Ha Tien - A Peaceful Town

Ha Tien may be part of the Mekong Delta but lying on the Gulf of Thailand it feels a world away from the rice fields and rivers that typify the region.

There are dramatic limestone formations peppering the area, which are home to a network of caves, some of which have been turned into temples.

Plantations of pepper trees cling to the hillsides. On a clear day, Phu Quoc Island is easily visible to the west.

The town itself has a languid charm, with crumbling colonial villas and a colourful riverside market.

Visitor numbers have recently soared thanks to the opening of the nearby border with Cambodia at Xa Xia–Prek Chak and the creation of a special economic zone – allowing visa-free travel in the town and its immediate surrounds.

Oh yes, Ha Tien is on the map. And it’s occupying a bigger portion of it thanks to major expansion plans that will see the city spread southwest along the coast.

Already a precinct of markets and hotels has sprung up on land reclaimed from the river between the end of Phuong Thanh and the still-quite-new bridge (which superseded Ha Tien’s atmospheric old pontoon bridge).

With development concentrated in this neighbourhood, the charming colonial shopfronts around the old market have thankfully been left to decay in peace.