Ganh Da Dia

Ganh Da Dia is a bed of columnar basalt on the Phu Yen coast where a lava flow cooled and contracted into vertical prisms, mostly five and six sided, packed together and truncated at the same level so that the surface reads as a floor of stacked plates - the name means the reef of stone plates. The columns run out into the sea and are washed over at high water. It is the most complete formation of its kind in Vietnam and is usually compared to the Giant's Causeway, which is the same process on a different flow. A national monument, with a path and steps down from the clifftop.

Background

Gành Đá Đĩa, the sea cliff of stone plates, lies on the coast at An Ninh Đông in Tuy An District, Phú Yên Province. About 35,000 dark lava columns with almost flat, many-sided tops pack together like a giant honeycomb or a pile of dinner plates, over an area about 100 metres wide and 250 long. Two promontories run into the sea, the northern one with tilted and curving columns and the southern one with mostly upright columns rising in steps. It became a National Scenic Site in 1997 and a National Special Relic in 2020.

Source: Wikipedia, "Ganh Da Dia"

What's there

• Five and six sided basalt columns - packed and truncated at one level.
• A surface like stacked plates - which is where the name comes from.
• Columns running into the sea - washed over at high water.
• The most complete such formation in Vietnam - and a national monument.

When to go

February to August, avoiding the wet season storms. Half a day.

Before you go

The rock is slippery when wet and waves come over the lower columns. It gets busy with Vietnamese visitors at weekends and holidays. Facilities are a car park, steps and a few stalls. There is no shade.

Nearby

O Loan lagoon is south; Tuy Hoa and the coast run down towards it.

Key facts