Photo: Hoàng Thạch (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam
The hotels people search for by name, priced on five booking sites at once. The beach, the islands, the mud baths and the food. And the parts other guides skip: the taxi numbers, the bus station that moved, the ferry pier and the month it rains.
01 What Nha Trang is
Nha Trang is the beach city of south-central Vietnam: a six-kilometre crescent of sand with a boulevard of hotels along it, a bay full of islands, a cable car to a theme park, and mud baths in the hills behind. Flights land 35 km south at Cam Ranh airport. Vietnamese families, Koreans, Russians and Chinese visitors outnumber Western ones, which is why the food is good and the prices are low.
02 Hotels
Ordered by verified guest score. No property can pay to move up this list.
★★★★★ Hon Tre island 8.4 km from the beachfront 84 rooms
84 villas, the smallest and most private of the Vinpearl Hon Tre properties (Trip.com)
★★★★★ Bai Dai, Cam Ranh 16 km from the beachfront 80 rooms
80 villas and condos terraced down a cliff above Bai Dong beach (Trip.com)
★★★★★ Tran Phu south 0.3 km from the beachfront 280 rooms
Sixth-floor infinity-edge pool looking straight down the bay
★★★★★ Hon Tre island 6.7 km from the beachfront 483 rooms
483 rooms on the quieter north-west promontory of Hon Tre (Trip.com)
★★★★★ Tran Phu south 0.3 km from the beachfront 1068 rooms
Private pedestrian tunnel under Tran Phu straight to the beach, with free loungers - the only city hotel with this
★★★★★ Hon Tre island 7.1 km from the beachfront 533 rooms
Vinpearl's original Hon Tre island resort, open since 2003 (Trip.com)
03 Getting around
Taxi numbers, the bus station that moved, where the ferries leave from, and where to change money.
01
The taxi companies that operate in Nha Trang, their phone numbers, their metered rates, what four typical trips cost, an…
02
The southern bus station moved, which is why so many people search for it. Here is where both stations are now, which op…
03
Three piers, and the boats do not all leave from the same one. This page says which pier serves which islands, what the …
04
Ga Nha Trang sits in the middle of the city on the north-south line. This is where it is, which trains stop, how long th…
05
The airport is 35 km south of the city on one road. There is a public bus, a taxi rank with a fixed airport fare, Grab, …
06
Nha Trang has the driest climate on the Vietnamese coast, and one wet season that does not line up with the rest of the …
07
Where to change money in Nha Trang, what the gold shops and banks pay against the official rate, which ATMs charge what,…
08
Vietnam's two beach cities, compared on the things that decide the trip: the beach, the hotel prices, the nightlife, the…
04 Things to do
Closest to the beachfront first, each with its fee, hours and how to get there.
Free Beaches · 0km
The municipal beach that fronts Tran Phu street on the west shore of Nha Trang Bay; Vietnam Tourism describes it as about 7 km long, while VnExpress measures the wider Tran Phu road beach at roughly 12 km. A landscape…
Shopping and markets · 0.3km
A twelve-storey mall at 01 Tran Hung Dao, roughly 200 m back from the beach promenade, with a Lotte Mart supermarket occupying…
Free Shopping and markets · 1km
Nha Trang's biggest and oldest market, named after the 7-hectare lagoon it was built on; a market has stood here since about 19…
Free Shopping and markets · 1km
The main open-air night market of the tourist district, at 46 Tran Phu in the former Loc Tho ward, a block back from the beach.…
Beach clubs · 1.5km
The original Nha Trang beach club, open since 1994 and founded by an Australian entrepreneur with Vietnamese partners, at 72-74…
Beach clubs · 6km
A beach club on Nguyen Co Thach in the Vinh Hoa area north of the city, on the quieter stretch of coast beyond Hon Chong. It is…
Activities · 6km
Vietnam's best-known island theme park, on Hon Tre island across Nha Trang Bay, reached by the Vinpearl cable car or by speedbo…
05 Map
Every pin is drawn from the same coordinates the distances are computed from.
01 Why this guide
Every fee, opening hour and price came from a page we fetched and list at the bottom of the article. Every distance is calculated from the property's own coordinates.
02 Why this guide
People search for Havana, Vinpearl, Sheraton and Mia by name. Each gets a page that answers the four things you want: where it is, what it costs, how guests rate it, and what is wrong with it.
03 Why this guide
The taxi phone numbers, which pier the island boats use, where the southern bus station is now, and where Koreans change money. The things you need on the day.
This guide covers 7 hotels and resorts in and around Nha Trang, of which 6 are rated five-star and 5 have the sand directly in front of them. Most are on or just behind the Tran Phu beachfront.
About 35 km. Cam Ranh International Airport is south of the city on one coastal road, and the hotels here sit between 20 and 79 km from the terminal, roughly 40 to 60 minutes by taxi or bus.
Plenty. This guide lists 8 places, 6 of them within 5 km of the beachfront, including 0 islands reached by boat, the VinWonders theme park, hot mud baths, Cham towers and the markets.
For a beach city with real food and nightlife, yes. It is bigger and busier than a resort strip, cheaper than Da Nang, and easier for day trips. If you want silence and a private beach, stay on the Cam Ranh strip instead.
No. Rates in this guide start from about $42 a night, street food costs a couple of dollars a plate, and a taxi across town is a few dollars. The five-star island resorts are the exception.
They are the same airport. Flights sold as Nha Trang land at Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR), about 35 km south of the city. There is a public bus, a fixed-fare taxi rank and Grab.