Vung Tau Beach Day Trip in Ho Chi Minh City
A visual guide from the Ho Chi Minh City travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
When Saigon's heat and horns win, the city goes to Vung Tau — a breezy peninsula of sand, seafood and hilltop viewpoints about 95 kilometres southeast, close enough that locals leave after breakfast and are back for a late dinner. It is the easiest salt-water reset in southern Vietnam: real beaches, a proper seaside promenade, and ocean wind on a coast road that feels a world away from District 1.
Getting There & Around
Limousine vans and coaches leave central Saigon all day and take roughly two hours door to door on the expressway — book a morning slot out and a sunset slot back, since day-trippers fill weekend departures. A fast ferry has also run from the downtown riverfront in recent years; it is the scenic way down when sailing, so check the current schedule. In town, app taxis and rented scooters cover everything — the whole seafront loop is only about fifteen kilometres.
Beaches & the Coast Road
Back Beach (Bai Sau) is the main event: several kilometres of open sand with gentle surf, beach clubs renting loungers, and surf schools putting beginners on whitewater most mornings. Front Beach (Bai Truoc) is calmer — a palm-lined promenade made for an iced coffee and a slow walk. Between them, the coastal road rings Small Mountain with the sea on one side and cliffside cafes on the other; ride it in the late afternoon when the light turns gold. For the big view, the cable car climbs Big Mountain to the Ho May hilltop park, and the short walk up to the 1862 lighthouse earns a full sweep of the peninsula and the sea traffic heading for the Saigon River.
Seafood, Banh Khot & Sunset
Vung Tau's signature dish is banh khot — crisp little turmeric pancakes crowned with shrimp, wrapped in mustard leaf and herbs — and the busiest banh khot houses sell out by mid-afternoon, so eat it as a late breakfast. Seafood restaurants line the water on the Back Beach side: pick your crab, clams and grilled scallops from the tanks and pay by weight, with prices that undercut Saigon's. Stay for sunset from the coast road or the lighthouse hill, then catch an evening van home — weekdays are quieter on the sand and easier on the seats back.