Vung Tau

Vung Tau is where Ho Chi Minh City goes to look at the sea. That is the whole character of the place, and it explains both why it is worth a night and why the day of the week matters so much.

Is Vung Tau worth going to?

As an escape from Ho Chi Minh City, yes. It is about two hours away on a headland, with a swimmable beach, a hilltop statue with a view over the whole cape, and seafood at prices the city stopped offering years ago.

As a destination in its own right, no, and nobody local pretends otherwise. If you have come to Vietnam for beaches, Phu Quoc, Con Dao and the central coast are all better. Vung Tau's advantage is that it is close.

Which beach should you use?

Back Beach, called Bai Sau, for swimming. It is a long open stretch of sand on the seaward side, and it is where most of the hotels sit.

Front Beach, Bai Truoc, faces the port and the shipping. The water there is not the attraction; the promenade, the sunset and the seafood restaurants along it are. The practical pattern is to sleep at Back Beach and eat at Front Beach.

Smaller coves sit around the headland — Bai Dua and the strip below the lighthouse — which are quieter and rockier, and worth an hour rather than an afternoon.

What else is there to do?

Climb Nho Mountain to the Christ the King statue. It stands about 32 m tall on the hilltop, and the climb from the road is roughly 800 steps and twenty to thirty minutes. A staircase inside the figure leads out onto the arms, where the view takes in the whole cape and both beaches.

Go early. The steps are unshaded, and by ten in the morning between March and May the climb is genuinely hard work in 33°C.

The lighthouse on the other hill gives a similar view for a fraction of the effort — a short road climbs most of the way, and it is the better choice in the heat.

Beyond those two, the Whale Temple holds a preserved whale skeleton and takes twenty minutes. That is the list. Vung Tau is a place to eat and swim rather than a place to sightsee, and two days exhausts it comfortably.

When should you go, and on which day?

November to April for the weather, and midweek for everything else. The southern dry season gives calm sea and reliable sky; May to October brings the afternoon downpours covered in the month-by-month guide.

The day matters more than most people expect. On Saturday and Sunday, Saigon arrives: rooms cost more, the beach fills and the seafood restaurants queue. The same town on a Tuesday is half empty and noticeably cheaper.

Back Beach, or somewhere quieter?

Along Back Beach, mostly, where the hotels run from plain guesthouses to a few large resorts. Prices follow the national tiers in the accommodation guide, with a weekend premium that can be substantial.

Booking ahead matters for Friday and Saturday nights and barely at all otherwise. That asymmetry is unusual in Vietnam and worth using.

Is it cheaper than Saigon?

A day here runs cheaper than the same day in Saigon, mainly on food. Seafood is sold by weight, as it is everywhere on the Vietnamese coast, and the seafood guide sets out the four questions to ask before anything is cooked. Ask them here too: proximity to a big city does not make a tank cheaper.

Transport from Saigon is around 150,000 to 250,000 dong each way by bus, and more by ferry or private car. A hotel room midweek runs roughly 400,000 to 900,000 dong and rises sharply for Friday and Saturday nights.

The distance is about 95 km by the coast road and around 125 km on the highway, which is why the journey is quoted as two hours rather than one.

Two hours by road, or the ferry?

By road in about two hours, on frequent buses and limousine vans from Ho Chi Minh City. A passenger ferry also runs from the Saigon river, which is a better journey than the road when it is operating — the service has changed hands and schedule more than once, so confirm what is actually running before planning around it.

If you are riding, the coast road is pleasant and the traffic out of Saigon is not. The transport guide covers the options between southern cities.