City Info: Sầm Sơn

Sam Son is a small coastal town about 4 hours south of Hanoi via train; they celebrated 100 years of tourism during out stay in 2007. Popular with Vietnamese tourists, it is still relatively rare for Westerners to visit this beach (unlike Hoi An where foreigners outnumber locals).

The accessible area is several kilometers long, divided into areas A,B, D and D. Tong Duy Tan, the main road into town, dead ends at the A beach; B, C and D stretch to the north. All the areas are close to food and tourist shops. The A beach has a rocky area that is great for climbing up to get a better view of the area. Keep walking around and you'll end up at the back side of the Doc Cuoc pagoda, which was being worked on while we were there.

Kids (and grown-ups) will get a kick out of the zebra-painted horses that are paraded up and down the beach looking for customers. Bargain for a good price, if you want a ride. There are numerous other hawkers along the beach, selling fruit, fresh shrimp, crabs, fortunes and snack crisps. Bag of shrimp crackers and the like are often sold by children as young as 5 years old. They are persistent sellers, but more often than not, they will just stand there star ing at you after you refuse to buy. No matter how uninteresting you may think you are, they will be enthralled by watching you.

English-speaking folks are pretty rare here, so make sure to bring your phrase book. To get there, take the train to Thanh Hoa and the taxi driver will think you're heading to Sam Son anyway. He'll be happy to drive you out, about 25 minutes, for around 100,000VND.

Outside resources:

• 100 Year Anniversary of Sam Son (Footprint Travel)
• Van Chai Sam Son Resort