What season is Con Dao beautiful?
From March to September is the best time to explore Con Dao. Although it is still in the rainy season, at this time the sea is calm and the wind is light in the eastern and northeastern islands. Visitors should visit the remote island during the day, which is full of golden sun and blue sky suitable for snorkeling and taking pictures. In the afternoon, there are often showers, suitable for visiting covered monuments on large islands.
July-September is the breeding season for sea turtles. The rest of the time, from October to March next year, is the windy season, the waters of Con Son Bay have big waves. However, the western and southwestern waters of the big island are still calm and rainless, so visitors can divert their sights to this area with equally beautiful natural landscapes.
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Move
Airplanes are the most time-saving means of transportation to Con Dao. Currently , Bamboo Airways operates a direct flight between Con Dao and Hanoi in about 2 hours and 30 minutes (from 2.7 million VND one way). Vietnam Airlines flies from Ho Chi Minh City (about 1.3 million VND one way), Can Tho (about 1.7 million VND one way) to Con Dao and vice versa. Each trip is about 50 minutes.
From Con Dao Airport to the town center about 15 km, you can take a motorbike, taxi or the resort's shuttle. This distance takes an average of 20 to 30 minutes. To go faster, you can choose the Straw Grass road.
If you don't mind taking a boat to Con Dao, you can visit Con Dao from April to June, when the sea is calmest. Many tourists often choose to take a car to Vung Tau and then continue to take the train for 5 hours to Con Dao. The shorter route is to take a boat from Tran De port (Soc Trang) to the island, it only takes 2 hours to travel, reducing more than half the time compared to departing from Vung Tau.
Taxis cost from 300,000 VND to 450,000 VND per trip. Some resorts and hotels provide free shuttle buses or charge about 50,000 VND per person each way. If you go in winter, you should contact to rent a private car.
On the island, you can travel by taxi for about 12,000 VND/km, tram about 20,000 VND/km, or rent a 12-16 seater car for from 1.5 million VND a day.
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Hotel
Depending on the purpose of your trip, you can stay at a resort, hotel or motel, far or near the center of the island. If you want to relax, high-class resorts and hotels close to the sea, close to the forest, with private beaches are the optimal choice. To explore the town and go to the pier early in the morning, you should stay in hotels and homestays in the center of the island.
Room prices in Con Dao have many levels, ranging from 200,000 VND to more than 10 million VND. Visitors can also camp overnight in places that are allowed by the attraction management.
Where to play?
Explore Nature
Bay Canh Island and Hon Cau are two familiar eco-tourism destinations off the coast of Con Dao, including diving experiences to see corals, visiting mangroves, in the right season, you will see turtles laying eggs, releasing baby turtles into the sea.
Visitors can rent their own canoe to the small island, the price is about 2-5 million VND per session. To save costs, you should book a one-day tour including releasing turtles into the sea combined with diving to see the corals of Hon Bay Canh Island, priced at 790,000 VND per person operated by Con Dao Explorer company.
In addition, blogger Ngo Tran Hai An also suggested for those who like to conquer the coordinates of 3 landmarks of Vietnam's territorial waters, located on Bay Canh Island, Tai Lon Island and nearby Bong Lan Island.
Dam Bamboo Bay Located in the north of the island, it is windtight, surrounded by mangrove forests, where swiftlets nest during the breeding season and many other marine species. On the way, visitors can stop to watch or bathe at Lo Voi beach, Dat Doc beach, Chim Chim cape, Northeast Bay...
Betel Lagoon Beach is a quiet beach, located close to Con Dao airport, about 15 km from the center of the island. This place attracts many tourists to check-in the sight of the plane landing close to the head.
Mui Tau Be Located on a unique road from the airport to the town, surrounded by steep stone slabs forming an arc hugging the sea. This place is an adventurous "virtual life" photo spot, and at the same time is considered the most beautiful place to watch the sunrise in Con Dao.
An Hai beach, Cau Tau beach are beaches in the center of the big island, with fine white sand, calm sea, where many locals come to bathe.
Bai Nhat, Shark Cape is a pristine beach located on the road across the island. Because there is a comfortable downhill, visitors often stop to take pictures with the winding road around the mountainside, with a clear blue beach on one side.
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If you travel to Con Dao during the monsoon season, turn to Western and Southwestern destinations.
Ong Dung Beach unspoiled, suitable for picnics, resorts, and group activities. From here, visitors can rent a canoe from the ranger station to visit neighboring islands such as Hon Tre Lon, Hon Tre Noi.
Hon Tre Noi 2 km from Ong Dung beach, there is a flora distributed on the island, mainly bamboo, so it is named. This place is a bird yard on the sea, from May to September, thousands of birds migrate here from the North to nest and lay eggs such as crested crests, albatrosses, sea terns... Visitors can canoe to the island to see corals, watch seabirds, and fish for recreation.
Hon Tre Lon there is a fine white sandy beach, where many sea turtles are concentrated to lay eggs (ranked second after Cat Lon beach, Bay Canh Island).
Ong Dung primeval forest, Nui Chua is a beautiful trekking place. From Con Dao, you head west, experiencing a trek of about an hour through the primeval forest, leading to the beach at the end of the forest. The entrance ticket to Con Dao National Park costs 60,000 VND per person.
In addition, visitors can visit, learn more about the pearl cultivation process at mussel farms and buy pearl products. Con Dao also has a number of other small offshore islands such as Hon Ba, Hon Cu (Da Bac Island), Hon Vung (Phu Vinh), Hon Anh, Hon Em... however, tourism services have not been exploited.
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Visiting relics, visiting spiritual destinations
Con Dao Museum currently displaying about 2,000 valuable documents and items about Con Dao nature and people from ancient times to the present, and learning about the history of Con Dao prison struggle for 113 years. Entrance ticket price: 20,000 VND one way.
Island lord house is the residence and work of 53 generations of island lords, over 113 years (1862 - 1975), now there are still many artifacts of the luxurious life of the island lords of France, America, Vietnam, and China.
Prison system Con Dao is on the list of 23 special national monuments. This "hell on earth" is a meeting point for a large number of domestic and foreign tourists.
With 40,000 VND per ticket, visitors can visit a cluster of historical relics including the Island Lord's House, Phu Hai Prison, French Tiger Cage, American Tiger Cage. Pick-up hours at historical sites are 7:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. on weekdays, including weekends and holidays. You should register or join a group with a narrator to hear stories from the prison in the past.
Hang Duong Cemetery is the most famous spiritual tourist destination in Con Dao, the resting place of more than 2,000 martyrs, including the grave of Ms. Vo Thi Sau. At night, tourists come here in large numbers to visit and pray.
Hang Keo Cemetery is a place where guides or people often suggest visitors to light incense at this special National Monument to show gratitude to the fallen soldiers.
Pier 914 is a historical witness to the hard labor and sacrifice of many soldiers. Now tourists come to pier 914 to light incense, visit, fish, enjoy the scenery, take pictures of the sunrise.
Ma Thien Lanh Bridge was built in 1930, by the French convicts to build bare-handed in the high mountains, to exploit trees and stones for the construction of prisons, offices...
Temple of Mrs. Phi Yen (An Son Temple) is the second shrine of Lord Nguyen Anh, founded by local people who appreciate her virtue and organizes an island-wide fasting festival on the 17th and 18th of the 10th lunar calendar every year.
Nui Mot Pagoda (Van Son Tu) is the only temple on the island, built in 1964. The pagoda is located on a high mountain with a view of green forests, Con Son Bay, the town and An Hai lotus lake.
The roads on the island also have many beautiful spaces such as the route lined with banyan trees, yellow and red phoenix flowers in summer, pink confetti bushes along the road, old houses, piers reaching out to the sea, coastal roads close to rocky cliffs...
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Specialties
Con Dao seafood you should look for and enjoy are lady snails, conchs, statue ear snails, hand snails, red lobsters, nipple shrimp, red grouper, sun-kissed squid... and marine fish.
Take-home specialties are sold a lot at Con Dao market, including fresh, dried seafood and souvenirs. Tourists are most fond of bracken jam and ground ginseng wine. The taste of Con Dao ginseng is sweet, light, pungent and fragrant, quite similar to Korean ginseng. Folk often take ginseng root to soak in wine, hide chicken, stew duck to nourish...
According to VnE