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Phan Thiet Travel Guide
Phan Thiet is some 200km north of Saigon and south of Cam Ranh Bay in Binh Thuan Province. Binh Thuan Province was once a part of the Cham kingdom, and in 1692, Nguyen Phuc Chu conqured the territory and renamed it Binh Thuan Dinh. This area figures prominently in the history of Vietnam.
Phan Thiet has a population of approx. 100,000 people, and is the biggest town in the province. It is on the Ca Ty River 20Km from the sea, and fishing is Phan Thiet's main industry. Some 100 varieties of fish are caught here, with a yearly catch of over 70,000 tons.
During the peak summer fishing season between July and October, there are many fishing boats in the harbor. At night, the lights from the fleet of fishing boats offshore create a magnificant display, like a sparkling city floating on the ocean.
Even though fishing is the main industry in Phan Thiet, most fishing boats are family owned, with men out fishing, and the rest of the family mending nets and providing other onshore support.
Phan Thiet is also famous for its fish sauce, called Nuoc Mam, an essential ingredient in Vietnamese cooking. Visitors to Phan Thiet can smell the pungent odor of the fish sauce production where the small fish are caught, cleaned and cured in large vats of brine. It is cured for eight months to a year, before it is strained, diluted and bottled. They produce about 16 to 17 million liters of Nuoc Mam per year, and Phan Thiet fish sauce is shipped all over Vietnam. The salt used in the curing process also comes from Binh Thuan Province.
Binh Thuan is one of the driest provinces in Vietnam, and most of it is rocky mountains and sandy hills. There is no significant agriculture here except for a few crops can that can be grown in such an arid climate.
A few kilometers East of Phan Thiet, there are some beautiful beaches; some fringed with tall coconut palms, and others next to red sand dunes. They are said to be some of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam.
Bai Rang Beach Bai Rang (or Rang Beach) is located 15km northeast of Phan Thiet, and is right at the edge of a palm forest, and it has been described as probably the most beautiful beach in Phan Thiet.
Other places in the vicinity of Rang beach, are Da Ong Dia (boulders of the Earth God), and Suoi Tien (Celestial stream).
Mui Ne Sand Dunes & Beach Perhaps the most popular tourist attraction in the area are the Mui Ne Sand Dunes and Mui Ne Beach which are about 12 miles to the east of Phan Thiet. These dunes have been shaped and sculpted by the wind, and are a really spectacular sight.
Mui Ne Fishing Village Local fisher folk used the area as a shelter during stormy weather, and the village and beach of Mui Ne gets its name from Mui which means nose or peninsula, and Ne which means to take cover or shelter. This is a spectacularly beautiful beach on the South China Sea with sun, sand and bright blue-green water.
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mending nets and providing other onshore support.