Vung Tau is shaped by its geography — a hammerhead peninsula with two beaches on opposite sides and two small mountains in the middle. The classic visit climbs the Christ statue on Mount Nhỏ for the view back over the city, walks along Front Beach at sunset, and works through a long seafood dinner near Back Beach. The colonial Bạch Dinh villa, the lighthouse on the central hill, and a couple of distinctive pagodas fill the rest of a comfortable weekend.
The town is small enough to do most of this on foot once you accept the heat; rented bicycles or scooters cover everything in a day.