Give Nha Trang three days. Day one is the city: a swim off Tran Phu at dawn, Po Nagar and Hon Chong, then Long Son Pagoda and the Stone Church. Day two is the bay, by boat to Hon Mun and the islands. Day three is a mud bath in the morning and Dam Market in the afternoon. Go between February and August, before the rains.
Nha Trang is Vietnam's beach city: seven kilometres of sand in front of a hotel strip, a bay of islands offshore, and a Cham temple older than anything else on the coast. Come for the water, stay for the mud baths and the fish noodle soup.
Four brick towers survive of the Cham temple to the goddess Yang Ino Po Nagar, and the main north tower dates to AD 817. Named a special national relic in January 2025, it is still a working shrine, not a ruin.
The heart of Vietnam's first marine protected area project, set up in 2001 around the islands in the south of the bay. Coral losses halted diving in 2022, and trips now run to controlled sites, so ask your operator exactly where you are going.
Founded in 1886 and rebuilt at the foot of Trai Thuy hill, with 152 steps up to a white seated Buddha cast in 1964. Reliefs round its base honour Thich Quang Duc and the monks who burned themselves in 1963.
About seven kilometres of sand and promenade in front of the hotel strip, and the city's living room. Swim early, while the water is flat, then come back after dark when 2/4 Square and the beach bars fill.
Hot mineral springs and mud tubs in landscaped grounds on the river west of the city. A slow morning in the mud and the pools is the most Nha Trang thing you can do that does not involve the sea.
Christ the King Cathedral, begun in 1928 and consecrated in 1933, sits on a rock outcrop above the railway station, which is why locals call it the mountain church. French Gothic in stone, with good stained glass.
The round, lotus-shaped hall built between 1969 and 1972 is where the city buys dried squid, fish sauce and bird's nest. Eat at the stalls around the outside rather than inside the hall.
Yersin isolated the plague bacillus in 1894, founded the Pasteur laboratory here in 1895 and died in the city in 1943. His former home inside the Pasteur Institute is now a small museum to him.
The research station began in 1922 as the Indochinese Oceanographic Service, and its museum keeps tanks of live reef fish beside rooms of preserved specimens. The best rainy-day hour in the city.
Stacked granite boulders at the north end of the bay, one carrying a huge hand-shaped print that local legend gives to a giant. The view south over the whole bay is the reason to come.
The marine park island, and the reef most boats are aiming for. Snorkelling first, diving only at sites the park allows.
The big island facing the city, home to the VinWonders theme park and reached by a cable car over the sea.
The nearest island, ten to fifteen minutes from Vinh Truong port. A fishing village and the Tri Nguyen aquarium.
A resort island built around its own mud baths, for a day that mixes the beach and the tubs.
The city beach: about seven kilometres of sand, showers and loungers, and calm water early in the day.
Long Beach, on the Cam Ranh peninsula 20 to 25 km south. Mostly resort frontage, with public stretches between.
The founder opened Vietnam’s first PADI centre in 1997, and the shop still trains instructors.
Honey-marinated beef you grill yourself on a clay charcoal stove, served here for over forty years.
Grilled pork sausage rolled at the table in rice paper with herbs. Several shops share the name: this is 16A.
Fish-cake noodle soup and jellyfish noodles from early morning, and the reference bowl in town.
Vietnamese cooking on Nguyen Thien Thuat, with half-day cooking classes and local charity work behind it.
Rooftop beach club on floors 43 to 45 of the Havana hotel, with a skydeck and a glass-floored walk.
Microbrewery on the sand since 2006, brewing its own beers with a pool beside the tables.
A hotel bar with a long whisky list and the bay through the glass.
The original: mineral mud tubs, hot pools and a hydrotherapy waterfall north-west of Po Nagar.
Hot mineral springs and mud tubs in landscaped grounds by the river. The calmest of the four.
Mud baths and mineral pools in egg-shaped buildings off Nguyen Tat Thanh, south of the city.
A stream of three pools stepping down Hon Son mountain about 25 km north. A scramble, not a stroll.
A park round the falls in Khanh Vinh, 40 to 45 km inland. The name is Raglai for heavenly waterfall.
Three islets in Van Phong Bay joined by a sandbar you walk at low tide. Boats leave from Van Gia.
A deep bay walled in by Nui Chua National Park, the dry forest coast south towards Phan Rang.
The highland city at 1,500 metres, three and a half to five hours up the pass by sleeper bus.
Fireworks over 2/4 Square and Hon Tre at midnight, then three days of shut kitchens.
Fishing villages honour the whale at their whale temples, with boats, processions and offerings.
The long weekend that fills Tran Phu with domestic visitors. Book rooms weeks ahead.
Days 20 to 23 of the third lunar month at the towers, national intangible heritage since 2012.
Day 10 of the fifth lunar month on Hon Noi, the island where the nest trade began.
The city’s biennial festival on 2/4 Square. The 2026 edition ran 17 to 19 July.
Around 13,000 runners on Tran Phu in 2025, over distances from 5 km to the full 42.
The Western new year comes in on 2/4 Square, with the beach crowd on the sand.
Cam Ranh (CXR) sits 35 km south, 45 to 50 minutes by car. Terminal 2 handles international flights, most of them from South Korea.
The station is at 17 Thai Nguyen, by the cathedral. Reunification Express trains take about 7 to 8 hours to Ho Chi Minh City and a full day to Hanoi.
Sleeper coaches leave the southern bus station for Da Lat, three and a half to five hours, and run overnight to Ho Chi Minh City.
Grab, Be and Xanh SM all work in the city. Bus 18 runs to the airport about every 30 minutes and takes about an hour.
Rice noodles in a clear fish-bone broth with fried and steamed fish cake. The city’s breakfast.
The same fish-cake soup topped with crunchy jellyfish.
Thick tapioca noodles in a marlin and mackerel broth, with fish cake.
Grilled pork sausage from Ninh Hoa, rolled in rice paper with greens.
Small rice cakes from clay moulds, topped with egg, shrimp or squid.
Raw small-fish salad rolled in rice paper with herbs and peanuts.
Lobster from Binh Ba island off Cam Ranh, sold by the kilo.
Swiftlet nest from the bay’s islands, in soup or sweetened. The classic gift.
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