs popular more than a decade ago, Ice Blue's cave-like interior is worth a stop off on a hot afternoon for a quiet beer. The regulars take their darts very, very seriously.

The waterway borders the end of Dong Khoi. Touts offer hour-long boat rides through the as-yet-undeveloped mangroves that sit a stone's throw from downtown. Coupled with cold beers and some shade, cruising on the small boats makes for an enjoyable hour.

Outside Dai Ly Bia Hoi, benches are packed with a cross-section of men, from white-shirted office workers to weather-beaten motorcycle taxi drivers, toasting each other with glasses of freshly brewed, rice-based draft lager. Inside, aluminium tables are weighed down with bottles and jugs while customers initiate the Vietnamese drinking mantra of mot, hai, ba, yo (one, two, three, cheers). Several sturdy middle-aged matrons oversee this testosterone-fuelled environment, serving plates of boiled peanuts and other drinking snacks such as suon nuong (BBQ ribs) and quail eggs, as well as dishing out the occasional tongue lashing to the more sozzled patrons. Recommended beer: Bia Hoi

The restaurant is part of an Australian-owned dining chain across Vietnam, the Al Fresco's Group. Although a relaxed venue, Jaspa's takes its food seriously, with excellent steaks, a good wine list and an interesting mix of Western and pan-Asian food.

This establishment, which has its own microbrewery, is a cavernous German-style beer hall opposite the city's opera house where frothing steins of beer can be paired with sausages, smoked cheese or sauerkraut. Recommended beer: Lion Pilsner

Although L'Usine is a popular lunch spot, the real draw is not the café's salads but the shop's merchandise. Showcasing many of the city's up-and-coming designers with a few foreign labels thrown in, L'Usine has become a favoured shopping spot in the city.

Walking along tree-lined Dong Khoi on a temperate afternoon is one of the nicer ways to spend a spare hour in the city centre. Plenty of boutiques and cheaper shops to poke around in provide a safe respite in the daytime heat.

Germans aren't the only westerners to have brought their brewing expertise to this part of Asia. Hoa Vien, the pioneer of European-style beer halls in Ho Chi Minh City, takes its cues from Brno and Bratislava rather than Bavaria. The venue started out by importing Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic but in 2001 a Euro-style brewery was built with the help of Czech experts. Today, the brand has branches throughout Vietnam, but here is where to imbibe its crisp bia vang (pilsner) and its richly caramel-flavoured bia den (dark beer). Recommended beer: Hoa Vien Bia Den (dark lager)

Ipa-Nima's Christina Yu isn't a native of Vietnam but her handbags might as well be, being one of the better recognised fashion brands outside the country. The colourful, often heavily embellished bags come in an endless variety of styles, colours and sizes.