Desire to shine!

Sam Son - city of brilliant colors.

Sam Son has a long beach and beautiful natural scenery, which are ideal conditions for relaxation. Therefore, since 1904, the Governor-General of Indochina, Jean-Emest Moulié, has built observation towers, medical stations and health care centers in the beach area and along Truong Le mountain. In the book "Beautiful Thanh Hoa", there is a detailed description of Sam Son at that time: "The boulevard of the beach stretches nearly 3km (...). Along the boulevard are private residences and the building of the Steel Wire Association, the Ministry of the Interior, the Doan house, the villa of the Ninh Binh consul and the Governor-General's office. The villa of the Thanh Hoa consulate with beautiful ironwood columns, was built near Doc Cuoc temple on Mui Chao mountain - between that building and coordinate 79 is the Des Rochers villa (on the mountain), built on a steep promontory at the foot of the waves and reserved for officials to relax".

Sam Son has a mixture of river, mountain and sea terrains; between beaches with Truong Le mountain and river, lake and lagoon landscapes... creating a rich and diverse tourism resource. It is a nearly 15km long coastline, from Cua Hoi to Quang Dai, with flat beaches, gentle slopes, fine white sand and quite clean, warm and clear sea water, with a salt concentration of about 0.3%... According to some French studies on the best beaches in Vietnam, Sam Son beach is ranked first with criteria such as: beautiful landscape; fine, clean sand; gently sloping beach extending towards the sea; waves suitable for swimming; salt concentration (salinity) is very good for human health...

In addition to the beautiful beach, nature has also endowed this place with many relics and legendary colorful landscapes. Truong Le Mountain is 76m high, located close to the sea, and is considered the pearl of Sam Son. The steep cliffs facing the sea have created the majesty of Truong Le Mountain and are very suitable for mountain climbing and adventure tourism. The gentle slopes and hills are made of ancient granite (typically Doc Cuoc granite block), suitable for camping and other recreational activities. On Truong Le Mountain, there are also relics such as Doc Cuoc Temple, Co Tien Temple, To Hien Thanh Temple, which have cultural and spiritual tourism values. In particular, Hon Trong Mai on Truong Le Mountain is a unique natural landscape of Sam Son. According to statistics, the area has 50 historical and cultural relics, including 1 special national relic, 8 national relics and 30 provincial relics associated with many unique traditional festivals, such as the blessing festival, the banh chung - banh giay festival, the fish praying - swimming festival...

In addition, the natural landscape along the banks of the Ma River and the Do River is also an ideal condition for Sam Son to develop eco-tourism routes on the river. From Cua Hoi in the North, visitors can take a boat to Hon Me and further south or go upstream on the Ma River to visit the Ham Rong and Lam Son relics and many other relics and scenic spots in the province. In particular, the Do River flowing along the city (from the Ma River in the North to Truong Le in the South) has quite attractive natural landscapes, with lotus ponds in the South of An Duong Vuong Temple, which is a potential resource for developing eco-tourism.

Despite its rich tourism potential, Sam Son tourism has also experienced many ups and downs due to historical factors, social fluctuations and especially the way of doing tourism. In February 1989, implementing the province's policy, Sam Son organized the Sam Son Economic - Tourism Fair with the theme "Sam Son Summer 1989: Health - Economy - Friends". In particular, the successful organization of the 100th anniversary of Sam Son tourism festival, with many outstanding marks, has created a premise for the development of Sam Son tourism. Since then, Sam Son has invested thousands of billions of VND to upgrade infrastructure and tourism facilities. At the same time, it has basically overcome the limitations and weaknesses that affect the image of tourism, especially price gouging, forcing customers, and culture in communication and behavior towards tourists. The city has attracted many large projects, creating highlights in the tourist landscape such as the FLC luxury resort, the beach space on the east side of Ho Xuan Huong street...

To create a premise for calling for investment and developing the urban area in a sustainable, civilized and modern direction, the city has established and submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval the adjustment of the General Construction Plan of Sam Son City until 2040. At the same time, coordinate the implementation of zoning plans according to regulations; approve and approve adjustments to detailed planning projects 1/500... Inaugurate and put into operation many key projects such as the Memorial Area for compatriots, cadres, soldiers and students from the South who gathered in the North; projects of sea square, festival landscape axis, sea square urban area, Sunworld water park... Thereby, contributing to fundamentally renewing the urban face, creating highlights in landscape architecture space and creating new tourism products for the city. In 2024, Sam Son tourism will continue to affirm the province's leading position, attracting 8.86 million visitors, serving 17.27 million visitor days, with total revenue from tourists estimated at 17.1 trillion VND.

Today, Sam Son has been affirming its position as an attractive and vibrant tourist center. Based on the achievements, in 2025, the city strives to welcome 9.68 million visitors, serve 19.9 million tourist days, and earn 21 trillion VND in revenue. This is a big goal, requiring great determination and efforts from Party committees and authorities at all levels. More specifically, together with other localities in the province, Sam Son is urgently carrying out a "revolution" to arrange and streamline the organization of the political system. This major change is and will put Sam Son in front of many challenges and great opportunities for development. However, it is hoped that with the achievements gained from more than a century of exploitation, Sam Son tourism will not only achieve the set goals, but will increasingly shine to continue affirming its position as a key tourist center of Thanh Hoa and the whole country.

Article and photos: Tran Hang

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/khat-vong-toa-sang-246828.htm