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VietnamTransport Overview in Nha Trang and How to Get Around
In Nha Trang, there is quite decent public transport by Asian standards from city buses. However, figuring out the routes right away will not be easy, especially since there is no proper information about them, everything will have to be found out on the spot. But if you master it. Then literally for pennies you can get around the city and get to/from the airport.
Also in Nha Trang there is convenient "civilized" taxi, apps Grab and Maxim work. And, of course, you can get around on rented transport here.
More details about all types of transport and ways to get around Nha Trang independently:
On Foot
Nha Trang is a relatively small city, and if you settle within the center, for example, in the compact tourist district near the old airport, you can get to the main tourist places on foot. It is especially convenient and pleasant to walk along the embankment, because in our opinion, it is the best in all of Vietnam.
However, be aware that walks deeper in the city may not be so pleasant. The fact is that the Vietnamese themselves almost don't walk, they only ride motorbikes and cars. And therefore they hardly know and don't understand pedestrian traffic. As a result, the few sidewalks are occupied by motorbike parking, trading stalls, food stalls, advertising stands, etc. Walking on the sidewalks here is like walking through a maze. You constantly have to go around something, often go out onto the roadway to go further. So be careful!
About the same situation of disrespect for pedestrians is on the roads. There are few pedestrian crossings, and on those that exist, pedestrians are almost never given way. You just need to cross the road slowly, not dart from side to side, and then drivers will simply go around you. For greater safety, it's better to raise your hand so that drivers see you from afar.
Bicycle, Motorbike, or Car Rental
A great alternative to walking can be a bicycle, which can be rented from 20,000 VND per day (0.76 USD, )see Vietnam currency, exchange rate). However, honestly, there are very few bicycle rentals here, it's easier to rent a motorbike or electric scooter.
Much more scope for movement can be obtained by renting a motorbike (scooter) or a full-fledged motorcycle. Then you can move not only around the city center, but also ride around the surroundings, because there is something to see around Nha Trang. Here's everything in detail:
Motorbike Rental Price
Rental of a simple semi-automatic scooter starts from 100,000 VND per day (3.8 USD), automatic from 120,000 (4.56 USD). These are real prices, not understated or taken out of thin air, but from personal experience. Moreover, in our experience, they haven't changed for over 10 years, maybe just a little bit increased. You can find cheaper, we even saw signs for 80,00 VND/day. Well, of course, when renting for several days or weeks they give a discount, and if they don't, you need to ask. For a month, you can quite realistically rent a motorbike for 2,000,000 VND (76.03 USD), but in reviews tourists tell that they took it for 1,500,000 VND.
How to bargain (our personal experience):
If the rental price doesn't suit you or seems too high, you don't necessarily have to say something for bargaining like "give me a discount or I'll go to another one", or "I'll take it for so much". In many cases, we simply say, is there something cheaper, and then they either offer another motorbike option or reduce the price for this one.
Another thing is if you will rent a motorbike from Russian-speaking travel agencies or from renters in Russian-language chats. In chats they ask for no less than 200,000 VND when booking remotely (i.e., you don't even see the motorbike in reality before the meeting), and at rentals at Russian travel agencies 300,000 VND, and no bargaining.
But, of course, it's up to you to decide: overpay for convenience and Russian language, or rent from locals much cheaper. By the way, there are no big difficulties in communicating with local residents in Nha Trang, many have long since mastered elementary Russian language knowledge here.
Where to Rent a Motorbike
There are a lot of motorbike rentals in Nha Trang. Here really a lot, you won't even have to look. While walking around the tourist district during the day, rental shops and signs are encountered almost every 20 meters. In the evening it's harder to find, since many of them close and remove signs, so if you're looking for something cheaper, it's better to look and compare prices during the day. There is also rental at hotels, prices are about the same as in street rentals, well sometimes maybe 10-20 thousand VND higher. We have indicated the real prices above, focus on them.
Also now remote rental works well. You can find rental contacts online or in chats, message the owner and arrange, often there is free delivery to the hotel. Regarding Russian-language chats we have already noted above that they "inflate" prices, but there is a simple convenient option, we ourselves sometimes do this: look for rentals on Google Maps by query "Motorbike for rent", find the nearest ones to your hotel, read reviews, contact the renter using the contacts and arrange. For communication in Vietnam it's convenient to use WhatsApp or the local messenger Zalo. Telegram is almost not used here, to register in Zalo you need a local SIM card and you need to make a paid call, so WhatsApp is the best option.
And just in case, all about cellular communication and where to buy a local SIM card you can find out in our detailed instructions here.
What License, Deposit, and Documents are Needed
To operate two-wheeled transport fully according to the law, an international license with an open category "A" is needed, and this is required even for the lowest-power scooter. Russian international driving licenses IDP in the form of a booklet, which can be obtained in addition to regular Russian ones in the form of a card, are accepted in Vietnam, local ones are not required. IDP is done through the government services website or MFC without retaking exams and medical commission, everything is very simple. Issued for 3 years, you need to pay a fee of 3200 rubles.
As for practice, everything is different. In order to rent a motorbike, they won't ask you for a license at all. There are very few police on the road, literally a few. We have traveled around Vietnam already not one thousand, but probably even a couple of tens of thousands of kilometers, and have never communicated with traffic police, and have seen them literally a handful of times. But this is in no way a guide to action, but a statement of fact from personal experience, and you decide.
Regarding the deposit, in general in Vietnam in different places we had different experiences, and, for example, in Da Nang, Hoi An, and Mui Ne we took motorbikes for rent without any deposit at all. But in Nha Trang they are stricter about this issue, and ask to leave a document or cash deposit. Usually they ask for a foreign passport, but we always try to leave the Russian internal passport, and recommend doing the same. Sometimes they ask in addition also a cash deposit of several hundred dollars, and in a hotel you can generally do without a deposit. In general, everything in each case is individual and agreed upon with the renter.
Everything else you need to know about motorbike rentals, including how and what to refuel with, how much gasoline costs, where to park, etc., read everything in the instructions here.
Well, you can also watch our video where we talk about personal experience of renting a motorbike in Nha Trang and show what the traffic is like here:
Car Rental in Nha Trang
Well, finally, if you don't have category "A" on your license and you don't drive two-wheeled transport, you can rent a car in Nha Trang. But honestly, this is a very expensive pleasure. Unfortunately, car rental is not developed here, there are no international network rentals and search aggregators with their low competing prices, so for car rental you will have to pay from 50 dollars per day. What's also inconvenient, you will have to look for a car through social networks or from private individuals on the spot, and you won't be able to find and book through aggregators.
Nevertheless, just in case, here are international aggregators for searching for cars, check them, maybe Nha Trang will appear there over time.
Taxis, Motorbike Taxis, and Cycle Rickshaws
Taxis in Nha Trang can be ordered by phone, through hotel reception, catch cars on the street or negotiate with taxi drivers for a trip near popular tourist places where they usually "wait", these are the airport, bus station, train station, attractions, embankment.
In general, many branded taxis work here, and all are official by meter. The price for the trip is indicated on the outside of the car, and you can always look and determine the cost before boarding. This indicates the price for boarding, the first kilometers of the trip and then for each kilometer, in general, everything is quite clear there. These prices should be on every car either on the door or on the pillars, and if you don't see it, then you have a private individual or an illegal one. In any case, even when getting into a branded taxi with prices, be sure to make sure that the taxi driver will take you by meter, to do this say "Taxi meter" to him, otherwise at the end of the trip you will have an unpleasant surprise. Of course, sometimes you can negotiate to ride for a good price without a meter, but you need to discuss everything in advance before the trip.
But the most convenient and reliable way, so as not to overpay, is ordering through apps. In Nha Trang, the Asian equivalent of Uber works – the Grab app, and Uber does not work here. Also, Maxim taxi is developing very actively, and they offer prices even lower than Grab, although you can't always quickly wait for a car.
In these apps you can link a bank card, but Russian cards, including UnionPay, do not work. Payment in cash at the end of the trip works. The trip price in Grab is from 25,000 VND, Maxim offers trips from 15,000!!! You can also order motorbike taxis through these apps, the price is half as much. As a result, a trip by car not during rush hours without traffic jams in the city center will cost 30,000 – 50,000 VND (1.14-1.9 USD), on a motorbike taxi 15,000 - 30,000 VND (0.57-1.14 USD).
We recommend installing both apps at home and registering in them in advance, so as not to solve this on the spot. Registration is done by phone number, Russian numbers are also suitable. With Grab there are sometimes problems during registration: SMS for confirmation may not arrive. In this case, try again after a few days, or during registration select Kazakhstan as the country (code +7 is the same as in Russia) and enter your phone number, this usually solves the problem.
Besides regular taxis, "cycle rickshaws" also work in Nha Trang. But actually this is no longer a means of transportation, but a tourist entertainment. Cycle rickshaw drivers usually rest during the day or carry locals short distances, and in the evening they start actively offering tourists rides for an agreed price, you need to bargain. In our experience, they don't agree to less than 100,000 VND (3.8 USD).
City Buses
In Nha Trang, a system of city buses operates with at least six routes. This is an excellent and very cheap way to get around the city, if you can, of course, master the routes. Then you can get to many city attractions and even to/from Nha Trang airport almost for pennies. In general, the buses are normal, there are even ones with air conditioning, and on some routes Russian "Gazelles" run.
The fare costs from 5000 VND (0.19 USD). But on some routes prices are higher, depending on distance. For example, from the airport 65,000 VND (2.47 USD), but it's more than 30 kilometers. Payment in cash to the driver or conductor. Be prepared to say the place you are going to for suburban routes, otherwise you will be given a ticket at the maximum route cost.
Vinbus Buses
In Nha Trang, the VinBus bus system recently started working. These are environmentally friendly buses with high comfort, similar ones operate in Phu Quoc, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City. Currently only two routes are operating: No. 23 (through the center to the north, 15,000 VND) and No. 16-2 (from the airport 50,000 VND), but there may be new ones. The route map, schedule and all information are on the official website https://maps.vinbus.vn/nt. You can install the Vinbus app and track these buses online.
City Routes
Important! The main southern bus station of Nha Trang has been moved far outside the city. Now it's impossible to get to it by city bus, as it was before. Take this into account when planning your trip. More about Nha Trang bus stations and how to get there.
Unfortunately, Nha Trang city buses don't have a website. Therefore, you will have to check current information about routes on the spot. But here is what we managed to gather from our own experience and from sources:
- No. 09. From Cam Ranh airport to the center of Nha Trang. Cost 65,000 VND. They run from Cam Ranh from 5:30 to 23:00 every 30 minutes, travel time 45 minutes. Back from Nha Trang to Cam Ranh from 4:30 to 19:30.
- No. 05. From the Vinpearl cable car station through the entire city far north to the new Vega City district.
- No. 04. From the Vinpearl cable car station through the entire city to the northern district of Nha Trang.
These three routes are quite enough to get around the city to the main places. And here is the information we found about routes, but we haven't personally checked all routes:
| Bus Number | Operating Hours | Route Description |
| Route No. 1 | 5:25 – 19:15 | Vinh Tuong – Truong Son – 23/10 street – Thanh Bus station |
| Route No. 2 | 5:25 – 19:15 | Binh Tan bus station – Tran Phu – Le Thanh Ton – Tran Quy Cap – Thanh bus station |
| Route No. 3 | 5:50 – 19:55 | In the forward direction: Nha Trang – Lo River: Dam Market – Tran Hung Dao – Le Hong Phong – Lo River In the reverse direction: |
| Route No. 4 | 5:10 – 19:10 | Hon Xen – Ponagar Tower – Ly Thanh Ton – Vinpearl Habour |
| Route No. 5 | 5:20 – 18:35 | Tran Phu Bridge – Ngo Quyen – Le Thanh Ton – Hon Ro |
| Route No. 6 | 5:20 – 19:00 | Vinh Diem Trung conurbation – Yersin – Nguyen Xien – Luong Son Market |
Water Transport
In addition to land transport, there is also the possibility to use water transport in Nha Trang. Near Nha Trang there are two piers: Northern and Southern.
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The Southern Pier is located very close to the city (southern pier on map) and you can get to it by bus No. 4. From the southern pier you can get to the islands Hon Mun, Hon Mieu (Tri Nguyen Aquarium) and Hon Tre (VinWonders (Vinpearl) Land).
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The Northern Pier is located 18-22 kilometers north of Nha Trang (northern pier on map). It is also called the pier on Monkey Island. You can only get there by rented transport or taxi. From the northern pier, boats depart to Monkey Island, Orchid Island, and Deer Island.