09/07/2019
Tomb Rider: Hue to D**g Hoi on Back-Roads
Covering nearly 200km of completely empty beach, coastal back-roads lead from the old imperial capital of Hue to the beach city of D**g Hoi. Scattered with thousands of traditional-style tombs, this coastal region is rarely explored by foreign visitors
Thousands of elaborately decorated traditional Vietnamese tombs are scattered over the landscape along the central coast. Coastal back-roads, covering almost 200km of completely empty beach, lead from the old imperial capital of Hue to the up-and-coming coastal city of D**g Hoi, gateway to the caves of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The coastal region between these two cities is rarely explored by foreign visitors: most people, if they stop here at all, head to war-related sites around the former DMZ, between the coast and the mountains. This has left a barely believable stretch of unbroken beach almost entirely unvisited. While Danang, Nha Trang and other darlings of Vietnam’s booming beach scene become increasingly touristed and built-up, this strip of central coastline remains essentially untouched. Characterized by calm blue sea and long arcs of bright sand where fishermen pull up their svelte-looking wood-and-weave fishing canoes, this road trip takes you on paved and dirt back-roads along an incredible coastline strewn with royal-style tombs.
ROAD TRIP DETAILS:
Total Distance: 185km one-way | 375km round-trip
Duration: 1-2 days
Route: one-way or round-trip from Hue to D**g Hoi on coastal back-roads [MAP]
Road Conditions: good minor highways, paved back-roads, dirt road sections
Scenery: long stretches of empty sand beach, extensive ‘tomb-scapes’, fishing villages
ABOUT THIS ROUTE:
There are several ways to ride this route: as a one-way day/night road trip between Hue and D**g Hoi (185km), or as a loop (375km) by returning on the faster inland roads (see the red line on my map), or as part of the Beach Bum route between Saigon and Hanoi, or as a much larger loop by combining it with the spectacular Western Ho Chi Minh Road for the return leg via Phong Nha, Khe Sanh, and A Luoi. Time of year is important: visit during the spring and summer months (April-September) when the weather is hot and dry (most of the time) and the sea is calm and velvety. During the autumn and winter months (October-March), this region can get surprisingly cold, grey and grim, and winds churn the sea into a Hokusai-esque scene of white froth and towering waves. Also, the wet weather during these months can turn the sections of dirt road into slow-going muddy tracks. There are a few accommodation options on the Tomb Rider route, which I’ve included in the guide below, or if you have a tent, camping is good thanks to miles of isolated sandy beach and coastal casuarina forest.
Covering nearly 200km of completely empty beach, coastal back-roads lead from the old imperial capital of Hue to the beach city of D**g Hoi. Scattered with thousands of traditional-style tombs, this coastal region is rarely explored by foreign visitors... Continue reading →
