Quy Nhon travel guide: Ky Co, Eo Gio, Cham towers and where to stay

City beach, Bai Xep or Nhon Ly: choose your base first

Most first-time visitors sleep along the city beach, a crescent of golden sand that the national tourism agency describes as stretching about 5 km from Tan Cape to Ghenh Rang, with mountains behind the town. This is where the restaurants, cafés, shops and taxis are, and it puts you within a short ride of the Twin Towers and Ghenh Rang. The trade-off is that the beaches you came for — Ky Co, Eo Gio, Hon Kho — are across the lagoon on the Phuong Mai Peninsula; the national tourism agency puts Eo Gio about 25 km from the city centre by road.

Bai Xep is the alternative to the south: a fishing village by Quy Hoa beach, about 13 km from the city centre according to the national tourism agency, which describes its rise as a homestay destination and quotes Business Insider calling it a car-free village with a relaxing beach and fresh seafood. Mornings there are about boats and village lanes rather than traffic. Nhon Ly, on the peninsula itself, puts you closest to Eo Gio and Ky Co for an early start; expect a fishing village rather than a resort strip, with fewer choices in the evening. Whichever you choose, check how the property handles transport: a hotel that can arrange a car or rent a motorbike saves a lot of waiting.

Eo Gio, Ky Co and Nhon Ly on the Phuong Mai Peninsula

The peninsula is reached from the city over the Thi Nai Bridge, which the national tourism agency describes as 2,477.7 metres long across the Thi Nai Lagoon. Its rocky hills, sand dunes, coral reefs and fishing villages hold most of Quy Nhon's coastal scenery, so plan a full day here.

Eo Gio ("wind strait") is a curved strait embraced by rocky mountains, with a boulder beach and uneven paths at the foot of the slope and rocks shaped by wind and sea. From the top, the agency notes, you look over the Nhon Ly fishing village and its boats. Near the mountainside is Ngoc Hoa Pagoda, whose 18-metre double statue of Avalokitesvara the agency calls the tallest in Vietnam.

Ky Co is a small, white-sand crescent with three sides facing the mountains and rock formations at both ends, and water that shades from dark blue to jade. The national tourism agency describes reaching it by canoe or boat from Eo Gio, about 25 km north-east of the city centre, and later reported that a road now runs along the cliffs south of Eo Gio, so you can also arrive by car or on foot. It suggests basket-boat rides, snorkelling and fishing trips with local boatmen, and seafood such as grilled abalone and steamed crab. Agree what is included, the price and the return time before you board any boat, and wear the life jacket.

Leave time for the village itself. The agency describes Nhon Ly and Nhon Hai as peaceful fishing communities under the mountains, with crab cages and moored boats; at Nhon Hai a section of an old Champa wall about 200 metres offshore shows above the water only at low tide.

The Cham towers: Thap Doi in town, Banh It on the plain

For about five centuries the Champa kingdom had its capital in Binh Dinh, and the former province still has eight clusters with 14 Cham towers, managed by the provincial museum. Two are easy from the city. The Twin Towers (Thap Doi, also called Hung Thanh) stand in the middle of town and date from the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century, according to the national tourism agency. They are a short taxi ride from the beach and work well late in the afternoon. The provincial museum, which manages the site, staged Binh Dinh martial-arts and Cham dance performances there over the 2026 Tet holiday and planned weekly Friday-evening programmes from April to September 2026; ask locally whether these are still running.

Banh It (Silver Towers), about 19 km north of the city, is the Cham cluster with the most towers left in Gia Lai: a gate tower, a stele tower, a fire tower and the main tower on a hilltop above rice fields, dating from the late 11th to early 12th century, according to the national tourism agency. A winding path leads up the gentle hill, and the view over the fields and town below is part of the visit. The province completed an additional exhibition building there in 2024, showing a map of Champa sites, reliefs, Cham ceramics, costume and instruments.

Dress modestly at both sites, do not climb on the brickwork, and bring water: there is little shade on the hilltop at Banh It.

Ghenh Rang, Queen's Beach and the Quy Hoa valley

Just south-east of the city, Ghenh Rang is a stretch of winding rocky shore and caves by Xuan Van Mountain, with a panoramic view back over Quy Nhon. Its best-known cove is Hoang Hau, or Queen's Beach, named, the national tourism agency explains, because the last emperor, Bao Dai, and Queen Nam Phuong chose it as a private retreat during a visit in 1927. Its stone beach, Bai Trung ("egg beach"), is covered with smooth, egg-shaped stones; come for the view and the stones rather than a long swim.

On the same headland is the tomb of the poet Han Mac Tu. A little further south, the Quy Hoa valley holds the leprosy hospital and village founded around 1929 by the French priest Paul André Maheu, whose French-era houses still stand among coconut and casuarina trees; it is where Han Mac Tu spent his last years and where a memorial house to him stands. Treat it as a living community rather than a museum.

About 7 km south of the centre on Highway 1D, the road to Quy Nhon's science valley leads to the International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education, with a cosmos model house, a science museum and a public planetarium; the province promotes the area for what it calls science tourism. Bai Xep's fishing village is beyond, and the agency notes that Lonely Planet singles it out for the open-air dining that fills the bay after dark.

Hon Kho, the Thi Nai lagoon and other day trips

Hon Kho, an islet off Nhon Hai, has clear water, coral and floating seafood restaurants, according to reports carried by the national tourism agency, which put it 15 to 20 km from the city centre. From about March to September a sandbar more than 500 metres long can appear at low tide, letting visitors wade across; it depends on the tide, so ask boatmen in Nhon Hai before you set out.

The Thi Nai Lagoon, more than 5,000 hectares of water between the city and the peninsula, is a quieter half day. In 2025 a report on the national tourism portal described boat trips from Quy Nhon to the Hai Minh fishing village, the Thay Boi shrine on a rock in the lagoon and the mangroves of Con Chim, which the agency calls the lagoon's green lung, with hundreds of bird species recorded.

Further afield, Vi Rong Cape, about 20 km north of the city, is a rocky promontory with a natural sea pool; the tourism agency gives April to late August as the calm season and warns that the rocks are slippery. Ong Nui Pagoda, about 30 km away, rewards more than 600 steps with a giant seated Buddha facing the sea.

A workable three-night plan

This is an editorial suggestion, not a timetable. Check the weather and sea state each morning, and swap days if the boats are not running.

• Day 1 — The peninsula: an early start across the Thi Nai Bridge to Eo Gio, then Ky Co for the morning by road or boat, a seafood lunch, and the Nhon Ly fishing village before driving back for dinner on the city beach.
• Day 2 — South of the city: Ghenh Rang and Queen's Beach in the morning, the Quy Hoa valley and the science centre, an afternoon at Bai Xep, and the Twin Towers in the late afternoon light.
• Day 3 — Your choice: Banh It tower and the Thi Nai Lagoon by boat, or Hon Kho and Nhon Hai at low tide if the sea is calm.
• Day 4 (optional): Vi Rong Cape or Ong Nui Pagoda, or a slow beach day before your flight.