Rạch Giá


Rạch Giá is a provincial city and the former capital of Kiên Giang province, Vietnam. It is located on the Eastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand, southwest of Ho Chi Minh City. East of city, it borders Tân Hiệp and Châu Thành town, the Gulf of Thailand is to the West and surrounds some parts of the city, south of the city is Châu Thành and An Biên town, and to the North it borders Hòn Đất and Tân Hiệp.
On 1 July 2025, Rạch Giá ceased to exist as a municipal city following the Plan to arrange and merge administrative units in [Vietnam 2024–2025|elimination of district level units] in Vietnam.

Administrative units

Rạch Giá was upgraded from a town to a city by Government Decree No. 97/2005/NĐ-CP on July 26, 2005. The city has 12 administrative units:
  • Vĩnh Thanh Vân Ward
  • Vĩnh Thanh Ward
  • Vĩnh Lạc Ward
  • Vĩnh Lợi Ward
  • Vĩnh Quang Ward
  • An Hòa Ward
  • An Bình Ward
  • Rạch Sỏi Ward
  • Vĩnh Thông Ward
  • Vĩnh Hiệp Ward
  • Phi Thông Commune
Rạch Giá is the first city where the Vietnamese government applied a "lấn biển" project to build out to the ocean to expand territory. The "lấn biển" project expanded the city to become one of the biggest new cities in southwest Vietnam. This project added 2 more new wards in Rạch Giá. Besides that, several future construction projects such as industrial center Rach Vuot and urban city Vĩnh Hiệp which will be started after finishing Lạc Hồng Bridge will expand Rạch Giá to the east.

Cultures and tourism

The ceremony of Nguyễn Trung Trực is held annually in lunar August.

Historic

National historical sites:
Other historical sites:

Climate

Rạch Giá has a tropical savanna climate, not quite wet enough to be classified as a tropical monsoon climate though wetter than most climates of its type. There is a very pronounced dry season from December to March, but rainfall is consistently heavy for the remaining eight months of the year.

Transportation

Rạch Giá has 2 main stations: Rạch Sỏi station and Rạch Giá station. Those are the main stations to transport passengers to other towns in the province, or to other provinces in Vietnam.
The bus transportation system was developed pretty early. Passengers can take the bus from Rạch Giá to 4 other towns: Châu Thành, Giồng Riềng, Tân Hiệp, Hòn Đất.
Currently, Rạch Giá Airport is the biggest airport in Rạch Giá. Rạch Giá airport has flight routes to Ho Chi Minh City with Vietnam Airlines.
Rạch Giá has 2 big ship stations: Rạch Giá ship station or Phú Quốc ship station and Rạch Mẽo station. High speed ship is the economic choice for passengers to Phú Quốc island or Kiên Hải islands.