Nha Trang: Arriving & Departing

By plane: The airport serving Nha Trang is a relatively new international airport in nearby Cam Ranh Bay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_Ranh... ) which is approximately thirty minutes drive from Nha Trang. Other major international airports in the area are those in Hanoi and Saigon, but both of these are considerably far enough away from Nha Trang to make direct flight in to them more of a hassle than a convenience despite the fact that flights to these larger locations are often less expensive.
At the moment (April 2009) you have connections from Nha Trang to HCMC (Saigon), Da Nang and Hanoi with Vietnam Airlines. The cheaper "jetstar" might be an alternative, but does not operate on low season.

Upon arrival: Traveler who do opt to head to these bigger airports will likely wish to rent a car to get to Nha Trang. Travelers flying in to Cam Ranh Bay Airport will probably find that it is not necessary to get a car, as taxi to Nha Trang from Cam Ranh Bay fixed price: 380,000VND), depending on your bargaining skills.Outside the airport wait the green "Malinh Group" taxis which are more reliable than others, cos rip-offs onT the way from the airport have increased a lot.
Another alternative is the airport bus that you book at the desk next to baggage claim (inside the small airport arriving hall). It is around 35.000 VND (~2 USD) and brings you to the old airport inside Nha Trang, where you can change to a local taxi. (sounds first more complicated but besides saving some bucks, you avoid unfair rip-offs where tourists are asked to pay >30USD thanks to faked and adjusted taximeters: These stories happen mostly on the longer route from the airport)


By train: Travelers who are making Nha Trang one stop on a Vietnamese trip may find that the train is the most convenient method of getting to the area. Most commonly, these travelers come through Ho Chi Minh, taking an overnight train to Nha Trang. Length of the train journey and bus trip is comparably the same: around 8hours from HCMC (Saigon).

By bus: Travelers like those taking the train may find that the bus is better for them, if only because it is even less expensive than the train. Travelers can get in via Ho Chi Minh (coming from the South) or Hoi An / Da Nang (if coming from the North). The bus from HCMC to Nha Trang either goes via Dalat (mountains) or Mui Ne (beach) and has several small stops. Therefore the shedule of the bus is not always in time compared to the train (for example 10 or 11hours instead of planned 8 hours). Anyhow the bus stops in HCMC, Mui Ne, Nha Trang are always central in town and therefore you might save a bit of time on the way to your hotel compared to train. The bus also picks you up at your hotel in Nha Trang or Mui Ne.

Markets

Get ready to bargain

Bustling, hustling Xom Moi Market (Cho Xom Moi) is the hub of downtown Nha Trang. Here you’ll see locals shopping for fresh fruits, vegetables and daily household items. The experience is very raw and very real and your neck will be sore as you crane it at every interesting sight (and smell). Activity kicks off early so roll out of bed at 06:00 if you want to see it busy. There are also some great local eats in and around Xom Moi — grab a breakfast bowl of pho or try Nha Trang speciality bun ca, a simple noodle soup with rice vermicelli, fish broth and fish filet and/or fish paste meatballs.

Xom Moi market is located at Ngo Gia Tu and Huynh Thuc Khang, west of To Hien Thanh. Open 06:00-18:00. Venture to Xom Moi for a more laidback local experience than Dam Market.

Say “Yes!” to Abibas shoes.

Part local market, part tourist souvenir market, Dam Market (Cho Dam)contains everything you never knew you wanted. The two-storey concrete beast contains just about everything: sunglasses, fake flowers, paintings, cell phone covers, shoes, bags, fabric, wallets, watches, selfie sticks, back scratchers, and if you’ve bought too much, luggage. This is a tourist market so you’ll have to bargain hard to avoid exorbitant prices. The dried seafood section is especially popular with domestic tourists – Nha Trang is famous for its dried squid, shrimp and fish – but unless you want to be haunted by the smell for the rest of the day, avoid getting stuck in that laneway. Like Xom Moi, to catch any local action head there early.

Cho Dam is located in the north end of the downtown core, east of 2 Thang 4. Open 06:00-18:00. If you don’t want to take a taxi, the white and blue city bus #4 (Hon Xen – Vinpearl) gets you within walking distance of the market. Find the bus stops along Nguyen Thien Thuat. Bus runs 05:35 to 19:00, costs 7,000 VND per ride. Write down “Cho Dam,” show the fare collector and they should let you know when to get off the bus.

Get your fruit on.

The night market located smack dab in the tourist centre is a dazzling display of all that is plastic and cheap. It’s worth a look and a wander but don’t expect anything knock-your-socks-off special or handmade. Here you can find branded merchandise of the latest animated film characters, T-shirts, hats, bags, Hello Kitty, souvenirs galore and novelty items. It seems nothing says “I’ve been to Nha Trang” more than a rubber chicken.

Bring your dong.

Blind massage

Get ironed out

Walk through the tourist centre and you’ll come across several places touting blind massage. The Blind People Light Centre at 12 Hong Bang came highly recommended by a local who goes there at least once a week and swears by it. Indeed, most of the patrons are locals who seem comfortable and at home as they get kneaded by a blind masseuse. An hour's body massage costs only 70,000 VND and it feels like a hybrid between Thai-style pressure points and being tenderised like a tough steak, from your scalp all the way to the toe joints. The strokes are vigorous and they use hot stones too.

The facilities are modern but basic and the no-nonsense massage means little regard for exposing your bits and bobs to the person laying next to you – ensure they draw the privacy curtain at the start. If you’re sensitive in certain areas, most of the masseuses understand basic massage-speak in English so let them know if it is too hard, soft or needs to be avoided. There’s a lockable drawer under the bed for your belongings. We noticed our masseuse did not change our sheet after use. Bringing your own sarong would not be a bad idea. Still, for 70,000 VND, you can get rid of the aches from that long sleepless bus ride.

More details

Blind People Light Centre, 12 Hong Bang St, Nha Trang
massagenguoimuhoalu@gmail.com
Opening Hours: Daily 08:00-22:30

Last updated: 11th September, 2015

Long Son Pagoda

Big Buddha

Long Son Pagoda (chua Long Son) is a multilevel Buddhist temple gracefully rising along a hill. Stairs first lead to the main temple decorated with mosaics and a separate prayer hall, then up past a bell temple, a reclining Buddha and finally a large, white 14-metre Buddha statue. From here there’s a good view of the city.

We were lucky to hear monks and nuns chanting at 10:00 and it was a pleasure to sit on a bench in the shade and listen to their voices ring through the hall. Unfortunately Long Song Pagoda can be a less than spiritual and peaceful experience with women and girls selling incense and postcards. There have been instances where visitors are approached by a person wanting to guide or give advice for “free” that turns into an aggressive demand for money, and even a wallet or phone snatching. Politely and firmly refuse it at the beginning if you don't want it. Entrance is absolutely free and no donation is required – if you want to donate, privately put money into the donation box and never hand it to someone claiming they are a monk or working for the temple. Watch your belongings carefully, especially while taking photos. Also, signs asking for appropriate dress in the main temple seem largely ignored by tourists -- please don't be one of them. It’s a pity that one of Nha Trang’s touted tourist attractions is not better protected or cared for. 

Motorbike parking is 3,000 VND, bicycle 2,000 VND. Take a xe om or taxi. To make it a half-day of sightseeing using the 7,000 VND a ride public bus, from Nguyen Thien Thuat Street in the tourist centre, take the blue and white city bus #4 (Hon Xen – Vinpearl) north and get off at the roundabout at Thai Nguyen Street and Ly Thanh Ton. Stop to see the French Gothic cathedral (Nha tho Chanh toa Kito Vua) on the hill, completed in 1933. After admiring the elegant structure, walk west for one kilometre to reach Long Son Pagoda. Finally, find the bus stop on the same street and catch the #6 city bus (Cho Luong Son – Phia Nam) headed east. It will soon swing north, crossing Bong bridge directly to Po Nagar Cham Towers. Get off at the first stop after the bridge.

More details

23 Thang 10 St, Nha Trang (400m west of Nha Trang train station)

Last updated: 11th September, 2015

Po Nagar Cham Towers

Relic of one of the great empires

Dating back to the 7th and 12th century, the Po Nagar Cham Towers are the best remaining Cham ruins in Vietnam (the other famous ruin is the temple city of My Son near Hoi An). It is believed that the Cham people descended from the Sa Huynh, who inhabited the same area from 1000 BC to the second century AD, when Cham culture began to develop. The empire’s golden age between the 6th and 15th centuries saw the kingdom span Vietnam, eastern Cambodia and Laos, and their highly desired precious metals, gem stones, spices and wood were traded across Asia and as far as India, the Middle East and North Africa. The empire eventually declined and was conquered in the struggle with the Khmer Empire and the Dai Viet kingdom.

The modest remains of an ancient powerful kingdom.

It’s a good idea to read up on the history, how Hindu and Islam became blended in with traditional beliefs and the current Cham ethnic minority population that remains in Vietnam and Cambodia or else you will probably not understand why you are visiting a pile of red bricks. Try Champa Ancient Towers: Reality & Legend by Ngo Van Doanh.

Sacred grounds.

The temple is dedicated to Yan Po Nagar, the goddess of the country. Four east-facing towers remain. The temple is still considered sacred and used for worship by Cham people but their language, practices, handicraft and religion are at risk of dying out due to government suppression.

View from the top.

Po Nagar Cham Towers is located on a hill north of the downtown core, directly across Bong bridge. There’s a great view of the water, decent toilets and of course, cold coconut water and souvenirs for sale. You can get there by bicycle, taxi or take the white and blue city bus #4 (Hon Xen – Vinpearl) headed north, 7,000 VND per ride. Grab the bus from the tourist centre along Nguyen Thien Thuat and let the fare collector know where you are going. You’ll be getting off at the first stop after the bridge, a few 100 metres east along Thap Ba Street.

Cheap and cool ride.

For a good half-day of sight seeing, you can combine Po Nagar Cham Towers with another important tourist site, Long Son Pagoda. From the front gate walk north a few blocks to the bus stop located at 168 Duong 2/4. Take the #6 city bus (Phia Nam – Cho Luong Son) southbound. It will take you back across Bong bridge through the city before heading west along Yersin to Long Son. Both city buses run until 17:00.

More details

Opening Hours: Daily 06:00-18:00

Last updated: 11th September, 2015

Alexandre Yersin Museum

About the physician who discovered the cause of th

The Alexandre Yersin Museumprovides insight into the life and work of an unsung hero. Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943) was a Swiss and naturalised French physician, bacteriologist and explorer of both the world we see and the microscopic one. Among his many accomplishments, he discovered the bacillus of the bubonic plague that made it possible to create a serum to fight the disease. Yersin came to call Nha Trang homeand founded the Institut Pasteur in Nha Trang, Hanoi and Da Lat, as well as the Faculty of Medicine in Hanoi.

Simple room of an important man in medical history.

Yersin’s connection to Vietnam and Nha Trang is an interesting one. After studying and making discoveries on tuberculosis and diphtheria in Paris along side Dr Emile Roux and Louis Pasteur, Yersin decided to travel and in 1890 became the ship doctor for a Far East shipping line. He took exploratory trips of the Annamite range (he is credited with “discovering” the Lang Bian plateau and what would later be Da Lat) before joining the medical corps, and was put in charge of a mission to southeast China where a plague epidemic had broken out with a 95% mortality rate. Under difficult circumstances he discovered the culprit bacillus Yersinia pestis, named in his honour. Yersin decided to settle in Nha Trang to make the serum to fight the disease in large quantities and eventually founded the city’s Institut Pasteur in 1895.

Yersin’s French passport — yes, this is what a passport looked like in 1919.

Yersin’s studies shifted to agronomy and he took to successfully solving a serious global shortage of quinine, needed for treating malaria, and introducing rubber trees to Vietnam to fund the Institute.

The air-conditioned museum takes you through his childhood, his research, travels and achievements. The informational signage is primarily in French, with English and Vietnamese translations in smaller text. A central room contains some of his furniture, instruments and library, which gives you a feel for the simple yet elegant home Yersin had in the fishing village of Xom Con. We particularly loved the old travel memorabilia and the evidence of Yersin’s obviously inquisitive scientific mind: He was the first in Southeast Asia to have a transmitting/receiving radio set, refracting telescope and car. He was also a fan of early aviation, using the Far East airlines as soon they became operational in 1932 (his first trip from Saigon to Marseille took a week).

Yersin’s Air France ticket, Paris to Saigon, May 30, 1940. The ticket lists the food and bar service available on the flight.

To this day he is remembered and respected in Vietnam. In 2014 he was recognised posthumously as an honorary citizen for his dedication to the country and there is even a Yersin Fan Club. Travellers who love history will appreciate the museum. To learn more, buy the booklet of his biography at the souvenir stand – it was the source for our description here.

Find the museum at Institut Pasteur de Nha Trang.

More details

8 Tran Phu Blvd, (ocean road) north end of downtown core at Institut Pasteur de Nha Trang, Nha Trang
Opening Hours: Tues-Sat 07:30-11:30, 14:00-17:00

Last updated: 11th September, 2015

Mud baths

Natural therapy

Sitting in a tub of mud feels as odd as it sounds, but it has become a quintessential Nha Trang experience. The mud is purported to have all sorts of healthy, healing properties. There are four places to test out this theory, and the facilities include jacuzzis, mineral water swimming pools and other novelties for a full day hydrotherapy extravaganza. And for a laugh, how about an egg-themed park?

Therapeutic goo at Thap Ba.

If you believe the marketing, the salty mineral water and mud baths will remove dead skin cells, deposit minerals into your body, strengthen bones, increase “dieresis”, reduce stress and fatigue, relieve aches, pains, rheumatism and trauma, make your skin smooth and fine, reduce blood sugar, “help balance reduction in chloride” and aid with urinary tract issues – keep that one in mind as you sit in a tub with strangers.

Thap Ba at the end of a long busy day.

Thap Ba Hot Spring, six kilometres from downtown Nha Trang, is cheap and the most popular, which means it is usually crawling with people. A spot in a “collective” mineral mud bath (in other words, a shared tub of cold mud) is 150,000 VND. The reception will always try to upsell you on a private tub, 400,000 VND for one person, 600,000 VND for two. A private tub is a more civilised experience – though if you are in a communal tub, prepare to make civilised conversation with strangers and awkward polite apologies when you accidentally rub against their hairy legs. Baths are emptied after each round and there’s a big show to spray down the tubs, but if and how they clean the actual mud is a mystery.

Getting fresh and so clean.

Paying for a mud bath gives you access to some crowded swimming pools and artificial waterfalls. Lockers and towels are available for rent, and there are change rooms but when we went, they looked like about a thousand people had used them. It’s a good idea to bring flip-flops. To get to Thap Ba, take a xe om, taxi or if you’re on two-wheels, follow the signs and road leading north from Po Nagar Cham Towers.

Eggs gone wild.

If you want a more memorable experience, head to 100 Egg (Tram Trung), a park devoted to all things egg. The egg garden and egg-shaped pools make for egg-cellent photos. You really have to see this place to believe it. Not only is sitting in an egg-shaped tub of hot mud rather cute, the pools and facilities are cleaner, tidier and better organised than Thap Ba. Our mud was pleasantly warm too, and felt velvety rather than cold and gritty like in Thap Ba. Who knew there were so many subtleties to mud? 100 Egg claims the mud “softens skin to newborn baby softness” and we can testify, it’s strangely true! Group tubs are available, but we recommend splurging for a private egg.

Private huevo.

100 Eggs is six kilometres southwest of the city. There are free lockers, change rooms, showers and towel rental. It also has a restaurant, spa and egg-ccomodation (sorry we couldn’t resist). Paying for the mud bath gives you access to the pools. There’s a shuttle departing from Nha Trang Centre Shopping Mall (20 Tran Phu) at 08:55, 09:55 and 10:55, costs 10,000 VND. Return shuttle is at 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00, costs 15,000 VND.

An egg-shaped oasis.

For a more upscale experience, i-resort is an eight kilometre drive from the city, or four-star Galina Hotel and Spa, which is the only one located downtown.

Mud therapy – 7/10

Thap Ba Hot Spring
15 Ng?c Son, Ng?c Hiep
T: (058) 383 5345
sales@thapbahotspring.com.vn
http://thapbahotspring.com.vn/en.php
Open daily 07:00-19:00
Mud baths start at 150,000 VND

100 Egg Mud Bath (Tram Trung)
Nguyen Tat Thanh Blvd, Phuoc Dong
T: (058) 3711 733
info@tramtrung.vnhttp://www.tramtrung.vn/
Open 08:00-18:00
Mud baths start at 150,000 VND

i resort
19 Xuan Ngoc, Vinh Ngoc
T: (058) 3838 838
info@i-resort.vn
http://www.i-resort.vn/
Open daily 07:00-20:00
Mud baths start at 230,000 VND per adult

Galina Hotel and Spa
5 Hung Vuong
T: (058) 383 9999
sales@galinahotel.com.vn
http://galinahotel.com.vn/g/mud-bath/tam-bun-tai-nha-trang
Open daily 08:00-21:00
Mud bath only, starts at 250,000 VND per adult

Last updated: 15th September, 2015