Sand Dunes? In Vietnam? 

I couldn’t comprehend that there were indeed sand dunes in Vietnam, it just didn’t fit with the luscious green countryside that we’d seen so far. They aren’t the most staggering sand dunes that I’ve ever seen but they were still impressive.

I will also preface this by saying whilst this is a ‘3 Days in’ itinerary blog, Mui Ne could be a short 24 hours or even if dare I say, a town to skip, if you’re really pushed for time. As usual, we arrived on the 1st day, had a full day 2 and left on the 3rd day. 

We enjoyed our time in Mui Ne, we were travelling with friends we’d met a few stops previous so we were happy to chill with them and take it easy as it wasn’t the best place on our travels in Vietnam. We had 3 days of such good weather, lovely accommodation with a nice pool, fab company so this made it worth it. It really depends if you’re wanting to visit as many stops as possible or if you’re wanting to prioritise other stops or activities more. 

How We Got Here

Travelling from Da Lat to Mui Ne was probably the worst of our journeys in Vietnam. Everything went smoothly at first, but Da Lat is very high in the hills and Mui Ne is a few hours away on the coast and the route involved some of the craziest roads. Steep hairpin turns, loose gravel, huge pot holes and drop cliffs all whilst we were sat in a huge coach which is bouncing around like crazy. Thankfully it wasn’t an over night journey even though it was a sleeper bus – all the seats were hard plastic beds with slippery blankets making the whole combination a slightly uncomfortable experience. On the previous sleeper buses we had been on, Mike had had to keep his knees bent which was uncomfortable for 8/9 hours but for this journey he had a much better time than me as his body reached the top and bottom of the bed so he was able to prop himself up. Whereas for me, I was sliding everywhere haha. I’d not been finding the beds too uncomfortable as my legs could stretch out properly, but this was the only journey where I *wished* I had longer legs to stop myself from being flung about quite so much. 

We also had a mare as we ended up with 2 flat tyres on the 3.5 hour journey. One tyre went on the hills down and then one closer to Mui Ne but both times were pretty dramatic. Nothing serious happened thankfully but the jack slipped when the driver was pumping up the coach the first time and it was pretty scary as he was under the coach and we were still on the coach. The second tyre happened a little later and so we pulled off the road at a little garage with a house. They kindly assisted the driver but would only let a few people use their toilet (completely understandable, of course) so we were stuck on the side of the road, with lots of free roaming dogs in the pitch black with no where to sit or any facilities. Eventually we finally were back on the road and made it to Mui Ne, it was really late in the evening but we were just relieved to be there. Of course the flat tyres aren’t the drivers fault (although he was a bit manic) so we just put it down to all being part of the experience! All in a days backpacking, I guess! 

Where We Stayed

Our Mui Ne accommodation was SO lovely. It was called Gia An Hung, booked via booking.com and I am so glad we spent a little more. The hostels were fun and buzzing, especially the iHome Backpacker Resort which we did consider booking but instead just went for drinks at. There are loads of hostels on the beach front, but we opted for our one which was quieter, not a hostel and had such a lovely pool. Both Gia An Hung and iHome were really well located and about 10 mins from each other. I’d recommend looking around at what kind things you want to do in Mui Ne and go from there when deciding on your accommodation. 

Where to Eat

As we arrived late, starving, headed out straight for dinner. Dong Vui Food Court had been recommended to us and we ended up eating here 3 times. Dinner on the first night, dinner the second night and lunch before we left on the third day. The food was SO good. The food court consists of over 10 different independent eateries all under the same roof, with a bar in the middle run by the team who own the food court. It is unique to Mui Ne and a must visit. The food isn’t just Vietnamese either, although it was such good Vietnamese food. We also had pizzas (10/10), fried chicken and other western food we had been craving. The whole atmosphere of the court was buzzing, accompanied by a couple of beers and a jug of sangria (!!!!) we spent hours chatting and playing uno. 

This was the only place we ate properly as the rest of the time we just has snacks for breakfast and lunch, but it was so good that we didn’t mind. 

How We Got Around

In Mui Ne, depnding on where you are, but we were able to walk everywhere except for the sand dunes tour. We could have caught a local bus to the dunes, but we decided it was easier to just book a tour. Mui Ne has actual paths which was so handy. Some places offered ped rentals, but most people were actually in jeeps to get about instead. 

What We Did

So as I said, this was a 3 days with us arriving on the 1st day, having a full day 2 and leaving on the 3rd. We had expected to be here much earlier but the bus issues meant we arrived too late to do anything other than eat and sleep. That being said, you could cut the time down here if you’re short for time. We did everything we wanted to do in the morning of the second day and then spent the rest of it relaxing at the pool. If you fancy somewhere to relax, Mui Ne might be a great stop for you to extend. 

Day 1: Arrived very late, headed to Dong Vui Food Court for dins and then bed. Pre-booked tour for tomorrow. 

Day 2: Up early for the Sand Dunes tour. The tour included the days transport in a jeep, visit to the Fairy Streams, the fishing village and 3 different sand dunes. We booked the tour through Trip Advisor as it was one of the top rated but it was not great. We saw the dunes, we saw the stream, we briefly looked at the fishing boats and that was it really. One of the dunes that we visited, on arrival we found out the options were to stand and look at the dunes or pay additional fees to go on the dunes with a quad bike. We debated it, but essentially realised that if we didn’t go on the quads we really wouldn’t see anything of the largest dune. It was pretty pricey, but really our only option as otherwise the actual tour was just pointless. We were frustrated by the fact that we hadn’t been informed about this prior to going and how the tour was so highly rated when it’s just more of a shuttle service between the Mui Ne highlights. Unfortunately all of this did taint the experience a little (so glad we only opted for a half day tour) but the dunes were still impressive, especially when on the quads we stopped at one of the peaks and could look out over the dunes. Sadly in the 2nd and 3rd dunes we saw there was a lot of rubbish in the sand which was disappointing but it was a standard feature of most of the tourist things in Vietnam. 

I really dislike being negative about places, especially ones that rely on tourism, but I can’t sit here and not mention the bad bits because it just would just be misleading. I still loved our time in Vietnam, but this day just wasn’t my favourite. 

Day 3: Pool day (woo!). We had such good weather in Mui Ne, that really was the saving grace as we could make the most of the accommodation. We had a late lunch/early dins at…you guessed it..Dong Vui Food Court! It was just too good to not go again. We made the most of our last few hours before getting on the evening bus to Ho Chi Minh, our final stop in Vietnam. 

Hans Hint’s

Mui Ne had some real highs and real lows for us. If you’re going, I would recommend looking into the tours in advance and seeing which options are better or booking through a hostel as they were minibus groups of people and people seemed to really enjoy the hostel tours we read on Hostel World. 

I’d also recommend booking somewhere with a pool as if it is hot, like it was for us, you’ll want somewhere to cool off. Yes, its on the coast but I’m not sure you’d want to swim in the sea, it wasn’t particularly accessible and there was a lot of rubbish. A lot of the beach front hostels had pools instead. 

Finally, if you’re short on time and needing to cut a couple of places out, I would suggest removing Mui Ne from your itinerary. I think theres better places in Vietnam to prioritise. I hope that this blog hasn’t come across as super negative. I’d just never want to recommend somewhere that I didn’t love! 

Leave me a question below, I’d love to know if you’ve visited Mui Ne and what you thought.

Thanks for reading.