Tam Coc Garden

If you're looking for beyond-the-brochure Vietnam, this countryside idyll ringed by rice paddies and lotus ponds amid the rolling mountains of Ninh Binh, a two-hour drive south of Hanoi, is just the ticket.

Who'd expect beautifully applique?d bed linen and fashion-forward lamps in the middle of a Vietnamese rice paddy? Not us. Yet here are both, and a whole lot more, hidden away at this charmingly rustic gem of a place.