Quy Nhon in recent years has become a favorite destination for young people who love to travel. I will introduce to you the hottest places that you should not miss.
If you would love to visit Quy Nhon to discover this beautiful land, you can take a look at my tourist definitive guide of Quy Nhon.
Contents
1. Windy Strait (Eo Gió)
The name Windy Strait (Eo Gió) originates from the geographic shape of this area. Standing from above the cliffs, looking down, you will see a small strait covered by high rocky mountains, creating a bend that embraces this beautiful strait.
It overlooks the ocean, receiving strong winds from the sea with sea water vapor and heavy rain in the winter, which erode the rocks and create gullies on the mountains.
To get here, you will drive across Thi Nai Bridge, then turn left at Highway 19B and go straight towards the FLC Resort area. When getting close to the welcome gate of FLC, you turn right, drive about 5 kilometers and follow the road sign to Eo Gio.
If you come here before 2PM, it is really sunny but very nice to take photos, you can vividly capture the landscape. After that, when the sun is shadowed by the mountain, your photos will be in low light situation. But if you are not interested in shooting, you can come here at sunrise or sunset to see the magnificient landscape in the quiet space.
And please note that, this place is for sightseeing and photography only, not for swimming. Entrance ticket is VND 25,000 / person (more than $1), free for children under 0.9m, open at 5am and close at 6:30pm.
2. Ky Co Island (Kỳ Co)
Ky Co is not really an island but rather a peninsula, it can be accessible by sea or by mountain road. However, people usually choose to go by sea, because if traveling by road, there are quite dangerous sections, with one side of the mountain, one side of the cliff without barriers. However, in rainy season, you have to travel by road to Ky Co because of the rough sea.
- Go to Ky Co island by sea
You will need to buy a tour. There are two tour options here:
Firstly, each restaurant at Nhon Ly fishing village sells their own tour to Ky Co. You need to go to Nhon Ly commune, a small coastal village still retains the old style of Vietnamese architecture with red tile roofs, whitewashed walls and small, crooked roads. The tour guide in restaurant will take you to Nhon Ly seaport, and you will take canoe trip in about 10 minutes to access Ky Co beach.
The round-trip boat fare is VND 270,000 / person ($12) including the entrance ticket of Ky Co island. If you want to include lunch, you will have to pay 450,000 / person ($20) in total for both canoe tour and meal with fresh seafood at the restaurant which you buy tour. It is general price if you buy tour at Nhon Ly commune.
Please take note that this is group tour, it means that you and other passengers (sometimes of different restaurant tour) will be carried in one mutual canoe trip. So if you buy tour in this way, remember to get contact of the guide or boat owner in case you need support.
Secondly, you can buy tour at your hotel or book a tour company, they will provide a full service package, pick you up from your hotel and take care of you throughout the trip, which will be more expensive than the above price but also more convenient for you.
And if you want to go snorkeling over coral reef, you have to travel by sea and buy the tour. After they take you to Ky Co beach, you can spend time here for several hours, then you will go back to canoe and go to Hon Seo or Hon Dua island for snorkeling. It is usually included in the tour fare but you should check with the tour guide for the schedule in advance.
When arriving Hon Seo or Hon Dua, you will transfer to a floating raft on the sea. You only need to bring swimwear. Snorkeling gear and life jacket are prepared for you. You should also bring a waterproof bag to carry your phone, wallet and valuable things. There is no locker here.
However, I feel that the coral is no longer as beautiful and colorful as before. If you want to go scuba diving instead of snorkeling, you will have to pay more (about 1 million VND ~ $44), it’s not included in the tour fare.
- Go to Ky Co island by mountain road
You can drive or take a taxi through Thi Nai Bridge, turn left to Highway 19B, and when nearly approaching the welcome gate of FLC Resort, there is a road to the mountain on the right side. It is the road leading to Ky Co.
There are 2 options for you to choose. If you come here by taxi, you can take the electric car at the foot of the mountain for VND 150.000 (~$6.5). Or if you drive here, you have to buy a VND 100,000 ticket ($4.5), drive a few kilometers of the pass road to the top (not too hard to drive) and park your car here, then they will have vehicle to pick you up and take you to Ky Co.
Normally if buying tour, people will get here in the morning or noon. If you go by road, you can own your time but please note that Ky Co beach is closed at 5pm.
In Ky Co island, if you want to find a place to rest, remember there are two types of wood hut in the beach. The bigger ones behind are free for everybody. But the smaller ones have a fee of VND 150,000 ($6.5).
About dining, there is sea view restaurant on Ky Co island but I have never try here, normally I buy lunch package of the tour, or go to Eo Gio which has many seafood restaurants and also very close to Nhon Ly seaport.
It’s very sunny so you should bring hat and eyeglasses. If you want to swim and go snorkeling, prepare swimsuits and sunscreen. If you take the boat or canoe to the island, you should bring slippers because you may have to wade a few steps in the water to get back to the canoe.
3. Bai Xep Beach (Bãi Xếp)
Bai Xep is one of the most beautiful beaches in Quy Nhon with its wild beauty, golden sand and natural stacking rocks right on the beach. Located less than 20km south of Quy Nhon city center, Bai Xep is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Quy Nhon and is rated by Business Insider as one of 16 “mysterious pearls” of Asia.
The way to Bai Xep is quite simple because this is a quite large tourist destination and is known by many people. You just need to go straight to National Highway 1D in the direction from Quy Nhon to Phu Yen, go about 15 – 20km to Bai Xep on the left-hand side of the road, there will be a large signboard on the highway.
Bai Xep has a lot of small seafood restaurants sold by people in the village. In the afternoon, local people bring tables to the beach to serve you. Seafood is very fresh and often put in plastic basins, they will cook for you whatever you like.
4. Quy Nhon beach in city center
Located right in the center of Quy Nhon city, the coastline stretches for about 5 km, curving in the shape of a “crescent moon” with golden sand and clear blue sea. Since 2014, Quy Nhon has relocated its aquaculture activities to other places to renovate and develop the city center’s beach area into a tourist beach.
There is a park along half of the beach that creates a green space for the city. It is being planned to expand when recently the city government has decided to be going to remove old hotels along the public beach. All newly built hotels are located on the other side of the coastal roads, An Duong Vuong street and Xuan Dieu street, to improve beach landscape. They still have sea view but if you would like to stay at beachfront hotels which you can step out of your room into the beach sand, you may choose resorts and homestays out of city center.
Quy Nhon is following the same urban planning as Nha Trang, with central beach area is reserved to all residents and tourists, not just some exclusive hotels. With the land price of up to VND 300 million per m2 in this area (about USD 13,000), the city is expected to pay hundreds of VND billions of compensation in exchange for the entire public sea space.
5. Thap Doi Twin Towers (Tháp Đôi)
In the past, Twin Towers was badly destroyed, but in 2008, they were restored to its original shape. The beauty of this structure is not only in its ancient Champa architecture but also in its history and culture.
Normally, a cluster of Cham towers usually has 3 towers, but for some reason, it only includes 2 towers here, a 20m high tower and a 18m high tower. The outer corners of the towers are decorated with exquisitely carved statues of Garuda bird, elephant headed lion, 8-handed god according to Cham beliefs. Inside the larger tower, they worship Linga and Yoni with mortar and pestle symbols.
The tower complex is quite small, not as bulky as some Champa tower complexes in Nha Trang or Ninh Thuan, and also not as impressive as Banh It Tower (Tháp Bánh Ít), another Champa tower of Quy Nhon which I will introduce in the North Area below.
However, because I love its green space so I think it is still a should-visit place in Quy Nhon if you do not have much time for Banh It tower which is farther from the city. Tickets are VND 20,000 per person (less than $1). Time to visit is from 7:00 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 17:00, all days of the week.
6. Ghenh Rang area with Queen beach (Hoang Hau beach)
Ghenh Rang has three spots: Han Mac Tu Tomb, Queen Beach and Tien Sa beach. In my personal opinion, you should come here after 3, 4 pm, then the cooler weather will be suitable for walking around the green roads and catching the sunset at Queen’s Beach.
On the way in, you will go through Han Mac Tu tomb first. Poet Han Mac Tu contributed to the foundations of modern Vietnamese poetry. He spent his last years in Quy Hoa leprosy camp since 1940, and it was here that his immortal poems were born.
To commemorate a talented Vietnamese poet, the Han Mac Tu grave site was built in this Ghenh Rang area, located on Thi Nhan hill. On top of the tombstone, the statue of Mary is gentle looking down, with lots of trees and flowers planted around the tomb.
Hoang Hau Beach (Bãi tắm Hoàng Hậu), meaning Queen Beach, was propagandized as the place where Nam Phuong Queen, the last queen of the Vietnamese feudal regime, chose to be her private beach. It’s also known as Egg Stone Beach (Bãi Đá Trứng). The beach winds around the mountain with egg-like stones of different sizes stacked on each other.
You should come here in the afternoon when the tide recedes revealing very nice ovoid stones, in the morning or noon the rising seawater covers most of stones.
You can enjoy the view and take some great photos here, but it is almost impossible to swim because this beach is too rocky. The scenery is amazing but please be careful while walking barefoot on the round stones, it’s easy to slip.
Next to Queen Beach, there is a restaurant with a panoramic view of the sea and city. You can visit here to drink a glass of coconut water or sugarcane juice, relax watching the view and enjoy peaceful moments.
From Queen beach, keep going along the small road, you will reach Tien Sa beach. However, the wooden bridge leading to the beach was broken so very few people came here. From Tien Sa beach to the peak of Ghenh Rang, you can admire the magnificent scenery of mountain and sea.
7. Banh It Towers (Tháp Bánh Ít)
Banh It Towers is located in Tuy Phuoc district, quite close to highway 1A.
Currently you can no longer ride a motorbike to the main tower on the top of the hill, but must climb 200 stairs to get there, but the walkway with steps up and down between the towers is so nice. It will take some time and a bit of sweat to reach the top of the hill where the main towers are located. But when you get there, you can rest under the shade of the towers and enjoy the cool breeze.
Banh It Tower currently has 4 towers: 1 main tower and 3 smaller towers. Each tower has a different architecture, but at the top of each tower, there is a stone statue of Siva. Most of the towers of the Cham are built towards the East, and Banh It Tower is no exception.
Taking photos in the morning is better because it is not backlighted and the towers look their best in sunshine, but get here in late afternoon will be much cooler than in the morning or noon.
And remember to bring a small bottle of water, nobody sells it here. Entrance ticket is VND 15,000 per person.
Do you want me to review any other place in Quy Nhon? Please leave your comment below and I will try to provide you any information you need.
