Ba Ria – Vung Tau belongs to the Southeast region. The province borders Dong Nai province to the north, Ho Chi Minh City to the west, Binh Thuan province to the east, and the South China Sea to the south. This is one of the leading tourist centers of the country thanks to its favorable location, mild climate, many interesting activities and experiences for visitors…
Tourist season
Ba Ria – Vung Tau is located in an area with few storms. There are two distinct seasons in a year. The rainy season is from May to October, the weather is cool, and the rain is not heavy. The dry season from November to April next year is quite hot. In fact, you can travel to Ba Ria – Vung Tau all year round, but the most beautiful is from March to September if you want to swim, visit Con Dao.
Move
From Ho Chi Minh City , visitors can go by motorbike, car or speedboat, ferry. If taking a car, you go in the direction of National Highway 1 – National Highway 51 – Vung Tau; or from ferry Cat Lai (District 2, HCMC) – Nhon Trach (Dong Nai) – National Highway 51 – Vung Tau. For self-driving tourists, go to Long Thanh – Dong Nai highway.
If you want to experience the sea ferry, visitors from Ho Chi Minh City go about 70 km to Tac Suat wharf (Can Gio) to board the ferry. Can Gio – Vung Tau sea ferry has a travel time of about 30 minutes or so, depending on weather conditions and sea level. The ticket price per person is 70,000 VND. The fee for transporting motorbikes and bicycles is 50,000 VND per vehicle. Cars from 4 to 26 seats or more are priced from 350,000 to 800,000 VND each.
Choose to take a bus, you can go to the Eastern bus station to buy tickets directly or call to reserve via the online system. The price is from 80,000 to 160,000 VND per ticket.
If you take the high-speed train, it will take you about 1 hour 30 minutes. The ticket price is 240,000 VND per adult, 120,000 VND per child from 6 to 11 years old, under 6 years old is free. The ticket price for people over 62 years old is 140,000 VND one way.
From Hanoi , visitors take a plane or train to Ho Chi Minh City and then choose the above means.
Where to play?
Vung Tau city
Just over 120 km from Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau is a favorite weekend getaway destination for tourists. With a view facing the sea, Vung Tau has many lovely small beaches running around the city. Tam Duong Beach or Front Beach is located between Big Mountain and Small Mountain. The cafes running along the beach…
See more: Vung Tau travel guide Ba Ria City
Ba Ria city is 90 km from Ho Chi Minh City to the northeast, 25 km from Vung Tau city to the south.
Thi Vai Mountain
Going from Highway 51 to Phu My town, if you want to go to Thi Vai mountain , turn left about 3 km to follow the trail to the foot of the mountain. You can park your car at a homestay at the foot of the mountain and start your walking journey on the granite stairs leading to the mountain. There are also three main pagodas here: Linh Son Lien Tri pagoda (Hau pagoda), Linh Son Hong Phuc pagoda (Middle pagoda), and Linh Son Buu Thien (Upper pagoda).
Mount Dinh
Dinh Mountain is about 6 km from Ba Ria city, to the North in Tan Thanh district. The mountain has a peak of 504 meters, with many beautiful scenes, pagodas, and the most unique am of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. Looking up from Highway 51, the mountain looks like a giant elephant lying prostrate, its head facing the sea. You can ride a motorbike for about 10 minutes to reach the top.
At the top, there is Tien stream and Da stream with five lakes that can be bathed. Next to it is the base of Mount Dinh – a revolutionary base for units attached to the Southeast battlefield. The top of Dinh mountain also has beautiful pagodas hidden among the rocky slopes, notably Hang Pagoda, Dai Tung Lam Pagoda, Tay Phuong Pagoda… Around the mountain, there are about 100 temples, the most famous of which is Phat Quang Pagoda. To Cave, Wire Bi Cave, Mai Cave, Bung Lung, Dieu Linh Pagoda, Bat Cave…
Long Phuoc Tunnels
Tunnels are a system in all 5 hamlets in the commune: East Hamlet, West Hamlet, Nam Hamlet, Bac Hamlet and Phuoc Huu Hamlet, Long Phuoc Commune, about 7 km from Ba Ria city center. Clusters of tunnels are connected by the backbone line, there are secret bunkers containing food reserves, and fortifications to fight back against the enemy.
In October 1949, the revolutionary armed forces, thanks to the tunnels, won the sweep of the French army to hold the hamlet and revolutionary base. In April 1963, the tunnel system was restored and developed into a solid continuous position. The backbone tunnel is 2-3m above the ground, the heart is 1.5 to 1.6 m high, 60 – 70 cm wide.
Ba Ria Round House
Round House – the name Ba Ria people often call water tower (French Chatoau deau). In the early 20th century, along with the construction of churches and rubber plantations, the French built the Round House to serve the rulers and soldiers.
The Round House is 20 m high, the main architecture is a circular water tank with a corrugated iron roof, more than 7 m in diameter. In 1945, the Japanese installed a system of 6 air sirens under the water tank which is still working. The Round House was recognized as a national relic in 1987 and is now a place for residents and tourists to visit and organize exhibitions. Another special thing is that this place has a flock of swallows nesting.
Long Hai town
Long Dien district owns a coastline of 14.7 km with many beautiful beaches, white sand, gentle, steady waves. Which, Long Hai beach is famous for its natural landscape from Ky Van cape to the sea. October and November is the most suitable time to go to Long Hai town to swim in the sea, and around before and after the Lunar New Year is the season of cherry trees in full bloom.
Minh Dam Mountain: This is a mountain associated with the heroic history of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province during the war. From the foot of the mountain, visitors follow the zigzag paved road to the top.
On the way, about halfway up the mountain, you will see a panoramic view of Long Hai with the image of the sea on one side, the forest on the other. Many people often feel surprised by the splendid beauty between the autumn sky, yellow and green leaves mixed in, embellished by the blooming forest flowers.
Hon Mot Pagoda: Hon Mot Pagoda was built in 1918 with its face facing the sea, its back leaning against Minh Dam mountain, attracting pilgrims from all over the world.
Long Hai Beach: The beach has many wild and clean features, suitable for groups of backpackers to camp overnight to enjoy the fresh and cool nature.
The golden sand here is smooth stretching, mixed with the green color of the quiet poplar. In addition to swimming, visitors can also enjoy cheap, fresh seafood in the early morning.
Dinh Co Beach: Located at the foot of Dinh Co Palace, this beach also bears the same name with fine, golden sand. The sandy beach here is wide, suitable for group sports activities or weekend entertainment with campfires, singing and dancing. At low tide, the sea recedes further, and you will see krill and fish in the smooth sand right below your feet.
Truc Lam Chan Nguyen Zen Monastery: Located at the foot of Minh Dam mountain and opened in 1987, Truc Lam Chan Nguyen Zen Monastery is located in a spiritual space that blends with majestic nature. Prominent in the green space of the mountains is the main hall. This place is located under the mountains, behind are rocks with many shapes such as snakeheads, turtles engraved with words.
Looming in the forest are small simple wooden amms for the monks who are practicing here. The most special feature is the appearance of hundreds of monkeys. They see the temple as a peaceful place, so they often come. That is also the reason why many people call this place Monkey Temple.
Nuoc Ngot Pass: If you have come to Long Hai, you should not ignore the route of Nuoc Ngot Pass, sticking along the coast with a length of 5 km, always bustling with tourists in the last months of the year.
A special feature to mention is the cherry blossom forest blooming halfway up the mountain. Previously, this flower was planted by the Japanese during the war years. Over time, the forest has become a destination for many domestic and foreign tourists.
Con Dao
Con Dao district is an archipelago off the coast of Ba Ria – Vung Tau. This 76-square-kilometer archipelago includes 16 islands, the largest being Con Son island. Con Dao is 185 km from Vung Tau, 230 km from Ho Chi Minh City, about 83 km from Can Tho. In addition to spiritual tourism, towards the roots, many tourists are knowing that Con Dao is a resort paradise, an interesting backpacking destination with many things to discover.
See more: Con Dao travel guide
Other destinations
Ho Tram
Ho Tram is the point in the middle of the road from Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne – Phan Thiet (Binh Thuan). Partly due to habit and convenience, few people choose to take the coastal road because it is far away, so this part of the road is often deserted, and few cars pass by. But also for that reason, the road along the coast of Ho Tram is not affected by traffic and dust.
Coc lake
Located in Ba Ria Vung Tau province, Ho Coc is a pristine beach with fresh air, ideal for those who love diving. A special feature is that visitors can bathe in the middle of the vast sea on one side, and on the other side is the primeval forest of Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu nature reserve with an area of over 11,000 hectares, with a cool year-round climate. batch.
Ho Coc Beach is ranked by Lonely Planet as one of the eight most beautiful beaches in Vietnam and is listed by the famous British travel website Rough Guides in the list of 20 beaches in Vietnam with the most beautiful scenery to introduce to readers. .
Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve
Opposite Ho Coc beach is a tree-lined road leading to Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve. This is the area with the most green trees in Ho Tram, considered the “green lung” of Vung Tau.
Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve is located in Xuyen Moc district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. This is the only coastal primeval forest remaining relatively intact in Vietnam. Forests are located along the coast interspersed with gently sloping hills covered with green trees.
The reserve has a diverse natural landscape ranging from tropical dry semi-arid forest to evergreen moist forest, coastal Melaleuca forest, hills, wetlands, shrubs and coastal sand dunes… Conservation area. also provides many tourist services such as accommodation, camping, and cycling paths for visitors who like to experience the feeling of exploring the primeval forest.
Binh Chau Hot Springs
Located in the middle of the vast primeval forest of Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve, Binh Chau hot mineral spring is located in Xuyen Moc district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. In 1928, during a survey trip to the Southeast region, French doctor Sallet discovered this mineral spring and published an introduction in the Indochinese research bulletin called Cu Mi.
With more than 70 open-air fountains with a temperature of 64-84 degrees Celsius, Binh Chau hot spring also has an abundant amount of mineral mud. Geological studies show that the spring water here contains many valuable minerals that restore health and beauty. Just a 20-30 minute soak is enough, longer than that easily causes a feeling of dizziness.
Banh Xeo Temple
Banh Xeo pagoda, officially known as Thien Hoa nunnery , is located on the right, after Dai Tong Lam Tu, in Phu My town, Tan Thanh district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. Originally, Thien Hoa nunnery was just a small temple built in 1989.
In 1990, Venerable Thich Thien Hoa built a nunnery as a place to practice for nuns. Although the nunnery was built on a large scale, it still has the ancient features of a Vietnamese temple.
The temple’s abbot nun, whose legal name is Thich Nu Nhu Nhu, from the experience of serving vegetarian vermicelli noodles at Phuoc Hai Monastery, which is very popular with visitors from all over the world, came up with the idea to choose vegetarian pancakes to treat guests upon arrival. Thien Hoa nunnery. The good news is far away, in recent years pilgrims have come more and more and the name “Banh Xeo temple” also comes from there.
Suoi Nghe sheep field
Sheep field in Suoi Nghe commune, Chau Duc district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. At 6 am, the sheep fields start to open, until about 10 am full of tourists. Tourist cars are parked at the entrance. Sheep are gathered by people in an open field. There are 2 seats for visitors to visit and charge 20,000 VND in this area.
More than 4 years ago, this place was used by locals to graze sheep. As tourists from all over the world come to visit and take pictures, people open more services to serve. Visitors can also buy food to both experiences feeding the sheep and attract their attention. The price for each sheep meal is 10,000 VND.
Suggested route: Ho Chi Minh City – in the direction of National Highway 51 – My Xuan Toc Tien – Hac Dich Toc Tien – extended road No. 1 (Hoi Bai to Phuoc Tan).
Specialties
The rich source of seafood has created a variety of specialty dishes in Ba Ria – Vung Tau. The typical traditional dishes with regional flavors include Vung Tau Banh Khot, Long Hai pancakes, Long Dien minced fish sauce, An Nhut cake, Banh Canh … The most convenient places to eat are mainly. concentrated in Vung Tau city.
Banh Khot Vung Tau
The rustic Banh Khot , with its very own flavor of the Vung Tau coastal area, is loved by many people, from locals to tourists from all over the world as well as international tourists. The white color of rice flour mixed with the fatty aroma of onion fat, plus the sweetness of shrimp really satisfy diners.
Nguyen Truong To Street is considered the convergence of this specialty. In addition, cakes are sold a lot at sidewalk shops, and eateries on Vung Tau street, the best is Goc Vu Sua restaurant, and Banh Khot shop of Mrs. Hai and Ms. Ba on Tran Dong, Hoang Hoa Tham, and Luong Van streets. Can… When going to these shops, you should avoid rush hour when you get off work because you will have to wait a bit longer due to a large number of customers.
Long Hai pancakes
The main ingredients for making Banh Xeo are still shrimp, pork, onion, bean sprouts, wood ear, green beans, chicken eggs and rice flour, but Banh Xeo in Long Hai town, Long Dien district is very special.
Thanks to the source of fresh food, bought from fishermen caught the same day and brought back without being iced, cooled, and at the same time, the technique of pouring the cake so that it is crispy, the cake is bright yellow and fragrant, creating a famous attraction. of Long Hai pancakes.
Cake asked An Nhut
This is a famous specialty dish of An Nhat commune, Long Dien district. The cake is made with fragrant rice from the local people and the secret is how to make the dough so that the cake is flexible and chewy. The piece of white rice cake smells like new rice, the more you chew, the sweeter it becomes, rolled with raw vegetables, fried meat and dipped with fish sauce and sweet and sour lotus root. Finished this book and added another until I was full and still felt hungry. Banh asked is also eaten with beef skewered by a stick grilled on a charcoal stove, in addition, seasoning with fish sauce is also very delicious.
Phuoc Hai gun hot pot
The long-standing specialty of the Phuoc Hai sea area, Dat Do district is one of the daily dishes of local people that are well known. Hot pot is served with water lily, so the locals call it “Gun hot pot”.
The fish used to cook this hot pot in the right style and taste is the head and heart of the blue thiet fish. Thieu fish is very rare today, so some types of sea fish are used instead for cooking, such as pineapple fish, cobia, mullet, etc. The seasoning for this hot pot is also quite rich, including: sour tamarind, squeezed to get water, lightly pounded nut sauce, honey sugar, delicious fish sauce, minced lemongrass non-fragrant, and lemongrass tubers smashed. thick-leaf coriander, cilantro, braised cilantro, basil, thinly sliced chili…..
The strange taste of hot pot with the very own flavor of soy sauce, mixed with the acidity of tamarind, the aroma of lemongrass, the sweetness of fresh fish, and the crispiness of the water lily make the hot pot more rich and unique. unique.
Long Son oyster porridge
This is also a specialty dish, bold in the sea, made from milk oysters plucked from the rocky crevices in the waters of Long Son island commune. In order to have a delicious bowl of oyster porridge, the processing art is also very special, the audience will feel the sweetness and fat of the oysters, mixed with the aroma of rice plus the spicy and aromatic taste of pepper, onion and ginger. , straw mushrooms … make oyster porridge become attractive and very characteristic. A bowl of hot oyster porridge, fragrant aroma, wherever you swallow, the sweetness permeates there.
Apricot fish salad
In addition to familiar seafood dishes such as snails, crabs, and squids, apricot fish salad has also become a specialty of Vung Tau, although it is a bit difficult to eat for first-timers. To have a delicious apricot salad, you must choose fresh green fish, wash the scales, remove the bones and then marinate with vinegar, lemon, garlic, and chili to cook the fish. After that, the rice will be mixed until fragrant.
When eaten, the salad is rolled with rice paper with coriander, basil, basil, perilla, lettuce, sour star fruit, green banana…
Mai fish salad sauce is made from peanut fish sauce by grinding peanuts with red pepper, sugar, seasoning with fish sauce, lemon, garlic… The most famous restaurant is Mango Garden, priced at 120,000 VND per plate.
Bread soup
The bowl of hot pork rolls soup served with a plate of green raw vegetables is a dish that many visitors must remember when enjoying it once. Simply consisting of bread, pork and broth, but the dish with soft chewy bread, sweet and rich broth, is enough to create a lasting brand for this popular dish.
The kind people in the southern sea of the country share the secret to having such delicious food thanks to the broth made from sea fish, available fresh shrimp and bone marrow.
Besides, to avoid the feeling of being fed up for diners, the soup cake is served with a plate of fresh raw vegetables with all kinds of vegetables such as lettuce, perilla, celery, raw price… Long Huong on Ba Trieu Street, in front of the welcome gate of Ba Ria city.
Gun vermicelli
There are many similarities with vermicelli noodles of Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Ca Mau… Bun gun of Vung Tau people is characterized by a broth made from seafood such as fish, shrimp, squid and eaten. with gun vegetables. Fresh vermicelli, small fibers and raw vegetables are put in a bowl, seafood is decorated on top of the vermicelli and then filled with broth. Raw vegetables can be served without water lily, coriander, morning glory, banana flower…
Noodle soup
A bowl of noodle soup with rich clear broth, and soft white ribs are cooked according to its own recipe, but it is simple but carries the brand name of the very own typical noodle soup of the coastal city of Vung Tau.
You can choose to eat water or dry noodles depending on your preference and freely choose the type of noodles that suit your taste such as noodle soup with ribs, wonton noodles with char siu, wonton with ribs, noodles with pork noodles with shrimp balls, wonton with wonton. You can eat at noodle shops on Truong Cong Dinh Street, 30/4 Ly Tu Trong Street… with prices from 25,000 VND per bowl.
Gun vermicelli
There are many similarities with vermicelli noodles of Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Ca Mau… Bun gun of Vung Tau people is characterized by a broth made from seafood such as fish, shrimp, squid and eaten. with gun vegetables.
Not too picky, but the charm of each bowl of bun gun makes few people refuse. Fresh vermicelli, small fibers and raw vegetables are put in a bowl, seafood is decorated on top of the vermicelli and then filled with broth. Raw vegetables can be served without water lily, coriander, morning glory, banana flower…
Seafood
Visitors here do not forget to enjoy seafood dishes rich in types, and diverse in price, from popular to high-end.
At the seafood shops on the street, just a few tens of thousands of dong, you can enjoy one of the dishes: fried snails with coconut, steamed clams, grilled oysters with onion fat… to shrimp, Crab, crab, squid… Please visit famous shops on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Tran Phu, Tran Hung Dao, Sao Mai, Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Thai Hoc … in Vung Tau city to sip with friends.
Hotels, resorts
Ba Ria – Vung Tau has no shortage of resorts for visitors from luxury hotels and resorts to affordable guesthouses and homestays . You can choose resorts in Vung Tau City, Ho Tram or Con Dao… depending on the schedule. The average price is from 300,000 VND to 2.5 million VND. High-end resorts include Melia Ho Tram, Marina Bay Vung Tau, Lan Rung Resort Phuoc Hai, Wind Boutique Resort, Léman Cap, Carmelina, Mercure…
