Nha Trang Beach – an excursion to Russia

Many people told us to skip Nha Trang Beach since it was nothing beautiful but for me, it was great because it was the first beach with clean enough water to swim in and there is a huge variety of beauty services and restaurants. Therefore, prices are quite competitive and cheap.

Massage by a blind person:
While we had lunch at a big table in a street food restaurant, a guy recommended to get a massage by a blind person. Our place was near the market and 1hr cost only 70k VND. Closer to the main street it would probably be around 100k. Which still is very cheap. I thought the massage was slightly better than in Hanoi but still not as good as in Thailand. I now figured out that in my taste, they just don’t use enough oil.

Market:
50m from our massage place was the local market. You find all the souvenirs like in the other places but you will get prices down more than in Saigon or Hanoi, so it would be good to so your shopping there. Then, there is the usual food part with fruits and vegetables, alive chickens and fish and cut meat.

Beauty salons:
There is one spa after the other in Nah Trang and so it’s worth it to compare prices. I paid 300k VND for a manicure and pedicure with shellac, which was the cheapest we found and they used OPI. So, the quality of the nail polish was good and the service was mediocre. It really only included cutting and painting the nails, no massage and no scraping off dead skin. But what can you say if the price with normal nail polish is $3.50 to get a manicure or pedicure?

Streetfood:

We still went by our rules to only sit down where the food looks good and where Asian people are eating. We found a good Pho place, with lots of tasty ingredients and I had to try these half buns topped with meat, shrimp or eggs. Once I figured out that you had to eat it after soaking it in a soup it was very good.

Nha Trang Beach:

Nha Trang beach is just a long stretch of white-brown sand, lined by palm trees and some bars and behind it are the hotels. So, not particularly nice but at least the water was finally clean and I could see down to the ground, even if I was further out in the water. There are chairs and umbrellas to rent for 35k VND but the nicest time of the day is from 5.30 to 7am. Yes, really, tourists and local people get up so early here to enjoy the atmosphere of dawn and the sunrise, when it’s not yet blazing hot. Most people don’t bring anything to the beach and only wear a sarong to walk to and from the hotel.

Vinpearl:
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go there but you see this very prominent island from the beaches in Nha Trang. It’s connected to the main land by gondolas. This island is Vietnams version of Disneyland, including an aquarium and aquapark.

Restaurants:
It was nice to finally have a wide selection of international cuisines to choose from. We tried some sushi and were made aware of the future once again, because they were out of tuna.
Then, we wanted Vietnamese but didn’t want to take any chances with street food before taking the night bus. With Lanterns, we found a very good compromise. It’s a nice restaurant (after 5pm you should book a table), which serves food as if you would eat it on the streets but clean and more comfortable and still with good prices. We even got take away sandwiches for the bus.

Russian tourists:
In the restaurants, you will notice, that if you don’t look Asian, you will always receive a menu in Russian and then have to ask for the English one. Even the shop names are written in Russian and people will greet you with a Dobri Den and say spasibo. Nha Trang is a top holiday destination for Russians but I didn’t see any problems because of that, like for example in Turkey, where hordes of them are lying drunk on the beach in the morning. If you go to the backpacker district in HCMC, it’s more the young British people who stumble singing through the streets.

Arriving by night bus:
Nha Trang was the only place, where we couldn’t do an early check-in because the hotel was full and at 5am, everything is closed and most of the town still asleep. Therefore, make sure to ask your hotel, if it’s 100% ok to do an early check in or book a different hotel or two nights. In the end, I walked around looking for a different hotel and found Saint Paul hotel, which was at a very good location (close to the beach and along the best food street). The rooms are small and simple but the shower at least has a cabin 🙂 Thumbs up for $12 and one night. Click here to find a hotel.