Beaches in Vietnam

An Bang Beach is Hội An's most accessible beach - a wide stretch of white sand 3-5km east of the Ancient Town, reachable by bicycle through rice paddies in 20-30 minutes. Calmer and less developed than Đà Nẵng's city beaches, with beach bars, watersports, and good sunrise views.

Đảo Bé - also known as An Bình Island or Cù Lao Bờ Bãi - is a small outer island 3 nautical miles northwest of Lý Sơn's main island, reachable by a 10-15 minute boat ride. With clearer water, more intact coral reefs, and a fraction of the crowds of the main island, it's the best snorkeling location in the Lý Sơn archipelago and a quieter alternative for a half-day by the sea.

Ba Hòn Đầm is a cluster of three small islands in the Bà Lụa Archipelago, Kiên Lương - known as the 'mini Ha Long of the South', 20km offshore with calm shallow water between the islands, colourful pebble beaches, and bioluminescence at night from November to April.

Back Beach is Vũng Tàu's main beach - a 9km arc of open coastline facing the East Sea that serves as the primary weekend beach escape for Ho Chi Minh City, with a dense strip of seafood restaurants, hotels, and beach services backed by the Giant Jesus statue on the hill above - though it's honest to note the beach faces a real, recurring seasonal debris problem rather than being a pristine escape.

Bãi Môn is a pristine 400m crescent beach at the foot of Mũi Điện in Phú Yên - sheltered between two headlands, with a freshwater stream running to the sea, and one of the first places on mainland Vietnam to receive the sunrise each morning.

Bình Sơn Beach is Phan Rang's city beach, just 2-3km from downtown and connected directly to Ninh Chữ beach, with a modern seafront park, fine white sand, and reliably clear water in a province that gets less rain than anywhere else in Vietnam.

Cần Giờ Beach (also called Bãi biển 30/4), Ho Chi Minh City's own beach district, is a roughly 50km drive from District 1 through mangrove forest to a dark-sand coastal town where Saigonese come for weekend seafood, a swim, and a break from the city without leaving city limits - though a major land reclamation project is set to reshape this coastline in the coming years.

Cape Cà Ná is a dramatic headland on the Ninh Thuận coast where granite boulders meet the East Sea against a backdrop of near-desert scrubland - one of the most visually distinctive coastal landscapes on the north-south motorbike route, with small sheltered swimming coves alongside longer stretches of rock better suited to sightseeing than swimming.

Cát Cò is a series of three beaches on the southern edge of Cát Bà town - the island's most accessible swimming spots, set against karst peaks with forested cliffs dropping to the sand, a short walk from the town centre.

Cổ Thạch Beach, also called the 'seven-coloured rock beach,' is a photogenic stretch of coastline in northern Bình Thuận where naturally multicoloured granite boulders become carpeted in vivid green moss each winter and spring, creating one of the most distinctive beach landscapes in southern Vietnam.

Cô Tô Island in Quảng Ninh province is one of northern Vietnam's most pristine island destinations - an archipelago of nearly 50 islands in the Gulf of Tonkin with white sand beaches, clear turquoise water, coral snorkeling, and an unhurried fishing village atmosphere far removed from the crowds of Hạ Long Bay. Accessible by fast ferry from Ao Tiên port in approximately 2.5 hours.

Cù Mi Beach is a quiet working fishing beach in southern Bình Thuận, with colourful boats, low-key local life, and almost no dedicated tourist infrastructure. Its distinctive access via a narrow wooden footbridge makes it an interesting stop on the coastal motorbike route between La Gi and Phan Thiết.

Cửa Đại Beach is the closest beach to Hội An Ancient Town - 4km east on a flat cycling road, with views of the Cham Islands on the horizon, though the beach itself has been narrowed by years of erosion and is currently the site of a major, actively under-construction land reclamation project expected to finish in 2026.

Bãi Đầm Trầu is one of the most striking beaches on Côn Đảo - a crescent of fine white sand backed by primary rainforest, ranked in Travel + Leisure's Top 25 Beaches in the World in 2021. Its most unusual feature: it sits directly below the flight path of Cỏ Ống Airport, where planes pass just overhead on approach - one of the only places in Vietnam where you can swim while watching aircraft land.

Điệp Sơn is a remote island cluster in Vân Phong Bay, northern Khánh Hòa, where a narrow tidal sandbar - close to a kilometre long - connects three islands at low tide, one of Vietnam's most photogenic natural phenomena, reached by a short boat ride from Vạn Giã fishing port.

Dốc Lết Beach is Nha Trang's best day-trip beach - a long stretch of white sand on a sheltered bay 50km north of the city, with calmer and clearer water than Nha Trang's main beach, significantly fewer crowds, and a name that comes from the soft, sinking sand dunes visitors once had to shuffle across to reach the sea.

Đồi Nhái Beach is an undeveloped, wind-swept stretch of coastline in Phường 11, Vũng Tàu, right by the mouth of the Cỏ May River - just 4km from the city centre yet largely untouched, and one of the few kitesurfing spots in Vietnam outside Mũi Né.

The Hai Tac Islands are a remote archipelago of 16 islands in the Gulf of Thailand off the Kien Giang coast, historically known as the Pirate Islands. One of the least visited island groups in Vietnam, with coral reefs, white sand beaches, and almost no tourist infrastructure.

Ha Long Bay - Vietnam's most iconic landscape and a UNESCO World Heritage Site - is 1,553 square kilometres of emerald water, nearly 2,000 limestone karst islands, sea caves, and floating villages in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Hàm Tiến Beach is the quieter northern stretch of the Mũi Né coastline - less developed than the main resort strip, with a long arc of sand, fishing boats pulled up on shore, and the red and white sand dunes visible in the distance.

Hòn Chồng is a coastal granite rock formation 3km north of Nha Trang centre - a stack of weathered boulders jutting into the sea with views back to the city skyline and across to the offshore islands, paired with a smaller companion formation nearby called Hòn Vợ.

Hòn Khô is a small uninhabited rocky island northeast of Quy Nhơn, known for clear turquoise water, coral reefs, dramatic boulder coastline, and a seasonal golden seaweed (rong mơ) spectacle from May to July when the sea floor turns gold.

Hòn Sơn is a large mountainous island in the Gulf of Thailand, Kiên Giang - calmer seas and a shorter crossing than Phú Quý, with clear water, Ma Thiên Lãnh peak, fishing villages, and almost no resort development. Minimum 2 nights to do it properly.

Hòn Tằm is Nha Trang Bay's most developed private island - a resort island a short speedboat ride offshore with white sand beaches, water sports, and Vietnam's largest island-based hot mineral mud bath complex, though at a real cost in crowding, gated resort access, and inflated food prices.

Hòn Thơm Cable Car is the world's longest non-stop three-rope cable car - 8km across open sea from Phú Quốc's southern tip to Hòn Thơm island, crossing at up to 174 metres above the water with panoramic views of the southern archipelago, fishing villages, and on clear days the sea floor visible below.

Hòn Yến is a small coral island 15km north of Tuy Hòa in Phú Yên - two islands (Hòn Yến and Hòn Sụn) connected by a rock path at low tide, with exposed coral reefs, lobster farming, and floating seafood restaurants. Named for the swifts that once nested here.

Kê Gà Lighthouse near Mũi Né is a historic French-built lighthouse dating to 1897-1899. Take a short boat ride to the rocky islet for panoramic views of Bình Thuận's coast - climbing the 183 spiral steps to the top has traditionally been allowed, though access can now depend on border guard or station permission.

Khem Beach on Phú Quốc's southeast coast is one of the island's most beautiful beaches - a long arc of fine white sand with clear turquoise water, best visited May-September when the southeast-facing coast is sheltered from the northeast monsoon. The name likely comes from 'kem' (cream) - a nod to the soft, white, cream-like sand underfoot.

Kỳ Co Beach is a secluded 1km² cove near Quy Nhơn with turquoise water, golden sand, and dramatic cliff scenery - 25km from Quy Nhơn city, accessible by speedboat from Nhơn Lý fishing village or by road year-round.

Mũi Trô is a tiny, nameless-on-most-maps fishing village on the Bình Thuận coast - a handful of houses, round basket boats, and a rocky pebble beach that almost no foreign traveler has visited, sitting 2km off the road near Cô Thạch beach.

Mỹ Khê Beach is Đà Nẵng's most famous stretch of coastline - roughly 9-10km of white sand on the East Sea, named by Forbes as one of the world's six most beautiful beaches in 2005 and repeatedly ranked among Asia's best beaches since by outlets including Herald Sun and TripAdvisor, and the closest major beach to a Vietnamese city centre.

Nam Du is Vietnam's southernmost island archipelago - 21 islands in the Gulf of Thailand, closer and cheaper than Phú Quốc, with clearer water, outer islands for snorkeling, and a genuine fishing community character. 2 hours from Rạch Giá by high-speed ferry.

Bãi Nhát is one of Côn Đảo's most dramatic beaches - a tide-dependent stretch of white sand and multicoloured rock formations on the road between Con Son town and Bến Đầm port. Once ranked among Asia's top wild beaches by news.com.au, it is best known for its sunset views across to Đỉnh Tình Yêu (Love Peak), its boulder-strewn shoreline that vanishes completely at high tide, and the memorial to 198 prisoners who attempted a failed escape from the island in 1952.

Phước Bình Beach is a 4km stretch of quiet coastline next to Phước Tĩnh fishing village, tucked behind a row of resorts between Long Hải and Hồ Tràm. Almost no tourist presence - barely shows up in Google search results. Best October to November.

Phước Hải is the best fishing village near Ho Chi Minh City that also has a proper beach - 1.5 hours from Saigon by Toàn Thắng bus, with a morning seafood market, fresh oysters, a 1km seafront promenade, and a beach clean enough to swim in. The combo of fishing village and beach is rare on this coastline.

Phú Quý Island (also known as Cù Lao Thu) is a remote coral island 120km off the Bình Thuận coast with some of the clearest water and best diving in southern Vietnam - a 2.5 to 3.5 hour ferry from Phan Thiết that delivers a genuine fishing island experience with minimal resort infrastructure.

Ghềnh Đá Đĩa is a coastal basalt reef on Phú Yên's northern shore, officially recognised as a Special National Heritage Site, where hexagonal rock columns - reportedly around 200 million years old - stack in tight formations directly into the sea, often compared to Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway.

Bãi Sao Beach on Phú Quốc's southeastern coast - over 2km of fine white sand in a sheltered bay with calm turquoise water. Unlike most Phú Quốc beaches, Bãi Sao is at its best June-October when the southwest monsoon keeps the bay sheltered and the water crystal clear.

Six Senses Beach is the most beautiful stretch of coastline on Côn Đảo - a crescent of white sand and clear turquoise water at Đất Dốc, fronting the Six Senses resort, with patches of coral reported offshore and the forested national park hills rising directly behind the beach.

Sơn Trà Peninsula is Đà Nẵng's wild backyard - a 4,439-hectare nature reserve rising directly from the sea, home to one of Vietnam's last populations of the endangered red-shanked douc langur. Known for scenic mountain roads, quiet northern beaches, and Linh Ứng Pagoda with its 67m Lady Buddha.

Sunworld Beach on Cat Ba Island is a recently developed artificial beach in the town centre - nearly 1km of white sand and clear water with palm trees, a beach club, bar, and a growing complex of nightlife venues including a ticketed jet-ski and fireworks show, positioned as the main beach attraction directly accessible from Cat Ba Town accommodation.

Ti Top Island - named after Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov, who visited with President Hồ Chí Minh in 1962 - is Ha Long Bay's most iconic stop: a crescent-shaped white sand beach for swimming and a roughly 400-450-step summit climb rewarded with a 360° panorama of the bay.

The Vinpearl Cable Car is marketed as one of the world's longest over-sea cable cars - a 3,320-metre gondola crossing from the Nha Trang mainland to Hòn Tre Island, with aerial views over Nha Trang Bay, the city skyline, and the surrounding islands at around 50 metres above the water, reachable with an inexpensive cable-car-only ticket if the theme park beyond it doesn't interest you.

VinWonders Phú Quốc is Vietnam's largest theme park - a 50-hectare resort complex on the northern coast with water parks, rides, aquarium, live shows, and a private beach. Best suited for families with children.