Sai Gon tours

Phan Thiet – Mui Ne travel information

Further south, and just 200km north of Sai Gon, is the small fishing town of Phan Thiet.

While Phan Thiet is a pleasant enough town, the real attraction is the nearby Mui Ne Peninsula and its 10km of sandy beaches and coconut groves. Many attractive small-scale beach resorts have opened up in recent years amongst the palm trees of Mui Ne and it has become a popular place to rest up for a few days.

At the end of the peninsula near to the fishing village are some enormous sand dunes that look as if they belong in the Sahara rather than southern Vietnam.

Mui Ne is located 24 km north-east of the town of Phan Thiet. It is a fishing village as well as a familiar tourism area in Binh Thuan Province.

It is found on Highway No. 706, and features sweeping sand dunes and beautiful rows of palm trees. The beach is shallow and sloped, the water is clean and blue and the sun rarely hides behind clouds.

There are desolate and primeval beaches that have never witnessed human exploitation as well as imposing landscapes. There is also Doi Cat (Sand Hill), which has long been a creative subject of artistic photographs and paintings.

Besides beaches and sand dunes, there are also beautiful landscapes such as Suoi Tien (Fairy Spring), the Ong Hoang Building and the Poshanu Cham Tower.

Mui Ne has long been considered the “Hawaii” of Vietnam. It boasts shady roads under coconut trees, a beautiful beach and cliffs battered by the waves of the sea. The typical scenery of Mui Ne lies in the moving lines of golden sand caused by the wind and when they are seen from afar they look like moving waves.

The scenery looks more fascinating at dawn, when young Cham girls in green dresses go to work. That’s why no photographer fails to visit this area.

Mui Ne is an ideal place for rest and relaxation. Visitors can certainly enjoy swimming in the blue water of the sea, climbing the sand dunes or relaxing by a swimming pool. In fact this oasis entertaiment people of all ages, and furthermore, provides an endless inspiration to the artists’ creation.

Ke Ga light house was completed in February 1897 by French architect Snavat. It is 65m above the sea level and has 184 steel spiral steps leading to the top of the tower. The signal light for ships is 2,000W in capacity. The length of each tower base is more than 20 m, and the side of the square house is 40 m wide. The light house on Ke Ga Island, together with the surrounding scenery, makes up a magnificent landscape and impresses many visitors.

The Buddhist statue “Buddha joining into Nirvana”, or “The lying Buddha”, 49 metres long, was sculptured in 1962 on Ta Cu Mountain. It is in the cultural complex including Linh Son Truong Tho and Linh Son Long Doan Pagodas (built in the late 19th century) in Tan Lap village, South Ham Thuan District, about 30 km to the South-West of Phan Thiet City.

Van Thuy Tu (Thuy Tu Temple) is located on Ngu Ong (fisherman) Road in Duc Thang Precinct, Phan Thiet City. Thu Tu fisherman built it in 1762 to worship the Whale. Its architecture is in the shape of the Tam (third “ ”) letter with its front side facing East. At first, it was built near Van estuary close to the coast. There are nearly 100 whale skeletons and other species of fish of the same family are worshipped, more than half of which are 100-150 years old. In the framework of the temple, there is a large burial ground for dead whales, which sometimes get stranded on the shore. Van Thuy Tu is one of the ancient relics having many high by the Nguyen Kings.

Poshanu Towers, 7 km to the North–East of Phan Thiet City, are located on Ong Hoang (Mr. Heaven) Hill. Built by the Cham people in the late 8th century, this group of towers worships the Shiva Genie, who is highly respected by the Cham. Beside these three towers, there was once a temple, but it has been buried in the ground for more than 300 years. Inside the main tower, there is an altar, on which a couple of Liga-Yoni, a symbol of the existence of the Shiva Genie, is worshipped.

The group of Pô Dam Cham tower temples are located at the foot of Ong Xiem mountain belonging to the locality of Phu Lac commune – Tuy Phong district – Binh Thuan province, about 11.0 Km North West of Phan Thiet city. The building techniques as well as the architectural art are similar to Poshanu tower temple group’s, this group had the epoch from half the end of the eighth century to the beginning of the ninth century and they belong to Hoa Lai art and architectural style.

Podam Tower is the place where Cham people living in Phu Lac and its nearby areas carry out the rituals to worship the Cham Kings every year. Nowadays, the King’s Descendant’s family ancestries have still preserved 8 nominations granted to PôDam King by Nguyên King’s Dynasties from Minh Mang to Khai Dinh. They have been kept specally as the family ancestry’s precious properties and the King’s Descendant’s responsibility. This place of historical interest was classified as the National Art – Architectural one in 1996.

Suoi Tien (Fairies’ Stream) is a natural beauty spot with a magnificent mountain-water view, a primitive environment untouched by human beings. Standing near a small stream with clear clean water is an imposing mountain of white and red colors created by the sand and soil, and caves and cliffs, which are unique and strange-looking. This is an ideal place for picnics. The site is on the way to Mui Ne, about 15 km to the North-East Phan Thiet City.

Ganh Son (cliff) in Chi Cong Village, Tuy Phong District landscape that nature has endowed to Binhthuan Province. The red soil and lava along the coast, which have been eroded by the rain, wind and sea waves over a long period of time, have formed different caves and strange-looking images. In the quiet, early morning of late afternoon, from Ganh Son you can see the panoramic view of a busy fishing village.

Beside such famous beaches in Binhthuan as On Dia, Bai Truoc, Bai Sau, Mui Ne . .. Doi Duong Beach is one of the ideal places with pure and fresh environment. The wide beach stretches tens of kilometers with white and low sand gradually sloping towards the sea and then blending with the blue water. Factually, this is an attraction to visitors for sightseeing and sea- bathing on their long journeys.

Calm winds sing lullabies unceasingly under cool shadows of coconuts trees sagging under the weight of their fruit. White sand dunes follow the yellow ones. The dunes keep changing their shapes as a result of wind blowing. All set up a wild attraction, inviting tourists to this well-known field resort.

Tourists often come here to sightsee and discover the unique beauty of the sand dunes. Newly built bamboo cottages on sand dunes and new forms of entertainment such as sand surfing, sea-bathing, fire burning outside camps, or boarding on fishing boats add greater charm to the resort.

Bau Trang (white lake) is a famous land-space in Hong Lam Hamlet, Hoa Thang Village, Bac Binh District, about 65 km North East of Phan Thiet City. It is a fresh-water lake formed long ago and located amid the endless sand hills. Bau Trang is divided into two parts by a sand hii, which are called Bau Ong (Mister Lake) and Bau Ba (Lady lake). Bau Trang is large and is 19 metres deep at its deepest spot. Around the lake lotuses are growing.

Cau isle is a young island rising in the sea, about 9 km from the seashore, it is possible to come to this isle from several different points such as Phuoc The commune, Vinh Hao commune, Binh Thanh or from Ca Na. The time depends on each wharf but on average, it takes about 40 minutes to come to this island by motorized sampan. Cau isle is about 119 km North East of Phan Thiet City. Cau isle has the length of over 1500 meters and the largest place is nearly 700 meters and the highest one is more than 7 meters.

From the main land, it looks like a big warship. The whole island is surrounded by ten thousands of rocks with many different and shapes, they look like packs of animals of many big and small kinds, it is really interesting when having a condition to observe the whole island carefully. Around this isle, the water is always clear and blue; when the tide is low, on the seashore we can see numerous beautiful oyster shells and snail shells fascinating lots of tourists and travelers. Around the island, there are many kinds of living sea animals and good seamen with simple tools can also find fresh seafood. On the isle, there are shallow wells for fresh water. Although the water amount is small, it is the sort of permanent leaking water – the ancient book called them “Fairy Wells”. Nowadays, Cau Isle has been planned to be a sea-creature preserving area with a lot of promising prospects on ecological tourism in the future.

A large but pretty standard central market in town. It’s certainly worth a wander and is the place to pick up a bottle of locally made nuoc mam (fish sauce). Go early for the bringing-in of the day’s catch, and don’t forget your camera.

24 Nguyen Dinh Chieu street – Ham Tien Mui Ne – Phan Thiet – Tel: (84-62) 847 440

The Clubhouse – Ocean Dunes Club

01 Ton Duc Thang – Phan Thiet. Tel: (84-62) 823 366

Km 13.5 Ham Tien- Mui Ne- Phan Thiet- Tel: (84-62) 847 405

Novotel Coralia Ocean Dunes Resort, Phan Thiet. Tel: 822 393

Coco Beach Resort Km 12.5 Ham Tien Mui Ne Phan Thiet Tel: (84-62) 847 111-3

Novotel Ocean Dunes 1 Ton Duc Thang Phan Thiet Tel: (84-62) 822 393

Km 13.5 Ham Tien – Mui Ne – Phan Thiet. Tel: (84-62) 847 195

Km 12 Ham Tien Ward, Mui Ne, Phan Thiet. Tel: (84-62) 847 591