The coastal city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa province, Central Vietnam, lies on the trans-Vietnam highway, 1,278km from Hanoi, and 448km from Ho Chi Minh City.

Nha Trang is endowed by nature with deep, quiet and warm waters all the year round, surrounded by archipelagoes, islands, mountains and white sand beaches - a wonderful and attractive tourist resort. To the north of Nha Trang stands the Chong mount which looks like a wide open hand over the sea. Far offshore, the Yen island appears with lush green colours where salangane nests have been harvested for years to make the traditional "bird''s nest "tonic and food.

The 7 km white sand beach of Nha Trang is often called Vietnam’s Mediterranean Area, considered one of the jewel along Vietnam''s long stretching coast line. Nha Trang is sunny all year round, with an average temperature of 23°C due to northern winds.

The rainfall is less than anywhere else in the country and the area is not threatened by storms since it is protected by the Truong Son Mountains and Ca Pass. From Ca Pass, one can see Ro Paddle, Ke Ga Cape, Hon Do, and Tran Nam Paddle.

Hon Tre Island is 25 km2 and belongs to a group of islands located southwest of Nha Trang. It takes two hours to reach Hon Tre Island by rowboat and only 20 minutes by ferry.

Nha Trang benefits from topographical advantages of the sea, islands, mountains, and deltas. West of Nha Trang, there are endless mountain ranges where a wide variety of animals and birds live.

Nha Trang has many specialties. Every year, bird’s nest soup, or Yen nest soup, is cooked. Nha Trang has the most Yen birds in all of Vietnam. The magnificent coral seabed in Nha Trang makes it ideal for scubadiving and snorkeling.

ATTRACTIONS

Ba Ho Stream, Nha Trang City

Ba Ho stream is 25 km from Nha Trang to the north. This is a stream originating from the top of Hon Son (over 660m), flowing between the two sides of the rocky mountains into the fields of Phu Huu hamlet, Ninh Ich village, Ninh Hoa district, then pours into Nha Phu swamp. The stream gets its name in its supper stream, on the way through the forests and mountains, it opens three times in width right in the mountains into three continuous lakes.

With its beautiful landscapes, the stream has been in many people''s mouths and mind and bears many legends told by the local people.

From Nha Trang, you can follow National Route 1A for 19 km, then 2 km of forest lane after turning left. Walking along the stream, you will soon reach the First Lake. The surface of the lake is about 150 m2, lying below a cascade 5-6m high. Around the lake are numerous rocks of all sizes and colors.Leaving the First Lake and continuing your way upstream, you will reach the Second Lake after making your way quite difficulty for 1,000m.

Unlike he First Lake, the Second Lake is narrower and milder, but with more "fairy "features due to its quietness. The lake is formed by a big flat rock lying across the stream. The surface of the lake is always tranquil like a huge mirror left behind by the fairies.

The Third Lake is only a few hundred meters from the Second Lake, but the way is covered with bushes and is a little challenging to visitors. The Third Lake is narrower than the two others but its bed is wider, lying at the foot of a small cascade beside a rock wall with many tree roots and rampant vegetation. But here, visitors may find in the age-old trees by the lake orchids giving out their sweet and soft fragrance among the twittering sounds of myriads of strange birds.

Doc Let, Nha Trang City

The place gets its Vietnamese name of Doc Let because if you want to reach to the sea, you have to cross high sand dunes and if you are not strong enough, the sand would seem to hold you back and quite a few people to lag ("let "in Vietnamese) to the destination. However, there is a great compensation for you once you have finished your conquer of the dunes.

In front of you now would be a wonderful beach with fine, smooth, and pures and the blue sea with tiny waves. The sand beach runs as far as 10km from Dong Hai Village to the Cement Factory of Hon Khoi.

Doc Let is not only an ideal swimming beach, but its natural landscape is also quite attractive to tourists. Islands of every sizes and shapes off shore into two bows hindering the wave. The big island from afar looks like a sunbathing girl.

Not far to the north is the famous Van Phong Bay, one of the future tourist spots that the international Tourism Organization OMT has surveyed and highly assessed the future development of tourism of the area.

To the south, beyond the Cement Factory is Hon Heo, the former revolutionary base with so many heroic exploits that have not noted down in history. Also, only 2-3 kilometres from Doc Let, tourists can visit the fishing village of Ninh Thuy, the salt fields of Ninh Diem or take a rest in the shade of the coconut palms and poplars or at windy shops beautifully decorated for a drink and other sea specialities such as fresh crabs, sentinel crabs, oysters,...at their own will.

Long Son Pagoda, Nha Trang City

Founded in the late 19th Century, this impressive Pagoda is by far the most detailed and noticeable sight in Nha Trang. With elegant mosaics and colorful dragons, this Pagoda is a must see for all visitors to the area, and also is home to a large 14 meter seated Buddha image.

Marine Research Institute, Nha Trang City

Marine research institute was previously the oceanography institute founded in 1923, which is situated on a large area alongside Cau Da, 6 km away from Nha Trang. Laboratories, libraries, warehouses... are designed as a spacious multi-storey architecture, gracefully situated in the shade

of Blue Dragon (a kind of fruit). Marine creature museum in the institute owns some 20,000 specimen of aquatic creatures and specially there is a giant whalebone of 26 meter length, 3 meter height.

Mun Island, Nha Trang City

From the gravel beach of Hon Mieu, you will see three small islands lying in a row; they are Hon Tam, Hon Mot and Hon Mun; among these, Hon Mun has a most attractive landscapes.

Its name derives from the geographical features - the high cliffs in the southwest are too risky, ragged with numerous caves; here rocks and stones are all ebony-like black, which is rarely found on any other islands.

It is also one of the seven islands in the Nha Trang sea that attract thousands of salanganes to come and build their nests, which give thousands of tai, i.e products from their nests every year.

Like Bai Tru, the beach at Hon Mun does not have that kind of while fine-grained sand, and its formation and composition are much like the gravel beach at Tri Nguyen, the island of the Immortals, with layers of round-shaped pebbles and cobbles closely arranged by Nature''s hand.

Nha Trang Main Cathedral, Nha Trang City

The construction of Nha Trang Main Cathedral was started on Sep 3, 1928. Archbishop Louis Vallet had the top of the mountain blown off with 500 mines to obtain a flat surface of 4,500 m2.

In March 1934, the colorful windows were fixed into the domed doors and in the cathedral, completing more than ten construction items. Three big bells were supplied by the famous Bourdons Carillons company (established in 1786) and were christened in July 1934 and in October 1939. The big clock on the top of the cathedral was inaugurated in December 1935.

The cathedral was built with steel reinforced concrete with walls in top quality cement slabs. In general, the construction has a solid and strong structure with details getting smaller as they climb up the building.

The highest point is the place where the cross is fixed on the top of the church: 38 m from the surface of the street below. Although it was built nearly 70 years ago, the cathedral keeps its majestic beauty and its unique architecture.

Palace Of Ocean King, Nha Trang City

Palace of Ocean King is at the present the largest side nationwide, opened in 1998 on Hon Mieu Island, close to Tri Nguyen fish lake.

Palace of Ocean King was designed and constructed with the look of a sailing yawn, allowing visitors to relax, to behold the live life of marine royal and mermaids.

Po Nagar Cham Tower, Nha Trang City

On the north side of Nha Trang, across Xom Bong Bridge excited with red-blue fishing boats are the best-preserved Cham Towers in Central Vietnam, a sanctuary of Po Nagar, a mythical goddess. Among the 8 towers constructed between the 7th and 12th centuries, only 4 left and they are still used as places of worship. There is a group of nuns that may show you around with their best sign language and smiles and there is a small interesting museum to the right of the north tower displaying photographs and ancient statues. The hillock upon which the Cham Towers sit offers a great panorama of the surrounds and a view over the entrance to the river with Nha Trang as a background. The entrance to the site is at street level followed by a staircase uphill to the top. You will notice on the right of you way up the remains of the meditation hall, which was the original entrance for Cham worshippers. The north tower is the largest and main one situated on a higher level directly in front of the meditation hall. The other smaller towers are only metres away from this and all of them are facing due east. Remember to take off your shoes before entering any of the temples.

Salangane Island, Nha Trang City

Salangane Island is most famous for Yen Sao which is the name of the nest of Salangane or swifts. The locals harvest the bird nests (considered a delicacy) used in soups. These nests are processed and exported to Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The birds build their nest high on the walls of the cave on the islands. To access the nests, harvesters must climb on ladders fashioned from bamboo. Because the caves must remain dark lest the birds are scared off, many climbers fall to their death every year trying to harvest the nests.

The bird nest comes in two types, white and red nests. The nest are fashioned by the Salangane that make their homes in caves. The nest are made out of the bird''s saliva. Usually, a typical bird creates one nest a year during springtime using both parents saliva.

As there is such a demand for their nest (thought to have medicinal qualities), the locals began to remove the nest several times a year causing the birds to have to continue producing the nests.

The red variety of nests are a result of the birds having to create so much saliva for the new nests that they cough up blood along with their saliva causing the nest to take on the red color of their blood. This variety of nest costs their weight in gold or more in the retail market of Hong Kong or Taiwan.

Tri Nguyen Aquarium, Nha Trang City

Tri Nguyen Aquarium was built in 1971, a highly inventive work of distinction, by Le Can, a fisherman who was fond of nature very much with goodwill and proud of his homeland. With his own money, he hired local inhabitants to block the sea and build a dam for the construction of a large pond 160m in length and 130m wide.

The pond consists of three compartments, one for breeding savage fishes, one for aquarium fishes, shrimps and turtles of different kinds and many other species of sealife to breed in his aquarium.
Therefore, the aquarium creates a unique world of multifarious aquatic animals, a living museum of the marine life in Nha Trang. This splendid work is highly entertaining, for it has been much visited and lauded by tourists from far and near. The sea-water has an easy circulation into and out of the pond, for the banks were built of stones which had been so cleverly arranged as to provide sufficient spaces for the water to flow in and out, and thus providing sea conditions quite suitable to the marine animals in the compartments.

From the Aquarium, a short walk up and down a small hill will take you to a gravel beach (motor-boats are also available). The beach faces south-east, Hon tam is in front and a little farther on are two other small islands, Hon mot and Hon Mun. With the monsoon winds fanning all year round, there are always fine weather here, and the sea is calm. The beach is really ideal for holiday-makers; it is formed not by sand but fine layers of pebbles and round-shaped cobblestones of various sizes, which are finely mingled together, a splendid work achieved through ages of erosion by the sea-waves...

At noon you can come into a gorge to have a rest out of the dazzling sunshine. Or, in the shade of some overhanging branches of bush, you can lie down, completely relaxed on a large and smooth stone-flat, amuse yourself listening to the ever-lasting sounds of music coming from the sea. Certainly you are having exquisite moments on your trip to this beautiful city.

FESTIVALS: N/A

EVENTS

2nd international yacht race to take place in Vietnam

The National Administration of Tourism has permitted the Saigontourist to organise the second Hong Kong – Nha Trang international yacht race.

The race is due to start in Hong Kong on October 28 and after that, racers will give performances at the Nha Trang Bay in Khanh Hoa province and come back to Hong Kong on November 4.

The Saigontourist will co-ordinate with the Royal Yacht Club of Hong Kong to organise the event.

From fifteen to 20 well-known yachts from Asia, Europe and Australia are expected to join the race, including a representative from Vietnam.

Thousands of foreign tourists are expected to arrive in Vietnam to support the race, said the Saigontourist.

Coast province to host Sea Festival

Khanh Hoa’s authority is completing a master plan to organise Sea Festival 2005 in the beach city of Nha Trang from 29th March to 3rd April 2005 with a great variety of activities.

A fair and exhibition of Khanh Hoa’s 30-year achievements will open on March 29. The festival is expected to feature an exhibition of Vietnamese-French photographs and paintings in streets, a lantern display in Nha Trang waters and a kite flying performance.

The official opening ceremony of the Sea Festival will start on March 30 evening. A seminar of the most beautiful bay club will be held on March 31 morning and a beach-loving beauty contest will be organised later on the same day.

Nha Trang gears up for Sea Festival

The opening of the Sculpture Symposium last week was just one of many activities this month with that the beach town of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province will welcome the Sea Festival 2005 at the end of March.

More than 20 artists from many parts of the country are camping and working in the beachfront park along Tran Phu Street for the Sculpture Symposium. When they leave on March 29, some of their outstanding sculptural works will be exhibited at the park on Nha Trang’s most scenic street.

Together with the Francophone Solar Association from the French region of Brittany, the city will host a night of French and Vietnamese music on March 26 and a course on French literature from March 28.

On March 29 the Francophone Solar Association will donate books to Khanh Hoa Province’s library in the morning.

Also that day the Vietnam-France painting exhibition will open at 9:30 a.m., Khanh Hoa Fair at 4 p.m. and an outdoor exhibition of paintings and photographs of the sea and marine creatures at 7:30 p.m.

The festivities will reach their climax the next day, March 30, with many cultural and sport activities. Visitors will have the chance to watch thuyen thung (round boats) rowing on the sea at 7 a.m. and kite-flying at the square at 46 Tran Phu Street at 3 p.m.

The opening ceremony of this year’s Nha Trang Sea Festival will kick off at 8 p.m. at the square. A flower and lantern festival on the sea will follow the ceremony, which the Vietnam Television (VTV3) and Khanh Hoa Television (KTV) will broadcast live.

During the festival one of the main activities will be the international conference of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club, which will start at 8 a.m. on April 1 at the Yasaka Hotel’s Sunrise Meeting Hall.

The Khanh Hoa People’s Committee says representatives of 23 countries that are members of the club will attend the conference on “Developing sustainable tourism and protecting the maritime environment.”

At the seminar, Khanh Hoa will introduce Nha Trang Bay, which was selected as one of the world’s most beautiful bays in 2003, and the new Nha Trang Bay Club on Hon Chong, which ranks among Nha Trang’s most gorgeous islands.

The province will also talk about solutions it has been carrying out to protect the sea and develop tourism.

In addition, more than 10,000 people are expected to participate in a parade on April 2 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa.

Another ceremony at 8 p.m. on April 3 at the square at 46 Tran Phu Street will close the Sea Festival.

Volunteer organization to keep Nha Trang Bay beautiful

The Nha Trang Beautiful Bay Club officially debuted Monday in the central city creating a link between citizens and the provincial authority of Khanh Hoa to protect the area.


The club, located at 42 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, is a voluntary organization for citizens and organizations to put forth advice on preserving the beautiful natural environment around Nha Trang.

The Khanh Hoa People’s Committee on March 22 promulgated the decree to establish the club.

In June of 2003, Nha Trang Bay was acknowledged as one of 29 most beautiful bays in the world.

Khanh Hoa has 385 km of coastline, over 200 islands, and a plethora of coral reefs.

The province has four main bays - Van Phong, Nha Phu, Nha Trang and Cam Ranh, capable of receiving large cruise ships.

Nha Trang Bay is one of the major coral centers in the region. Of the 800 species of hard and soft coral worldwide, more than 350 are to be found in the waters off Nha Trang.

The Vietnamese government recently approved a project to set up the Nha Trang Bay Preservation Area.

The Ministry of Culture and Information has also recognized Nha Trang Bay as a national heritage site.