he mate.

I have been to Vietnam and mui ne. However I didn't do kitesurfing back then. But I can still give you info on how to get there and where to stay:

fly in to Ho Chi Minh (saigon) and stay in District 1, which is the tourist area. There you will find heaps of travel/transport shops on every corner of the street, seriously you can't miss them. Every travel shop offers bus rides to Mui Ne. It is about a 3 to 4 hour drive if I remember correctly.

Mui Ne is a small town that stretches along the beach. There is not much to it. Some bars, hotels, restaurants and guesthouses. Don't bother booking anything in advance. Just walk around town and pick a place that you like for a good rate. They are all in walking distance from the beach. However if you really want to book in advance just do it through hostelbookers or hostelworld.

When you get off the bus there will most likely be a lot of vietnamese people trying to get you to go with them and get you to stay at their hotels. I myself wouldn't listen to them and just explore by myself. You can and most likely will get ripped off at some point of your stay in Vietnam haha but that is all part of the adventure.

All I can say is there isn't that much to do in Mui Ne besides Kitesurfing and visit sand dunes. I would recommend Kiting in Mui Ne but then also do some more traveling in Vietnam cause there are some AWESOME places:

Cu Chi tunnels: not far from Mui Ne and Ho chi Minh, these are the tunnels that the vietnamese made to fight the americans in the war. You can shoot AK47's here and tyou can actually go in to the tunnels and see all the traps that they made. Really recommended.

Nha trang: A beach town further north to Mui Ne. I prefered it to Mui ne because there is a lot more to do. Good nightlife, scuba diving, nice beach.

Hoi An: a really old colonial town, loved it.

Hanoi: in ways probably nicer than Ho chi Minh. It's really old and very Asian. Ho Chi Minh is more developed.

But the two BEST places in Vietnam. If you've got the time travel up north, maybe fly to Hanoi and see:

Halong Bay: Awesome, massive bay where all the limestone rocks come out of the water. You can do cruises through this bay. We did the Rock Long Rock hard cruise with the Hanoi backpackers Hostel. This is a booze cruise that goes for 3 days. You go wakeboarding, kayaking, they do these absolutely insane drinking games, sleep on a uninhabited island, skinny dipping in luminescent water etc.

Sapa: is a village in the mountains where there are lots of hilltribes and stuff. Absolutely beautiful place.

So in a nutshell I'd say if you are short of time. Go Kiting in Mui ne, go to the Cu chi tunnels, fly north to Hanoi and then go to Halong bay (do the booze cruise cause the other normal cruises can be boring) and go to Sapa and then fly home from Hanoi.

Hope this helped you out a bit mate. Have fun!

Good stuff from neptune. Also this is the 14th most posted topic on seabreeze so use the search.

I arrived late in the evening and couldn't be bothered arsing around, took a cab from saigon airport to Mui Ne. About $85US on the meter with a pho stop.

Neptune is right re finding rooms I would just add - if you're going for a few weeks, stay somewhere (anywhere) for first 2 nights. Hire scooter next day, scoot whole length of beach, identify nice places, rates, restaurants, kite facilities etc. Then you can move somewhere after checkout the next morning.

PS banana sized prawns taste like dry old prawn with loads of garlic butter to compensate. Stick to the normal sized ones.

Nah trang is also a good spot for kite surfing.
About mid way down the coast.

Went to Mui Ne in May last year. Wasnt any good wind. I was on a 14 with a big plasma board. Would be ok in wind season. Looked like much better kiting further North of Mui Ne village ( out on point North of Mui Ne bay)

Stayed at a small resort just 100 metres past the bus stop. Was good accom with pool right on beach edge. Short motorbike ride down to gear hire places. Can hire bikes across road from resort for $5 au per day. Grace Boutique Resort - its excellent. Check trip advisor reports.

I wouldnt go back again outside of the proper wind season. Any further info needed pm me.

Cheers
EB

You know the dirty water that comes out the back of the washing machine after you have put the work cloths, babies nappies and the old towl the dripple lands around the toilet,..

Thats what its like in mui ne.

Enjoy dude! Australia has some of the best water, conditions and people in the world. Expect to get ripped off where ever you travel with kite gear.. And dont get your head under the water.

Malcolm White said...

Thanks to all the posters. I also suspected there may not be much wind. What about a 17 kite and 140 board-has anyone been there in May?

Any other suggestions in Asia from anyone for wind? I know Kuantan, Boracay and Phuket won't be windy then. Not interested in Taiwan or Japan. Been to Sanya and it ain't that great. Never heard Bali being mentioned as a kiting destination. I know Port Moresby and Hula will be cranking then but got PNG out of my system years ago.

Finally what about QLD in May? Rocky?

Heard Fiji and new caledonia are supposed to be awesome

In May - maybe Maui (have been in May - had lots of wind and still some wave action left) or Mauritius - start of their season.