Nha Trang

A city facing the bay

Nha Trang's centerpiece is Tran Phu Beach, 7 km of yellow sand. The promenade makes it easy to drop into a nearby restaurant or bar, so the sea stays the backdrop to your day. The bay in front of the beach is scattered with 19 islands and islets, and its marine life is among the most biodiverse in Vietnam. That makes it easy to alternate: one day resting on the sand, the next on a boat out to the islands.

Po Nagar, hill of the Cham goddess

North of the center, on Cu Lao Hill near the mouth of the Cai River, stands a cluster of red-brick towers. The Po Nagar Cham Towers were built by the Cham between the 8th and 13th centuries to honor Yang Po Inư Nưgar, the goddess the Cham revered as Mother of the Realm. Vietnamese settlers who came later took up the same faith, calling her Thiên Y A Na, and people still come here to pray. Every year from the 20th to the 23rd of the third lunar month, the Po Nagar Festival takes place. At noon on the 20th, the goddess's statue is stripped of its robes and crown and bathed, then dressed in new robes and given a new crown, both offered by worshippers. The festival became national intangible cultural heritage in 2012, and the towers were designated a special national relic in January 2025.

A fishing village and a hilltop Buddha

Xom Bong fishing village sits on the same Cai River mouth. The area around the Xom Bong bridge, which spans the estuary, is where the city's fishing boats gather, a side of Nha Trang nothing like the beach promenade. On another hill in town is Long Son Pagoda. Climb the steps and you'll find a white Buddha statue about 24 m tall at the top. Stand beside it and the whole city spreads out below.

A day out on the islands

Hon Mun is a marine reserve about 10 km from Cau Da port, roughly 45 minutes by boat. True to its name, which means 'Black Island,' it's ringed by dark rock cliffs, and underwater, hundreds of kinds of coral form forests that are good for snorkeling and diving. If you'd rather stay dry, a glass-bottomed boat lets you look down at the coral. On Hon Noi, known as Bird's Nest Island, a single sandbar separates two stretches of sea that differ in color and temperature. A cable car crosses the water to Hon Tre, home to an amusement park; during scheduled maintenance, you cross by speedboat instead (in 2026, Oct 26–Nov 10). Cau Da, where the island boats leave from, is also home to the Institute of Oceanography. It grew out of the Indochina Fisheries Oceanographic Service, founded in 1922, and its museum holds more than 20,000 marine specimens and welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

The sea in a bowl

Nha Trang is often called Vietnam's seafood capital, and its table starts with the sea. The signature dish is bún chả cá: sea fish such as barracuda or lizardfish, pounded into springy fish cake, served both golden-fried and steamed white in a clear broth simmered from Spanish mackerel bones. Bún sứa is topped with thin slices of jellyfish that have been soaked in lime-spiked salt water and rinsed, and every bite crunches. Bánh căn stalls open in the late afternoon, pouring batter into small clay molds and topping it with shrimp, squid or quail egg. Nem nướng, from Ninh Hoa, is grilled pork wrapped in soft rice paper with crisp fried rice paper, sour starfruit, green banana and greens. The thick orange sauce, cooked from pork, liver, shrimp and sticky rice, is what makes it. A serving runs about VND 40,000–60,000. Dam Market is Nha Trang's main market. In the early mornings and evenings, it's busy with locals shopping for the next family meal.

Where Yersin stayed

The physician Alexandre Yersin first came ashore here in the summer of 1891, while passing along the coast. In 1894, in plague-stricken Hong Kong, he found the bacterium behind the disease; the next year he opened a lab in Nha Trang that became today's Pasteur Institute. He lived and worked here for nearly 50 years, until 1943. Locals called him by affectionate names like Ông Năm, 'Uncle Nam,' and when he died, the fishermen of Xom Con village went into mourning. The institute's old library, at 8 Tran Phu Street, is now the Yersin Museum. His reading and resting corner has been recreated with his bookcase, typewriter desk and bed, and you can see his scientific instruments and books too. His grave lies within the Suoi Dau experimental livestock farm.

Mud baths and nights on the beach

Nha Trang's signature way to unwind is a mud bath. A handful of hot spring and mud bath facilities sit in the hills north of town. Thap Ba Hot Springs is about 4 km north of the center and close to Po Nagar, so it's easy to follow a morning at the towers with a soak. Among the city's mud baths, I-Resort is considered the most popular. Nha Trang's mud is mineral-rich and said to be good for the skin. After sunset, the beach changes mood. Have dinner at a seaside restaurant, then head up to a rooftop bar and end the day looking down at the lights along the shore.

What to eat

• Bún chả cá (fish-cake noodle soup)
• Bún sứa (jellyfish noodle soup)
• Bánh căn (rice cakes baked in clay molds)
• Nem nướng (Ninh Hoa-style grilled pork rolls)

Handy tips

• Bus 18 runs from Cam Ranh International Airport into town for VND 50,000 per person and takes 50–60 minutes. Airport taxis start at a flat VND 300,000 for a four-seater, but fares can vary by time of day, so agree on the price with the driver before you get in.
• Pairing Nha Trang with Da Lat? Check the route first. The Khanh Le Pass between the two cities saw a major landslide in November 2025. In a notice on the Korean Embassy's website, the Korean Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City warned that the risk of rockfalls and landslides is very high in the November–December rainy season, and advised against mountain-road travel on days with bad-weather forecasts.
• Vietnam's national tourism board says Hon Noi, known as Bird's Nest Island, caps daily visitors, so only one boat goes out each morning. The cap and the operating season vary by source (one says tours run only from March to September), so check with a tour operator that boats are running before you fix your dates.