Phan Thiet

Phan Thiet is the coastal city whose Mui Ne beach strip is famous for one surprise: Sahara-like sand dunes beside the sea. It suits beach travellers wanting an easy escape from Ho Chi Minh City, 3 hours by expressway. November to April is dry and windy — dune and kitesurf season.

• Sunrise jeep tour of the White Sand Dunes, then the Red Dunes for sledding
• Wade the shallow red-canyon Fairy Stream (Suoi Tien)
• Photograph the fishing fleet of round basket boats at Mui Ne harbour
• Learn kitesurfing on Mui Ne beach, Vietnam's windiest classroom

The standard dune trip is a shared jeep tour at sunrise or sunset covering both dune fields, the Fairy Stream and the fishing village in one half-day loop — book it as a package rather than haggling on the spot. The rest of your time here is beach time: Mui Ne is about resorts, seafood and wind, not sightseeing.

From Ho Chi Minh City, the expressway bus or a private car takes about 3 hours; buses run all day for around ₫200,000-₫300,000 ($8-$11). The train takes about 4 hours to a station just outside the city, then a short taxi to the Mui Ne strip. There is no airport worth planning around — road is the way in.

Phan Thiet works best as a 2-day beach add-on to a Ho Chi Minh City trip — close enough for a weekend, far enough to feel like a holiday. A popular loop pairs it with Da Lat in the highlands, 4-5 hours away by bus, for beach-plus-mountains in under a week. If you want a livelier beach town with more restaurants and boat trips, compare it with Nha Trang further up the coast. See the full Vietnam guide for route ideas.