Mui Ne Travel Experience | News | Tips

Mui Ne is one of the most popular beach destinations in Vietnam among both adventure travelers looking for outdoor sports and regular tourists seeking a peaceful atmosphere. Read our travel blog on the best things to do and top attractions in Mui Ne including practical information on best hotels in Mui Ne, how to get there and how to get around, when to visit, and what to pack.

Should you visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang

As far as Vietnamese beach resorts go, Mui Ne and Nha Trang are the two most famous in the country. Most extended southern Vietnam tours visit both, while it would be astounding if any Vietnam beach holidays did not visit at least one. The two resort towns have grown from very humble beginnings as sleepy fishing ports, but were both swept up in the 90s tourism boom that propelled Vietnam, again, into the international limelight, but this time for all the right reasons.The question of whether to visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang is one with many layers, running deeper than just the face-value beaches of two of the best beach resort towns in Vietnam. Both destinations have a wealth of peripheral attractions that keep tourists entertained, spanning the natural, the architectural and the adrenaline-based. Types of accommodation and ease of access also vary considerably between the two, so, if you’re pressed for time on your Vietnam tour, should you visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang? Let’s find out here.BeachesWe’ll start with the prime reason that most tourists visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang. Both towns comprise just a tiny section of the over 3,000km of coastline that writhes like a dragon up the eastern coast of Vietnam. Beaches abound all over the country, but most visitors in search of such golden sands usually flock to the south, where Mui Ne and Nha Trang join the likes of Vung Tau, Quy Nhon, Con Dao and Phu Quoc as some of the top beach destinations in Vietnam.Mui NeIt would be hard to miss the white sands of Mui Ne, which feature primarily on the eponymous Mui Ne Beach, curving for many miles around a south-facing bay. Much of the beach is claimed by private resorts, but vast swaths of it are still easily accessible and contain a strong natural beauty among the soft sand, deep-blue ocean and background of tropical vegetation arching over the fringes of the beach. Occasionally vendors will come by with a basket of snacks and drinks, offering the perfect convenience so that you never have to move. Alternatively, head to the east-facing bay at Suoi Nuoc Beach (also called Long Son Beach), where the crowds are lessened and the views of a perfect sunrise are incomparable to anywhere else in the town. Nha TrangRemarkably, the stunning beaches of Nha Trang went completely unloved between the mid-17th century until the turn of the 20th century, and the whole area where the city now stands was deserted, save for a few tigers that prowled the jungle and coast. The French set up shop here to manage affairs around Khanh Hoa Province and found a host of natural wonders across its white-sand beaches. The main one that tourists visit today is Nha Trang Beach, located on the other side of Tran Phu Promenade and offering gorgeous sands with a view onto the city and Vinpearl Island. Despite its great length, the beach does become regularly crowded and can get a little filthy, leaving more ambitious holidaymakers to seek out alternative options. Luckily, Nha Trang has plenty of these, many of which are quite far out of the city, but totally worth the effort. Bai Dai Beach is one of the quietest of these alternatives, containing not much in the way of development and retaining a free-spirit kind of aura that is quite contagious upon arrival. Doc Let Beach lies further afield, to the north of the city, offering a stunning mountain range to back the incredible sands and unique salt hills where locals harvest salt.Should you visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang for the beaches? For wealth of choice and unsurpassable beauty, Nha Trang claims the beach prize here.Natural AttractionsIf, and we mean IF, you manage to get a little bored of lazing on golden sands during your Vietnam beach vacation, you will be thrilled to hear of the other excellent natural attractions that both Mui Ne and Nha Trang can boast. On the fringes of all the beaches lie gorgeous and, in some cases, totally unique attractions that keep southern Vietnam beach tours interesting.Mui NeYou can’t get far away from the sand in Mui Ne, as sandy attractions make up many of the town’s other natural assets. One of the most unique of these are the Red and White Sand Dunes, two incredible and frankly surreal desert landscapes that offer visitors a wealth of fantastic photo opportunities, as well as the chance to sandboard down the amassed dunes. The Red Sand Dunes are just 20 minutes out of Mui Ne, thus attracting quite a few tourists and making the sandboarding more of a bumper car affair. However, the White Sand Dunes are bigger and much more empty, giving you a chance to experience a genuine desert landscape containing a lotus-filled lake which adds further beauty to an already stunning daily sunset. Another of Mui Ne’s unique attractions is the Fairy Stream, a shallow stream that runs between cemented sand and rock, creating an otherworldly landscape that is easy to walk through.Nha TrangThe fact that people stay for multiple days, even weeks, in Nha Trang is because of more than just its beach life. The city is the primary Vietnam beach resort, tours of which often stop off at some of the other attractions, most famously its spas. Mud baths offer the perfect accompaniment for a time spent relaxing in Nha Trang, melting away any stresses of the city using natural remedies from the earth. Getting yourself covered in mud might not sound like a beach vacation in Vietnam that you particularly want to be having, but the mud is purported to have fantastic natural minerals to soothe the skin and ease the mind. More relaxation can be sought via island-hopping around the smattering of Nha Trang’s islands off its eastern coast, namely Hon Mieu, Hon Mot and Hon Mun. This small archipelago is where you will find the typical island paradise scenes of small, quiet beaches, rustic wooden shacks and turquoise waters containing blooming coral reefs. Day tours run from Nha Trang and feature the set menu of all three islands, where you can visit an aquarium, snorkel, visit a fish farm and then enjoy lunch on the beach. It’s certainly not a bad thing, but it’s pretty hard to escape the beaches of Nha Trang.Should you visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang for the natural attractions? No one can refute the beauty of Mui Ne’s sandy attractions, so the small town trumps the big city this time.Accommodation and AtmosphereSince the relatively recent establishment of both destinations as resort towns, the accommodation options have shot up, literally in some cases, and now travellers are spoilt for choice when visiting Mui Ne or Nha Trang. From backpacker hostels to 5-star luxury hotels, there’s a Vietnam beach break to be had by every traveller to these two destinations, regardless of their budget.Mui NeOne of the key aspects when deciding whether you should visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang is the atmosphere surrounding each destination. Mui Ne appeals more to independent and budget travellers, keen to experience the sleepy aura of the fishing town town that was uniform in the 1990s, but has since been lost somewhat in the race to turn Mui Ne into one of Vietnam’s top beach resort towns. Mui Ne’s low-rise hotels and small-town feel has still kept this somewhat alive, as the skyline of the town barely rises higher than the coconut trees that flank its beaches. Some 3-star hotels like the Coco Beach Resort still aim to retain the languid air of Mui Ne with quaint bungalow accommodation and access to a private slither of beach. 5-star options like the Anantara Mui Ne Resort and Spa don’t get too much higher, preferring to expand horizontally for wider access to the beach.Nha TrangIn a direct mirror image to Mui Ne, Nha Trang features sky-scraping hotels amid a city rife with vertical buildings. Due to its longer-running history and better geographical advantage, development in Nha Trang happened much quicker than it did in Mui Ne, leading to a wider and taller expansion of the city. The sleepy fishing village vibe has been well and thoroughly obliterated by the arrival of big resorts, but this has only increased visitors to Nha Trang in huge numbers. Many 3-star options, like the Summer Hotel, reach high into the skyline, while 5-star options such as the Sunrise Nha Trang Beach Hotel & Spa stretch further still, offering fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and ocean.Should you visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang for the accommodation and atmosphere? This one really depends on what you’re looking for most from your Vietnam beach holiday. If you’re after a laidback feel with more of a small town vibe, then Mui Ne would be perfect, but those looking for a city break with the convenience afforded by huge hotels and resorts will find Nha Trang as the way to go.Ease of AccessBoth Mui Ne and Nha Trang lie on the cross-country tourist bus route that runs between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, making both easily accessible for independent travellers and tourists on Vietnam group tours. Large-scale efforts have been made to bring the resort towns closer to the masses, and so options now stretch beyond the tourist bus.Mui NeHowever, if would like to go on the tourist bus route, it would certainly not be a bad option. The bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne takes about 4.5 to 5 hours and costs between 180,000 and 280,000 VND ($8 - $12 USD). This is the most popular route to Mui Ne because of its efficiency, but a more convenient door-to-door service is also available with the use of a private car, reflected in its inflated prices starting at about 1,650,000 VND ($70 USD) for a 4-seater. The final method of transport from Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne is the train, which takes just 3.5 hours and starts from around 400,000 VND ($17). The train, however, only goes to Binh Thuan Station, which is 40km away from Mui Ne, requiring a taxi to make the final journey. The early morning service, SPT2, leaves daily at 06:40am and arrives at Phan Thiet Station, which is just 20km away from Mui Ne, so this would be a better option for the sake of convenience.Nha TrangThe big city’s massive advantage when deciding whether you should visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang is its international airport, lying in the town of Cam Ranh 35km to the south. The airport has been one of the crucial factors in the rising popularity of Nha Trang and the reason that its development has surpassed that of Mui Ne’s. Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang and many smaller airports around the country have access to Cam Ranh international airport for as little as 480,000 VND ($20 USD) from Saigon, as do airlines like China Southern, All Nippon Airways and Korean Air, turning Nha Trang into a hub of East Asian holidaymakers. The addition of the airport is vital, as the bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang is a rather arduous 9.5 hours, but costing a cheap 210,000 VND ($9 USD) and is usually done on a sleeper bus. Private cars are essentially pointless, because they take far longer than a flight and cost considerably more, but a train can be a rather pleasant, if long, experience, taking 7.5 hours and priced at about 300,000 VND ($13 USD) for its most basic seats.Should you visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang for their ease of access? Cheap and plentiful options for transport to Nha Trang make the big resort city the winner here.OverallSo, after that, hopefully, you have a better idea of whether you should visit Mui Ne or Nha Trang while arranging your Vietnam beach holiday. These two beautiful destinations are both worth visiting, but not everyone has the time to do so. If you are after a more relaxed and independent time, with a great few beaches and other natural attractions, then you should opt for Mui Ne. However, those looking for the convenience of a city and the high-rise luxury that comes with it, along with a great array of fantastic beaches and easy accessibility via flight, then Nha Trang is your ideal beach destination in Vietnam.

Things to do in Mui Ne

Many tourists arrive to Mui Ne without a clue of what the town is about. Most arrive on a southern Vietnam tour or as a stop-off on the tourist bus route running between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, stepping out of their vehicle with wide eyes and big ambitions for what is usually the first stop from Saigon. It’s easy to miss some of the best things to do in Mui Ne if arriving this way, as a great deal of your itinerary is often planned for you, leading you to soak up the grand, sweeping natural beauty of the town but missing some of the quiet and unique additions to one of Vietnam’s best beach resorts. The meteoric rise in the 1990s of the laidback fishing town to this highly-regarded position has seen the glazing over of some of its satellite attractions, meaning many go ignored by visitors keen to settle on the beach and refuse to budge for three days. This is also a fine Mui Ne activity, but if there’s any chance of you getting a little bored after three days of sun-tanning, take solace in the fact that the other highlights of Mui Ne can be explored within relatively close proximity to the beach. These are Incredible Asia Journeys’ top things to do in Mui Ne:Natural AttractionsMui Ne is all about natural beauty and it has the span of a south, east and west-facing coastline with which to display it proudly. 15km of this coastline is taken up by white-sand, earning Mui Ne one of the accolades for top beach destinations in Vietnam, but many of its natural attractions lie further inland, covering everything from the beautiful to the bizarre.The BeachesIt’s not a surprise that staking a spot of white sand under the shade of a swaying palm tree, setting up shop and relaxing for the duration of the day is one of the more popular things to do in Mui Ne. Mui Ne is blessed with some great beaches, and if you know where to go, your Vietnam beach holiday can be spent in the utmost paradise. The eponymous Mui Ne Beach is the town’s most popular, but not its best. The soft sands here still provide a comfortable seating platform to watch the windsurfers do their thing, but the beach’s ease of access is its undoing, flooding the coast with tourists and resorts claiming individual spits of sand. For true beach relaxation, it is worth making the effort to Mui Ne’s northeast coast where Suoi Nuoc (also called Long Son) lies in a straight line facing out onto the sea. Watching the sunrise from this east-facing beach certainly constitutes one of the top attractions in Mui Ne, and one not oversaturated with the same levels of tourists that Mui Ne Beach hosts.Red and White Sand DunesMui Ne might be one of the last places you expect to find two distinct deserts, but the popularity of these beautiful sand dunes speaks volumes. Occupying a position just off the main road, these inexplicable sand dunes look like a con at first. If you’ve heard of sand being imported to create some of the other of Vietnam’s best attractions, like Titop Island or Tuan Chau Harbour in Halong Bay, then you might think the same has been done here. In fact, the strong winds of Mui Ne are the reason these dunes exist, blowing sand around the cape where it settles in huge quantities.As the most conveniently accessible, the Red Sand Dunes are the most popular, with orangey-red sand that shines vividly under the Mui Ne sun. Like with most desserts, there isn’t much to do but admire the beauty, which is magnified during the magnificent daily sunset, turning the orange dunes into a gorgeous blood-red. The dunes are situated about 500m from the coastline and 20 minutes from the main town, so they receive a great deal of tourist interest.The most interesting thing to do in Mui Ne’s sand dunes is pretty much its only one; sand-sledding down the hills on what can loosely be described as a sled, but can much more accurately be described as a paper-thin piece of plastic with a string threaded through the top. They’re a cheap way of enjoying one of Vietnam’s best beach resorts, but most importantly, a great way of stopping children trying to push their homemade boards on you. Safety concerns about the boards are minimal, considering that they travel at about the same speed as a particularly languid camel, so give them a go, it might be a great introduction to the other adrenaline sporting activities in Mui Ne that we’ll mention later.The White Sand Dunes are a completely different story, offering a quieter atmosphere and receiving universal acknowledgement that these are the best sand dunes in Mui Ne. Their location a further 25km from the Red Sand Dunes make them much more relaxed, and they play the part of a Sahara-like landscape much better because of it. Of course, the Vietnamese approach to tourism still prevails, so the peace is occasionally interrupted by the dune buggy tours that roar over the vast sand mountains, but visitors can seek reprieve at the beautiful Lotus Lake, a genuine oasis in a 100% natural landscape.Fairy StreamWading through opaque brown water might not sound like one of top things to do in Mui Ne, but you’ll change your mind upon setting eyes on the town’s Fairy Stream, whimsically named and beautifully presented. Like the sand dunes, this is another of Mui Ne’s popular attractions that sets heads scratching, mostly because of the strange rock formations rising either side of the traversable canyon containing ankle-high water. Visitors walk through the water and look at the rocks, which sit in a statuesque harmony with the solidified sand hills and verdant scrubs that have also found a home here.The brown water running through the canyon is made up of red clay, turning the riverbed into a soft surface and one that is quite comfortable to walk through. Tours of the stream usually take about 45 minutes, giving you ample opportunity to saunter through the water at your own pace, admiring the geology and taking some very vivid snaps.Hon Rom and Mui Ne BayHarking back to the days when Mui Ne was a sleepy fishing village, large swaths of Hon Rom act as sort of a time capsule, freezing a small part of Mui Ne in the era before it became one of Vietnam’s best resort towns. Its rugged beach is dotted with a huge mass of fishing boats, continuing the tradition that established Mui Ne before the arrival of 5-star hotels. It’s hard to move for the wild scrub and basket boats that fleck the beach here, but the beauty is raw and it’s hard to find a more natural attraction in Mui Ne than this small peninsula.At the similar but more popular site of Mui Ne Bay, colourful fishing boats get an audience of camera shutters clicking, as the picturesque scene that they create in a small, craggy cove is one of the lasting images of Mui Ne for tourists who visit it. The bay is viewed from a cliff above, where tourists can snap it from its best angles, watching the lazy activity on fishing boats that have sadly become largely obsolete because of the vast difference in income that tourism brings overfishing. Still, they hark back to the same placid atmosphere bestowed by Hon Rom, one that was universal in the city until recently.Architectural AttractionsGiven that Mui Ne was a town founded by a collection of relaxed fishermen, it was never going to be one of the top architectural powerhouses of Vietnam, and grander buildings can indeed be found in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Nevertheless, there is a certain quaint charm to some of the buildings of the town and, like with most of the best things to do in Mui Ne, they have a whimsical touch of the bizarre about them.Rang Dong Wine CastleBy bizarre, we’re talking about the gigantic Wine Castle, built to look like a traditional European castle but more probably based off a Google image of a Disney-inspired child’s drawing. 200,000 VND ($9 USD) will get you a tour of the castle, giving you a chance to see the inner workings of the large cellars and also a chance to taste 5 wines, all from the Napa Valley in California. In fact, there is not much of a Vietnamese vibe to this European-style castle housing American wines, but the architecture and the scenery around the hill that it finds itself on definitely make it one of the more interesting things to do in Mui Ne.Po Shanu Cham TowersOn the border with Phan Thiet, the city neighbouring Mui Ne to the west, stand the Po Shanu Cham Towers, two stubborn relics of the Champa civilisation who used to occupy large sections of southern Vietnam. The Champa empire was mercilessly destroyed in the early 19th century by Vietnamese emperor, Minh Mang, but their legacy still stands from the 9th century, when Po Shanu were constructed to celebrate Hindu gods. Along with similar towers at My Son Sanctuary (Hoi An) and Po Nagar (Nha Trang), Po Shanu provide an excellent historical highlight of Mui Ne and a reminder that the town was not always so laidback and care-free.Mui Ne ChurchThe uniqueness to Mui Ne’s architectural attractions continues with Mui Ne Church, a beautiful church with European roots, built in a very Vietnamese style. Reminiscent of Phat Dien Cathedral in Ninh Binh, this church’s large front is built of several tiers, coloured immaculately in sandstone-orange and featuring some curved, tiled roofs sporting universal emblems of a dragon. Other churches in the area such as Rang Church, are less Asian in their make-up, but are still comprised of the same sandstone colour and spotless presentation.Linh Long TempleJust over the road from Mui Ne Church, you will find a religious building rooted much more in native Vietnamese and Buddhist principles, characterised best in the 25m statue of the reclining Lady Buddha. Another tall, upright statue of the Lady Buddha looks out to sea from Linh Long Temple, granting safe passage for the fishermen under her watch as they sail out of Mui Ne Bay. There are more grandiose Buddhist temples in Vietnam, but Mui Ne’s is colourful, charming and ornate, with a verdant garden creating the most peaceful of peaceful atmospheres.Sports AttractionsFor enthusiasts, there are a few sports activities in Mui Ne, starting at maybe the world’s most placid sport and ending with an adrenaline-igniting one. Given Mui Ne’s location, it’s no surprise that most of these sports are water-based and luckily, can be done at the beach, with phenomenal views all around.GolfPhenomenal views are certainly the order of the day at the Sea Links Golf and Country Club. This full, 18-hole course is situated atop a cliff, overlooking the deep-blue ocean stretching to the horizon. Those looking for quiet activities in Mui Ne would fail to find exactly that at this golf club, as perfectly manicured lawns, rows of wind-rocked palm trees and excellently landscaped bunkers and ponds all contribute to a fantastic, meditative atmosphere and truly one of the more relaxing things to do in Mui Ne.KayakingSlightly more high-octane than golf, but certainly not a Mui Ne sports activity that will pop the blood vessels, kayaking is a great mix of serenity and sightseeing that is fun and possible for all ages. Paddling through the crowd of kite surfers on Mui Ne beach might not be as relaxing as kayaking should be, so the many resorts who offer it as an activity usually do so at Suoi Nuoc beach, or at least on the fringes of Mui Ne beach. These are one of the best things to do in Mui Ne for families, as kids love to let loose in the kayaks, while the older folk can keep an eye on them and admire the idyllic scenery at the same time.KitesurfingWhen it comes to kitesurfing, or kiteboarding, Mui Ne is the top dog in this part of the world. Its perfect, windy-but-not-too-windy conditions attract budding and established kitesurfers from all over, keen to come to the kitesurfing capital of Southeast Asia to demonstrate their flips and tricks in front of crowds of onlookers at Mui Ne beach. Of course, not everyone is an immediate pro upon turning up to the town, so several visitors opt to try one of the most fun activities in Mui Ne and sign up for kitesurfing lessons. These lessons usually take place in groups of 3 or 4 and last between 1 and 7 days, giving you a fun toe-dip in the ocean or the full adrenaline experience. Tours can be arranged by sauntering over to one of the kitesurfing shacks on Mui Ne beach and enquiring within.