In the south of Vietnam there is a little town called Mũi Né, where you can find stunning white and red sand dunes. Something you wouldn't expect in South East Asia.
There are many day trips in Mũi Né that offer you a tour of the sand dunes, the famous 'Fairy Stream' and a visit to the fishing harbour that are very cheap from $5USD.
We decided to rent a bike for the day at $4USD and do the trip ourselves.
It is super easy to drive to all the spots the tour offers, everything is easily found on google maps. The White Sand Dune is a 35 minute drive away from the center of Mũi Né so I would recommend driving to that one first and then on your way back, stop off at the red sand dunes, the harbour and lastly the fairy stream.
The drive to the White Sand Dune is very scenic, you can see mini sand dunes and you drive along the coast to get there, so there is pleanty of photo stops plus empty beaches you can lounge at if you wanted too.
There is one thing that you have to watch out for one this drive though...and that is the police. The police are positioned along the road there to stop the tourists. They whistled at us to pull over, Imin decided not to stop for them because he knew they would just scam us out of all the cash we had on us.
This is a risky move because if they decided to drive after you, You may be in more trouble! However, thankfully they didn't because they knew they could get another un-suspecting tourist along the way.
This did make for a nerve wracking drive back past them on the way back though hahaha.
It wasn't until I checked trip advisor about the dunes that I saw other tourists report of being stopped by the police along the way, So I think it is quite routine of them to be there and get their easy pay outs everyday. Watch out for that and take the tour if you don't want the hassle.
When you arrive at the White Sand Dunes you will have to pay a small fee for the entrance ticket - if you're on a tour this may be included already. You'll have to pay 10VND to park your bike as well.
The view here of these massive, stunning sand dues is amazing! I believe you can walk up them, but you have to be aware of all the quad bikes and jeeps that are zooming around the place.
We decided to opt for the quad bike, it is very expensive for 20 minutes at 600.000VND - almost $30USD. But we thought 'hey we are on holiday, it will be a fun experience.' It totally was and I can understand why it's only 20 mins, because they go SO fast and down massive drops. It's exhilarating but I was happy to come off at the end. It did feel like we where rushed at the photo stops and it didn't feel like we where up there 20 minutes, but I wasn't timing it so I can't say for sure. You will also be expected to give them a tip after, Which we where happy to give because he was a very friendly guy. However asking for the tip was rather annoying and when I only had 20.000 in cash left he huffed like it wasn't enough.
I've also heard from people who went on the tour that they had to pay for the quad bike to go up the sand dunes, so even if your paying nothing for the tour it will add up here.
There is also a beautiful lake next to the sand dune where you can get some beautiful photos. I think they also have a spot to rent a kayak.
After the White Sand Dunes you can drive back towards Mũi Né and you'll find the Red Sand Dunes. It's a very popular spot to watch the sunset and sunrise. It was in our plan to watch the sunrise here, but we decided to carry on sleeping when the alarm went off at 5am haha.
The Red Sand Dunes are right next to the main road and a few shops and restaurants. A good spot to stop off and get a coconut after your half an hour drive back from the White Sand Dunes. There is no fee to get up to see these dunes but there are ladies who will offer you a slide to use to go down the sand. We didn't spend too much time here, I wouldn't say it was amazing, just Okay. Took a few photos and left.
Red Sand Dunes, Mũi Né
You defiantly need to visit the sand dunes when you come to Mũi Né. I loved the little town as well, with wonderful hot weather and a hotspot for kite surfing and wind surfing. Plus a great mix of lovely restaurants! My favourite being the Goa Indian restaurant.
Hope you enjoyed this weeks blog post, If you have any questions comment below or contact me on any of my social media! There will be a lot of Vietnam posts coming, sorry for the spam! haha
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