Vietnam Alive

Following the 1954 partition, Dong Hoi and its southern neighbour Dong Ha went from being at the centre of the country to frontier towns. Both suffered more than most during the Vietnam American War – as the ruins and bomb craters throughout the area will attest. The fact that Dong Hoi has bounced back to become an attractive city while Dong Ha still retains a badlands feel surely owes a lot to being on the winning side.

It has a wonderful location with the Nhat Le River dividing the main part of the city from a beautiful sandy spit, with lengthy stretches of beach to the north and south of town. While most tourists head from Hanoi to Hué, Dong Hoi is the best spot to break up the journey. It’s also a much nicer base to explore the DMZ sites than Dong Ha – but it’s slightly further away, and being on the northern side you won’t find as many English-speaking drivers. From Dong Hoi you can easily make a day trip to the Phong Nha Cave, Lan Ha Cave and Son Doong, world's largest cave. 

Getting there & around 

• Easily by car from Hue or Hoian

• More than one hour flight from Hanoi or HCM City 

When to go

Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park has a typical tropical monsoon weather with hot temperature in summer and high humidity. In summer it can go up to 41°C and it also can drop as low as 6°C in winter. As such, it is not advisable to go there during typhoon and rainy season, especially fromOctober to December, although the temperature inside the cave is still cool (around 20°C) but the temperature outside is simply unbearable. You may not be easy and comfortable with rain or bad weather or typhoon during the month of October to December as the weather can turn cold. So, we recommend to visit or join adventure tour in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park from February to August, the weather is more ideal.