Ha Tien

Ha Tien was established in the early eighteenth century by Mac Cuu, a Chinese merchant who left Guangdong after the Qing conquest, settled there with a title from the Khmer court and in 1708 switched his allegiance to the Nguyen, while running the place as an effectively autonomous trading port; his descendants governed it until 1832. The Mac family tombs stand on Binh San hill above the town. The setting is karst - limestone hills, caves with shrines in them, and a coast of small bays - and the town's poets wrote a celebrated cycle of ten poems about its scenery. Ferries to Phu Quoc leave from here.

Highlights

• A port founded by a Chinese exile - Mac Cuu, in the early 1700s.
• The Mac family tombs - on Binh San hill above the town.
• Karst hills and cave shrines - the landscape the poems described.
• Ferries to Phu Quoc - and a border crossing to Cambodia.

When to go

November to April, the dry season. A full day.

Before you go

The town is a working border and ferry port rather than a resort, and development along the coast has been fast. Beaches near the town are not clean. Cave shrines are small. The Cambodian border trade dominates parts of it.

Nearby

Phu Quoc is offshore; the Cambodian border is west.

Key facts