The first stop on our Vietnam South Coast Vacation 2013 was the city of Quy Nhon, which is the largest city in Binh Dinh Province, and about six hours south of Da Nang. Although quite large and somewhat developed (they do have a Metro and were getting a Big C) the city still feels very Vietnamese. There isn't an abundance of Western speaking facilities, and as you drive around the city you don't see as many English centers as in other cities. There is a large university here, the University of Quy Nhon, which is quite large (~25,000 students) and as a result the city feels like it's a combination of a Vietnamese tourist town and a college town.
Regardless of the population, the city is incredibly beautiful. Set on a small sandbar jutting into a very large lagoon off the ocean, the city is hemmed in by mountains on one side, and a small channel of the lagoon and another mountain range on the other. Despite being on the coast, the open ocean is only visible in a small area to the southeast, where you can see out the mouth of the lagoon. Other than the large sandbar the city is built on, the coast itself is quite rugged and rocky. The coast looks very similar to what can be found along the coast of Oregon, in the US. Large, craggy headlands separate tiny bays where really small patches of sand can be found. A host of offshore islands, big and small, rise not far off the coast. As we were there in winter, we had the joy of seeing the full brunt of the Northeast swell slamming into the coast; the waves that were hurling themselves at the coast was incredible, and the waves being generated were the stuff of surfer's wet dreams'.
We had two nights in Binh Dinh, which meant that with travel in and out we really had one full day to explore. Renting a bike is always a hoot in Vietnam; you never know quite what you will end up with. Ours ended up being just fine, so we set out on a road trip for the day. First we drove north, and went over the Cau Thi Nai bridge, which crosses over the Thi Nai lagoon and is famous in Vietnam because it is the longest sea bridge in the country at 2.4 km long. It's quite an unremarkable looking bridge, but it sure is long. The bridge connects Quy Nhon with the mountainous peninsula that sits on the other side of the bay from the city. On the other side we stumbled across an old, abandoned resort that happened to have a whole bunch of stone penguins hanging out on the beach. Very strange. We wanted to go exploring on the open coast of the peninsula, but the wind was really strong and was whipping sand into our faces as we tried to drive. No thanks. We bailed.
So, it was off to go explore south out of the city. The road to the south climbs up and over some small ridges, and goes in an out of several small bays. There are some small beaches to be seen in places but they are fairly scarce here because the coast is so rugged. We stopped a couple of times to admire the rocky shores, watching waves smash against the granite boulders. One bay we dropped into had a tiny fishing village crammed into it; I wanted to go see the port and the boats, so we dropped into town and tried to find it, only to get dead-ended and have to turn around in front of a whole bunch of bewildered local woman and children. We took our adventures down a ways until the magnificent coast petered out and the road started across some coastal plains, at which point we turned back and headed back to the city.
Binh Dinh is definitely an under-rated gem in Vietnam. It is definitely not very highly on the tourist radar, and the university being here means it will always be somewhat more authentic and local than other Vietnamese cities. It is spectacularly beautiful, and I would very much recommend anyone taking the time to stop in and see it!
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise noted.