Thanh Hóa is the capital of Thanh Hoa Province, about 150 km directly south of Hanoi. Like Tuy Hoa on the South Central Coast of Vietnam, Thanh Hoa doesn’t get a lot of tourism traffic. I got a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa as it’s the closest airport to Ninh Binh. […]
Notes on Quy Nhon – an emerging beach city in Vietnam (2020 trip report)
Quy Nhon is a provincial capital in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam. I was last in Quy Nhon in 2018, and a 2020 visit wasn’t on my travel radar until I visited the beaches of Phu Yen to the south. After visiting Phu Yen it made more sense to go to Quy Nhon […]
Vinh Hoa Beach – An idyllic small beach getaway in Vietnam
Vinh Hoa Beach is near a fishing village of the same name in Phu Yen Province, on the south-central coast of Vietnam. It’s not near any major city, so it’s best to describe is as being approximately half way between Quy Nhon and Tuy Hoa. If those cities are obscure to you, it’s about half […]
Notes on Tuy Hoa – Just the right amount of nothing much to do
Tuy Hoa is the provincial capital of Phu Yen province on the south-central coast of Vietnam, about half way between Quy Nhon and Nha Trang. I arrived in Tuy Hoa to visit the beaches of Phu Yen. Rather than heading straight to the coast, I stayed to explore the city. There’s not much to do […]
Comparing the beach neighbourhoods of Da Nang and Hoi An
Da Nang and Hoi An are becoming increasingly popular as bases for digital nomads. The two cities are connected by the same long stretch of sandy beach, and if you stand on the beach of Hoi An you can see the burgeoning Da Nang skyline. There are two beach neighbourhoods in particular that have become […]
Visiting Hoi An without international tourists
Hoi An is one of the most charming little cities in Southeast Asia. Having personally travelled to most of the famous tourist sights in the region I can confirm that there are few places that can match its beauty. As such, Hoi An has become one of the overtourism hotspots of Southeast Asia, and by […]
The Living In Asia Newsletter – News on transport and infrastructure in Asia
For regular readers of Nomadic Notes you may know that I also run another site at Living In Asia, where I write about urban design, construction, infrastructure, and transport in Asia. I already write a lot about cities in Asia at Nomadic Notes, but I needed a new home where I can go into detail […]
Bang Saen – The closest beach to Bangkok
Bang Saen Beach in Chonburi Province is just over 100 km east of Bangkok. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s because it’s not a beach that would make it on a “top ten beaches of Thailand” listicle, let alone top 100. In Thailand though it’s a popular beach destination, especially for Bangkokians who want […]
Notes on Kolkata
Kolkata is third-most populous metropolitan area in India, with a population of over 14 million. Calcutta (as it was formerly known) became the headquarters of the East India Company in 1773, and it was the capital of British India from 1858 to 1911. The remains of this period have left one of the grandest cities […]
Old Goa – Time machine dreams and the fragility of civilisation
Old Goa (Velha Goa) was the former capital of Portuguese India from the 16th century until the 18th century. It was once a significant city with a population that rivalled Lisbon, having an estimated population of over 200,000 people. The city was eventually abandoned due to a plague in the 18th century, and the capital […]
