The Nha Trang attractions worth planning around are the 7 km Tran Phu beach and the 19 islands in its bay, the Po Nagar Cham Towers, Long Son Pagoda's 24-meter white Buddha and the mud baths in the hills north of town. Go between January and August: Vietnam Tourism puts the rainy season at September to December, and November is the wettest month of all.
Older guides miss two changes: diving at Hon Mun was suspended in 2022, and as of March 2025 a June 2024 pilot had reopened only select areas, so a reef trip needs one more question before you pay; and the VinWonders cable car is closed for maintenance from October 26 to November 10, 2026, with speedboats running instead.
Tran Phu Beach and Beyond: Where to Swim
Tran Phu is the beach in every photo of Nha Trang, a 7 km stretch of sand along Tran Phu Street that faces the bay. Entry to the beach is free, and you pay only to rent loungers and gear or to join the water sports, which run from parasailing and kite surfing to paddle boarding and jet skis. Come back at sunset, when street vendors work the promenade.
If the city beach feels like a crowd, go south. Bai Dai, also called Long Beach, is 20 km south of the city and gets fewer visitors, with shallow turquoise water and local restaurants serving just-caught seafood. For a full day out, Doc Let is 60 km north, one of the most picturesque stretches of coastline in Vietnam, in Vietnam Tourism's words. To see how Nha Trang compares with the rest of the shoreline, read Vietnam's best beaches compared.
After dark, the beach is the nightlife. Sailing Club Nha Trang has anchored the scene for more than 20 years, and its weekend beach parties pull in a mix of locals, expats and tourists. It's the one name worth knowing before you arrive.
Nha Trang Bay: 19 Islands and New Reef Rules
Save a full day for the water, and save it for the dry months. Nha Trang Bay covers nearly 250 square kilometers and is one of Vietnam's 16 marine protected areas. Day boats hop between its islands, and Vietnam Tourism calls January to August the ideal time for diving and island-hopping.
Hon Mun: Snorkeling Under New Rules
Hon Mun sits 10 km off the coast, and boats take 30 minutes to an hour to get there. Snorkelers stay in the clear shallows near shore, and if you'd rather stay dry, glass-bottom boats run over the reef.
The rules have changed since 2022. As VnExpress International reported in March 2025, the provincial government suspended diving at sites like Hon Mun in 2022 to let the coral recover, and a pilot program reopened recreational diving in select areas in June 2024. The same report names Hon Rom as a popular dive site, where you can watch the reef slowly coming back.
⚠️ Ask where you'll dive or snorkel before you pay. The June 2024 pilot reopened select areas, not the whole bay, so a trip sold as "Hon Mun diving" tells you little. Ask the operator for the exact site and whether the pilot allows diving there.
Monkey Island and Yen Sao: The Quieter Day Trips
Monkey Island lives up to its name with more than a thousand resident primates, and Yen Sao Island is home to thousands of swiftlets. Vietnam Tourism rates Yen Sao as a destination in itself, with sheer cliffs, inland forest and a twin beach. Daylong bay tours mix these islands with Hon Mun, so check which ones a tour actually stops at before you book.
VinWonders on Hon Tre: Check the Cable Car Dates
VinWonders Nha Trang is a private amusement and water park on Hon Tre island, reached by cable car or speedboat. VnExpress International lists roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, wave pools, a lazy river and an aquarium, so it's a whole day, not a stop on the way to somewhere else.
⚠️ The cable car is closed from October 26 to November 10, 2026. VinWonders has suspended it for regular maintenance over those dates and asks guests to cross by speedboat instead. The operator says service will resume as soon as possible, so if your trip overlaps, plan on the boat.
Po Nagar Cham Towers: A Temple, Not a Ruin
The Po Nagar Cham Towers stand at 2 Thang 4 Street, a short drive from the city center, with views over the city and the Cai River. The Cham built them, but sources disagree on when. VnExpress International dates the complex to the seventh century, while Vietnam Tourism says the Cham built the towers in the eighth. Be wary of any guide that gives you one exact date.
This isn't a ruin. The central tower, the tallest of the group, holds a statue of the goddess Po Nagar, and locals still come to pray and hold rituals in front of it. The towers and shrines are mostly Hindu in origin, with Buddhist influence you can still see, so dress modestly and keep your voice down where people are praying.
The site is open daily and charges a small entry fee. Go early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid the crowds. Thap Ba Mud Bath is close by, which makes the two an easy pairing.
Long Son Pagoda and the Stone Church: One Street, Two Hilltops
Both of these sit on Thai Nguyen Street, and both are free and open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so do them together. Long Son Pagoda's 24-meter white Buddha sits on the hill above the temple; Vietnam Tourism gives the statue's height as 78 feet. You climb several flights of steps past smaller statues and shrines, and the reward is a view over the city, the coast and the mountains behind it.
Long Son is a working Buddhist temple, not a museum. Monks hold ceremonies here, and the grounds include a small Buddhist school and a library, so keep the photos away from anyone at prayer.
The Stone Church stands at 31 Thai Nguyen Street. Locals also call it the Mountain Church, and Vietnam Tourism lists it as Nha Trang Cathedral. It's French colonial architecture with Gothic elements, high vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows, and it still holds regular services that visitors are welcome to watch.
Mud Baths: Book the Morning, Not the Afternoon
Nha Trang's mud baths are a half-day outing in the hills just north of the city. Vietnam Tourism says the city has three, and the most popular is at I-Resort, which adds a water park with slides and pools. The routine is simple: sit in warm mud, rinse off in cool water, then soak in the hot mineral pools.
Timing is the part people get wrong. I-Resort opens daily from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and stops selling tickets after 4:30 p.m., so a lazy afternoon plan can leave you at the gate with no way in. Go in the morning. If you're already at Po Nagar, Thap Ba Mud Bath on Ngo Den Street is the nearer choice.
Oceanographic Museum and Dam Market: The Rainy-Day Pair
The National Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam, at 1 Cau Da Street, was open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. as of March 2025, and it charges a small entry fee. Inside are preserved marine specimens, from sharks and sea turtles to shells, plus dioramas of underwater life and a small outdoor aquarium, with signs in Vietnamese and English. Confirm the hours before you go.
Dam Market, on Ben Cho Street, opens daily from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is one of the city's oldest and busiest markets. Look for the round roof. Inside it's produce, seafood, clothing and handicrafts, and the food stalls serve pho, banh mi, fresh seafood and tropical fruit. Vietnam Tourism notes that Nha Trang is called the seafood capital of Vietnam, and the market is where you'll see why.
Russian Visitors in Nha Trang: The Numbers Behind the Question
Yes, Nha Trang still draws a lot of Russian travelers, and the numbers are climbing back. The province around the city welcomed nearly 493,000 Russian arrivals in 2019 and 279,000 in the first eight months of 2025, and officials expected 2025 to end above the pre-pandemic level. Cam Ranh airport was receiving more than 30 direct flights a week from Russian cities by October 2025, and provincial tourism officials say Russian visitors often stay up to a month.
On the visa side, Russian citizens can stay 45 days without a visa under Resolution 44/NQ-CP, which runs until March 14, 2028. Most other passports need a visa, and our page on Vietnam entry for Russian citizens sets out the conditions.
When to Go: Nha Trang's Rain Keeps Its Own Calendar
Nha Trang's wet season comes late and hits hard. Vietnam Tourism gives January to August as the best time and September to December as the rainy season. That's a different clock from the south: in June, Ho Chi Minh City averages 224 mm of rain while Nha Trang averages 48 mm, so a summer trip that's soggy in the south can be dry on this coast. For the whole country month by month, see the best time to visit Vietnam.
| Months | Average Rainfall (WMO, 1991 to 2020) | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| January to April | 13 to 54 mm a month, February driest | Best for islands and diving |
| May to August | 45 to 78 mm a month | Hottest months, highs of 32.5 to 32.8°C |
| September | 176 mm over 15 rain days | The rains arrive |
| October and November | 325 mm and 400 mm | Peak rain and flood risk |
| December | 224 mm over 15 rain days | Still wet, easing off |
January highs average 27.2°C (81°F) and lows 21.9°C (71°F), so even the coolest month is beach weather.
⚠️ Treat October and November as flood months, not just wet ones. The November 2025 floods on the south-central coast were the worst in 50 years and peaked between November 15 and 22, and the province around Nha Trang recorded 22 deaths. If those are your only dates, book refundable rooms and leave a spare day before any flight out.
If you're asking whether Nha Trang is safe to visit, the serious incidents of the 2025 rainy season were weather ones: the November floods and a landslide on the road to Da Lat. For scams, traffic and everything else, see our guide to safety in Vietnam.
Getting There: Cam Ranh, the Train and the Road to Da Lat
Cam Ranh International Airport is 30 km south of the city, with shuttles, taxis and ride-hailing into town, and the train station is in the center. For how trains, buses and flights fit together, see our guide to getting around Vietnam.
Da Lat is the popular next stop, and the road there crosses the Khanh Le Pass. On November 16, 2025, a landslide on the pass buried part of a sleeper bus late at night and killed six people.
⚠️ Don't take a night bus over Khanh Le Pass in the rainy season. We found no reporting on the pass's condition in 2026, so between September and December, travel by day and check the forecast before you set off.
For the visa, Cam Ranh is one of the airports on Vietnam's eVisa entry list under Resolution 127/NQ-CP, and so is Nha Trang's seaport, which matters if you arrive by cruise ship. An eVisa only works at gates on the government's list, so pick the gate you'll actually use when you apply. By law, Vietnam Immigration has 3 working days to decide once it has the complete application and the fee, and Tet and public holidays push that further.
You can apply yourself at evisa.gov.vn and pay only the stamp fee. Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. We check, correct and file the application for you, and our eVisa prices are $54 for a 1-month single entry, $84 for 1-month multiple, $94 for 3-month single and $104 for 3-month multiple, per applicant, with the $25 single or $50 multiple stamp fee included. Processing times are set by Vietnam Immigration, so give yourself one to two weeks.
Three Days in Nha Trang: An Order That Works
Day one, start at Po Nagar while it's quiet, then cross to Thap Ba Mud Bath nearby. In the afternoon, Long Son Pagoda and the Stone Church share Thai Nguyen Street and both close at 5 p.m., so do them back to back and finish on Tran Phu for sunset.
Day two is for the bay, January to August, with the dive-site question asked before you pay. Day three is flexible: I-Resort in the morning, since ticket sales stop at 4:30 p.m., or the Oceanographic Museum and Dam Market if the weather turns. VinWonders needs a whole day of its own, so add a fourth if you want it, and check the cable car dates first.