Hàm Ninh fishing village

Hàm Ninh is the oldest fishing village on the island. The wooden jetty walks you out over the water for a hundred metres or so, with a row of small seafood places on either side. Go at low tide if you can — the boats sit on the mudflats and the children come out to dig for clams.

Order the flower crab (ghẹ hoa) steamed plain, and the sea snails (ốc bàn tay) grilled. The places along the jetty all serve roughly the same thing at roughly the same price; pick the one that feels least busy. Bring small bills — they sometimes don’t have change for a 500k note.

The drive takes about thirty minutes through quiet rubber plantations. Best done late morning so you’re sitting down to lunch by twelve. Ask us and we’ll write down the name of the spot we like — not on a map app, on a slip of paper to hand to your driver.