Introducing Vung Tau

Vung Tau and Big Mountain as seen from Small Mountain

"Front Beach"

Vung Tau drones with bass-thumping action on the weekends as visitors from HCMC motor into town; weekdays, however, are blissfully dead. Vung Tau’s beaches are easily reached from HCMC, making them a favourite of that city’s residents since French colonists first began coming here around 1890.

The beaches here aren’t Vietnam’s best, nor is the water pristine due to pollution from oil-drilling, but Vung Tau is an easy, fast beach foray out of HCMC. Beachgoers looking for a tropical-holiday feel might do better making the three-hour trip to beautiful Mui Ne Beach.Known under the French as Cap St Jacques – so-named by Portuguese mariners in honour of their patron saint – Vung Tau is a commercialised beach resort on a peninsula jutting into the South China Sea, about 128km southeast of HCMC (via Bien Hoa). The business of oil-drilling here means the azure horizon is marred by frequent oil tankers, and the population flecked with joy-seeking expats.