The best beaches near Hanoi city

Hanoi is in the north of Vietnam so the weather is divided into 4 seasons: Spring ( Feb - April), Summer( May - July), Autumn(Aug - Oct)  and Winter ( November - January)
In Summer, it is quite hot from 30 - 39 degree celsius, so if you travel to Hanoi in Summer, you could combine a beach break from Hanoi, it will be great. Any beaches near Hanoi?

Of course, there is no beach in Hanoi, However, travellers could enjoy some beautiful beaches near Hanoi within some couple of hours.                                               

1/ Tuan Chau Beach:
Located 170km from Hanoi and takes 2 hour driving by car via the new Highway. Halong is famous for the beautiful bay with thousands karst island. You can stay overnight in cruises on the bay. Besides, you can stay at hotel in Tuan Chau Island to enjoy the beach break and some recreational activities such as water skiing, windsurfing, kayaking and fishing

                                                                     Tuan Chau Beach                                   Photo ParadiseCruise

2/ Cat Ba Beaches:
Ca Ba is an island archipelago, including the largest island with Cat ba town. Even though, Cat Ba is just next to Halong Bay, it belongs to Cat Hai district of Hai Phong City. Not belongs to Halong Bay.
Away 150k from Hanoi, and takes 3-4 hours to drive and ferry to the island (see more: How to transfer from Hanoi to Cat Ba island) 

There are beaches named Cat Co 1, 2, 3 just 500m from the town center. You can walk or take electric car or motorbike taxi. In addition, you can rent a boat to get to Monkey Island, Van Boi Island which is in the Cat Ba archipelago to enjoy the beaches with less touristic and more experience.

                                              Cat Co beach in Cat Ba Island                         Photo by Mathias Schmidt

3/ Hai Tien Beach: 
It belongs to Thanh Hoa province, the south of Hanoi, 150km away and takes 4 hour driving to reach a 2km long beach with clean powdery sand.
The beach here is quite unspoiled with peaceful beauty. Beside the natural landscape, you could see the fishing village and the local life in this coast.
For those who are passionate about seafood, this place is like seafood heaven as it is delicious, varied and reasonable.

Beautiful sandy beach in Hai Tien

 4/ Sam Son Beach:
Again in Thanh Hoa province, not far away from Hai Tien beach. Sam Son is one of the most beautiful beaches in the northern Vietnam.
Located 170km from Hanoi, about 3 hour driving. The beach is about 9km long with wide and flat powdery sandy beach. Especially, the waves here are quite strong and high enough so visitors are very excited. 

Sam Son beach with beautiful FLC resort

5/ Cua Lo Beach in Nghe An province:
Cua Lo is one of the most beautiful beach in th north central region. Located in Nghe An province, 300km away from Hanoi. The traveling time will be around 6 - 7 hours by car. Besides, you can fly from Hanoi to Vinh then move 15km to Cua Lo Beach. It is an 8km long beach with powdery white sand. The beach is wide and the water here is clean.

A long sandy beach in Cua Lo

 Above is some suggested beaches near Hanoi within few hours driving to enjoy the beach break. However, these beaches are only for summer when the weather is warm or hot because the winter is quite cold for swimming.