ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi () is the former capital city of Quảng Bình Province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam. The city's area is . Population as per the 2019 census was 133,672. It is served by National Highway 1A, the ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi Railway Station, and airport. By road, ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi is south of Hanoi, south of Vinh, north of Huế and north of Ho Chi Minh City. It borders Quảng Ninh District on the west and south, the South China Sea on the east, Bá» Trạch District on the north.
ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi has a 12-km-long coastline with white sand beaches. It is the closest city to Phong NhaâÂÂKẻ Bàng National Park, UNESCO's World Natural Heritage Site, 50 km north.
Archaeological excavation in this area proved that humans lived in what is now Quảng Bình province in the Stone Age. Many artifacts, such as ceramic vases, stone tools, and china, have been unearthed in Quảng Bình.
In 1926, French archaeologist Madeleine Colani discovered and excavated many artifacts in caves and grottoes in west mountainous areas of Quảng Bình. She concluded that the Hòa Bình culture existed in this region. Through C14 testing, the artifacts dated back to 10,509 (plus or minus 950) years ago. From Quy ÃÂạt township (Tuyên Hóa District) to south-west about 150 m, the Hum grotto contains many stone tools and animal stones from an ancient human community. Inside Khai grotto near the Quy ÃÂạt township, similar artifacts were found, including ceramics from ÃÂông Sán culture. Additionally, artifacts of the Stone Age were unearthed in grottoes in the Quảng Bình region. Owners of these artifacts lived in the caves and grottoes and hunted for their food.
Human settlement in ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi can be traced 5,000 years back. Many relics and remnants have been found in Bau Tro, a lake in the city, most of which date to the Stone Age. Around 2880 BC, the site of modern ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi was a territory of the Viet Thuong tribe of VÃÂn Lang during the reign of king Hùng Vðáng. The site was a long-disputed territory between the Champa kingdom and ÃÂại Viá»Ât. It officially became ÃÂại Viá»Ât territory in 1069 after Lý Thðá»Âng Kiá»Ât took victory over Champa as a result of the ÃÂại Viá»Ât-Champa War (1069).
The area ceased to be the southernmost of ÃÂại Viá»Ât following the political marriage of the Trần dynasty princess, Huyá»Ân Trân, to Champa king, Jaya Sinhavarman III (Vietnamese: Chế Mân). Princess Huyá»Ân Trân was king Trần Nhân Tông's daughter and king Trần Anh Tông's younger sister. Political matches made to acquire land was a traditional practice by Champa kings. Thanks to this marriage, ÃÂại Viá»Ât acquired lands (as dowry) of what is now Quảng Trá» Province and Huế city (provinces which were then known respectively as Chau O and Chau Ri or Chau Ly).
During the time of the Trá»ÂnhâÂÂNguyá» n War (1558âÂÂ1775), Vietnam was divided into two countries: Dang Trong (South) and Dang Ngoai (North) with the Gianh River as frontier line. ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi was an important fortress of the southern Nguyá» n lords. The ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi Wall (Vietnamese: Thành ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi) was considered the barrier that protected the Nguyá» n lords from the attack by the northern Trá»Ânh family.
During the First Indochina War (between the French and the Viet Minh in the 1950s), the ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi airbase was used by the French to attack the Viet Minh in north-central Vietnam and the Laotian Pathet Lao army in central and southern Laos. During the Vietnam War, ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi was heavily devastated by bombardments from United States B-52 bombers due to its location near the 17th parallel and the DMZ between North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
On February 11, 1965, bombing destroyed much of the city. The Tam Tòa Church, a Catholic cathedral, was severely damaged. Today the bell tower remains near the town center as a monument. On 19 April 1972, during a major North Vietnam offensive, a task force of four US ships were sailing off the coast of Vietnam â , , and . They were attacked by three North Vietnamese MiG aircraft in the Battle of ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi. In an attempt to surprise the task force, the MiGs came in low, described as "getting their feet wet." Despite the official stories, they did not surprise the task force, which had spotted them long before engagement range and were ready to shoot. Two ships, Oklahoma City and Sterett, had anti-aircraft missiles, while Higbee and Lloyd Thomas were armed with dual purpose guns. All ships were at battle stations.
This city is the narrowest land of Vietnam (around 40 km from the east to the west). After the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, Quảng Bình province was merged into Bình Trá» Thiên province (Bình Trá» Thiên is the abbreviation of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trá»Â, and Thừa Thiên provinces). In 1990, Bình Trá» Thiên was once again separated into three provinces as it had been before. ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi then became the capital of Quảng Bình province.
ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi is on the National Route 1, NorthâÂÂSouth Railway, and Ho Chi Minh Highway, at the coordinates 17 21' N and 106 10â E. This city is in the heart of Quảng Bình Province. It borders Bá» Trạch on the north, Quảng Ninh on the south, the South China Sea on the east and Quảng Ninh on the west. It is 50 km south of Phong NhaâÂÂKẻ Bàng National Park, 50 km north of Bang Spa, 180 km south-east of Cha Lo border gate with Laos. It has a coastline of 12 km. NháºÂt Lá» River is the only river that runs through the city. Tro Lake is the source of fresh water. The NháºÂt Lá» Beach is endowed with fine and white sand.
Like all provinces in north and north central Vietnam, there are four distinct seasons in ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi. Despite these distinct seasons, and an annual temperature range of , ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi still has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) as the mean temperature of the coolest month is . The average annual temperature is , average rainfall varies from , total sunshine hours per year is 1,783 hours, and average annual humidity is around 82%. The city sees three types of wind: south-east (gió ná»Âm), south-west (gió Lào), and north-east.
In the âÂÂspringâÂÂ, ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi is very warm, humid and foggy. Although the city is by the sea, its climate is subject to drought and heat in the summer. This is largely due to the dry south-west wind from Gulf of Thailand. This flow of wind is wet but when it passes onto Vietnam, the Annamite Range releases its moisture to cause rains in Laos but drought in central Vietnam. It is rainy in the northeast monsoon (âÂÂfallâÂÂ) and the weather is very warm () although with extremely high relative humidity due to the moist air from the northeast monsoon. In the winter, due to the north-east wind blowing from the Siberia mainland, the temperature may go down below , and there may be slight rain. The highest rainfall occurs in October (), compared to just in Februarys. The highest temperature recorded was 43.2 ðC on 30 April 2024, while the lowest was 6.7 ðC on 24 January 2016.
The city has diverse topographical and geological features, including hill, mountainous, half mountainous, coastal plains and coastal sand dunes.
The hilly region is in the west, stretching from north to south (in parts of communes: Dong Son, Thuan Duc) with an average elevation of 12âÂÂ15 m, with total area of 64.93 km<sup>2</sup>, 41.7% of the city total area. Residents here live on agriculture, forestry, farming. The soil in this area is poor in nutrition, infertile and subject to continuous erosion due to its slope of 7-10%.
The half hilly region surrounds a plain with an average elevation of 10 m from north-east - north to north-west â south-west and south â south-east. This region covers communes and wards of Bắc Lý, Nam Lý, Nghéa Ninh, Bắc Nghéa, ÃÂức Ninh, ÃÂức Ninh ÃÂông, Lá»Âc Ninh and Phú Hải with total area of 62.87 km<sup>2</sup>, or accounts for 40.2% of the city total area. Residents here lives on industrial, handcraft, trading and a small percentage lives on farming. This region is not very fertile, subject to alum. However, thanks to the heavy distribution of rivers and lakes, ponds and pools, it's better for agriculture than the hilly region. The plain with the average of 2.1 m, with little slope, accounting for 0.2% of the city area (5.76 km<sup>2</sup>). Most of the city's commercial, administrative and main streets concentrate in this narrow regions. Coastal sand dune area is on the east of the city, with an area of 21.98 km<sup>2</sup>, making up 14,3% of the total area.
ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi is subdivided into 15 subdivisions:9 urban wards (phðá»Âng) and 6 rural communes (xã).
On March 19, 2025, Dong Hoi City submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration of rearranging administrative units from 15 communes and wards to 3 wards, and at the same time expanding the administrative boundaries to 221km2, accordingly:
The expansion of the administrative boundary of ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi city aims to create more space for development, reduce pressure on the central area, help meet the criteria on population, area size and necessary infrastructure to aim for the goal of becoming a Provincial city (Class-1) urban area.
ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi has a diverse system of roads, railways, waterways and airways, including:
ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi Airport was put into use on 18 May 2008, and the first commercial flight was from Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport, followed by air link with Ho Chi Minh City's Tân Sán Nhất International Airport from 1 July 2009.
According to 2016 statistics, the city has 46 general schools (23 primary schools, 17 secondary schools, 5 high schools, 1 secondary school), 19 preschool schools, and 1 university school.
ÃÂá»Âng Há»Âi is home to Quảng Bình University, a multidisciplinary university.