Things to do in Vung Tau
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Vung Tau
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry season: lower humidity, calmer seas and the best kitesurfing wind. December to February is most comfortable.
Tet lunar new year fills the city, spikes hotel prices and closes many small family restaurants for days.
Rainy season: heavy afternoon rain, rougher murkier seas and more beach debris, against the lowest prices.
The worst beach months plainly, with the heaviest rain and roughest seas, though Nghinh Ong falls here.
What's on
- Tet Late January or February, lunar new year
Domestic holiday peak: festive, crowded beaches, spiked prices and many small restaurants closed.
- International Kite Festival March
Large display kites and cultural performances over the beaches at the peak of the kite wind season.
- Vung Tau Beach Festival July
Summer sports and cultural programming in the peak domestic holiday weeks, lively and crowded.
- Mid-Autumn Festival September or October, lunar
Lantern displays and mooncake season in the old centre, a pleasant evening bonus if you coincide.
- Nghinh Ong Festival 16th to 18th day of the 8th lunar month, usually September or October
The whale festival: a dawn boat flotilla, street processions to Thang Tam temple, ritual and folk games.
Best things to do in Vung Tau
Jesus Christ Statue
A 32 metre hilltop Christ reached by 800 plus steps, with the widest panorama in town from its shoulders.
Back Beach
Vung Tau's main swimming beach, a wide sand arc on Thuy Van best midweek and inside the flagged areas.
White Palace
A French colonial villa above Front Beach with sea view gardens and a mixed royal and colonial story.
Vung Tau Lighthouse
A working lighthouse on Small Mountain with a 360 degree view over both beaches, the port and the statue.
Ho May Park
A cable car ride to a hilltop park of coasters, ziplines and pools, best value as a family half day.
The Robert Taylor Museum of Worldwide Arms
A private collection of 2500 weapons and uniforms that general visitors rate as the city's surprise hit.
Thang Tam Temple
A working temple where fishermen honour the whale god, and the heart of the Nghinh Ong festival.
Hon Ba Island
A tiny temple island off Back Beach that you can walk to only at low tide over a rocky causeway.
Where to stay in Vung Tau
Back Beach
swimmers, first-timers and families
Sleep across from the swimmable beach on Thuy Van, with the promenade and the biggest hotel cluster at hand.
Front Beach and the old centre
eating, drinking and the ferry
The walkable living room of the city, with the promenade, ferry, White Palace and the best restaurants nearby.
Bai Dau and Ha Long Road
quiet and sunsets
Rocky coves and hillside resorts northwest of Front Beach, calm but a ride from every restaurant row.
Ho Tram
resort splurge and golf
The region's best sand and its biggest resorts 45 to 60 minutes away, booked as a destination in itself.
Think twice about
- Far northeast Thuy Van beyond Paradise golf resort
The strip thins into a highway feel road with a narrower beach, far from every restaurant.
- Phan Chu Trinh bar blocks in A Chau
The city's seediest and noisiest night blocks, with girlie bar touts. Stay a few streets away instead.
- Bus station and inland Le Hong Phong corridor
Safe but characterless and traffic heavy, walkable to nothing a visitor wants. Rooms are cheap for a reason.
Best restaurants in Vung Tau
QUACH'S SEAFOOD
The city's top rated seafood room, where live seafood is weighed and cooked to order for a splurge dinner.
Ganh Hao
The famous sunset seafood hall over Front Beach, with live tanks and a huge menu for group feasts.
La Sirena Seafood Restaurant
A big open seafood barbecue on Back Beach, built for long group dinners steps from the promenade.
Bistro 9
A French run bistro reviewers call the city's best Western cooking, with a proper wine list.
Emily's Kitchen Family Restaurant
A family run British kitchen for roasts, pies and big breakfasts, loved by expats and families alike.
David Pizzeria
The long running Italian institution for dependable pizza and pasta, with the city's deepest review base.
Banh Khot Co Ba Vung Tau
The famous banh khot house where staff show first timers how to wrap the crisp shrimp cakes in herbs.
Banh Khot Goc Vu Sua
The locals' banh khot under the star fruit tree, with plates under 50000 dong and mountains of herbs.
Outdoor things to do in Vung Tau
Kitesurfing Lessons Vietnam
The best supported kite school on Back Beach, teaching in the November to April monsoon wind season.
Vung Tau Paradise Golf Resort
Twenty seven breezy seaside holes beside Back Beach with praised caddies, played best as a relaxed weekday round.
The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram
Greg Norman's dune links at Ho Tram, the championship day trip with sea views and wind on most holes.
Doi Con Heo
A rough local hill above Back Beach with a raw panorama over the sand and the city, free and undeveloped.
Long Hai Beach
A calm fishing town beach 15 km away, with a working harbour and quieter sand beyond the town stretch.
Binh Chau Hot Springs
Forest hot springs past Ho Tram with soaking pools, mud baths and eggs boiled in the source wells.
Long Tan Cross
The memorial cross in the rubber plantation at Long Tan, the moving core of the Nui Dat battlefield day.
Con Dao Islands
Pristine island beaches and prison history reached by ferry from Vung Tau, worth at least two nights.
Best hotels in Vung Tau
The IMPERIAL Hotel Vung Tau
The city's grand beach resort with a private beach bridge, large pools and a much praised breakfast.
Pullman Vung Tau
The international five star near Back Beach, with polished new rooms and a business leisure mix.
The Malibu Hotel
A modern high rise a short walk from Back Beach, picked for its infinity pool at mid range prices.
ibis Styles Vung Tau
A reliable Accor budget hotel right on Back Beach, with a rooftop infinity pool at motel beating value.
Tomorrow Hostel
The functional backpacker bed near the beaches, with free WiFi, parking and air conditioning.
Fusion Suites Vung Tau
The centre's standout tower by Front Beach, with a rooftop infinity pool, spa and top rated breakfast.
The Wind Boutique Resort
A small garden boutique resort in the A Chau quarter, walkable to both beaches and the bar streets.
Mercure Vung Tau Resort
A quiet low rise Accor resort on Ha Long Road with a private beach, gardens and an infinity pool.
Is Vung Tau expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ₫900,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ₫1,800,000 a person |
| Splurge | ₫4,500,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Kitesurfing Lessons Vietnam: a few days ahead
- Vung Tau Paradise Golf Resort: a few days ahead
- The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram: weeks ahead
- Long Tan Cross: weeks ahead
- Con Dao Islands: weeks ahead
- The IMPERIAL Hotel Vung Tau: weeks ahead
- Pullman Vung Tau: weeks ahead
- Fusion Suites Vung Tau: weeks ahead
- Book hotels before any weekend, and weeks ahead for Tet and public holidays.
- Book The Bluffs tee times, Long Tan tours about three weeks out, and Con Dao ferries well ahead in dry season.
- Reserve Quach's Seafood and a sunset table at Ganh Hao on weekends.
- The White Palace closes on Mondays, and the Christ statue enforces a shoulders and knees dress code.
Is Vung Tau safe?
- Obey Back Beach swim flags and treat rip current warnings seriously, keeping children in flagged shallows.
- Keep phones and bags away from the road side to deter motorbike bag snatching.
- Be aware of stray dogs on the lighthouse road up Small Mountain.
- Climb the viewpoints before 9am or after 4pm and carry water, as there is little shade. Emergency police 113, ambulance 115.
Vung Tau travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- At live tank seafood halls, confirm the per kilo price and cooking fee before anything is weighed.
- A Saturday Back Beach is a worse product than the same beach on a Tuesday, at doubled hotel prices.
- Front Beach is a strolling beach, not a swimming beach. Swim at Back Beach instead.
- At Ho May Park, buy the cheap viewpoint ticket if you only want the cable car and the panorama.
Getting around Vung Tau: public transport and more
- Grab car and bike rides are the default in town, cheap and priced upfront.
- The fast ferry lands at Front Beach in the centre but is the most weather sensitive way to arrive.
- Walk the Front Beach promenade, Ha Long Road and Back Beach promenade, and ride everything else in midday heat.
- Rent a motorbike only if already confident in Vietnamese traffic, especially on weekend Thuy Van.
Who Vung Tau suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Vung Tau your trip
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