Quy Nhơn, Vietnam

Quy Nhơn is the capital of the Bình Định Province in central Vietnam. We decided to add this place to our travel itinerary instead of Nha Trang as we were looking for a coastal town that wasn’t too touristy yet still had things to see and do.

We definitely chose the right place; during our entire stay here, we probably only saw about 7 or 8 other westerners. In fact, seeing a white girl was such a surprise for some of the locals that they couldn’t help but stand and gawp at Siwan as she walked by. One guy almost fell off his moped as he sped past us.

We arrived by yet another sleeper bus (pretty much live on these now) and made our way to the hotel. It was a nice place and pretty conveniently located for getting to the beach and restaurants.

After a short stroll up and down the beach, we headed back towards the hotel but happened upon a wicked bar along the way. The staff were super friendly and the music they were playing was pretty much every band/song I had liked growing up: Queens of the Stone Age, Limp Bizkit, Sum 41, Stone Sour, Disturbed, Rise Against, etc. It was like they gotten hold of my iPod from a decade ago! We decided to stay here for a coconut coffee, which was delicious, and then popped back to the hotel before returning later for dinner and some live music.

The next day, we wanted to venture out a bit further so we rented a moped for the day. We headed about 25-30km northeast to a place called Eo Gio which is on the Phuong Mai Peninsular. 

The only thing to do here really was to take in the scenery. We visited a temple and pagoda by a small village before jumping back on the bike and heading through the mountains to a very secluded beach. 

It was good fun and some of the views along the way were breathtaking. 

On the way back, we managed to catch the sunset from the top of the mountain. Not a bad way to end the day.

Our next day in Quy Nhơn, Siwan had set aside solely for relaxing on the beach. I don’t do sunbathing really as I find it boring and I already have a year round tan (thanks Mama!)

The beach was practically empty which meant our day was about as peaceful as it could be. Siwan spent most of it in a state of beach comatose while I went for a swim in the sea. Niceeeeee.

On our final day, we rented a moped again so that we could visit some places south of the city centre.

First, we went to check out Queen’s Beach which is a small area of rocky coastline.

Afterwards, we headed further south to visit the site of an old leper colony. This is basically a small village area where people suffering from leprosy (in the past) would go to be treated for their illness. There were lots of interesting buildings/monuments to view as well as a quiet beach.

For lunch, we headed 10km further south to a hostel we’d heard had a nice cafe overlooking yet another beach. We grabbed some grub and put our feet up; it’s a hard life really. ;)

To round off the day nicely, we had a scenic drive back to our hotel.

We enjoyed our stay in Quy Nhơn; it’s perfect if you’re seeking a chilled atmosphere and a couple of quiet days by the sea.