Quad riding on the white sand dunes near Mui Ne

Mui Ne has two sets of sand dunes located about 22 km. from the beach, and a smaller cluster of red hills about 7 km. outside town. Every travel agent on Mui Ne’s main strip offer tours that include these two sites.

Sunrise is the best time to explore the white-sand dunes near Mui Ne, Vietnam.

Tours usually are run in jeeps with four people, but are available as solo tours on motorbikes. With the distance and heat, the jeep is the better option. Prices for the shared jeep tour run as low at $7 per person while the motorbike tour will be about $35. If you don’t get the price you want, walk out. There are lots of agents. Rent a quad yourself is $10 for 100cc (20 minutes) and $20 for an 300cc quad (20 minutes).

Tours run twice a day, at sunrise and sunset. The morning tour, which departs around 4:30 a.m., is far preferable, as you won’t arrive at your first destination in the heat of the day. Doing the sunrise tour will have you arrive just as the sun peeks over the horizon. Have your camera ready.

Until the turn of the century, Mui Ne could only be reached by boat. Walking across the sea of dunes, which span kilometers and are growing each year, was simply too dangerous. Mui Ne gets less rain – about 50 cm. per year – than any place in Southeast Asia.

The Red Dunes Mui Ne

Time flies extremely quickly and after realizing you’ve been playing Lawrence of Arabia for about two hours, you’ll head off to the red dunes. Same concept, only with smaller, (obviously red-sand) dunes, more tourists and less awe.

Basically, the red dunes are “OK.” You can sled here, too, as the busloads of Viet and Chinese tourists do, but perhaps the most notable feature of the red dunes is that they are located on the coast. It makes for a unique backdrop for photos, although the sun at this point will 45 degrees in the sky above the water and nearby island, making photography tricky.

Where can you find the White sand dunes and to the quad ride?

You can klick in the link to the route from Mui Ne to the Whit sand dunes