Its unique location features flat and fertile land, enriched by the Dak Bla River, and a convergence of various ethnic groups over time.

Kon Tum City, once a sparsely populated and desolate area, has evolved into a hub for settlement, commerce, and governance throughout the province's rich history.

In March 1975, however, Kon Tum was overrun during the Ho Chi Minh Campaign and large numbers of refugees were forced to flee east to the south central coast.

Kon Tum has several vestiges of the French colonial period, as well as several tribal villages directly in the suburbs of the Vietnamese-reconstructed town.

Among the town's landmarks, there is a Roman Catholic wooden church on discrete stilts and a large French-built seminary which hosts a small museum on local hill tribes.