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Con Dao Travelling Experience - Ultimate Travel Guide to Con Dao
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Con Dao Travelling Experience - Ultimate Travel Guide to Con Dao
April 29, 2021
Con Dao (Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) is famous for its pristine beautiful beaches, fine white sand that captivates visitors. In addition, the air on the island is very fresh, like a paradise for relaxation, making this place a great destination for those who want to "hide" noisy, hustle life in the city
Con Dao is the name of an offshore archipelago in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, 97 nautical miles from Vung Tau and 45 nautical miles from Hau river. Con Dao or Con Son is also used for the name of the largest island in this archipelago. Before the 20th century, it was often called Con Son island Con Lon or Kunon. Old name in English and French texts is Poulo Condor.
In 1977, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam decided the official name was Con Dao. Con Dao is also a district administrative unit of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
Con Dao has the same longitude as Ho Chi Minh City (106 ° 36 ′) and the same latitude as Ca Mau province (8 ° 36 ′).
Con Dao archipelago consists of 16 islands with a total area of 76 km².
The name Con Dao is of Malay origin from the word "Pulau Kundur" which means "Hon Bi". The Europeans transcribed it as "Poulo Condor". Su Viet is called "Con Lon Island", maybe also "Kundur". The island's own Cambodian name is "Koh Tralach".
The time from Tet to the end of summer and from March to the end of September are the best time to travel to Con Dao. However, from October to February, although the waters of Con Dao often have big waves, there is always a fair amount of sunshine and it is also worth visiting Con Dao.
March to the end of September is the time when the sea is calm. Even though it is the rainy season, the rains in Con Dao mainly lasts no more than 1 hour. Other times of the day are still full of sunshine. This time is suitable for cruises, snorkeling and island exploration. This is also the season when turtles come from all over Con Dao to lay eggs.
From October to the end of February, due to the influence of northeast wind, the waters of Con Son Bay often have big waves, but the surface in the west and southwest of the sea surface is still calm and less affected by wind waves.
Currently, there are 2 ways to move to Con Dao: ships and airplanes.
Vessel: Vessels from Vung Tau are slow, taking about 12 hours to reach Con Dao. If you go from Tran De port - Soc Trang, it only takes 2.5 hours for you to arrive in Con Dao.
Airplane: There are currently flights from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Can Tho to Con Dao.
If you take a plane, you will land at Co Ong airport 12 km from the town. You can travel by taxi near the airport.
Guests traveling by boat will dock at Ben Dam harbor, also 12 km from the town.
You can rent a motorbike to visit around the island at a cost of 100,000 VND / day, excluding gasoline. You can rent a car at the motel for convenience.
Scuba diving in Con Dao
Con Dao consists of different sub-islands such as Hon Bay Canh, Hon Tai, Hon Tre, Hon Egg, Hon Trac or Hon Cau. This is the convergence of coral reefs with the highest density in Vietnam. Thus, Con Dao is an ideal place to explore the amazing ocean world. At the diving sites that have been pre-explored, visitors will be guided to basic maneuvers and diving with the instructor.
The waters of Con Dao located in the East Sea are abundant in seafood, promising an interesting sea trip for the fishermen. After that, you can enjoy your booty and enjoy the peaceful space of blue and white sea with your companions or relatives. In particular, some visitors challenge their courage by themselves with shark fishing animals. The most ideal place is Nhat beach, located on top of the famous Love of Con Dao. According to the "experts" shark fishing islanders said, the best time to go shark fishing is when the night falls, and the fish is big or small, more or less depends on weather and water.
Con Son Bay consists of a system of 14 different small and small islands with a chain of Tai, Trac, Rabbit, ... gathered like a big family and Hon Bay Canh, Bong Lan, Hon Cau, Hon Egg, Hon Tre ... majestic in the middle of the sea, are the islands that create a poetic beauty for Con Son Bay and is a marine ecological reserve with coral reefs that are nowhere to match in density and type.
Traveling to Con Dao, you can experience a quiet but extremely charming night on Bay Canh Island. You will see firsthand the sea turtles of Chelonia mydas that folk call green turtles ... nest and lay eggs on the beach. You can contact Con Dao National Park to book these tours.
Hon Bay Canh, Con Dao
Hon Bay Canh is located in the East of Con Dao, with an area of 683ha, including two parts of the island connected by sand in the middle called Bai Cat Lon. This is also one of the 14 spawning grounds of Con Dao sea turtles and is the beach with the most number of turtles spawning in Con Dao. During the breeding season (from April to September every year), at least 1-2 nights each night, more than 20-30 individuals at night will go to the nesting grounds and lay eggs.
Considered the most beautiful beach in Con Dao, Dam Trau beach is 12 km northwest of Co Ong airport. From the center of Con Dao town, if you take a motorbike or car, it will take you about 30 minutes to reach Dam Trau beach. This place is famous for its smooth stretch of white sand, primeval forests with green trees and cliffs with unique shapes. Coming to Dam Trau beach, visitors can comfortably swim in the sea, enjoy the beautiful scenery or snorkel.
Suoi Nong Beach is a beautiful beach in Con Dao. From Dam Trau beach, visitors can cross a short forest road to reach Suoi Nong beach. This place still remains untouched and little known for its flat white sand and a rare mangrove ecosystem in other islands.
Con Dao National Park covers an area of nearly 6,000 hectares on land and 14,000 hectares of water. The relationship of coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves create a favorable environment for the reproduction, nursery and conservation of marine species.
Currently, Con Dao is the region with the most sea turtles in Vietnam, with two common species: tortoiseshell and winter. There are 17 sandbanks recorded as spawning grounds of turtles, of which 4 are recorded as having 1,000 mother turtles spawning annually.
Coming here, you will experience many interesting activities with a variety of types such as fishing, diving, cycling, walking or viewing nature.
Con Dao prison is considered "hell on earth" during the war against the French and the US. This prison system was built by the French to hold prisoners especially dangerous to the French colonial regime such as: political prisoners, death row inmates ... Here the French colonial period held communist characters and patriots opposed to the colonial government, and were later used by the US to imprison prisoners in the war against America.
The most famous place in this prison complex is the "tiger coop". The "tiger coop" is the harshest solitary confinement. Prisoners here are held in rooms only 5m² wide, with no beds. Prisoners were put in shackles and had to lie on a damp cement floor with poor sanitation and eating conditions, and were frequently tortured for interrogation. This section is for important prisoners who refuse to report, with the purpose of using their suffering to submit to the will of the prisoners. To avoid public opposition, the "tiger barn" was built in isolation by the US and kept secret, for a long time no one outside knew about the existence of this "tiger coop".
Phi Yen Temple, also known as An Son Mieu, is an ancient temple built in 1785, (then rebuilt in 1958) to worship Phi Yen, the second wife of King Nguyen Anh. This shrine is very sacred to the people of the island and it is associated with a tragic story of a talented woman rich in patriotism. After her death, the people on the island deeply mourned her and set up a big, beautiful temple to worship. In 1861, after conquering the island, France decided to move the entire population to the mainland to build a prison. The temple was gradually crumbling. In 1958, the people on the island rebuilt the temple on the old foundation.
Located in the north of Con Son island and 3 km from Con Dao airport. This is a windy bay, deeply inland, the harmonious combination between the surrounding sea and mountains, giving the bay many poetic and mysterious landscapes, charming landscapes and fresh environment.
Constructed in December 2009, Con Dao Museum with a total budget of over 62 billion VND, is a meaningful work and is a place to preserve historical values, proving the tragic period but also very heroic of the nation.
With nearly 2,000 documents, artifacts are on display under 4 major themes including reflecting the crimes of colonialism and imperialism; on the resilient and indomitable spirit of fighting of the revolutionary soldiers and Vietnamese patriots for 113 years; about the development of Con Dao today as well as the promotion of the value of the historical relic of Con Dao as a national heritage, educating the young generation today and tomorrow the Party's tradition of revolutionary struggle and the Vietnamese people.
Nui Mot Pagoda (Van Son Tu) is located on Nui Mot, built in 1964. Over time of deterioration, the pagoda was started and embellished on August 13, 2010, inaugurated on December 4. / 2011. Due to its location on the mountain, the pagoda has a sweeping view of the sea, overlooking the panorama of Con Dao town, Con Son bay, and An Hai lake.
Oyster porridge is a dish that tourists must try when coming to Vung Tau in general and Con Dao in particular.
The main ingredient of a bowl of oyster porridge is delicious rice, round seeds, add a little sticky rice to create thickness and consistency. Fresh oysters are caught from the sea, then cleaned, marinated with spices and stir-fried to infuse. When the porridge is cooked, the cook poured the fried oysters and seasoned them to taste.
This species of snail bears this name because of its shape resembling a woman's mounds, this is one of the most attractive dishes from name to taste. Vu Nang was a straight spike, with the flesh inside, white and plump.
Her nipples whether processed by baking, boiling, stir-frying or making salad ... are also attractive. However, according to many visitors, the best taste is still grilled on her nipple with onion fat. This is a famous specialty of Con Dao, so at any restaurant you can enjoy.
Moon crab is a type of crab with strange shape, on its back there are many red spots that are mixed with bright pink color. If you look closely and associate, you will see that it is also close to the moon, perhaps that's why people give it this name.
The most common way to cook it is boiled or steamed, then the crab meat dipped in salt, pepper and lemon is really great. However, there are also many different and equally attractive cooking methods such as making hot pot, cooking soup, cooking vermicelli or using meat to put in banh canh. Each processing method brings its own unique flavor, deliciousness and sweetness because of the inherent special flavor of this crab species.
This is known as a noble fish sauce, because to catch and make a quality jar of fish sauce requires meticulousness. Under the Nguyen Dynasty, the sauce was also one of the annual offerings.
Mam nhum is used to dipping boiled dishes or rolls. When enjoying, you will feel the sweetness of the meat, add a little sardines of the sea, sour and interesting.
Red lobster is also known as fire lobster because the dark red color is very characteristic of this region. Con Dao red lobster is not big but the crab meat is very chewy, sweet and firm.
Lobster meat is not only delicious, but along its spine and head there is also a layer of highly nutritious shrimp bricks, each winter comes this thicker bricklayer. Red lobster can be processed into many different dishes such as sushi, steamed, salad, grilled or porridge.
Sá Sùng is one of the rare seafood because it is very difficult to catch and only appears in early March until July every year. Coming to Con Dao, you definitely cannot ignore this specialty.
Sá Sùng can also be processed into many different dishes such as stir-fry vegetables, porridge, soup, golden grilled, crispy, salad ... but the most popular is grilled sausage with chili sauce. Sá Sùng are both crunchy, chewy, and fatty, and also a very nutritious dish.
Red grouper is one of the specialties of Con Dao not to be missed. Another name is Song fish and is the most popular type of fish in the seas in Con Dao with its sweet and fragrant flesh, often processed into very attractive sauces, grilled and salads.
Bang in Con Dao is a forest tree with very large leaves and fruits. When Tet comes, people can also pack banh chung with eagle leaves. The people here come in the season to harvest the almond and dry it to dry the skin, then split it to get the seeds, then roast with salt or sugar as you wish.
Almond seed jam is a famous specialty of Con Dao. Jam flavor is usually crunchy, nutty, fragrant and interestingly greasy, and is a special gift bearing the imprint of this place.
If the pasta fish sauce dishes are familiar to tourists when coming to the seas, oyster fish sauce will be a very unique dish. This is a familiar dish in the daily meals of the people on the island. Oysters often cling to coastal cliffs, fishermen can only catch oysters during low tide. The captured oysters are peeled, washed, then stir well with salt, chili powder and other spices and put in bottles. After about 20 to 25 days, the bottle of oyster fish sauce will change color, the meat will float up and the water that settles down below is bright red and can be eaten. Oyster sauce served with rice, dipped with vegetables or rice paper is very attractive. This is a certain dish that visitors must try and buy when participating in Con Dao tours.
Con Dao is home to many kinds of fresh seafood for visitors to enjoy and buy as gifts for families. The first dish can be mentioned is her snail, which is the best snail bought and baked with onion fat. Boiled moon crab dish with salt and pepper, lemon pepper.
The stock of emperor shrimp, white meat, provides lots of protein and minerals. Deep fried squid, mackerel, beef, and octopus are all attractive seafood here.
