Nha Trang city is located on the southern central coast of Vietnam, facing Cam Ranh Bay. It’s divided into two parts – North and South – by the Cai River, connecting each other by the Tran Phu Bridge. The Southern part is more developed and owns a fine and clean beach of 12km from Cau Da Port to the bridge. The beach runs along Tran Phu Street, the nicest street of the city and is home to most of the good hotels, crowded bars, grilled seafood restaurants and also a night market. This beach city attracts millions of tourists per month thanks to its warm weather, nice beaches and calm blue sea.
My latest trip to Nha Trang was by bus from Dalat in June, 2015. I love Nha Trang city for its salty and cool breeze, long and clean public beach, shallow, calm, blue water. Even though the city welcomes millions of tourists per month, I didn’t feel too crowded in the daytime. It seems that most travelers relax and stay within their resorts, cool down by swimming pool, take boats to its surrounding islands for sightseeing or take cable car/speedboat to Vinpearl land amusement park. I only felt the bustling atmosphere after dark fell, the temperature dropped down and city lights were turned on. I met many Russian families, Chinese, Korean groups at the night market and along Tran Phu Street.
CLASSIC SIGHTSEEING
City tour of Nha Trang to see the highlights will take you a day. You can visit by car, motorbike, bicycle or rickshaw ride. The highlights include the Institute of Oceanography where displays various collections of living and non-living marine specimens, Po Nagar Cham towers built between the 8th to 11th centuries under the rule of Cham Kingdom in the centre of Vietnam, Stone church – not far from Po Nagar Cham tower, a western catholic church built from stone in 1928, Dam Market – a biggest market in the town selling all local specialties, XQ Nha Trang – an embroidery club showing Vietnamese embroidery skill and art, Long Son pagoda – a symbol of Buddhism in this area, located on a hill side with amazing scenery. The last stop should be Thap Ba hotspring and mudbath center for refreshment after a hot day.
Nha Trang’s countryside is tranquil and unique. Take a traditional wooden boat along Cai River to Nha Trang’s surrounding villages, come closer to local village life and learn about their way of living. You will stop at an ancient traditional house, visit different local families who weave sleeping mats from the rushes (tall, thin grass growing along river bank), make traditional conical hats, incense sticks, or rice noodles and rice papers. Seeing Nha Trang’s countryside by riding a bicycle is also interesting and fun.
A day on a local boat to explore Nha Trang’s beautiful islands also attracts a lot of visitors with its interesting and fun activities. The boat will take you to different islands, stop on the way for snorkeling and swimming. Fresh seafood lunch will be served on one of the islands between the visits.
FAMILIES
Vinpearl Land Amusement Park is a must-see place for families in Nha Trang. The park is located on Hon Tre Island, connecting to the mainland by either a cable car system or by a 7 minute speedboat. Vinpearl Land Amusement Park is part of a complex including hotels, villas, golf, restaurants etc. If you book your accommodation at Vinpearl hotel or villas on the island, your room rate is inclusive of free entry to the amusement park and your family can play as many games as you want during your stay. For couples and families who love quietness or expect real beach relaxation, Vinpearl complex is not a good choice as it’s always noisy and crowded. My suggestion is to stay at a hotel in the city or at other beaches and just come to this park for adventure rides or Under Water World.
A boat tour around Nha Trang’s islands is also interesting for children. Your children can swim, snorkel to see beautiful coral reef and colorful fish, and visit a monkey island where they can see monkeys living in wild.
The Institute of Oceanography attracts many children. It’s like a living dictionary of marine life. Besides a huge room displaying hundreds of marine ecosystem models, the Institute also has marine species in aquariums and tanks including sharks and rare endemic sea turtles.
HONEYMOON, RELAXING
Nha Trang is a heaven of ultimate white sand beaches with extreme luxury resorts. Six Senses Ninh Van Bay is the best amongst those. Nestled on the dramatic bay of Ninh Van, around 60 km from Nha Trang city, the resort consists of 59 villas built on rocks, offering majestic views of the East Vietnam Sea.
Each spacious and unique villa features a plunge pool, premium quality bed room, high-quality natural amenities, hand-crafted bathtub and high privacy accessible by private path and stairs.
L’Alyana is the second best in Ninh Van Bay. Set in a secluded area on the bay between beautiful rock formations, the Villas is a hide-away oasis for honeymooners and couples. Villas are spacious and luxurious with high privacy and unique decoration. Each has a private pool, an outdoor dining area, indoor and outdoor setting bathroom, open plan living area and comfortable bedroom.
Stretching along a private white sand beach on the way from Cam Ranh airport to the city, Mia Resort is also a good choice for honeymooners and couples. Condo rooms are 40m2 with either garden view or seaview, well appointed with high-quality beds, sofas, bathroom with both standing shower and bathtub and an outdoor terrace for admiring the sunrise or enjoying cool fresh breeze.
If you have bigger pockets and a desire for more privacy, villas are highly recommended. Set in a lovely garden and surrounded by tree fences, villas secure high privacy and comfort for you. Each villa is spacious at 170m2 including indoor and outdoor areas, offering garden view and sea view. Sea view villa (or beach front) also features a private splash pool.
ADVENTURE
FOOD
Fresh sweet coconuts and fruits are also Nha Trang’s specialty. Don’t forget to cool down your hot day with a chilled fresh coconut or a mango juice! My farvarite is Banh Xeo (very thin rice paper with pork, shrimp, bean sprout on top, roll up), or Banh Khot (rice cake with shrimp or pork) dipping in special sauce made from fresh tuna and local shrimp sauce (Nha Trang people created their own sauce with their own taste that you can’t find at other beach cities in Vietnam!)
WHAT TO EXPECT
Nowadays, many other beach cities rose up and attract travelers, but Nha Trang is still a great destination, especially for families. You will see the city quite crowded during summer time (May to August). Most hotels on Tran Phu streets are booked out early. Children may make noise, scream, cry, break plates in breakfast restaurant and lobby. Despite this, the beautiful beach and bright sunlight are great compensation. You can also choose a hotel or a resort outside of the city centre with a private beach, for a quiet holiday.
Nha Trang city is affected by the rainy season from the northern-center of Vietnam from October to January. Sea water is dusty and rough during this time and is not a good time for swimming, snorkeling and diving.
