Kitesurfing in Vietnam

Vietnam was our first destination in Southeast Asia, so we didn’t really know what to expect.

Main kite season: December-April

We heard it’s a very cheap country, so we thought it can not be such big of a risk to buy a one way ticket. We contacted a kite school in advance, so we didn’t have to start looking for a job when we arrived. Our base was Mui Ne, a fishing village that’s around 5 hours drive from Ho Chi Min city (used to be called Saigon). Mui Ne is supposed to be the ’kite paradise’ of Vietnam, or at least that’s how we were informed. It has a huge sandy beach with loads of kite schools next to each other, but we were surprised about the conditions.

Depending on the tide and on the strength of the wind, the shore break can be 2-3 meters high and the water is deep and choppy everywhere. Not exactly how we imagined kitesurfers paradise, at least not for teaching. Beginners often had a hard time fighting with the waves, so we would only recommend this spot for advanced kiters, for those who prefer riding a surfboard, or for really committed beginners, who are absolutely sure that they can and will learn this sport. One advantage of learning kitesurfing in Mui Ne is certainly that if you can kite here, you will be able to kite anywhere!

We arrived in Vietnam at the end of October and unfortunately with us arrived the Haiyan typhoon, which brought a lot of rain and it totally killed the wind for weeks. Being unable to work those days had an instant impact on our budget and we had to realize like this, even Vietnam is not so cheap. It was basically impossible to rent a house with a proper kitchen, so cooking was out of the question. Everyone, even most locals are eating out. There are many street food places and local restaurants with plastic chairs, where you can have dinner for 2-3 dollars. If you could eat rice with chicken every day, than you were fine, but eating fresh seafood or some international dish, costs more. Going to the market for breakfast and fruits can be also challenging. The vendors almost never gave us the same price twice. Sometimes we had to pay double the amount for 1 kg of banana than on the previous day.  This tricking with the prices is due to the mass tourism in this area, mainly kitesurfers. There were mostly russian tourists at that time, but we met german, french, american, even Hungarian people during our stay.

We soon understood that most of these tourists are willing to pay anything for the produces without even calculating the exchange rate (1 USD is around 20.000 vietnamese dong) and locals learned how to take advantage of this. We couldn’t really blame them, but it was frustrating for us, since we lived there for 3 months. Like in any other countries, it helped when we learned a few phrases in vietnamese and went back to the same places over and over, so they started to recognize us. We got a tandem bike (riding a motorbike looked scary after seeing the crazy traffic and their way of driving) which turned out to be the best decision. Everytime we were riding it, people waved, welcomed and smiled at us.

Having the bike also allowed us to explore a bit outside of Mui Ne. The closest bigger city is Phan Thiet. We found it’s a less touristic place, where we could finally see how local people lived. We did the shopping there every once in a while and we spent Christmas Day there too, watching the colorful vietnamese decoration on the streets and their celebration. We visited the Red Sand Dunes, which is an amazing natural formation. If you follow the road alongside the river, red sand on one side and palm trees leaning above you on the other, you’ll reach the waterfall.

In the same area there are the White Sand Dunes and the Lotus Lake, but they are a bit further, you need a motorbike for that trip. Renting a motorbike is possible in every corner, I’m not even sure, they ask for a licence. So if you are comfortable driving one, that’s the most conveninet transportation in Vietnam, just make sure you wear a helmet every time and don’t expect any rules to be respected!

When we decided, we wanted to see more of the country, we went on a day trip to Dalat. The bus ride was 6 hours long, not a very comfortable one, but it definitely worth it. Dalat had the most beautiful landscape we saw during our trip. We visited two waterfalls, a monastery, a large golden Buddha statue, a silk and art museum and The Crazy House, which is somewhat similar to Gaudí’s magical bulindings in Spain. They also organized a coffee tasting tour for us, we tasted all kinds of traditional sweets and their famous white wine. There was a possibilty to ride ostrichs and elephants, but poor animals looked so sad and probably were kept in cruel conditions, we couldn’t with a good conscious sit on their back. Unfortunately animal protection is not really on the schedule in Asia, but we, visitors have the power to vote with our money, so just think a second before you pay for something, that causes suffering for innocent animals!

Before going for a kitesurf session if you wake up early you can go for a great Surf session! There are two main spots for surfing in Mui Ne
The Little Buddha and Malibu beach.
Malibu beach has a lot more space and during my stay it had bigger waves also.

We were going to the Little Buddha after kitesurfing when the wind died off

Come and join us in Sicily

Sicily is one of the best spots in Europe to start kitesurfing.
Thanks to the flat shallow water it is easy to progress super fast.
We use Radio helmets and new equipment to provide the best kitesurfing experience

Read more about our spot here