Mui Ne

Huge white dunes some 50km northeast of Mui Ne, a lotus lake at their foot. Many jeep tours leave around 4:30am to catch the sand colouring at sunrise. Quad bikes take you up the slopes, and once the sun climbs the sand burns bare feet.

Orange dunes right behind Mui Ne village, slid down on plastic mats that children rent out. The sand looks reddest around sunset, which is when the crowd comes, and on windy days blowing sand means keeping the camera wrapped.

You wade barefoot up an ankle-deep stream past eroded cliffs of red and white sand. Shoes are left at the entrance, and going to the end and back runs just over an hour. The sandy bed keeps the water a cloudy orange.

Boats back from a night at sea anchor in the bay at dawn, and round basket boats ferry the catch to the beach. Bargaining starts on the sand and is over an hour or two after sunrise. From the roadside hill hundreds of basket boats fill the view.

Three brick towers the Cham raised around the 8th century on a hill between Phan Thiet and Mui Ne, among the older Cham sites. From the towers you look over Phan Thiet and the sea. It is just over 10 minutes by taxi, a good stop toward sunset.

From November to March the northeast wind blows almost every afternoon, making this one of Southeast Asia's best-known kitesurfing beaches. Schools line the shore; beginners book the gentler morning wind. In this season the sand blows.

A white reclining Buddha 49m long lies on the slope of a mountain about 30km southwest of Phan Thiet. Go up by cable car or about two hours on forest steps, and the temple beside it sells a vegetarian lunch. It is cooler up top, so bring long sleeves.

A granite lighthouse the French built in the late 1800s on a small rock island just off the coast. From the gallery under the lamp, up a spiral stair, the shoreline runs far into the distance. From Phan Thiet the drive is just under an hour.

Phan Thiet's emblem by the Ca Ty River, finished in the 1930s. Laos's Prince Souphanouvong, who had studied engineering in France, is said to have worked on its design. Once it is lit after dark, the bridge across the river gives the best view.

The Phan Thiet school where the young Ho Chi Minh taught from 1910 into early the next year, its timber classrooms and well still there. From here he left for Saigon. A Ho Chi Minh museum adjoins it, and old trees shade the yard for a midday rest.

A temple to the whale spirit Phan Thiet fishermen believe saves lives at sea. A side hall holds Vietnam's largest whale skeleton laid out whole, plus dozens more recovered from whales buried after washing ashore. It is in a riverside quarter of Phan Thiet.

Brick ruins of French-era villas crown this rise along the coast road toward Mui Ne. Vietnamese visitors come because Han Mac Tu, the poet, strolled here with the woman he loved. At dusk it overlooks Phan Thiet's sea and town lights together.