Best Things to do in Mui Ne
What do to in Mui Ne? There certainly aren’t endless sites to see in Mui Ne but what there is to do is amazing. Sand dunes meet the ocean, walk through picturesque streams and swim at stunning beaches.
Here are the 8 best things to do in Mui Ne;
Rent a Scooter
Scooter hire in Mui Ne cost around 150,000 VND per day and can usually be hired through your hotel.
Exploring Mui Ne is best done by scooter, many of the sites like the sand dunes, best beaches & fairy streams aren’t close together.
Taxis in Mui Ne charge higher rates than many other parts of Vietnam and Grab didn’t work for us. Even the main road is really long so a scooter was a super convent option for going out for a meal.
It’s important to be cautious when hiring a scooter anywhere in Vietnam, particularly Mui Ne. Technically to hire a bike in Vietnam you need a Vietnamese driver’s license. Although we did hear some conflicting information and it may depend on the size of the bike’s motor.
Throughout Vietnam, we never had any issues or questions from local police but we were warned a number of times by locals in Mui Ne about the police pulling over foreigners. They even told us not to drive out of the tourist areas because we could be stopped and hit with a hefty fine.
So I still think it’s a great option for transport while staying in Mui Ne, just be mindful of this and don’t go too far off the tourist trail.
Red Sand Dunes
You’ll know when you’re arriving at the Red Sand Dunes because there’ll suddenly be locals trying to get you to pull over and park in their restaurant.
We paid 10k for parking and afterwards purchased a drink at that restaurant.
Across the road from the row of restaurants are the Red Sand Dunes. Basically, no effort is needed to reach them!
The hill up to the top of the dunes isn’t overly steep and takes less than 5 minutes to reach. Entry is free and I would recommend arriving about one hour before sunset.
It’s absolutely beautiful out there, at this time of day you’ll have the best lighting and the view of the glowing red dunes against the blue ocean is so beautiful.
If you want to have a bit of fun and join everyone else sliding down the dunes, for 50k you can hire a plastic sled. Nothing fancy but it does the job!
To begin with, I was hesitant to go down the really steep hills but in the end, I absolutely loved it and you definitely go really fast.
While we were playing around on the dunes we had a couple of locals offer to take a few photos and videos of us. We happily excepted but be aware they’ll expect a decent tip.
White Sand Dunes
The White Sand Dunes are much further out of town and on a bike would take close to an hour to reach. These dunes are slightly different compared with the other, yep you guessed it, the sand is white, not red. But the white sand dunes are also very popular for 4WD & AVT adventures.
We had read online and heard from locals that this is one of the areas foreigners riding scooters can be targeted. Police are known to position themselves close to the entrance, making them hard to avoid.
If you decided to visit the White Sand Dunes and are keen on 4WD or ATV, I would recommend joining a tour take includes hotel pick-up. Or book a taxi to take you to and from the dunes.
Here are some awesome tours you can book via Tripadvisor
Fairy Stream Mui Ne
The fairy streams are as magical as they sound, and although there aren’t any fairies, there is definitely something surreal about walking through the ankle-deep water surrounded by forest, and steep red sandy cliffs. Hearing nothing but birds and the lightly flowing stream.
Fairy Stream Mui Ne is open from 6 am – 6 pm and costs 15k for adults and 7k for children.
Although we inadvertently started from the wrong end, there is a restaurant at the very end of the streams and we saw the sign for “Fairy Stream” so just parked up there wander down the small hill and started our journey along the streams. It wasn’t till we reached the other end and realized that was in fact the beginning and we had snuck in from the end. Oops!
A return walk along Fiary Streams takes around 1 hour and I suggest visiting early before it gets too hot.