THE SURREAL SAND DUNES OF MUI NE (South Vietnam): It's the outstanding place to go for a taste of desert and wonderful landscape photography!

Mui Ne is a resort town that spans 15 kilometres along Vietnam’s southern coast. There are two sand dunes you can easily access from Mui Ne, namely the Red Sand Dunes and the White Sand Dunes. 

The White Sand Dunes is exactly how I have always imagined a desert to be – a vast expanse of barren land. Undoubtedly more pristine and breathtaking than the Red Sand Dunes, the White Sand Dunes is also less accessible. It is an hour drive from the centre of Mui Ne, and I must say that it is most definitely worth the commute. 

The Red Sand Dunes is just 20 minutes from the town centre, and the sand is really more orangey-brown than red. The gentle slopes make it easy to walk on foot (at least in comparison to the White Sand Dunes), and it is a spectacular place to be during sunset.

The Fairy Stream is one of Mui Ne’s main attractions, alongside the Red and White Sand Dunes. I didn’t expect to see hills of sand along the Fairy Stream at all. 
The landscape is absolutely surreal – a miniature mix of Cappadocia and the Grand Canyon. 

How to get to Mui NE?
Here are some essential transport information about getting to the sand dunes in Mui Ne for a little taste of the desert.
Getting from Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne:

From Ho Chi Minh City, you can either take the bus, train or taxi to get to Mui Ne.

By bus: Getting from Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne by bus will take about 5 hours or more, depending on the road conditions. The two recommended bus companies are Phuong Trang and The Sinh Tourist, and tickets are priced at about VND 140,000. I highly recommend booking the sleeper bus, just for the experience. Think bunk seats in a bus! You’ll either love it or hate it, and this will probably depend on the seat you are assigned and the bus driver. Some seats have a few more inches of legroom than the others, and this makes a huge difference to your level of comfort.

By train: You can take a 4 hour train ride from Ho Chi Minh City to Phan Thiet and then switch to a taxi for the remaining 20 kilometres to Mui Ne. If the train to Phan Thiet is not available, take the train to Binh Thuan instead, which is about 40 kilometres from Mui Ne. Similarly, you’ll have to switch to a taxi to reach Mui Ne. You can refer to the Vietnam Railways for more details on timing and prices. Also, do note that the train station in Ho Chi Minh (also referred to as Saigon Railway Station) is slightly out of the city centre in District 3.

By taxi: The two reliable taxi operators in Ho Chi Minh are Vinasun and Mai Linh. Initial quotes by Vinasun taxi drivers are more than VND 3,500,000, but we eventually managed to get a ride for VND 2,500,000 on a Mai Linh taxi.