Ba Ria Vung Tau Muslim Tours

Ba Ria - Vung Tau travel guide for Muslim travellers

Ba Ria - Vung Tau is considered as one of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam and it is a perfect destination for those who love beach. Besides, Ba Ria - Vung Tau is also famous for unique architectures as White Palace, statue of Christ, Long Phuoc Tunnel, Minh Dam base, etc. 

Known by the name "bay of boats", Vung Tau is a city with a lot of beautiful beaches and islands - Con Dao Island is the most famous island in Vung Tau. Visiting Vung Tau, you will not only have a chance to enjoy the white sand and blue water on the beach, but take part in many fascinating and interesting activities on the beach as well. Also, you get the opportunity to visit Back Beach (Bai Sau) and Front Beach (Bai Truoc), Large Mountain (Nui Lon) and Small Mountain (Nui Nho).

Located on the coast of the country’s Southeast region, Ba Ria- Vung Tau is a province belonging to the Southeast main point economic area of Viet Nam. Always leaded to the top in developing economy as well as attracting the investment, the province played a crucial role in area’s economy and sociality.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau covers an area of 1,989.5 square kilometers, it is divided into seven districts, including 2 separate municipalities Ba Ria and Vung Tau and Con Dao National Park. The demographics in 2009 show that the population of the province boasted over one million people and the province is a home to 28 ethnic groups. While the Vietnamese is the largest group, the ethnic Chinese and the Cho Ro are boasted in the second and the third, following by Khmer, Tay, Nung, Muong, Thai, Xo Dang, Ha Nhi, Chu Ru, Co Lao…

Aside these, tourist can participate in some annual traditional festivals as Dinh Co Festival, Nghinh Ong Festival (Welcoming the Lord Whale Festival), play golf or watch dog racing in Lam Son stadium in Vung Tau City every Saturday.

Besides, Ba Ria- Vung Tau is particularly well known by beautiful beach with many diversity and modern facilities, flat sand, clear and clean water all year around such as: Truoc Beach, Sau Beach, Dau Beach, Dua Beach (Vung Tau), Long Hai Beach (Long Dat), Ho Coc Beach, Ho Tram Beach (Xuyen Moc), and a range of Con Dao Beach. Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu primeval forests, which are 11,293ha area with Binh Chau Hot Spring, and Con Dao Island & National Park.

Other popular places are Communal House of Dao Ong Tran, Ben Da Church, Bach Dinh vestige, Long Phuoc Tunnels, Minh Dam Revolutionary Area... and over one hundred Buddhist pagodas and temples such as Niet Ban Monastery, Thang Tam Communal House, Linh Son Pagoda, Dinh Co Temple.

Top Attractions in Ba Ria - Vung Tau

Ba Ria - Vung Tau has been considered as an attractive destination for a long time becuase of its natural beauty. Vung Tau has many beautiful and wild beaches with white sand and blue sea as Back Beach (Bai Sau) and Front Beach (Bai Truoc), Long Hai beach, etc. Moreover, you can have an opportunity to visit many unique architecture as White Palace, statue of Christ, Long Phuoc Tunnel,...

Back beach (Bai Sau)

Back beach in Vung Tau is also known as Thuy Van beach, has a charming landscape, large space, with a wide spread out and fine sand. So the major of tourists traveling to Vung Tau chooses Back beach to immerse in cool water. 

This stretch of beach is located in the southeast side of town and is about 10 km in length from the base of Nui Nho. The most popular beach in Vung Tau, it is packed with Saigonese every weekend during the summer months.

Teenagers arrive on scooters (3 hours travel), locals by mini-van or bus (2 hours) and affluent tourists by hydro-foil boats (1or 1/2 hour). The sea is calm during the rainy season but there are frequent periods of high winds and big waves during the dry season. Strong undertow currents make swimming dangerous in some spots.

While a good spot for swimming, strong undertows are present in some areas. Interestingly, the sea normally is calm during the rainy season, but frequent high winds can cause big waves during the dry season.

The sea of Back beach is clam in the south wind season but rough in the north wind season.

The beach is always excited and busy with almost tourists both from the city itself and the world. At weekends or on holidays, there are thousands of people coming here for swimming and entertainment. In Back beach, there is a popular kind of entertainment: the upgraded swimming and relaxing area, and a system of modern hotels, welcoming all tourists. Other beautiful beaches are Bai Dua and Bai Dau.

Con Dao National Park

Con Dao is a tourist island and is ranked one of 10 mysterious islands in the world by Lonely Planet. Besides, Con Dao National Park is the 6th Ramsar in the world, and the first one in Vietnam. Therefore, Con Dao is considered as a heaven of rest and exploring nature with both forest and sea.  

Located in the offshore area of Vung Tau, in the Southeast Vietnam, Con Dao Island possesses a national park with a diverse ecological system.

The total area of Con Dao national park is 15,043 ha, including 6,043 ha in the island part and 9,000 ha in the sea. The park covers fourteen of the sixteen islands and the forest cover on the island is dense: a sizable proportion is in pristine condition, particularly the humid hill forest growing above 500m above sea level.

The featuring flora and fauna system of Con Dao National Park consists of marine creatures, especially coral reefs and sea turtles. In 2006, a UNESCO mission to Vietnam came, surveyed and appreciated the biodiversity of natural system in this national park. The park was said to be eligible for submission to UNESCO to be recognized as a natural and cultural heritage.

Con Dao National Park is home to 882 species of floral species, 135 species of animals, and more than 1,300 species of marine creatures. The ecosystems on Con Dao are favourable habitats for rare species such as the Hawksbill, Green Turtles & Dugong, the strange creatures popularly known as ‘sea cows’ and believed to be the source of the ‘mermaid’ legends from their habit of sunbathing on rocks.

Moreover, it is an ideal place for ecological tourism and scientific researches. Thanks to this ecological diversification, many beautiful and second-to-none landscapes and seascapes in this island are created.

Visiting White Palace

White Palace is an European architecture in the late 19th century and it is located on the slope of Large Mountain. It was used to be as a relaxing place for the governor general of Indochina and the  Emperor Bao Dai. 

The White Palace was constructed in 1898 on the site of a Nguyen Dynasty fortress that was demolished by the French to make way for a retreat for Governor General Paul Doumer.  

The architecture has 3 storey, 19m high (basement, ground floor and the floor). Around three main walls of the building has 8 stone statues busts art style of ancient Roman Hi-Behind and the White Palace is the right price refugee woods (teak trees) many decades old, have spent way for automobiles and home service system. On the left is the original path when building a house with 146 stairs and forests ancient porcelain.

Initially, it belongs to French Governor General Paul Doumer and was used as summer house. Later, some Indochina – French Governors also used this palace so that its name was changed to Villa du Gouverneur.

From its balcony there's a panoramic view of Front Beach and opposite the Villa at the foot of that mountain is Hai Nguu islet with a stone rock shaped like a water buffalo wallowing in water. Next to Hai Nguu at the seaside was the helicopter yard.

White spring flowers fragrance. Although construction undertakings White Palace stay here myself, but Paul Doumer was on the French presidential palace before White completed. During the French colonial period and later, under the Republic of Vietnam, the White Palace was used as a resting place for the lifetime of the Governor General of Indochina, President, Prime Minister and other senior generals. King Thanh Thai, a patriot king, the French were dethroned 9-1907 was under detention before being deported here to Reunion Island (Africa).

Dated 4-8-1992, the White Palace of Culture and Information Ministry recognized as a historic national culture now on display antiques Bach Dinh Ba Ria-Vung Tau and thousands of artifacts recovered on the shipwreck at sea Hon Cau, Con Dao 17th century. White Palace is one of the most famous monuments and attracts more tourists to visit the city of Vung Tau.

Things to do in Ba Ria - Vung Tau

There are various interesting activities for you to experience the beautiful city with beautiful beach and unique architecture to make unforgettable memories in your trip. You can relax or swimming on Vung Tau’s beach or visiting statue of Christ, enjoy golf course, trekking in Con Dao national park, etc. 

Diving and Snorkeling in Con Dao Island

Con Dao is the best place for diving and snorkeling because there is a diversified marine ecosystem with 1,300 species of marine creatures and the colorful coral. 

Other popular dive spots in Vietnam – Hoi An, Nha Trang, Whale Island, Phu Quoc – will claim they’re the best, but we spoke to several instructors around Vietnam and they all told us Con Dao really takes the crown.

Along with the usual tropical reef suspects, you can hope to see two-metre cobia, stingrays, barracuda, turtles, moray eels, batfish, clownfish and cuttlefish. An instructor once swam with a whale shark.

Diving can take place from around March to October. The optimal months are April and May. The winds that can whip up from around November to February put a halt on operations – Rainbow Divers shuts down for the season completely. Winds can arrive early or late and while there’s always an off chance for a spell of good weather, if diving/snorkelling is your main reason for heading to the islands, it’s best to check ahead with dive shops or plan around these months. You should also book your roundtrip flights as soon as possible. Flights are limited and from one minute to the next travel agents can suddenly take all available seats.

There are three dive shops in town, two offering PADI certification. Given Con Dao’s faraway location everything is more expensive, including the dive courses and snorkelling.

Unseasonal winds dashed all our hopes to test a trip. But we found Con Dao Dive Center (formerly Senses Diving Con Dao) to be very helpful, honest and professional in answering all our questions. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that the service and professionalism would extend to their trips. Their PADI Open Water is 11,550,000 dong (US$555), while a one-day Discover Scuba Diving is 4,200,000 dong (US$200). Snorkellers can join dive trips for US$48, including lunch, equipment and a Divemaster watching your back.

Rainbow Divers, which has centres throughout Vietnam including Whale Island, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, also offers PADI Open Water for the same price. Their Discover Scuba Diving is cheaper at US$150. They operate seasonally, from March to September.

Enjoy a dog racing in Vung Tau

Traveling to Vung Tau on weekends, you’ll have an opportunity to enjoy a dog racing and it only takes place in Vung Tau. Dog racing was introduced to Vietnam and officially licensed in 2001. 

Lam Son Stadium was a football stadium before and is now converted into greyhound stadium where 45-metre races kick off every 15 minutes from 19:30 until 22:30 every Saturday and Sunday night. This is the only Dog Racing Stadium in Vietnam. The dogs could possibly reach speeds of up to 60 kilometer an hour.

Dog racing is considered as the most exciting event in Vung Tau. The dogs are Greyhounds, a hunting dog breed from Ireland which were imported to Vietnam by Nguyen Ngoc My, a Vietnamese Australian man. Each dog is dressed in a racing silk cloth.

Then, the dogs are paraded in the tracks so that spectators can size them up. It is quite a short race that the dogs normally reach the finishing line within 30 seconds, but the crowd’s enthusiasm is very exciting, the crowds wildly waving tickets in the air and roaring during the entire race.

The racing area around the racetrack is usually packed with spectators who try to catch a glimpse of the dogs. You can easily get a better view of the track if you are willing to buy a VIP seating.

Prices for tickets are more than reasonable: 30 000 VND – common area and 60 000 VND – VIP-zone. There are around 5 000 seats (including 500 in VIP zone). The minimal rate 50 000 VND. Not only locals visit Race, but expats and tourists too.

Soak in the hot springs of Binh Chau

Binh Chau hot springs is an attractive destination in Vung Tau and famous for not only domestic tourists but also foreign tourist. Traveling to Binh Chau, you have a chance to soak in the hot springs to refresh yourself and enjoy the beautiful landscapes. 

There are 70 visible thermal springs in the area forming a huge hot pot with valuable water and sedimentary mud and Binh Chau hot springs have even earned world recognition as one of 65 potential areas for sustainable eco-tourism development among 47 countries worldwide.

Legend describes the thermal springs as a hot water pot that the Vietnamese “Goddess of Boiling Water” spilled into the place out of anger, a story that stretches past beyond the footsteps created by visitors.

One can enjoy a hot water bath at 37 degrees Celsius in a swimming pool, a hot mud bath, a foot bath at the natural hot spring area, or a swim at a white sand beach

You can pamper yourself with a heavenly massage after a hot bath and when you get hungry there’s that 82 degrees Celsius egg-boiling natural well … within 15 minutes you can have well-done boiled eggs. However if you prefer, there are also restaurants at the resort.

Halal food in Ba Ria Vung Tau

Viet An Halalfood restaurant

Add : 3/5 Lý Thường Kiệt, Phường 3, Thành phố Vũng Tầu, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu

Hours: 10h Am ⋅ Closes 10h PM

Phone : +84913.764.026

Price per person: ₫100,000–200,000