Lang Co Bay

A world-recognised bay where a ten-kilometre crescent of white sand, a lagoon and the mountains of Hai Van and Bach Ma meet in one sweep, halfway between Hue and Da Nang.

Lang Co was admitted to the Most Beautiful Bays of the World club in 2009, and it is easy to see why from the road down from Hai Van Pass: a long crescent of white beach on one side of a narrow spit of land, the calm waters of Lap An Lagoon on the other, and the green wall of the Bach Ma range rising behind. The beach, about ten kilometres long, is gently sloping and mostly quiet outside summer weekends, with a handful of resorts and simple seafood restaurants at the fishing village end. Lap An Lagoon is famous for oysters, farmed on stakes that stand out of the water at low tide, and for its mirror-like reflections at sunrise and sunset. Trains between Hue and Da Nang skirt the bay on one of the most scenic stretches of the north–south railway. Most travellers stop for lunch and a swim on the way over the pass, but an overnight here lets you see the lagoon at both ends of the day.