Tours out of Ho Chi Minh City and across Vietnam
Central Vietnam
The coast before the resorts arrive
A city with a fishing harbour and a long beach, a peninsula of coves to the north, and brick Cham towers on the hills — four days on the part of the coast most visitors fly over.
Overview
What Quy Nhon offers, and what it does not
Quy Nhon is a working port city on a wide bay, with a long municipal beach, a busy fish harbour and hills at each end. It was the heart of the Cham kingdom long before Hoi An or Hue mattered, and the brick towers the Cham left are still standing on the hills around it. Almost nothing here was designed with foreign visitors in mind, which is the whole appeal.
The coast north of the city is the reason we send people: the Nhon Ly peninsula, where the road runs past granite headlands, fishing villages and coves that are empty on a weekday. The seafood comes off the boats in the morning and is on the table at lunch.
We fly you in to Phu Cat, the city’s airport, from Saigon or Hanoi. The rest is by car, with a local guide for the two full days.
- Length
- 4 days, 3 nights
- Start and finish
- Quy Nhon (Phu Cat airport)
- Airport transfer
- About 45 minutes
- Pace
- Easy, two early mornings
- English
- Rare outside hotels
- Best months
- March to August
Nights
Where you sleep
Quy Nhon’s hotels are mostly built for Vietnamese holidaymakers. At the simple and comfortable tiers that means clean, bright and a little plain; at the top tier there are a few beach resorts along the coast road that stand comparison with anywhere in the country.
Day by day
Day by day
Day 1
Arrival and the Twin towers
We meet you at Phu Cat airport and drive about forty-five minutes to the city. In the late afternoon your driver takes you to the Twin towers, a pair of Cham brick towers standing in a small park right in the town, and then along the bay to the fish harbour as the boats prepare for the night. Seafood dinner on your own, where the locals sit on the pavement.
Day 2
The Nhon Ly peninsula and Ky Co
A swim at Ky Co before ten
Pick-up at 06:30 with your guide for the drive across the long bridge onto the peninsula, about forty minutes. At Nhon Ly village a local boat takes you round the headland to Ky Co, a sheltered cove with clear water, for a swim before the day-trippers. Lunch is seafood in the village.
In the afternoon you walk the cliff path at Eo Gio, a narrow neck of rocks between two bays, when the light comes low from the west. Back in the city by 17:00.
Day 3
Cham towers inland, a fishing village south
A 07:30 start north-west to Banh It, a group of Cham towers on a hilltop about twenty kilometres from the city, with the rice plain spread out beneath it. Your guide explains how the Cham kingdom shifted south over the centuries and why its last capital was here. Lunch in the city.
In the afternoon, drive south along the coast road to Bai Xep, a small fishing village with a beach used more by basket boats than by swimmers. Evening back in Quy Nhon.
Day 4
The market, and home
An early walk through the city’s morning market if you want it, then a free morning. Transfer to Phu Cat for your flight, or on by car or train if you are continuing up or down the coast.
Price
Price
| Travellers | Tier 1 — simple | Tier 2 — comfortable | Tier 3 — the good ones |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 travelling | from 545 | from 680 | from 1035 |
| 4 travelling | from 445 | from 560 | from 850 |
| 6 travelling | from 405 | from 505 | from 765 |
The largest variable here is the top tier: the resorts on the coast road cost far more than the city hotels, and for a honeymoon we think they earn it. The boat to Ky Co is private and weather-dependent; if the sea is too rough, we go by road and the price does not change.
Included
What is included
What the price includes
- Three nights at your chosen tier, with breakfast
- Private car and driver throughout
- Local English-speaking guide on days 2 and 3
- Private boat to Ky Co, weather permitting
- Lunches on days 2 and 3
- Entrance fees at the sites on the programme
What it does not include
- Flights to and from Phu Cat
- Dinners and drinks
- Visas, insurance and tips
Practical
Weather and getting here
The dry months here run from about February to August, and the sea is at its best from April. Like the rest of the central coast, Quy Nhon takes the storms of September to December, and the boat trips are cancelled when the sea is up. We would not sell this trip for November.
Quy Nhon is about five hours by road from Hoi An and about four from Nha Trang, and the coastal railway stops at Dieu Tri, a short drive from the city. That makes it an easy break on an overland route as well as a fly-in beach trip — ask if you want to arrive by train.
Not for everyone
Who this does not suit
First-time visitors to Vietnam with two weeks or less should spend these four days elsewhere; Hoi An, Hue and the north all come first. If you need English menus, international hotel habits and a choice of bars, Quy Nhon will feel like hard work away from the top resorts. It suits people on a second trip, couples who want a quiet coast and anyone happy to point at the fish they want.
Common questions
Questions travellers ask most
How do we get to Quy Nhon?
By air to Phu Cat from Saigon or Hanoi, which takes a little over an hour, or by train on the coastal line to Dieu Tri station, twenty minutes from the city.
Is the beach good for swimming?
Yes, in the dry months. The city beach is long and clean; the coves on the Nhon Ly peninsula are clearer and quieter.
Can we combine this with Hoi An?
Yes, either with a five-hour drive or by train. Our coastal train trip does exactly that, from Dong Hoi down to Quy Nhon.
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Example journey
The coast by train
The coastal railway from Dong Hoi to Quy Nhon, four stops.
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Themes
Beaches and islands
Where the sea is good in the month you are coming.
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Tours
Day trips, regional routes and full-length itineraries.
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