Nha Trang itinerary: how to spend 1 or 2 days

How many days

• 1 day: Day 1

  One day covers Long Son Pagoda, the Po Nagar towers, the food streets around them, a mud bath and the beach, and leaves out the islands.

• 2 days: Days 1 to 2

  Two days add a morning on the water at Hon Mun, the bay's best-kept reef, and an evening at VinWonders on Hon Tre.

Day 1

Po Nagar towers, Long Son Pagoda, a mud bath and the food streets

07:00 to about 18:30 · 7 stops · entry fees VND 350,000 a person

1. 07:001

   

   Market · 1 h

   Cho Dam market and a fish-cake breakfast

   Cost: Free to walk round; a bowl of noodles is priced at the stall, so ask first.

   Cho Dam is Nha Trang's main market, with food sellers on the streets around it from early morning. Have breakfast the local way: bun cha ca or banh canh, noodle soups with the city's fish cakes. Vietnam Coracle's food writer found his favourite breakfast of the whole trip at a one-woman stall around the corner from the market, and he skips the fish-cake banh mi for the soup. Confirm the price before you sit down, as he advises.

   Image: Christophe95 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

   ↓About 5 min by taxi or Grab, 1.7 km. About 2 km west to Long Son Pagoda; Grab car or taxi.

2. 08:152

   

   Sight · 1 h

   Long Son Pagoda and its hilltop Buddha

   Cost: We found no published ticket price; there are donation boxes.

   Long Son Pagoda sits at the foot of Trai Thuy hill, 400 m west of the railway station. Behind it, 152 stone steps climb to a large white Buddha, which Vietnam's national tourism site puts at 78 feet, about 24 m, and the platform is the usual place to look out over the city. Go up early, before the sun is on the steps. Dress with shoulders and knees covered and take your shoes off where others do.

   Image: Younghyun Kim / Unsplash

   ↓About 5 min by taxi or Grab, 3.5 km. About 3.5 km north to Po Nagar; Grab car or taxi.

3. 09:453

   

   Sight · 1 h

   Po Nagar Cham towers

   Cost: Ticket at the gate; we found no dated official price, so bring small notes.

   The brick towers on Cu Lao hill are a Cham temple founded before 781, with the standing towers built between the 10th and 13th centuries. It is dedicated to Yan Po Nagar, goddess of the country, whom Vietnamese worship as Thien Y Thanh Mau, and people still come to pray. Walk up past the brick pillars of the old meditation hall to the main tower, about 25 m high. It is a place of worship, so cover your shoulders and knees.

   Image: Ms Sarah Welch / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

   ↓About 5 min walk, 0.4 km. About 500 m east down the hill to Cu Huan Street.

4. 11:004

   

   Eat · 1 h

   Lunch on the food streets east of Po Nagar

   Cost: Street food; prices on the board or ask first.

   East of the towers, the streets of Thap Ba, Cu Huan and Ton That Tung and the maze of alleys between them are where Vietnam Coracle's Nha Trang food guide sends you to eat. Walk the block and stop where the plastic stools are full, since a busy stall turns its food over fastest. Point at what the next table is having if there is no menu, and agree the price before the food comes, as the guide advises.

   Image: Dmitrii Ivanov / Unsplash

   ↓About 5 min by taxi or Grab, 3 km. About 3 km west along 2 Thang 4 and Ngo Den; Grab car or taxi.

5. 13:305

   Do · 2 h

   Mud bath at Thap Ba hot springs

   Cost: Hot mineral mud for 1 or 2 people to a tub, per adult at the counter; cheaper online and for bigger groups.

   Thap Ba hot springs, in the hills north of the city, is the kind of place Vietnam's tourism site means when it describes sitting in a pool of warm mud and then relaxing in hot mineral water. The centre recommends 20 minutes in the mud and 30 to 35 in the mineral water, then the pools, and it is open 07:30 to 17:00 every day of the year. Bring swimwear: denim and wool are not allowed in the water.

   ↓About 10 min by taxi or Grab, 6.1 km. About 6 km back to Tran Phu; Grab car or taxi.

6. 16:306

   

   View · 1 h 15 min

   Nha Trang Beach in the late afternoon

   Cost: Free; loungers and umbrellas are rented by the day.

   The city beach runs along Tran Phu Street, and by day, the national tourism site says, it is awash with sunbathers. Come as the heat drops and the light softens, swim where others are swimming, and walk the promenade past Tram Huong Tower near the middle of the beach. Vendors carry snacks and drinks along the path in baskets on shoulder poles. Loungers and umbrellas are rented by the day. If the sea looks rough, stay on the sand.

   Image: H D / Unsplash

   ↓About 5 min by taxi or Grab, 4.2 km. About 4 km south to Vo Thi Sau Street; Grab car or taxi.

7. 18:307

   

   Eat · 1 h 30 min

   Dinner on Vo Thi Sau Street

   Cost: Street food and seafood; confirm prices before you sit down.

   In the south of the city, on the slopes of Canh Long hill, Vo Thi Sau Street comes alive after sunset, Vietnam Coracle's food guide says. Walk its length once before choosing where to sit. Seafood places there sell by weight, so ask the price per kilo, watch your choice being weighed and agree how it will be cooked before it goes on the grill. A Grab car back to the beachfront is short.

   Image: jetsun / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Day 2

Hon Mun reef and an evening at VinWonders

07:15 to about 20:30 · 5 stops · entry fees VND 700,000 a person

1. 07:151

   

   Travel · 30 min

   Nha Trang tourist boat pier

   Cost: Bay fees: VND 10,000 for Hon Mun, VND 3,000 for the pier, collected by the bay's management board; boat or dive trip priced by the operator.

   Island boats leave from the Nha Trang tourist boat pier in Vinh Truong, 6 km south of the beachfront, not from the old Cau Da pier, which closed in 2022. Most dive and snorkel operators collect you from your hotel and take you to the boat. The bay's management board charges a small visitor fee for each island, sold online or at the pier. If the sea is rough, boats do not go out, so keep a spare day.

   Image: MANH LAI VAN / Unsplash

   ↓By boat, 11.7 km. About 12 km out to Hon Mun; Rainbow Divers' boat day runs from about 07:00 to 13:00, hotel pickup included.

2. 08:302

   

   Do · Half a day

   Snorkelling or diving at Hon Mun

   Cost: Rainbow Divers: one boat dive USD 50, two dives USD 80, a first try dive from USD 60; snorkellers ride the same boat, ask the price.

   Hon Mun is the core of the Nha Trang Bay marine protected area, and Vietnam's biodiversity portal says only Hon Mun and Hon Rom still have relatively stable reefs; those off Hon Tre, Bich Dam and Hon Mot are damaged. Since 2022 diving inside the Hon Mun reserve has been allowed only at the Hon Rom site, so ask your operator where you will go in. Expect two dives or two snorkel sessions with a rest between, and lunch on the boat or a beach.

   Image: Nguyen Hung Vu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

   ↓By boat, 10.3 km. Back to the pier around 13:00, then a car to your hotel to rest.

3. 15:303

   

   Travel · 30 min

   Vinpearl cable car to Hon Tre

   Cost: VinWonders ticket after 16:00, with the return cable car, for anyone 140 cm or taller; VND 1,050,000 before 16:00.

   The cable car to Hon Tre starts from the station on the shore south of the city, and the VinWonders ticket includes the return ride. Buy the evening ticket valid from 16:00 and time your crossing to arrive just after. The operator stops the cable car in bad weather and runs speedboats instead, and it is closed for maintenance from 26 October to 10 November 2026, when guests cross by speedboat. Children from 100 to 140 cm and over-60s pay VND 800,000.

   Image: Tam Le / Unsplash

   ↓By cable car, 3.1 km. Across the bay to Hon Tre; the park runs speedboats when the cable car is stopped.

4. 16:154

   

   Do · 3 h 30 min

   VinWonders Nha Trang

   Cost: Included in the ticket above; food and some games cost extra.

   The theme park on Hon Tre has rides, a water park and the evening Tata show, and from the island you look back across the bay at the city. With an evening ticket, do the rides you care about first, then eat in the park. The water slides need you to be taller than 130 cm, under 100 kg and under 50. The park asks you to use its app for each area's opening times, so check it on the cable car.

   Image: Aleksandra Sapozhnikova / Unsplash

   ↓By cable car, 5.1 km. Back to the mainland station, then a car to Tran Phu.

5. 20:305

   

   View · 45 min

   Tran Phu promenade by night

   Cost: Free

   Finish with a walk along the beach promenade on Tran Phu, where cafes put colourful beanbags out on the sand in the evening and you can sit with a drink by the water. Look back out to sea: the cable car and the Hon Tre resorts light up the bay. If you are flying out early, the airport bus from 10 Yersin Street starts at 04:30 and follows the day's flights.

   Image: Ben Nguyen / Unsplash

Tips for Nha Trang

Getting there, where to stay and the weather by month are on the Nha Trang page. Plan checked 24 October 2026.