Vietnam’s best beaches and islands
Other countries in Southeast Asia might hog the limelight when it comes to beaches, but there are some undiscovered hidden gems across Vietnam
When it comes to Southeast Asian beaches and islands, Thailand hogs the limelight. But Vietnam has some great beaches too – from the well-developed and urban to lonely stretches of sand on little-visited tropical islands.
While Wanderlust readers aren’t generally the kind of people who lie around on a beach all week, we will admit that in between exploring Vietnam’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, hiking trails and wildlife hotspots you might need to rest up. Which is where these beautiful beaches and islands come in.
An Bang and the Cham Islands
Where: Hoi An
When: February to April
The long crescent of white sand at An Bang with a scattering of low key, boutique-y resorts is in a great location. Lovely World Heritage-listed Hoi An is less than half an hour’s cab ride away, and dotting the ocean offshore are the Cham Islands. These little mounds of rock fringed with coconut-white beaches are swathed in scrubby forest and tea plantations. Life here feels like it hasn’t changed in decades. In the morning fishermen arrive with their catch in round coracle boats, people mend nets outside little wooden cottages and everything moves at a sleepy pace. You can visit the islands easily on a day tour, or stay overnight in a village home.
Read next: The best places to stay in Hoi An, Vietnam
Con Dao Archipelago
Where: South Vietnam
When: November to April
This remote archipelago of rainforest covered rocky islands speckles the South China Sea 160 kilometres south of Ho Chi Minh City. Aside from the small main town, the principal island is all forest and beaches.
Perhaps it’s Con Dao’s poignant past that has saved it from development, as it was the site of an infamous French and American prison. High ranking rebels were incarcerated here, including Ho Chi Minh’s eventual successor as President of Vietnam, Tôn Đức Thắng. Under the Americans, the condition of the prisoners was so shocking that photographs of them taken by a visiting congressional aide, Thomas Harkin, and later published by Life Magazine helped to turn American public opinion against the war.
Today, Con Dao is a peaceful place with glorious near empty beaches, the best of which are An Hải, just south of the main town and Dam Trau, flanked by forested capes and next to the tiny airport.
Read next: 9 of the best things to do in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Nha Trang and Hon Tre Island
Where: South Vietnam
When: November to April
Nha Trang is South Vietnam’s best-known beach destination, with a wealth of strands to choose from. The main city beach Tran Phu is a glorious six-kilometre stretch of sand between the Cai River and island-dotted Nha Trang Bay. The sand is soft and fluffy and the sea misty green and blue, but it’s urban – a kind of Asian Copacabana, with high rise hotels and apartments.
If you’re looking for quieter stretches, there are plenty of other beaches around Nha Trang to choose from. The loveliest lies forty minutes south in Bai Dai, which is long and broad and washed by calm waters. Hon Tre island, which lies at the mouth of Nha Trang Bay, is fringed with rocky coves and lovely stretches of powdery sand. Some are rapidly being developed, but Bai Tam Tre on the northern shore is still calm and coconut palm shaded. The best way to explore the beaches and the Cham ruins that dot the regions capes, is by hired motorbike.
Mui Né
Where: South Vietnam
When: October to April
Mui Né is Nha Trang as it used to be – long, broad swathes of golden sand, gentle seas, rocky islets to kayak to or snorkel around and long sweeping dunes which are great for sunset and sunrise views. But visit soon, as the high rises are already rising, with a string of all-inclusive resorts spreading from the south from the main village planned. The quietest stretches of sand are about half an hour’s drive south of the centre.
Ham Thuan Nam, which has only a scattering of small resorts for now, runs long and wide for tens of kilometres and has some lovely, unspoilt dunes. And the beach has world-class wind and kite surfing.
Phu Quoc Island
Where: South Vietnam
When: November to April
The days when Vietnam’s biggest island was an unspoilt backpacker beach secret are gone. Nowadays much of Phu Quoc is busy with package tourists and dotted with golf course condos and high rises. But there are still some lovely spots where the sand is white and fine and the loudest noise is the swish of wind in the casuarinas.
Thom and Ganh Dau beaches in the less developed far north are white slivers of sand backed by little hamlets with a local fisherfolk feel. But the best of the bunch is Ong Lang, just to the north of the island’s principal town Duong Dong, which is home to a string of small beaches with coral-encrusted rocks offshore, calm sea and beautiful sunrises. Though there are plans for development, accommodation here is still low key and bungalow-based.
Nam Du Islands
Where: South Vietnam
When: November to April; avoid weekends when it gets busy
Looking for that backpacker basic island idyll of Asian myth? The nearest place to it in Vietnam is this tiny archipelago west of the Mekong Delta and just to the south of Phu Quoc. There are twenty-one islands in total, but most of them are mere outcrops. The main island Nam Du has the only village of note, Bai Tret, with just 8,000 residents and the best beaches. These range for rocky coves with fishing hamlets to the lovely half-moon sweep of sand at Bai Cay Men, where thatched palapa shacks sell drinks and seafood and tiny fishing skiffs bob in the aquamarine ocean. Accommodation in Nam Du is two-star simple and getting to the islands takes time. You’ll need to fly or bus it from Ho Chi Minh City to Rach Gia, take a cab to Rach Gia wharf where speed boats leave for Nam Du a couple of times a day. The best way to explore is on a hired motor bike – easily organised in the main village.
Ly Son and Dao Be Islands
Where: Quang Ngai, Central Vietnam
When: April to August
You can visit these two very different islands, which are well off even the backpacker trail, in one trip. Ly Son is extraordinary – an extinct, green volcanic caldera jutting from the ocean and surrounded by Vietnam’s best easily accessible coral reefs. The beaches which sit below striated cliffs, are few and tiny and used principally to launch coracle fishing boats in the mornings and unload the catch in the afternoons, but the snorkelling is as good as it gets in Vietnam.
Dao Be, which is reachable on a daily fast boat from Ly Son, is so tiny you can walk around it in around an hour. But it has lovely coconut milk white, shady beaches, great snorkelling and a real ‘Ends of the Earth’ feel. Cheap and cheerful homestay, two-star accommodation is available on Ly Son, and the island is reachable by regular, 30-minute fast boats ferries from Danang and Sa Ky Port, in Quang Ngai Province.
