Visit to Nha Trang, Vietnam - Use of Tenders.

We sailed overnight from Hue to arrive in the beautiful Bay and then used tenders to travel ashore to the Beaches and shopping Centre. We decided not to leave the ship and as part of our commentary we reflect back on our October / November 2023 holiday.

We visited this small but bustling city during our visit to Vietnam in late 2023 as part of our trip where we did several Vietnam ports and then used Viking River Cruises to sail on the Mekong River having visited Cambodia and then visited Sien Reap and Anchor Wat.

This description is therefore more a reflection of the tour update and our attendance at the briefing.

So it is important to realise that traces of human settlement in Nha Trang date back to the Cham Empire and Chinese rule, although in times of Vietnamese rule there weren’t much more than isolated and sporadic fishing villages. There was certainly no indication of an overall rule , but rather isolated villages separated by the dense vegetation and sprawling mountainous regions.

‘The French started to recognise that this beautiful Bay with its stunnning beaches and white sand idyllic regions made for perfect bathing spots and began the transformation into a resort town.

during the Vietnam war the American soldiers agreed and turned this into a favourite R & R stop during the ware. After the. End of the Vietnam War the presence of Russian military personnel became increasingly more prevalent in the CamRahn Bay Area, just to the south of Nha Trang. After retiring many Russian military officials and staff settled down in Nha Trang and opened up tourism businesses, leading to a steady influx of Russian tourists to the city, who today form the bulk of foreign tourists. Signs on Russian are even more prominent than those in English.

More recently there has been a steady growth in Chinese tourists, many under sponsored government programmes.. however, Nha Trang is definitely not a Westernised toursit resort centre like Kuta in Bali. It remains hugely popular amongst Vietnamese locals who visit the beach in early morning and late afternoon and avoid the head of the middle of the day.

People also come to Visit mud baths or Vin Pearl Land - dubbed Vietnam’s Disneyland but in truth it is more like Singapore’s Sentosa.

The main promenade also has the luxury global hotel brands such as Sheraton, Novotel and Intercontinental hotels all within a short distance across the road from the beach. The rest of the Beach has infrastructure aimed at the local Vietnamese tourists. A few blocks back from the beach is the usual sprawling bustling Vietnamese City with markets and small businesses a muyriad of Restaurants and coffee style shops as well as many small stores catering for Vietnamese clothing and small gifts.

The photos which follow highlight the scenic beach areas, the high rise buildings and then Vin Pearl.