Beaches in Vietnam
Vietnam is blessed with a coastline stretching 3,000 kilometers with hundreds of beaches up and down the country that cater to all tastes; from white sand beaches where you can view sunsets, to beaches with 5 star facilities, and beaches with nothing at all to do except swim, relax and enjoy the local culture.Lang Co Beach - Hue - Vietnam
Starting in the Far North, bordering China is Tra Co, not a beautiful beach by anyone’s standards what with its muddy flats at low tide; but it’s a pleasant place to stay if you’re on your way into our out of China, before heading to Halong Bay.
Bai Chay beach is the nearest to Hanoi, so it draws a huge crowd of people on the weekends and in summer. It too doesn’t live up to the beauty of the southern beaches, but does serve up some good seafood harvested from nearby Halong Bay. It certainly isn’t a place to come in winter as temperatures can drop to the 15 degree C mark.
Halong Bay offers plenty of small beaches, most of them on islands in the middle of the Bay (though the majority of islands are too steep and rocky to have beaches).These are best visited by kayak because large touring boats don’t have the shallow depth to approach the rocky shore.
The North Central Coast of Vietnam stretches all the way down to the Hai Van Pass, and is almost a continuous stretch of golden sand pounded by huge waves churned by the frequent typhoons. Its an area rarely visited by travelers, because most either fly or take the train straight between Hue and Hanoi, but if you’ve got time they are beautifully deserted and make excellent places to go for long walks. Locals will regard you with great curiosity, and may even follow you to practice their English.
Mu Ne Beach -Vietnam
Though the facilities are scarce here, (you won’t find restaurants selling to tourists just yet) it is a rewarding break from the long drive on Highway 1. Take note however, that its not a wise idea to walk any of the beaches near the DMZ and Dong Ha, because of mines, unexploded ordinances can still be found in this area.
The Central and South Central Coast of Vietnam offers the countries best beaches: from Hue to Nha Trang, the miles of coast is populated with coconut palms and dotted with fishing villages with lots of facilities and choices to make your vacation comfortable.
My Khe beach to Vietnamese, or China Beach to foreigners, looks out at Monkey Mountain east of Danang Bay. It’s by no means deserted, because locals use the beach as a place to play football, do morning exercises and just chat away with friends. It has some of Vietnam’s best surf beaches and in November waves can reach two meters.
Its here where 5 star resorts like the Furama and the Lang Co resort (north of the Hai Van Pass) are situated and offer the best services in the country including al fresco dining, water sports and day tours.
Nha Trang Beach- Vietnam
The beach is also incorrectly linked with the first landing of American Marines in 1963. In fact, it was Red Beach, around the point in Danang Bay, where this took place. My Khe was the spot where numerous attacks took place in the American war and it was a center of fierce fighting in the late 1960’s.
From Danang, the lazy coastline stretches all the way down to Nha Trang. Dozens of beaches, many of them just a few meters from Highway I can be visited as you drive south. Facilities are mushrooming up to meet the demand of the numerous tour buses that now ply these routes. Seafood restaurants, guesthouses and other businesses are making this area easier to visit.
Nha Trang is the epicenter of the beach travel industry in Vietnam, and if you’re looking for a secluded beach, you won’t find it here. But if you want to enjoy a day trip out to the islands in Nha Trang Bay, where you can snorkel and swim, then Nha Trang is the place for you. One of the best things in the city is its marvelous seafood, which includes abalone, prawns, scallops and crabs.
Doc Let is 40 kilometers north of Nha Trang, and its here where you’ll find solitude and long deserted beaches; the shallow bay in front is perfect for a swim and the place is famous for its boiled crabs.
Even further south is Phan Thiet and Mui Ne, close enough to Saigon to be a popular weekend outing destination for residents there. Its got a laid back feels, and includes 4 star hotels like the Nototel Corallia, so roughing it isn’t required here.
Even closer to Saigon is Vung Tau, and serves much the same function as Bai Chay near Hanoi; it’s the closest and cheapest destination for Saigonese to escape the crowded city streets. Again, if you're looking for solitude, this isn’t the place, because on Sundays the beaches are packed.
Cua Tung Beach - Quang Tri - Vietnam
North to South, there are a multitude of choices in beaches so whatever kind of beach you are looking for you’ll find it in Vietnam
China Beach (Vietnam) – Leave All War-torn Memories Behind To Emerg Attractive Destination
The healthy tidings for China Beach, after decades of confusing infamy, it’s finally gaining acclaim for what it has always been, even when nobody noticed: A beach, one of the finest in Asia
China beach, Danang Vietnam
When they do, all will be in for a pleasant shock. Instead of the beach dives or the overpriced clunky concrete villas common to Vietnam, visitors will be able to lounge by a large pool, downing tasty Hue Beers (made in an odd, export-only venture with some Texans) or crisp martinis at the Furama Resort Danang. The $35 million seaside resort opened this summer, giving Vietnam much more than a significant investment in a skyrocketing tourism industry that attracted 1.6 million visitors last year. It’s the country’s first authentic luxury resort. More poignantly, the Furama’s opening signals a new stage in the ongoing healing process for a war-torn nation that has remained rather xenophobic after a century of foreign rule, and nearly as much colonial rebellion.
That troublesome history nearly repeated itself and almost doomed the resort. The American firm that proposed the resort in 1993 pulled out after infighting destroyed its partnership with the area government. An adjoining project went bankrupt. And Australian supervisors practically came to blows with local workers used to the lackadaisical communist construction work ethic. "But it’s done and it’s a big success," says Paul Stoll, general manager of the resort, which is just the first beachhead in a China Beach development plan that will eventually include several other hotels and a golf course. "Everybody is looking at this area. China Beach is now on the map."
Danang Beach - Vietnam
Still, the very fact that an imperialistic name like China Beach was tagged on the project says a great deal about local sentiment. "For years, we didn’t use the name, but now we see the benefit for marketing," says Luong Minh Sam, Director of the Tourism Department of Danang. He describes plans for adding retirement villas for rich Japanese and Taiwanese, plus hotels and golf courses, and a series of canals to take tourists to nearby villages. "We are calling the whole beach as China Beach, since tourists know this name."
War tourism is big business for Danang, he acknowledges. "This area is where so many strategic battles were fought, and not just for the Americans, but also the French before them. But American tourism is really our aim. We really want to promote to the US market. In the past, it was difficult, but now, we have a big plus in China Beach." The area is rich in military memories. China Beach’s hospital is now a seafood processing plant, but the former guesthouses have fittingly become an army hotel. Duffers will soon be driving golf carts around the old marine aircraft base, and a Novotel is set to rise upon the site of the first US consulate.
"China Beach does have that old vibe," says Fred Burke, an American lawyer in Ho Chi Minh, who also chairs its American Chamber of Commerce. Launched in 1993 with eight members, it now has 280; likewise a sister chamber in Hanoi. In April, the two groups met together for the first time at the China Beach resort. "It was a big blowout," Burke says. "Talk about memories."
Of course, some are better than others. Earlier this summer, a fracas erupted amongst some US soldiers involved in the search for MIA remains. “It was quite a scene," says one ex-pat resident of the area, adding, with perhaps a touch of nostalgia: "just like in the old days."
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