China Beach Vietnam is one of the premier resorts on the country’s coastline. Set on the South China Sea, this is one of the longest and most beautiful beaches in the country. It is also one of the top international surfing destinations. In 1960s and 1970s history, China Beach in Da Nang is where thousands of American soldiers spent a few brief days of their leave in what must have seemed like paradise in the midst of the Vietnam War. Here they surfed, sunbathed, and tried to forget the war they would soon return to. China Beach Vietnam has been featured in a number of films about the war, including Apocalypse Now, and it recently was immortalized in the popular television series named for the beach. Today, there is little to remind visitors of this history.

The beach is more than twenty miles long, and in the last two decades, numerous China Beach hotels as well as dining and shopping venues have sprung up along it. A number of these are beautiful luxury hotels with full-service spas. Some of the best China Beach hotels include the Nam Hai and Furama resorts. These are extremely deluxe properties with all imaginable facilities and amenities from infinity pools right on the beach to world-class gourmet restaurants. For local delicacies, you might try shrimp pancakes and Cao lu, rice noodles with pork slices.

While most of the China Beach hotels are deluxe resort type properties, you will find less-expensive beach hotels along the coastline closer to the cities of Hoi An or Da Nang. Very inexpensive accommodation can be found in the city of Da Nang, and Danang hotels will assist you with sightseeing tours in the area as wells as diving excursions on the coral reefs of the South China Sea. Other places to see and things to do in the area around China Beach in Da Nang include the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site that is the imperial city of Hue and the seaport of Hoi An.

Vietnam Map

Other attractions around China Beach in Da Nang include the Marble Mountains, and one of the best museums for sculpture in the country, the Cham Museum. The museum, in fact contains the most extensive collection of Cham marble and sandstone sculpture in the world. Not coincidentally, much of the marble for this traditional sculpture came from the nearby Marble Mountains. Some of the sculpture can also be seen on pagodas and Buddhist temples in the region. These mountains are full of caves, and like the Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City, extensive tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the American Vietnam War.

From China Beach Vietnam it is possible to see modern surfers as well as local fisherman who paddle out in traditional coracles and then surf back to shore on them after fishing. Coracles are flimsy looking little wicker boats that look a bit like turtle shells can also be found in the rivers of Wales and southwest England.