Weekend Escape: Vung Tau – Long Hai

Having seafood lunch in local
Vietnamese restaurant in
Vung Tau City. 

A long time ago, going to Vung Tau would take around a 2 hour battle on a highway. After the existence  of the high speed hydrofoil, scooting from the Saigon River to Vung Tau make the trip so much easier. No traffic congestion, no cars and it’s all about relaxing on the deck while departing to the southern coast of Vietnam.

Continuing from my article about Vung Tau – Saigonese Weekend Escape, we are looking more forward for a more spiritual journey to Vung Tau, Long Hai and Con Dao Island.  Take a local tour to Long Hai town which is located 30 kilometres from Vung Tau city. You may visit places of interest such as Bach Van Temple, Hon Mot Pagoda, Minh Dam Temple and Co Temple. Taking a trip to Long Son Island, hiking to Nua Mountain and visit a 1900s Long Son Great House and you can worship Ong Tran, the creator of a unique religion which required the men to keep a bun-hairstyle on their head and wearing black clothes.

You also can take a tour to a local craft village at Hoa Long Village. The product which is produced here is ruou, a kind of rice liquor. There are also local people producing home-made rice paper and rice flour as well. From here, you may move forward to Dat Do town and visit Vo Thi Sau’s house. This house was specially dedicated to a young Vietnamese heroine who died in French colonization era. Đất đỏ town is very famous with Bun (rice noodle) and you can take a tour to visit a noodle factory to learn the process or making the noodle. During lunch time, you must try some rice noodle with grilled meat and spring roll and complement it with rice beer.

Your next destination will be to Binh Chau Spring and Ho Coc Beach. Here you can enjoy a mud bath and going out for sun bathing. In Binh Chau Hot Spring, there are 70 springs around the 7,000 hectares of primeval forest. Some of them have water as hot as 82 degrees.

Me and travel buddy, Truong An

If you have extra time, you may visit Long Tan Village, Long Tan Cross Site, Nui Dat (SAS Hill), Horseshoe Hill and Long Phuoc Tunnel.  There are many other activities can be experienced in Vung Tau city and Long Hai. Travel on your own maybe will cost a lot of time, extra money and confusion. Ask your local-English speaking travel agencies about local tour options.

Photo from Vung Tau beach