Shaped like an elongated S, Vietnam stretches the length of the Indochinese Peninsula and covers a surface area of 128,000 square miles: making it roughly the size of Italy or New Mexico. China lies to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the South China Sea to the east.

Vietnam borders Cambodia, Laos and China and stretches over 1600km (1000mi) along the eastern coast of the Indochinese Peninsula. The country's two main cultivated areas are the Red River Delta (15,000 sq km/5400 sq mi) in the north and the Mekong Delta (60,000 sq km/23,400 sq mi) in the south. Three-quarters of the country is mountainous and hilly; the highest peak at 3143m (10,310ft) is Fansipan in northwest Vietnam.

Vietnam is made up of equatorial lowlands, high, temperate plateaus and cooler mountainous areas. The country lies in the inter-tropical zone and local conditions vary from frosty winters in the far northern hills to the year-round subequatorial warmth of the Mekong Delta. At sea level, the mean annual temperature is about 27° C in the south, falling to about 21° C in the far north.