11. Swimming tips
Beaches
The topography of Vietnam means that it possesses an impressive coastline with about 125 beaches of varying sizes and in varying stages of development. In fact, many beaches are still very unspoiled or even completely wild, apart from local fishing activities. Urban Vietnamese are just beginning to adopt the beaches holiday culture, but they mostly find time to go only in the blindingly hot summer months or on holiday weekends. If you also avoid the handful of seaside resorts universally popular with this most gregarious of nations, you may have the beach practically to yourself.
If it is the local crows you are looking for, then beaches as densely populated as the city centres at these times include:
- Nearer Hanoi: Do Son South of Ha Long Bay, Sam Son near Thanh Hoa and Cua Lo outside Vinh.
- Nearer Saigon: Vung Tau
- Between the two: Nha Trang and beaches near Da Nang.
During cooler seasons, even these places are quite.
Beach destinations more adapted to foreign taste include:
Nearer Hanoi: Nothing specific but any pristine stretch of sand spotted while heading south along the coast, particular just down the road the hotspot mentioned above.
Nearer Saigon: Great beaches at Phan Thiet and Mui Ne, which thatched bungalows for rent right on the shore and luxury hotels nearby.
Between the two: Nha Trang deserves an honorable mention here, too, because despite rampant development, it has the best climate in Vietnam, a beautiful fringed with coconut palms, a charming bay dotted with island and several decent dive shops operating in town. No talk of beaches in Vietnam would be complete without mentioning China Beach, 15km from Danang. A beautiful spot, a surfer’s paradise!
DON’T go naked/topless on the beaches or in the water: culturally, this is a big no-no and would be asking for trouble.
DO protect yourself from the sun, even on apparently cloudy or hazy days: stories of foreigners with severe sunburn are too numerous to recount here.
DON’T camp on the beach: you might see local students doing it during summer holidays but foreigners are required to stay in hotels where they can be duly registered and accounted for.
Lakes and rivers
There are plenty of great places to swim inland, although many rivers are quite polluted by the time they’ve reached a decent size. Swimming in mountain streams can be very pleasant when the weather is warm. There are no dangerous parasites in still water and lakes and reservoirs abound.
Midnight dips
Midnight dips are fine, but remember that there‘s safety in numbers. Violent crime is still very rare in Vietnam, but DON’T tempt fate by leaving your stuff unattended on the beach!