Quy Nohn, Vietnam
Quy Nohn: 3 days
The secret mini Nha Trang. If you have done any research many backpackers have said to skip Nha Trang, mainly because it has become a rowdy spring break style destination ever since cheap direct flights became available from Europe. I received mixed reviews from people but the negative reviews were enough for me to skip Nha Trang and head straight to the beautiful Quy Nohn from Dalat.
This small gem of a city is was not really known by tourist/backpackers when I went in 2017 and is such a special place. There was one hostel called Life’s A Beach, that we heard about by word of mouth by some backpackers from our hostel in Dalat. We took a night bus which was about $21 and took about 8 hours from Dalat to Quy Nohn.
Pro Tip: When arriving make sure to tell your bus driver to drop you off outside of Life’s a Beach, or they will drive you about 15 minutes past the hostel to the bus stop and you’ll be stuck paying for a taxi back to the hostel!!
We arrived late at night just in time for the party which I wasn’t mad about after the long bus ride from Dalat. We walked around the corner to the bar where an enthusiastic yet semi abrasive bartender was behind the bar serving drinks and entertaining the estimated crowd of about 10 people. He told us to throw our bags down, and hop to the bar for a shot and a beer which I gladly obliged while he checked us in. Funny enough that abrasive bartender was from Texas where I’m from haha! By the end of my stay there, I we all became friends with that bartender, he was awesome!
The hostel was decently priced with bunks starting at $11 and private rooms at $25. All rooms had lockers and there were common areas with plenty of nice bathrooms and showers. One of the nights I was booked in an AC room with nothing but guys and the owner personally pulled me aside and told me he would change rooms for me free of charge if I was uncomfortable which was so beyond thoughtful!
The beach that Life’s a Beach over looked was absolutely stunning. We went swimming and layed out everyday. If it’s the right time of the year, at night, sometimes you can get lucky enough to experience the bioluminescent plankton where the water just lights up when you splash around!
The bar is lined with hammocks and a pool table so if you’re not out having a swim, you can enjoy a nice book or snooze on the hammocks or even a pool game over a couple of beers. They serve breakfast lunch and dinner at the bar as well so you don’t even need to leave the hostel if you don’t want to venture out! On that note, if you are interested in venturing you can have the bartenders call you a taxi to take you into town or you can rent a moped directly from the hostel.
We rode to town by moped which took about 15-20 minutes. BEWARE of the busses. They get super close to you on the 2 lane roads, I’m talking like arms length away from you, so if you are not confident on a bike, ride with someone who is or get a taxi. When we got into town there were little to no tourist at all so we were greeted with weird looks and huge smiles and waves by the local kids haha! There are plenty of places to get massages & a ton of restaurants to choose from including places where you can find sushi rolls as cheap as $2 a roll!!!
Depending if you’re crunched on time, 2 nights and 3 days was plenty of time to relax and recharge before we hit the amazing city of Hoi An!