Nha trang
 

I do not regret having gone there, but I won't go back for several reasons: razed during the so-called "southern liberation" war by the North-Vietnamese, it's a large modern city, concrete, concrete, concrete, without any charm; no small street restaurants with nice terraces, only large, elegant bars, good, but expensive. Finally, everything is much more expensive than elsewhere, even Hoi An. On the other hand, excellent news: it is still full of Russian because of the direct Moscow-Nha Trang flights, but there are no longer the scenes of drunkenness which, a few years ago, forced the police to ban the rental of scooters for 15 days. That said, everything is russified, from store signs to restaurant menus.

Magnificent setting, superb bay with very elegant seaside esplanade and mountains of 1500-1600 m. behind. Island opposite, unfortunately disfigured by Vin Pearl, with its cable car at 750,000 VND per person, its ridiculous imitation concrete buildings imitating European ones and a Ferris wheel plus a huge sign similar to that of Hollywood; water park for children.



Excellent hotels, but expensive. A bunch of large luxury ones on the esplanade, and small ones inside. I stayed in a great backpacker favorite, the Smile, very quiet at the end of a dead end 200 m away from the beach; impeccable rooms at 350,000 VND (no breakfast, but small street restaurant at the entrance to the impasse).

To eat, there are first of all the large beach restaurants, offering in particular remarkable seafood products (have the oysters and clams with cheese, a delight!); lobsters, but at exorbitant prices for Vietnam. I chose the one north of the Novotel. Just south of this hotel, the large Hoang Sa restaurant, with its beautiful terrace, is very popular with locals as excellent and surprisingly inexpensive. Note that all French restaurants have closed, due to covid, apart from the decent Art Villa, which offers a little bit of everything (I enjoyed a paella).

Not much to visit apart from the small Yersin museum and his house, one of the most remarkable personalities of the 20th century. He discovered the plague virus, invented its vaccine and founded on the immense Pasteur Institute of the city. Because he did not care about notoriety, immense in Asia (there is everywhere in Vietnam, where he is venerated, a street, avenue, square or educational establishment Alexandre Yersin), he is little known to Westerners. The second thing to see is the large Long Son Pagoda, not great inside, but with, behind, a large golden reclining Buddha 18 meters long and one above in white marble (unfortunately, the panorama of the bay is partly hidden by trees). The only thing to absolutely see is the set of eight Cham towers of Po Nagar (“Lady of the City”), two kilometers to the north. Magnificent ensemble from the 7th-12th century; as it is on a hill, we also enjoy a superb panorama of the bay.

Note that the airport is 36 kilometers south of the city (approximately 45 minutes journey).