Vung Tau Beach

SAIGON DAY TRIPS

When I first moved to Vietnam I lived in the seaside town of Vung Tau.

I only lived there for seven months, but located near the entrance of the Saigon River I have always found Vung Tau's quiet and peaceful laid-back nature appealing.

Not to mention that with its closeness to the sea and the cool sea breeze it offers an attractive respite from the Saigon heat.

Front Beach - Vung Tau

As such Vung Tau makes a great place to visit for a couple of days whenever I need to recharge the batteries or escape work for a bit.

Not surprisingly then, when my parents first visited Vietnam I took them down to Vung Tau for the day.

So early one Thursday morning we headed down to Bach Dang Jetty on Ton Duc Thang Street, where we each paid the 140, 000 dong fee and climbed aboard the hydrofoil that was getting ready to leave.

During the one and half hour journey the Saigon River was its usual placid and calm self.

The journey seemed to pass quickly as we just sat back and watched the scenery and river traffic out the windows.

We arrived at the Front Beach in Vung Tau at about eleven in the morning.

Being lunch time we headed around the Small Mountain to the Back Beach for some lunch at one of my old haunts, a restaurants named the Golden Shell Restaurant (the exact address is 08 Thuy Van Street if you are interested), a large semi-circular seafood restaurant that sits right on the beach front.

It was a beautiful lovely clear day, so we sat outside on the large open deck.

We had the whole restaurant to ourselves, and it was such a peaceful experience sitting out on the deck by ourselves, and being able to sit back in the cool sea breeze and look out over the equally deserted beach.

For lunch we ate Sweet and sour pork shrimp, and caramelized pork in a clay pot.

The food really was good, and my parents described the meal as the best Vietnamese food they had tried in Vietnam.

To experience Vung Tau at its peaceful best though, you do need to go on a weekday, and avoid weekends at all costs.

This is because many people living in Saigon head down to Vung Tau during the weekend, and during the weekends the restaurant and beaches are packed.

And by packed I mean there is literally not an inch of free space on the beach anywhere!

So after lunch my family and I took a taxi up to the old light house that stands on the top of the Small Mountain.

Lighthouse - Vung Tau

Built by the French in about 1910, the lighthouse gives a clear view of Vung Tau and over both the front and back beaches.

If the guards are not sleeping you can ask the guards to let you into the lighthouse, and they will take you up into the lighthouse through a small tunnel joining the lighthouse to the neighboring building.

You can then go out onto the balcony and look down allover Vung Tau from up high.

After the lighthouse my family and I leisurely walked back down the hill to the Front Beach, and then around the Front Beach to a place known as the “White Villa”.

Perched on the side of the “Big Mountain” overlooking the front beach, the White Villa is a beautiful old building also built by the French.

Built in 1916 by the then French governor Paul Doumer, the White Villa stands as a reminder of the influence that the French have had in Vietnam.

View of Small Mountain from the White Palace - Vung Tau

And walking around the White Villa with its large rooms and tiled floors, the villa still gives the visitor some impression of the glamour of the building's past.

It inspires thoughts about the elegant parties that might have been held in the garden's open air dance floor, or the lavish dinners that might have been held in its dinning room or peaceful garden setting.

And located about 50m above sea level, the garden and large exterior windows of the White Villa offer visitors' fantastic picturesque views of the surrounding area and Front Beach.

After our visit to the White Villa, we finally headed back to the ferry terminal at the front beach and caught the hydrofoil ferry back to Saigon.

We arrived back in Saigon about five in the afternoon suitably relaxed and refreshed from our day excursion to Vung Tau.