Mui Ne has quickly been transformed from an isolated stretch of beautiful white sand to one long row of resorts. While there’s still a fishing village at the east end of the beach, it’s tourists that make up most of the population. The boom in top-end resorts hasn’t killed the chilled surfie vibe, although it has brought an increasing number of up-market restaurants and souvenir shops. It’s an unusual set up, as everything is spread along one 10km stretch of road – the accommodation is on the beach side, and the restaurants and bars mainly on the other.

Mui Ne sees only about half the rainfall of nearby Phan Thiet. The sand dunes help protect its unique microclimate, and even during the wet season (from June to September) rains tend to be fairly light and sporadic.

Mui Ne’s developing a reputation as the action capital of the coast. There’s no scuba diving or snorkelling to speak of, but when Nha Trang and Hoi An get the rains, Mui Ne gets the waves. Surf’s up from August to December. For windsurfers, the gales howl as well, especially from late October to late April, when swells stir over from the Philippine typhoons. Kite-surfing is very popular. If this all sounds too much like hard work you can simply splash about in the clean, clear water.

One major problem the area faces is the steady creep of coastal erosion. Many resorts have almost completely lost their beaches and rely on sandbagging to keep the little they have left.

The site of Dalat, at 1475 meters elevation, was discovered by Doctor Alexandre Yersin. Because of its pleasant temperate climate, and the beauty of its surroundings of lakes, waterfalls, and pine forests, it became popular with the French after 1912 as a cool retreat from the heat of the plains. Dalat became known as "Le Petit Paris". The city was implicitly considered to be a Save neutral zone and was spared fighting and destruction during the war. You can still see there a small Eiffel tower, villas modeled after regional French architecture, and a school as well as a train station which look like they are from a French little town of the first half of the century. Because of the cooler climate, school kids still wear "chandails", French style sweaters. Because of its charms, the town draws a large number of Vietnamese tourists and honeymooners for which a number of very "kitch" attractions have been created. But overall, they contribute to create a delightful intemporally dated atmosphere.

The portion of the central coast around Danang is one of the most scenic and interesting of the very long country coastline. The mountains drop precipitously into the South China see there, and it is less than 100km to the border with Laos. North, on the way to Hue, you'll have spectacular views at the Hai Van pass, then go by the crystal clear turquoise blue lagoon of Lang Co.

Just south the city lie the Marble Mountains, which consist of five marble hills, each said to represent one of the five elements of the universe (water,wood,fire,metal,earth). The largest has some of the finest troglodyte sanctuaries I have ever seen.