A week of sightseeing in Nha Trang

[CampariO]

After enjoying Da Nang in Vietnam so much last year, Mrs. CO and I wanted to stop by Nha Trang.

The Air Asia flight was leaving Don Mueang at 8 a.m., so we decided to drive to the airport and spend the night in a hotel.

I chose the "12 The Residence Hotel & Apartment," a converted apartment complex. It looked very appealing, and at 900 baht, you couldn't go wrong, or so I thought. Unfortunately, the mattress was so hard that I could barely get out of bed the next morning. The pillows were too soft, which didn't contribute to a good night's sleep.

For 200 baht a day, you can park your car underneath the building.

Lobby:

 

We woke up at 5:00 a.m., checked out at 5:30 a.m., and then waited 15 minutes for a Bolt taxi to arrive. The ride to the airport was about 10 minutes and cost 120 bt.
Since it was Songkran festival, the airport was busy. Check-in only took 15 minutes, though, and immigration and security were also fairly quick.
 

The flight took two hours. I exchanged some money at Cam Ranh Airport, which is 45 minutes from Nha Trang. I had a lot of USD. The exchange rate at the airport was 1:24000, online it was 24800-24900, and the local rates were around 25000-25750, which is pretty close to the mid-market rate. Some shops, spas, etc., have signs indicating that you can exchange USD and possibly other currencies.
Larger bills yield better rates.
I got a SIM card for 10 USD at the airport; all the counters there have the same prices and exchange rates.

We took Grab to the hotel for 350k. There are a few taxi drivers who offered the trip for 300k.

We booked the 5* Sea Soul Hotel through booking.com. There was a special (3 for 2 nights), so one night with breakfast and a sea view only cost about 1300 Thai Baht (6 nights: 6170k VND).
The hotel is fairly new, well located (several bars/pubs, many restaurants, and massages nearby), and only a few hundred meters from the sea. You either have to leave your passport at the reception or pay 1000k VND as a deposit. This seems to be common practice at some hotels there.

 

 

[CampariO]

We spent the afternoon exploring the surrounding area.

The city's landmark: Agarwood Tower

Like in Da Nang, the beach is wide and many kilometers long.

There are also toilets on the promenade that you can use for 10k.

What if he suddenly has to brake hard?

 

 

[CampariO]

In the evening, we wanted to go to a restaurant with a seafood buffet. We were late, and all the tables were taken. We didn't want to wait, so we couldn't try the line.

We chose the Lousiane Brewhouse, which was also well attended.

 

The beer was very good.

The food, however, was sweet, like many dishes in Vietnam. The bowl was a duck stew that consisted almost entirely of bones.

The fish was quite ok.

An evening stroll along Bar Street. There were three bars where a few girls were sitting outside, waiting for customers. No idea how, where, or what to do with them.

A few meters further to the left some very pretty girls were waiting.

[CampariO]

The hotel's breakfast was very decent for the price range, although it was obviously geared toward Vietnamese and Chinese customers.
There were also plenty of things for me, such as an egg station with a delicious omelet, plenty of fruit, cakes, and other items.
There was also a good coffee machine.

 

[CampariO]

Now the sightseeing begins:
The first stop was the Long Son Pagoda. It's quite nice.

Inside of the lower part of the Buddha figure there were a few wooden ornaments:

The ladies were waiting for customers...for the restaurant.

[CampariO]

We continued to the Po Nagar Temple. Entrance fee was 30k.

[CampariO]

A few minutes drive further, these rocks are a popular selfie spot: the Hon Chong rocks.

Also 30k entry.

We only saw the Mountain Church from the outside because it didn't open until 2 p.m.

[CampariO]

The afternoon was spent relaxing, and in the evening, we explored the nightlife and the night market.
The rickshaws are all battery-powered.

Street food:

Night market:

 

[CampariO]

Day 3: VinWonders Nha Trang is the new name for the former Vinpearl Land Nha Trang, an amusement park on a nearby island. If you want to go there, you should plan and prepare well.

There's a large water park, gardens, a zoo, and many rides, although some were out of service. The shows have set times.

You can buy the cheap tickets for the cable car and stay in the front area, which only has shops and restaurants. Not recommended.

Tickets for the park, including the cable car, cost 950k, and for those over 60, 710k. However, many of the rides are no longer open to people over 50.
A few attractions cost extra, like the zip line, which is usually fully booked or has long wait times.
Otherwise, bring a hat, sunscreen, and good walking shoes; the area is very large.

We took a Grab to the cable car station. On the way, the driver stopped at a friend's ticket booth. The prices were identical. We received the regular ticket for Mrs. CO as a card, and the discounted ticket for myself via WhatsApp. The Grab driver later handed us a 25,000k discount (he probably also received some commission).

Let's go:

The view back:

Edited April 20 by CampariO

[CampariO]

From here on, the regular admission ticket is required:

The zoo:

[CampariO]

More from the zoo:

Most of the animals just dozed in the shade.

The bird show was quite nice:

[CampariO]

We continued to the gardens. It's no comparison to Nong Nooch, but still worth seeing. The winter garden had air conditioning. We stayed there a little longer.🥶

The cactus section is very beautiful. I'll only include a few pictures here, otherwise it would be too boring.

 

[CampariO]

The Japanese garden was not that big, but still beautiful:

The Ferris wheel doesn't start turning until 2 p.m. Mrs. CO wasn't so keen on it. It's said to be one of the 10 largest wheels in the world.

View of the water park, which we didn't visit.

 

There was a 10-minute 3D film. Actually, it was 4D, because there was also wind and spray, and the seats tilted in all directions.

It wasn't for me, otherwise I would have become a Starfighter pilot. Mrs. CO must have had her eyes closed most of the time.

As you can see, there wasn't much activity.

We'd been here for four hours and were pretty exhausted in the 33-degree heat. So we decided not to wait several more hours for the evening shows (the Tata Show is supposed to be good, or the fountain show) and relaxed at the hotel. You can spend the whole day in the park, especially if you're a bit younger.

Edited April 20 by CampariO

[CampariO]

For day 4, we had a temple and a monastery on our radar. It's about an hour's drive and costs 600k for the driver.

The Tong Lam Son Temple Lot consists of a building, the large standing Buddha, and a cemetery. It can be skipped.

Unfortunately, the large Thanh Son Monastery has been closed for some time, and a gardener or something similar refused to let us in. What a pity.

[CampariO]

In the evening, we went for Thai food at Ớt Hiểm Thai Cuisine. At first, we were told the chef was Thai. When we tried the food and were surprised by its taste, we asked about it: the chef had spent a month studying in Thailand. 

The restaurant is beautifully decorated.

The Tom Yum was still ok, a bit sweet, like so many dishes in Vietnam.

The Pad Krapow had the wrong basil, was apparently not prepared with oyster sauce and tasted sour.

Laab Moo was also awful. There's no room for sugar in this dish!

After our bad experiences with Thai food in Da Nang, Mrs. CO swore she would never eat Thai food in Vietnam again.

Back to the bar street, where the girls were bored.

Where we were sitting, the DJ was getting ready.

This waitress weighed 30 kg at most.

 

[CampariO]

You can spend an hour at the Museum of Oceanography. It's a mix of museum and aquarium, albeit fairly simple. The entrance fee is only 40k.

It was busy on Saturday, which had the downside of loudly screaming children banging on the windows everywhere, and chicks with cell phones and extra flashlights were setting new selfie records, trying to capture every fish.

What do you think is in this pool?

Oh, turtles!

[CampariO]

The glass tunnel is quite narrow...for both visitors and the rays.

[CampariO]

Yesterday's meal at "Family Secret" was the best yet!

Spinach cream soup with sun-dried tomatoes, scallops, skewers (lamb and pork), and delicious potato wedges.

The owners are from Uzbekistan. Highly recommended.

[CampariO]

Those were probably the main attractions of Nha Trang. There are a few museums (the Yersin Museum on Tran Phu Street, as well as an ethnic museum), an aquarium on an island, which isn't supposed to be anything special (Tri Nguyen Aquarium), and the Làng Nghề Trường Sơn Craft Village, but from the online pictures, none of it looks that interesting. There are also a few waterfalls, but we didn't want to visit them.

A detour to Dalat, about 135 km or a three-hour drive away, would be a good way to make the stay even more interesting. The road there, however, is very winding, even according to the map. An overnight stay there is recommended. We'll see, maybe next time.

We liked Da Nang better. There is more to see, the city has a quieter impression due to its larger area despite twice the number of inhabitants and above all, neighboring Hoi An is worth a visit.
Tomorrow we're off to Thailand again.

I hope you enjoyed the report.

[biggles]

Thanks for the memories. We went there 3 times, a Pattaya ex-pat and his Filipina gf spent 3 months a year there. We really enjoyed it, tho it was pre Covid. The place had been taken over by Russians, menus, signs, brochures etc all in Russian

The beach front was a perfect example of how to do it. Lots of shade, gym equipt (free) showers, toilets everything Pattaya hasn't got. 

 

[Krapow]

Great pics and report!

I remember you used to be a regular with these.

Oh, and i can't be doing with a soft pillow either.

[thegrogmonster]

Fantastic report and photos.

[Yessongs]

Absolutely outstanding report and pictures Campario...wifey and I have Vietnam on the radar at some point. 

The Viet Coffee girls back home tell me "Hue" is a nice place to see and has nice beach resorts there too.

 

[Pumpuynarak]

Great report and pics TFP

[sakik2024]

I wish I had your energy levels! 

I really enjoyed Nha Trang and Dalat. 

You are inspiring me to write a Vn trip report too. I am a little put off by the language barrier although as a single doing online dating, I had only nice experiences.