Sunset Town and the Kiss Bridge, timed right

Sunset Town, Thi tran Hoang Hon, is a new resort town built on the south coast, with the station for the cable car to Hon Thom island, a night market by the beach and, at its edge, the Kiss Bridge. Everything here was built for visitors. If you want a fishing village, this is not it. If you want a sunset with a frame around it and dinner afterwards within a short walk, it does that well.

The Kiss Bridge, Cau Hon, was designed by the Italian architect Marco Casamonti. Construction began in 2021 and it opened in December 2023. It is two curved arms reaching out over the sea that stop about 30 cm apart, so two people standing at the ends are almost, not quite, touching. The bridge faces west toward the sunset. Its official page says that on 1 January each year the setting sun lines up with the gap between the arms; that day the computed sunset is at about 17:55.

Kiss of the Sea, a show of fire, water, light, 3D mapping and music performed by 60 international artists and ending with fireworks, runs at 21:00 for about 30 minutes, according to an agency listing that gives a reference ticket price of 950,000 VND and a theatre of 5,108 seats. A second show, Symphony of the Sea, combines light, fireworks, jet-skis and flyboards; in 2024 it was reported at 19:45 to 20:10, a time that may have changed. Check both for your dates.

The Vui Phet night market, by the beach in Sunset Town, is a different market from the one in Duong Dong. It opens daily from 16:00 to midnight with more than 100 stalls. A free shuttle runs from 18:00 to 21:30, and a buggy costs 15,000 VND per person.

November to April, when the west coast is calm and the sky is clearer, with January to March averaging fewer than seven rainy days a month. The 1 January alignment draws people for exactly that reason; if you go that evening, arrive early. From May to October sunsets here are a nightly gamble, though the bridge and the market are still worth an evening when the sky opens.

Stay nearby for one to three nights if Sunset Town is your evening plan, so you can walk back after the shows instead of driving 20 to 30 minutes. Large resorts in the south include Premier Village at Mui Ong Doi, the southern tip, with 215 private-pool villas, and the two Bai Khem resorts described on the south-east coast page.

• If you dislike built resort towns. Everything here is new and made for visitors.
• If you want to watch the sunset in silence. Between 16:00 and 19:00 the bridge is busy, and the 17:00 jet-ski show runs in front of it.
• On 1 January, if crowds bother you more than the alignment matters.