It being February, I’ve visited Mui Ne in winter. It is a mere 32 degrees Celsius. It is possible that choosing to stay in canvas tents in the hot “winter” sun is not as fun and joyous an idea as it initially seemed. Camping on the beach! Frolicking in the sand! Great warm-weather activities, until you realise that sunrise is at 6am and it is impossible to stay “indoors” for more than about 30 minutes after that.
That said, starting from $1 a night, camping on a beach with views like this isn’t all that bad.
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| All the best beaches have a view of the sea. |
Mui Ne is a lively enough coastal town, with rows of shops that seemed only to sell boogie boards, Pringles and odd flip-flops. We had some great Indian food at Ganesh restaurant and enjoyed too many drinks at Pogo bar, although most of the time I spent here with the other dong millionaires was at our out-of-town campsite, Long Son.
Long Son is full of backpackers and runs daily dollar specials on various meals and cocktails. There are decent communal areas and lots of charging points, and you’re assigned a safety deposit box on arrival- which is just as well because as well as unzippable tents, Long Son also offers private “dorms” which are essentially a series of beds under a roof behind a fabric screen. Breezy!
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| This guy felt that he didn’t need a tent, really |
Enough about the resort- Mui Ne is famous for its sand dunes and if you do one thing while you’re in the area it should be quad biking on the White ones. For a tour that took us to the red and white dunes as well as “fairy springs” we paid $5, and just to mix things up the quad bikes were still priced in dong at an extra 300,000VND for two people.
We only got stuck in the sand like, a dozen times.
The red dunes aren’t far away and you can pay 20,000 dong to borrow a sledge and slide down them if you wish- I opted for just watching the sun sinking down behind them instead. Worth the visit for the Star Wars / Mad Max-esque vibes alone.
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| BB-8 just out of shot |
Admittedly other than dunes, drinking and retail therapy there isn’t an abundance of action in Mui Ne- but that’s sort of the point. Come and admire the views, work on your tan and drink dollar cocktails in the sunshine. And make sure you take lots of photos so that everyone at home knows you’re having more fun than them.
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| Me + Evie + obligatory Asia photo pose |