A place to remember

      Nhat Le Beach on the central coast delivers history, fun and luxury in one dose.
At the mouth of the Nhat Le River in Quang Binh Province, tourists frolic on a long strip of white sand where soldiers once fought and died.
Owing to its strategic location, the river mouth was the scene of a major battle between the forces of Dai Viet (now Vietnam) and the Champa kingdom of Chiem Thanh in the eleventh century.
The estuary where the Nhat Le River ends its journey down from the Truong Son Range is also called Tru Nha, Ha Cu or Cua Sai, and is the location of the provincial capital, Dong Hoi.
When the sky is clear and a breeze is blowing, the splashing waves cast off bubbles like pearls as they lap against the beach. The crystal-clear water is perfect for swimming and splashing around.
The beauty of Nhat Le Estuary can be poetic. At night, fishing boats festooned with lanterns of all colors make the river look like a city or a sky filled with thousands of stars.
For overnighters and day-trippers, there’s a four-star resort called Sun Spa that occupies 29 hectares of Bao Ninh Peninsula and houses a hotel, villas, bungalows, a restaurant serving Asian and European meals, and coffee bar.
Surfing, canoeing, jet-skiing and paragliding are available there, as are football and volleyball on the beach, tennis, billiards, swan boats and the ubiquitous karaoke. They also have yoga and tai chi classes.
Many of the resort’s guests try out paragliding, which affords them spectacular views of the sea, the river, the sand dunes of the peninsula, the expanse of Dong Hoi, and the mountains of the hinterland.