Fairy Stream, the fishing harbour and Phan Thiet’s fish sauce

A barefoot walk up a shallow stream between red and white sand cliffs, a harbour full of round basket boats, and the smell of fish sauce maturing in great wooden vats.

Area

South to Mui Ne

Start from

Mui Ne

Distance

about 25 km of short hops

Time needed

1 day

Best season

All year; mornings are best

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Taxi, motorbike or bicycle

Tickets & rules

Small fees at the Fairy Stream and the Cham towers

Why go

The Fairy Stream, Suối Tiên, is one of those small places that makes you smile. You take your shoes off at the road and walk upstream through ankle-deep water over soft sand, with eroded cliffs of red, white and orange sand rising on one side and green palms on the other. It feels like walking through a miniature canyon.

Further along, the fishing harbour of Mui Ne is crowded with boats in the morning. Hundreds of round basket boats, thuyền thúng, bob in the shallows, ferrying fish and nets between the bigger vessels and the beach, where women sort the catch and haggle with traders.

Phan Thiet, the town to the west, is one of the homes of Vietnamese fish sauce, and the smell, salty and deep, hangs over some streets. Add the Cham towers of Po Sah Inu above the sea and you have a full, varied day.

The story

Fish sauce, nước mắm, has been made around Phan Thiet for centuries. Anchovies are layered with salt in large wooden barrels or concrete tanks and left to ferment for a year or more; the liquid that drains off is the sauce. Producers still argue over who makes the best, and older families keep their barrels for generations.

The basket boats are made of woven bamboo, sealed with resin or tar, and paddled with a single oar using a figure-of-eight motion. They are said to have become common partly because they were cheap and easy to build, and today they are a symbol of the whole central coast.

Po Sah Inu, a small group of Cham towers on a hill between Phan Thiet and Mui Ne, dates from around the eighth or ninth century, among the oldest surviving Cham structures in the south. They were dedicated to Shiva and have weathered well against the sea wind.

The Fairy Stream itself has a modest story: it’s simply a creek eating its way through the old sand formations. Rain shapes the cliffs each year, so their sculpted forms change slowly over time.

Getting there

All three sights lie along the road between Mui Ne and Phan Thiet. A taxi or motorbike makes the loop easy; cyclists should start early before the heat and the traffic.

Many sunrise jeep tours include the Fairy Stream and the fishing village on the way back from the dunes.

A suggested plan

1. 6:00Fishing harbour as boats come in; watch the basket boats from the cliff above.
2. 8:00Breakfast in Mui Ne village.
3. 9:00Walk the Fairy Stream barefoot up to the small waterfall.
4. 11:00Po Sah Inu Cham towers and the view over the sea.
5. AfternoonPhan Thiet: the market, a fish-sauce maker if one is open to visitors, and the riverside.

Where to stay

Base yourself in Mui Ne. If you’re short of time, combine this with the dunes on a single long day.

Good to know

• Leave shoes at the start of the Fairy Stream; the sand is soft.
• Bring a bag for wet feet and sandy towels.
• Buy fish sauce from an established maker, and pack it carefully if you’re flying.
• Don’t step on drying fish laid out on the sand at the harbour.