Hai Phong

For a peaceful change than the usual Vietnam tourism places, friendly town Hai Phong is a must visit. It is the third largest city of Vietnam with many site attractions. Luckily, Hai Phong still managed to preserve its fascinating landmarks after having suffered from the Vietnam War’s damages. Hai Phong is a coastal city and has ferry links to Halong Bay, Cat Ba Island and other well-known islands around. In recent times, the town has become a popular holiday location for foreign and domestic travelers.

Highlights:

• Cat Ba Island with its appealing natural sights and clear blue waters, is a famous tourist destination nearby Hai Phong.
• Many of its fascinating landmarks include mausoleums, pagodas, shrines and temples.
• Flame flower trees which are lined up through the city streets.
• An outstanding landscape considered almost untouched: Monkey Island.
• The Buffalo Fighting Festival.

Points of interest:

• Cat Ba Island
• Elephant Mountain
• Cao Linh Pagoda
• Ha Lung’s Flower Village
• Trang Kenh Landscape

What to do:

• Bike around the colonial quarter
• Play with monkeys at Monkey Island
• Admire the historical Bao Dai Villa
• Go for an island tour
• Museum visits

Transportation

If you are traveling by plane, there is an airport situated in Hai Phong named Cat Bi Airport. After that, getting to the city center is only about 5 km away and a taxi drive will cost around VND 50.000.

A train ride takes about 2,5 hours and averagely costs VND 75.000 for a one-way ticket. The trains depart from Hanoi Railway Station and Long Bien Railway Station.

The travel time is also the same for going by bus, though the price is slightly higher. A ticket will cost roughly VND 100.000 as the ride will be faster.

Dining

Hai Phong has a wide variety of restaurants to offer. Still, the most popular places are those that sell seafood. The tastiest meals to savor are crab noodles, fish vermicelli noodles and seafood spring rolls. All of these dishes can also be found at most of the locals’ houses which are set up on the sidewalk. Western food such as pizza or steaks with a Vietnamese spin to it, can be found on some of the menu’s too.

Shopping

TD Plaza is a typical big shopping mall tower located in the business district of Hai Phong. The Tran Phu street has souvenir shops selling traditional crafts like ceramics and jewelries. At the Nguyen Duc Canh and Hoang Van Thu streets, there are clothing shops selling a variety of casual clothes at affordable prices.

Nightlife

Hai Phong is not that enormous to be considered a party city and its nightlife is rather basic. The Minh Khai district offers many activities and recreation where you can experience all kinds of fun. For a fun night out, there are many options like clubs, pubs or karaoke bars.