Since a couple of new night-life spots just opened and others have closed recently, I thought it might be time to update readers on the night-life scene in Mui Ne and Ham Tien wards. Although the city center has some good clubs, I can't comment on them because I haven't been to them in the past four years.
From east to west along Rang Beach, the first is Dai Duong Ocean Beach Club in Mui Ne ward, whose owners just gave up trying to make it a restaurant with Karaoke and it became a discotheque beach bar. It is located just before the hill entering Mui Ne from Ham Tien on the beach side of the road. So far, it is patronized almost entirely by locals, but I think that will change soon as the tourist season picks up. The next is Pogo, a long time favorite of the backpacker crowd.
It is located about three kilometers west of Dai Duong. The music is good and the atmosphere is very laid back. The foreign owners run all-night "Burning Man" type parties up on the hill above Ham Tien from time to time.
However, the place has become a garbage dump so they may not be doing that any time soon. West of Pogo is DJ Station, a very late night club, often staying open until the sun comes up. It is one of the first clubs on the strip and has great music with a nice atmosphere. One of the two original owners left, but the other one still runs the place. It doesn't usually pick up until after midnight. It seems to be off and on; some nights it's a lot of fun and other nights it's quiet, but that may change with the season.
Dragon Beach, run by a former partner at DJ Station, has been the 'in spot' for the past couple of years and has about the best atmosphere of any of them. The DJ can't seem to move from one number to the next seamlessly, but otherwise the music is quite good. It gets going around 10 and usually closes around 3 or 4 in the morning. The only negative is that there seems to be thieves that work the club and a number of patrons have been ripped off, including yours truly.
