Are Sơn Trà’s beaches really closed to foreigners?
Hello, I wanted to hike on the western side of the Sơn Trà Peninsula and then go down to one of the beaches for a swim.
I had heard that the peninsula was open again, so I decided to do the hike. I went there at 8 a.m. After about 1.5 hours of walking, I reached the area where Google Maps shows several beautiful beaches. I’ll attach a screenshot showing exactly where I was and the beaches I’m talking about.
When we arrived, there was a guard, and there was tape blocking the road on the left that went down toward the beaches.
I spoke with the guard using Vietnamese translation (with chat gpt pro so it is a good translation in context), and this was our conversation:
Me:
“Which accessible beach is the closest?”
Guard:
“At the moment, the roads/trails going down from the mountain to the sea are very dangerous. You can turn back and take Lê Văn Lương Road to reach the beach.”
Me:
“If I continue along this road, are the beaches farther ahead accessible, or are all the beaches on the peninsula closed?”
Guard:
“The routes from the mountain down to the sea are only informal trails created by local people. They are quite difficult and dangerous. Local people may be able to use them, but since you are foreigners, you should use the main roads that lead to the sea instead.”
Me:
“So if we’re willing to take the risk, can we try? If we feel that it’s too dangerous, we’ll turn back. Is it actually allowed to try going down to the beach? If yes, I’d like to try.”
Guard:
“Sorry, you can’t. It is currently prohibited.”
So from this conversation, I understood that these trails down to the beaches are currently prohibited for foreigners, while local people can still use them.
I’m a bit confused because I thought the Sơn Trà Peninsula had reopened, and some of the beaches shown on Google Maps look amazing.
Does anyone know what the exact current rules are?
Are all of these beaches on this side of Sơn Trà currently inaccessible to foreigners, or are there some that can still be legally reached?
And does anyone know whether this is a temporary restriction and when these trails/beaches are expected to reopen?