For the second week of our trip we left in the Northern direction from Nha Trang. We made a short stop at Hong Chong, just outside Nha Trang, a small promontory with unusual layers of boulders called husband and wife, one in the form of a hand. As expected the place was teeming with busloads of tourists and you had to pay an entrance fee. We took a picture from above and continued.
The first hour we mainly drove on highway one, on our way to the fishing village of Dai Lanh, somewhere halfway between Nha Trang and Tuy Hoa. We made an extra stop to drink something. Just before Dai Lanh we got of Highway one and made a stop at a pristine beach. In Dai Lanh we stopped for lunch, while enjoying the beautiful view of the bay filled with fishing boats. We had a large plate of fried noodles with fresh seafood. We passed several duck farms, where ducks were packed in small pools, not very attractive.
What followed was the Ca pass, the most beautiful part of the road, from the sea, into the mountains and back down into the plains filled with deep green ricefields. The Ca pass is just a short stretch of road, just 12-kilometre that curves around the edges of jungle-clad mountains as they fall into a serene bay of placid blue water with rocky islets lying offshore. The Cả Pass used to be a bottleneck for heavy traffic on the busy national artery of Highway 1, but since the opening of two tunnels beneath the mountains in September 2017, the pass is now relatively quiet and traffic-free, leaving the winding asphalt and spectacular views for motorbikers and cyclists, who aren’t permitted to use the tunnels.
We stayed two nights at the Sala Tuy Hoa Beach Hotel, we stayed in the smaller original five story hotel, and declined a room in the multistory Sala Grand Tuy Hoa Hotel they offered us. The hotel has a smaller pool at the hotel and a second larger pool at the other side of the hotel next to the beach. The only downside is that this beachside pool is often used for parties and events that can become quite noisy in the evening.
On our in between day in Tuy Hoa we drove up 1 hour North along small villages and many ricefields to Da Dai beach where we were met with a frenzy of many busses, big groups, a parking full of motorbikes and sellers waving umbrellas and drinks in our face… we paid de entrance of 40000 dong and followed the stream of people inside past some horse riding and a large open air cafe where we had a much needed drink.
The many instagram pictures do not match the much less attractive reality. We did not stay long and honestly we should have skipped it. It is just a small beach where basalt stones are formed in hexagonal pillars. But it is actually a really small spot and looses its beauty with the hundreds of people crawling over it… We continued towards the lighthouse which was really picturesque and had some drinks and ice cream at the small local cafe to try to cool our bodies down since my brain was slowly starting to cook…
Our next stop was Mang Lang Church, the oldest church in Phu Yen and one of the oldest churches of Vietnam, built in 1892 by a French missionary in neo-gothic style with next to the church a small chapel built in a fake grotto. The church is famous because this is where the first cathechismus was printed in Vietnam and it is the hometown of the first martyr, so a place of pelgrimage. We then continued towards the longest wooden pedestrian and bike bridge of Vietnam, Ong Cop bridge, 800 m long and only 1,5 m wide. It was a perfect shortcut on our way back to Tuy Hoa and so we crossed it with our motorbike, which costed us 6000 dong (0,20 euro)
We stopped for another drink, and bought som banana fritters (0,15 euro) at a roadside stall. Just before sunset we drove to the Nhan Cham temple. It is located on a hill overlooking Tuy Hoa town, and we came up to see the sunset, and see the tower lighted after dark. We were the only ones looking at the sunset, all the Vietnamese tourists were all dressed up, some of them in Ao Dai’s and were taking photo’s of each other or selfies, ignoring the beautiful natural spectacle around the temple. Once it became dark the temple was beautifully lit and we were almost all alone.
Tuy Hoa is not really our cup of tea, it is a busy weekend beach getaway for Vietnamese tourists, but has very little to offer besides a nice beach.
Also read: Two week motorbike trip South and North of Nha Trang, Part 6: From Tuy Hoa to Ninh Hai – Ca pass
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