Vietnam
Quy Nhon
Ancient Cham brick towers watching over fishing coracles bobbing in a crescent bay.
The Cham towers are a thousand years old and still standing. Red brick, no mortar, built using a firing technique nobody has been able to replicate. They watch from the headland over a bay where round basket boats — thung chai — bob like enormous walnuts among the fishing nets.
Quy Nhon is the capital of Binh Dinh Province on Vietnam's south-central coast, sitting at the heart of what was once the Champa kingdom. The Twin Towers of Thap Doi, dating from the twelfth century, rise directly above the harbour where fishermen still use traditional round bamboo basket boats. The coastal road south passes through a sequence of largely undeveloped crescent beaches backed by coconut palms. Ky Co and Eo Gio — a beach and a cliff formation respectively — have gained attention but remain far quieter than comparable spots in central Vietnam. Bun cha ca, a fishcake noodle soup unique to the region, is served at stalls throughout the city. Anantara and Maia resorts have established on private peninsulas, positioning Quy Nhon as an emerging luxury coastal destination.
Solo
Empty beaches, Cham ruins within walking distance, and a food scene built around fishing boats that land their catch each morning — Quy Nhon is the coast without the crowds.
Couple
Private-peninsula resorts, Cham tower sunsets, and the gentle pace of a coastal city that hasn't yet been discovered by mass tourism.
- Twin Cham brick towers from the twelfth century stand on a headland directly above a working fishing harbour.
- Round basket boats — thung chai — bob like giant walnuts in the bay while fishermen sort their catch at dawn.
- The coastal road south passes empty crescent beaches backed by coconut palms with almost no development.
- Anantara and Maia resorts occupy private peninsulas, offering spa treatments beside Cham archaeological sites.
Banh xeo jumping shrimp pancakes frying loudly on street-side skillets.
Bun cha ca fishcake noodle soup with a broth deeply flavoured by fish bones.
Jericoacoara
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Windswept dunes where the sun melts into the sea from a natural stone arch.
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Light so luminous it lured a century of painters to this harbour of turquoise shallows.
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Alpine pools at 3,500 metres that mirror a 7,000-metre peak at dawn like shattered glass.
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A temple rescued from rising waters, reassembled stone by stone on an island in the Nile.
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Rice terraces so vertiginous they look like topographical maps carved directly into the sky.
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Mustard-yellow merchant houses glowing under thousands of silk lanterns beside a tidal river.
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Sampans paddled by foot through flooded caves beneath vertical limestone monoliths.
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Giant bamboo water wheels groaning as they lift the river into terraced rice paddies.