Dong Hoi

Following the 1954 partition, Dong Hoi and its southern neighbour Dong Ha went horn being at the centre of the country to frontier towns. Both suffered more than most during the American War - as the ruins and bomb craters throughout the area will attest. The fact that Dong Hoi has bounced back to become an attractive city while Dong Ha still retains a badlands feel surely owes a lot to being on the winning side. It has a wonderful location with the Nhat Le River dividing the main part of the city from a beautiful sandy spit, with lengthy stretches of beach to the north and south of town. While most tourists head from Hanoi to Hue, Dong Hoi is the best spot to break up the journey. It's also a much nicer base to explore the DMZ sites than Dong Ha - but it's slightly further away, and being on the northern side you won't find as many English-speaking drivers. From Dong Hoi you can easily make a day trip to the Phong Nha Cave narrow spit forming the east bank of the Nhat Le River all the way to its mouth. Further beaches extend north of the town. All that remains of Dong Hoi Citadel (1825) are two beautifully restored gates, one just behind the Saigon Quang Binh Hotel and the other on Quang Trung street- A poignant reminder of the American War is the ruined church, by the river on Đ Nguyen Du. Another is the plane in front of a government building on Đ Quang Trung. The Me Suot statue (Quach Xuan Ky street) is lovely piece of socialist art, showing a proud heroine with a cartoonish wind at her back, rowing forward with her cargo of VC fighters.

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