Located in the Central of Vietnam, South Central Coast retains a natural area of 44,360.5 km2 accounting for 13.4% of the country's natural area and 31.4% of the region's natural area. It is one of three sub-regions in the Central (the two other regions are North Central Coast and Central Highlands).
South Central Coast is adjacent North Central economic zone to the north, Central Highlands and Cambodia to the west and northwest, South East economic zone to the south, and South China Sea to the east.
In term of South Central Coast geography, the region consists of 8 provinces in order of north - south: Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan. South Central Coast owning Hai Van Pass, the end of the North Truong Son mountain range along with South China Sea, Paracel and Spratly Islands facilitates to develop international ports.
South Central Coast terrain consists of coastal plains and low mountains, with the east - west width (an average of 40 - 50 km) and is narrower than the North Central and Central Highlands. The region owns a short and steep system of rivers, deep shorelines, and a narrow continent. Deltas cover a small area due to western mountains stretching southwards and reaching toward the sea. Deltas are mainly accreted by the river and sea, and usually follow the foot of mountains.
There exists a complex topography in South Central Coast. Hills - mountains - forests – seas interweave to create the great number of majestic wonders and landscapes, along with wonderful beaches with blue sea, white sand, and dreaming golden sunshine. These are extremely favorable conditions for provinces in the region to promote tourism development, focusing on beach – island tourism. Among them, Da Nang is honored one of 6 most attractive beaches on the planet by Forbes Magazine (USA). Nha Trang owns many beautiful bays, beaches with endlessly waves, such as Cam Ranh Bay, Van Phong Bay, Dai Lanh Beach, Tru Beach... fascinating both domestic and foreign tourists. In addition, Phu Yen with a long coastline of 190km, many bays and lagoons creates natural and unspoiled beauty: Vung Ro Bay, Xuan Dai Bay, Cu Mong Lagoon, O Loan Lagoon, or Da Dia Reef....
Largest resource in South Central Coast is marine economy. Marine economy in the region includes marine and resort tourism, aquatic sources (accounting for nearly 20% of all national fishing yields) and aquaculture, especially seafood specialties (shrimp, lobster, grouper, pearlies...) with acreage of 60,000 hectare on salty, sweet, and eventually brackish waters. Besides, the region also invests to develop marine transportation both in domestic and international scale. The system of deep-water port ensures large vessels to be able to anchor. There are also prospects for oil and gas in the continental shelf in South Central.
South Central Coast is located in the mineral potential region of the country. Notably, there are great volumes of heavy mineral sand and white sand, which allows developing the region to become the industrial center of crystal and optical glass, paving stones, mineral water...
South Central Coast also possesses many international airports and deep-water sea ports which can pick all types of large tonnage ships and international flights. Among them, Cam Ranh Port and Nha Trang Port are two of largest deep-water sea ports in the country. Besides, Quang Ngai plain with the an area of about 1200km2 including the valley of Tra Khuc River and Ve River facilitates the development of agriculture. Particularly, there is the system of Thach Nham irrigation schemes built on Tra Khuc River to transfer the water fully serving many districts around the region.