Thanh Hoa

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The last of the north-central Vietnamese coastal provinces, Thanh Hoa sits before the provincial break-up dissolves into a patchwork quilt of thumb-sized mini-provinces scattered around Hanoi. The province and it's same named capital are, like the provinces directly to the south, ideal for travellers who want to get off the beaten track and see Vietnam at its most local.

That's to say, nobody much stops here because there's little to see or do in the traditional sightseeing sense.

We don't imagine a lot of travellers will choose to show up in Thanh Hoa unless they are determined to use the hard-scrabble border crossing at Na Maew / Nam Xoi, 175 km to the north-east.

But we were surprised on our visit to find a very pleasant town, with some good places to eat and drink and a charming market street along Ben Ngu Road in the north-eastern part of the city. You won't fail to notice Mat San Mountain, a looming limestone massif just to the west of town.

If nothing else, it's the kind of town we can heartily recommend if you're desperate to get off the tourist trail and actually visit Vietnam. A day or so here would be a great way to 'detox' after a visit to Ninh Binh before heading south.

The town can be used as a jumping off point for visiting about a dozen attractions in the interior and along the coast -- Sam Son Beach, 16 km to the south-east, the Ca Than Spring in Cam Luong District, 85 km to the north-west, and the 'National Gardens' at Ben En, 46 km to the south-west, just to name a few.

We didn't make it to any of these places on our brief scout of the capital city, and if you choose to seek them out, you have more time on your hands and more determination to explore the hidden corners of Vietnam than any professional travel writer we know. In other words, if you do visit some of these places, for Pete's sake write us and tell us all about it.

While we were in town, we came across the Ben Ngu market street -- a bit unique in our experience because the majority of vendors seem to roam up and down the street on bikes or with their wares in yokes rather than settling in one place. It's a good spot to take pictures, and you can get a whole roasted chicken or duck here for 70- to 100,000 VND.

Just to the west of the market street, there's a picturesque French-style cathedral built in 1932. If you wander down to the Cathedral, you'll also get a look at Ho Nha Tho -- a dried up man-made lake that's been turned into a herb farm with a boat sitting in a puddle in the centre emblazoned with 'Welcome to Thanh Hoa', in English. Perhaps the lake fills up and the boat floats around a bit after a heavy rain. That pretty much exhausts our walking tour of Thanh Hoa for now, but we're looking forward to seeing more of it on our next visit.

Thanh Hoa is 58 km south of Ninh Binh, 138 km north of Vinh and 153 km south of Hanoi along Highway 1A.

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Text and/or map last updated on 21st August, 2009.

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Thanh Hoa reviews

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great little town

I though Thanh Hoa was a terrific place, with lots of variety. Along the river up beyond Ben Ngu are poor, scrappy little houses but not far from there are huge, newly-built mansions. There's also some pretty villagey areas and a quite sophisticated area to the south near the main market with smart cafes and hotels around a park. I counted six markets and there are some pretty good coffee shops with a few in a park round a lake, not far from the train station and a big one with WiFi and a live band some nights on the corner of Phan Chu Trinh and Tran Phu.

It's a pretty quiet place and doesn't have the usual tourist sites but if you like walking around looking at the different houses and shops, this is a great place to do it. They also have some local buses that you could take to explore the area. Bus #1 goes out to the beach, though it's pretty awful, with lots of rubbish on it. It's very popular though and has flags and lifeguards and plenty of restaurants on the beach. The buses seem to go every 10 minutes, leaving from the station and going down Tran Phu and taking about half an hour to get there. My guidebook suggests it's better to stay at the beach than Thanh Hoa -- I think definitely not. I didn't find any great restaurants but there was always somewhere to eat, with quite a few small restaurants along Truong Thi.
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By violets (dabbler)
Written on 11th June, 2010 after a visit to Thanh Hoa in May, 2010

Also reviewed by violets: Bac Ha, Hanoi, Hue, Pleiku,

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