YOUR INSIDER'S TRAVEL GUIDE BLOG TO QUY NHON
IN VIETNAM 🇻🇳 SINCE 2008
HCMC INSPIRATION TRAVEL QUY NHON
HCMC INSPIRATION TRAVEL QUY NHON TOP THINGS TO DO IN QUY NHON
The coastal city of Quy Nhon will seduce those who love to travel off the beaten tracks.
Called ‘Pulo Cambi’ by Portuguese Jesuits who settled there in the 1620s, its origins date back to 11th-century Champa culture. Quy Nhon (the capital of Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam) is also known as the birthplace of the eighteenth Vietnamese Emperor, Nguyen Hue. The city experienced a major U.S. military presence and its hinterland was the scene of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War. However, only a half-buried U.S. tank (on the beach, south of the Lan Anh Hotel) reflects this dark parenthesis of history.
A large number of U.S. Army support units were also based in the city and its suburbs, including a field hospital and a large supply center. In 1975 the South Vietnam Navy evacuated its soldiers and some civilians before abandoning the strategic city of Nha Trang in May 1975, leaving North Vietnamese tanks and infantry to occupy nearly half of the territory of the Republic of South Vietnam.
Today, things have changed. Quy Nhon has just begun to capitalize on its huge potential for tourism. At 42 km long, the coast is indeed remarkable with its white sand beaches. Abundant seafood is served in local restaurants at a price that defies competition. And if historical remnants aren’t Quy Nhon’s greatest strength, we must admit the city and its outskirts still contain some interesting sites worth visiting.
Although not a good place for swimming, Queen’s Beach is interesting because of its many blue, egg-shaped, smooth stones superimposed on the small beach pummeled by waves. That is why Queen’s Beach is also called ‘Egg Stone Beach’. Continuing on the road along the headland, you arrive at Qui Hoa Beach, very quiet and ideal for swimming. A hospital that specializes in treating leprosy has been built nearby. In its charming garden, you can admire statues of famous French and Vietnamese doctors. Visitors are welcome.
Arguably the best spot for swimming is probably Bai Xep Beach, a beautiful stretch of white, fine sand.
Located on 13.5 hectares, Bai Xep Beach is frequented by few tourists. With a beautiful view of Cu Lao Xanh Island, Bai Xep veach remains quite wild. Activities available from the beach include kayak trips to neighboring islands.
The Cham towers of Banh It (20 km north of Quy Nhon, at the top of a hill that boasts panoramic views of the countryside) and those nearest to Thap Doi are remarkable for their sculptures. Despite their years, both sites are in good condition and worth visiting. If you have time, you can also have a look at Long Khanh Pagoda, Quy Nhon’s main pagoda, built in the 18th century and famous for its 17-meter-high Buddha.
Practical Information about Quy Nhon:
– Binh Dinh Province is 1065 km from Hanoi and 680 km from Ho Chi Minh City. You can get to Binh Dinh by car, train, or plane. Note that the train stops at Dieu Tri Train Station, about 10 km west of Quy Nhon.
– There is a VND 5000 admission fee to Queen Beach (plus an extra 2000 if you’re riding a motorcycle).
– You can go to the hospital that treats leprosy by turning left at the end of An Duong Vuong Street. The hospital entrance is well marked, a few hundred meters further down the road.
HCMC INSPIRATION TRAVEL QUY NHON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS TURN QUY NHON INTO A HOTSPOT
TO BE UPDATED
By JK Hobson
Quy Nhon is the most underrated place to travel in Vietnam, but not for long.
The central coastal city in Binh Dinh province is becoming the target of a huge wave of development, as prospectors seek out a new beach city to turn into Vietnam’s next big tourist destination. If you find yourself nestled on a quiet beach in this quaint town you might ask yourself, “Why haven’t more people heard about this place?” Well, it may be at least in part due to the fact that Westerners have a hard time pronouncing it (kwee nyawn).
In fact, you may have heard of the beach town but had trouble finding it on a map because for those not well-versed in Vietnamese pronunciation, it’s spelled way differently from the way it’s actually said. It’s also in a particular area of Vietnam that has stayed off of the radar of most tourists. Travelers so far have been more likely to visit neighboring cities such as Da Nang and Nha Trang, places that are known to be developed, have attractive beaches, and are also home to international airports.
Quy Nhon Gets a Buzz
That said, as a tourist destination, Quy Nhon has got quite a lot going for it, and developers are setting up for what they think might be a veritable tourism gold rush. Its remote location, beautiful beaches, clear ocean waters, and ancient ruins put it on British newspaper The Guardian’s top 10 list of sun destinations for winter 2018. The combination of quiet, tranquil beaches and scenic scrolling countryside also earned it a spot on the Dozen Dream Destinations for 2019 list for popular travel website Remote Lands, which called the central Vietnamese town “a bit of a dark horse” as a destination, but also that “it is on the rise”.
Quy Nhon is quite a distance from Vietnam’s major cities, 650km from Saigon, 300km from Da Nang City, and over 1,000km from Hanoi. This makes it a perfect getaway for locals and adventurous travelers seeking a quiet escape in an unfrequented area that’s off the beaten path.
The New Quy Nhon Airport
One of the reasons Quy Nhon is attracting attention as an up-and-coming destination is the relatively recent opening of international airports nearby, and the overcrowding of other nearby beach towns oversaturated with heavy tourism. City Pass Guide spoke with TJ from Epikurean Hotels and Lifestyle, a prominent resort developer in Asia: “Do expect to see more international flights in the near future, most likely in the next 36 to 48 months. On that coast, from Song Cau to Quang Nam, you’re going to see a lot of development in the near future.
There are a couple of factors. You have the typical north-central and south powerplay. Quy Nhon is considered central. [Places like Nha Trang and Da Nang] are highly saturated and it’s getting extreme sensitive. Where can you go? You can’t go up north any further, because you don’t have more than six months of season, where in Quy Nhon you have 10 months of season. Look at this [shows us a photo of a clean, sunny beach with calm, clear waters]. This is the bad season. If you were to lose a ring in the water, you could probably come back and get it the next day because the water is so clear!” Unlike many beaches in more developed cities in Vietnam, the waters in Quy Nhon remain quite pristine.
Development in neighboring central Vietnam cities like nearby Nha Trang seems to be hitting a ceiling of sorts. TJ shared with us, “Land prices are soaring in places like the northern part of Nha Trang. There’s a fair amount of speculation given. It becomes highly complicated and expensive to get an investment licence due to the speculation and the land-grabs. Also, the biggest and most important point is that the airports are saturated. Cam Ranh is the new international airport and it’s just a mess. It’s not a mess because of poor management, there are just way too many people!” As a result, resort developers are moving further north and south of Cam Ranh in order to create popular new tourist destinations.
According to the Saigon Times, Tuy Hoa Airport in the south-central province of Phu Yen was expected to begin welcoming international flights in November 2018. Dinh Viet Thang, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said that the authority has been completing procedures to begin hosting international flights, with the first arriving from Russia.
TJ explained, “If I was an airline operator, especially a charter operator, I would rather land in Tuy Hoa and move my customers north and south, rather than to land in Cam Ranh. To travel from Cam Ranh to Nha Trang is 60km, but from Tuy Hoa, it’s only 100km. The difference being that there’s zero traffic, it’s way cheaper and there’s way more negotiation power with the hotels in those areas. Then do the math”. If you calculate all of these factors, it becomes clear that the recent developments in Quy Nhon are not unwarranted.
More than Just a Beach Town
Quy Nhon offers more than just calm, picturesque beaches. History buffs will want to visit the Thap Doi Twin Towers outside of the city limits. These pyramidical towers are remnants of the Cham civilization in Vietnam’s central region. Unlike much of the Cham architecture, the Thap Doi Towers are quite accessible, meaning you won’t have to climb hills in the blazing midday heat to reach them. For anyone seeking a quiet getaway at a lovely Southeast Asian beach town that isn’t overrun by tourism and development, the time is now to visit Quy Nhon. It’s on the brink of some major development, and you might want to get in while the getting is good.
