5. Mui Ne beach stays, Phan Thiet, Ninh Hai

For some of the best Vietnam resorts head to Mui Ne and Phan Thiet. The Phan Thiet (pronounced "fun-theet") area includes the popular Mui Ne and Ham Tien beach strip along some fine stretches of white-sand beach that compare favourably with the best in Phuket and the Philippines. The air is laid-back and unhurried to the extreme. And the food, as everywhere in Vietnam, is cheap and teeth-grindingly good. This is where the fabled round wicker-basket boats originate. How fishermen manage to get to sea - and back - in these contraptions with a single paddle, God alone knows. Equally strange are the soaring sand dunes that threaten to overwhelm hutments, barely constrained by ubiquitous retaining walls.

The main street has a fair selection of large and clean thatch-roof restaurants. There are Internet cafes, spas, massage parlours, and tour agencies. Nightlife is not particularly bawdy, the roadside bars more relaxed and welcoming of families than elsewhere in Asia. The offerings are spread out and not cheek-by-jowl so drive around, or pedal, till you find the right spot for a chow down. And for golf there’s the Sea Links Golf & Country Club (weekday US$74 green fee for visitors, US$91 weekends, www.sealinkscity.com).

At one end of this Muine strip, not far from the dunes, is the four-star Pandanus Resort, with low-rise blocks and red-brick bungalows scattered about well manicured gardens. Expect complimentary wine and cheese at reception, live music, and free Wi-Fi throughout. This hotel covers 10 hectares and is set on a private 300m stretch of beach. Walk out from the lobby lotus ponds to a bungalow offering twin and king-size beds, neat tile floors, large sunning patio, decent hairdryer, work desk, a notebook-size safe, clean bathroom with shower curtain (no tub) and plenty of light. There are hotel-style rooms housed in four low-rise buildings. The bungalows set closer to the beach.

Superior Rooms have all the amenities that you’d expect including satellite TV, mini-bar, aircon, IDD phone, and hairdryer. There is a large free-form pool, floodlit tennis court, a business centre, spa, gift shop, as well as a myriad activities to keep all ages busy. Bicycles are free for guests to explore the surrounding area. Babysitters will cost US$5 per hour of an evening but from 8am to 10pm the tots can be handled free at the kids’ club.

Nearby is the 40-room Malibu Resort, again a mix of red-tile-roof bungalows and gardens. Find a freeform pool, motorbikes for rent, free bicycles, and water sports. Wi-Fi is complimentary. The units here are on a smaller scale but clean and well finished. Prices will be in the US$50 range.

Little Mui Ne Cottages offers even more dinky yellow-plaster thatch-roof bungalows set in gardens with tall coconut trees, two-floor room units, and WiFi in the rustic wooden raised lobby where you’ll also find a couple of laptops free for hotel guest use. Log on. Friendly and uncomplicated, choose from 12 bungalows and 24 rooms.

Correspondent Kate Springer suggests a well maintained, intimate choice is the 14-room Grace Boutique Resort. On the outskirts of town, this family-run property prides itself in great service and warm atmosphere. You’ll likely get to know the owners’ children and two dogs during your stay — a nice personal touch. Rooms are tidy and decorated in sunset hues and hand-made furniture produced locally. Expect friendly faces, free WiFi, and private balcony with bay views.

A few blocks closer to town, Springer recommends Shades Resort Mui Ne. This is a low-key, good-value hotel, with spacious rooms and attentive staff. The colour combinations — stark white paint and striking turquoise pool — mirror the clear blue skies, rolling waves and good cheer found here. Choose from seven large apartments and four studio rooms, all with comfy beds, beige decor, tile floors, free WiFi, flat-screen TVs, pool and ocean-views, and either rain shower or three-seater Jacuzzi tub. Some have breezy terraces, while others have direct access to the pool and bar, where friendly bartenders pour half-off drinks at happy hour.

Breakfast is included, and includes continental fare, made-to-order eggs and a must-try banana crepe. Laundry is included too, so don’t hesitate to change out of your bathing suit. Downside? The resort does not have a beach in low season, as the tide rises too high. Even so, it’s easy enough to wander down the street to one of the many sandy spreads. Just beware of kite surfers.

The large and manicured 87-room Saigon Mui Ne Resort has much to recommend it. The extensive lawns are welcoming, signage is crisp, there's a nice infinity pool and accommodation ranges from rooms to bungalows. This is officially a four-star resort (like many of the others in Phan Thiet) but the product is good. Rooms have tile floors, smart blue-tile toilets with mirrors at wacky angles and a shower cubicle (no tub), a hair-drier, small TV, a laptop-size safe, balcony, ample wardrobes, a work desk and two-pin square plug sockets. In-room WiFi is free and there is a business centre with a computer should you require it. There is lots of garden and the nice cottages, bordered by flashes of bougainvillea, are well spaced out. This resort’s stretch of beach is fine and soft underfoot.

Look out for the stylish bungalows and landscaped gardens of the 30-room Mia Mui Ne (formerly the Sailing Club Mui Ne). Interiors are cosy and well thought out. Expect cable TV, aircon (with fans), phones that work, a free-form pool, a beach bar, and fusion food. Bungalows offer spacious balconies with sun loungers and rough-hewn balustrades that meld with the land. Long mosquito nets drape the beds with their soft pillows and silk cushions. Pick a spoiling Deluxe Beachfront Bungalow.

Those in search of good Vietnam spas for authentic pampering can make for the Xanh Spa that offers a range of wellness treatments and massages using natural oils. Water sports options are varied and catching on with the hip set is kite-surfing and of course diving. Play chess, or a read a book. A business centre is available.

The Blue Ocean Resort features rooms and bungalows and one of the largest infinity pools in the area. The grounds are pleasant and grassy. Standard rooms offer a balcony, work desk, small notebook-size safe, and a bathroom with shower. Wi-Fi and Internet is free throughout the resort. Some bungalows have plunge pools. Neat and friendly.

Not far from here are the stilted wooden bungalows of the Coco Beach Resort. The 34-room resort starts rather abruptly with just an Alamo-style wall facing the main road and not much signage, but once past the defences, the ambience is appealing and friendly. There are bush-lined walkways, a modest pool, gardens with crab grass, plenty of flowers and gleaming freshly-varnished cottages next to a terrific stretch of soft creamy white sand lined by the resort's hallmark yellow-cone umbrellas. The sand beats China Beach and Nha Trang hands down, but the gradient is steeper. This is a lovely Vietnam beach.

There's a restaurant by the sea. This is one of the older resorts here and is run by the hands-on owners — Jutta and Daniel Arnaud — who set the ball rolling in 1995. The small wooden rooms and furniture are upgraded regularly.

Bungalows offer mosquito net drapes, a dolls-house raised verandah, and bathrooms with small shower cubicles. Lighting at night can be a bit dark so get your bearings during the day. There is no distraction of a TV and, to protect your small kids, the owners will arrange safety nets around the raised verandah. Internet is available at the resort office and WiFi is now beamed to rooms. Coco Beach is a quaint, unpretentious and charmingly rustic resort. It is one of the more accessible and homey Vietnam child-friendly resorts on the strip.

There is much happening along Mui Ne nowadays with resorts springing up everywhere. Every home with a chair and a coconut tree has billboards at the entrance proudly advertising a resort and spa. Most of the offerings are nice though it can get terribly basic as the price drops below the US$30 range.

At the upper end, look out for the serene Cham Villas that run along a narrow plot from the road to the sea. The gardens are lush, the foliage reassuringly dense, with four-poster-bed bungalows lining the tiled walk leading past an outdoor thatch-roof massage pavilion and a striking green-tile pool to the crashing surf. Statues of Hindu and Buddhist deities litter the lawns. Champa was, in fact, a Buddhist and highly Indianised kingdom. On a more contemporary note, there’s a billiards table for a beer-swilling afternoon. There are just 18 villas and WiFi is free.

The 89-room Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa (formerly the L’AnMien Beach Resort that opened late 2009) is a stylish grey-tile construct on a grander scale than its peers. Walk up the steps to a contemporary lobby. Hotel room wings adjoin the lobby while two-level and single-level bungalows are set in the gardens leading to the free-form pool, beach bar and beach. The villa walls are in yellow mud-finish plaster. Inside find gleaming timber floors, large work desks and flat-screen TVs.

Furniture and cabinets are in stained black wood. There is a HUGE flat safe. The Two Bedroom Residence Pool Villa offers a master bedroom with a four-poster king arrangement along with a garden courtyard, plunge pool, and standalone tub in a semi-alfresco black-tile bathroom. Unfortunately privacy is an issue and in certain areas you are overlooked by first-floor rooms. Well, it’s a beach. Don't be shy.

Expect free WiFi, a spa, a gym and classy dining with a grand piano to boot. This is a tasteful high-end retreat that sets the benchmark as a top Mui Ne resort.

The Sea Lion Beach Resort & Spa offers two large separate resort options (I and II, so there is no mistake). The similarly named Seahorse Resort & Spa offers pleasant grounds with 40 mustard villas. The bungalows serve up ceramic floor tiles, flat-screen TV, a desk, and small safe. Neat and clean. The gardens are attractive with ponds and water features. The resort also offers 59 low-rise hotel rooms, a gym, tennis court, free cycles, a spa, and complimentary Internet and WiFi in-room.

The Oriental Pearl (Hoang Ngoc) Resort is another large, spread out affair with several swimming pools, a kids’ pool, a business centre with PCs, free WiFi in public areas, and a narrowish beach when the tide rolls in. The gardens are mature. There are simple rooms and cottages as well as two 60sq m grey-stone bungalows near the beach with classical Chinese furnishings and timber floors. These are quite nice. Walk over a small bridge, past the lotus pond to your villa on the sea, literally.

Expect a large flat-screen TV, eye-catching driftwood furniture, ornate carved Chinese chairs, ceiling fan, hairdryer, slippers, a small safe and a BIG bath with skylight and Jacuzzi. Oddities are littered around the lawns, from eccentric laughing-Buddha statues to horse carts.

A mixed bag of resorts includes Swiss Village Resort(Japanese-style pagoda design — no kidding — with orange tile roof in a garden setting), the four-star Bamboo Village Beach Resort & Spa (which, as the name suggests, is all bamboo with around 37 rooms with TV, IDD phones and a pool), and the offbeat blue-dome Palmira Beach Resort & Spa(in a coconut grove with simple villas, a pool and rather exuberant splashes of colour).

Look at the friendly Bon Bien Resort (by Four Oceans) favoured by Europeans with its free WiFi, the Terracotta Resort & Spa with garden bungalows, the simple and compact Dynasty Resort with a nice oceanfront pool and free WiFi, and the friendly Joe's Garden Resort(formerly Paradise Huts — Chez Nina) with its restaurant, spa and seaside cottages (the main wooden house dates back to 1867).

Wrapping up the general selection is the tiny 27-room Full Moon Beach for simple stays in a better class at around US$70 a night, and the curiously named but comfortable and well-equipped Allezboo Beach Resort & Spa with beachside villas and low-rise hotel rooms. The resort has an airy lobby, manicured gardens, a relaxing spa, and decent nosh. Don’t expect too much from service, but the rooms are spacious and comfortable and one of the area’s best beaches is just beyond the free-form pool.

Farther along the strip is the Victoria Phan Thiet Beach Resort & Spa, a charming property, spilling down a gentle hillside. It is very much a Phuket or Bali-style resort with cottages and two swimming pools. The one fly in the ointment is the rocky beach which is less-than-inviting at low tide.

There are connecting family duplexes here for those large family gatherings and the food is a notch above what you might expect elsewhere in the area. The sea view bungalows are the pick of the lodgings. Also find babysitting services, volleyball, horseback riding, table tennis, a fitness centre, billiard table, bicycles, and Petanque for the incurably French.

Close by Victoria is the unassuming and friendly Takalau Resort with its large free-form pool, gardens with bursts of pink bougainvillea and coconut trees, and accommodation ranging from 47sq m Deluxe rooms (some with sea views) to spacious four-bedroom Residences with sunning decks and private plunge pools. A 77sq m Grand Suite serves up cool ceramic tiles underfoot, a king-size bed on a raised plinth, a separate living area with sofas, a flat-screen television, free-standing bathtub and twin vanities for him and her. Red tile roofs and gardens lend the place a homey feel that goes down well with guests.

One of the best places to chill out if you have a family in tow, is the four-bedroom Villa Myosotis with its generous pool and sun deck set in verdant sea-facing surrounds. WiFi is free and the master bedroom features silk duvets, gleaming timber floors and a painted ceiling with blue sky and peach blossoms.

All this space for about US$450 or less. On a lazy afternoon, visit the Tea Leaf spa for a nice rubdown or something more exotic. This is a resort with charm and rustic appeal.

Ending the strip is the 84-room Phu Hai Resort, a large and bold melange of twee European statues, fountains, waterfalls, artificial rocks, pink stucco walls, and all manner of fantasy settings including a giant Angkor face looking out from one of the walls in the bar.

The pool area is fun for children but all-in the resort is a rather muddled affair. At night things sober down and with the lights on things are rather more beckoning. Rooms are well fitted, if plain. WiFi is free. It’s a child-friendly resort if action is what you’re after.

Next door and not to be outdone is the sprawling Romana Resort & Spa with Roman statuary, free WiFi, spa and well fitted bungalows. The resort runs down a hillside to a huge pool area. All rooms have ocean views, and villas have private pools. This place prides itself as a quality Vietnam spa resort. Expect a Russian invasion in season.

Set some distance away from the Mui Ne beach strip, the DuParc Phan Thiet Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort (formerly Hotel Novotel Phan Thiet Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort) is your average Joe-Blow concrete Asian resort with a ship-bridge building, a beachside setting, massage, sauna and a riot of water sports.

But its ace up the sleeve is a golf course — on site — as well as quality service. Rooms, some with wooden parquet flooring, have colourful cushions and sea-view balconies. The hotel has its following but the food reviews are mixed.

Other choices in this area include the smart white cubist lines of the Villa Del Sol Beach Villas & Spa with a large rectangular pool set just above the shore line facing a huge swathe of white sand (interiors are more ornate with silk and dark wood), The Cliff Resort & Residences with a stylish contemporary feel and clean theme décor (Azul for blues, Verde for greens and Terra for warmer red tones with balconies, pool, spa and kitchenettes), and the appealing Muine Bay Resort with a range of accommodation choices and activities and facilities from tennis, mini golf and a children’s playground to a large pool with huge pool bar, spa, and multi-cuisine restaurants.

From Amanresorts, an essay in stylish understatement with expansive views of lakes, national parks and the sea from timbered sun decks and 31 roomy pavilions (as well as five Aman Villas), at Amanoi in the southern Ninh Hai District just north of Phan Thiet.

A low-slung futuristic Beach Club with scenic windows casts its slender curves above a swimming pool facing the pale sand beach and blue waters while higher up the craggy limestone hillside, an Aman Spa awaits with lotus ponds, treatments rooms for couples and acres of contemplative garden space. This is a mini-destination in itself.

The 31 Pavilions, several with private swimming pools are all in a similar design, welcoming of light and with open views in all directions. Expect the de rigueur Aman-style open plan bedroom-living mix with a timbered sun deck.

Beds are vast and bathrooms spoiling with soaking tubs and the usual lux paraphernalia to pamper travel weary limbs. In-room find a perky espresso machine for your morning cup of Joe, a flat-screen TV to plug in to the world - but is that really necessary? - WiFi, and a writing desk.

Pen a civilized postcard or stab your iPhone on WhatsApp. This is a quiet, minimalist hideaway with clean straight lines and an uninterrupted field of vision that brings real luxury to this less trodden coast.

6. Phan Thiet area tours

But before you leave, visit the dunes. That's right. Huge, red and ochre sand dunes straight out of the Sahara. Here, 20 minutes from Phan Thiet, you can boogie-board down the sands chased by urchins, or head further by four-wheel-drive to the heart of dune country. It's quite amazing. En route, stop by the fishing village with its bright red and blue boats and savour the sights if not the smells. The culturally inclined can visit the Cham ruins nearby. Pick up a four-hour tour to the dunes and White Lake with coffee break and lunch. Slightly farther is the giant sleeping Sakiyamuni Buddha.

The drive from Phan Thiet to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is a reasonably untaxing three hours but evening traffic and the unyielding press of heavy trucks can add an extra sixty minutes. Stop at one of the wall-to-wall roadside stalls selling dragon fruit — the local speciality.

Trains and sleeper buses are reasonably priced (US$10 and US$6, respectively) and both take roughly five hours. Most hotels can arrange tickets with at least a day’s notice.