We arrived in Nha Trang in a sleepy daze off our overnight bus from Ho Chi Minh City. We got to our hotel around 8am and to our surprise and delight the front desk lady said our room was available for a free early check in, and it would be ready in about half an hour! An early win from Nha Trang!
We dropped our bags and checked out the beach, a one-minute walk from our hotel. Instantly we loved the vibe of Nha Trang. The entire beach is lined with a well-maintained boardwalk that stretches for miles. It’s clean, gorgeous, and has a much more pleasant feel than the chaos of HCMC. We had breakfast from the restaurant across the street from our hotel – it had an extremely extensive, slightly concerning menu (fried cobra??), and then went for our early check-in.
We are officially too old to power through the day after a long overnight bus trip, so we allocated a bit of recovery time before we went out for our adventure of the day. Wini researched things to do in Nha Trang and came up with the perfect 3-day schedule!
That afternoon we went for another walk down the beach boardwalk towards Po Nagar Temple. It’s a Hindu temple that was founded before 781! It was so interesting to walk around the stunning and ancient towers. We got there at the same time as a number of big tour buses, but since we had no time limit we were able to stay until the crowds dissipated, and take in the sights.
Walking back along the boardwalk we stopped to watch some people play soccer and volleyball on the beach. Near the Thap Tram Huong landmark was a larger area where people gathered to let their kids play, blow bubbles, and fly kites. It had a very wholesome feel to it, and it was amazing weather to enjoy.
Our second day, we woke up early and rented a scooter, excited to have a full day of adventures: the itinerary for the day was to complete a hike and then go cool off in the famous Ba Ho Waterfalls. Our first mission, though, was to find gas. We went to 3 different locations on Google Maps, each with absolutely no signs of a station, and our scooter was running on fumes. Finally, we pulled over and asked a local where we could find one, and luckily we made it without having to push!
Once we were back on track, we scooted to the trailhead of the Nui Co Tien hike, which you must enter through a little cafe. On the way there it had been cloudy and even drizzling a little, but as soon as we started the hike the sun came out and it was scorching!!
The hike is quite steep with very little shade, but it offers beautiful views of the city and ocean along the way.
There are actually three peaks, but after hiking up to the first one we made the executive decision to call it. We hadn’t brought enough water, and we still had big plans for the rest of the day. We took in the views, had a quick Oreo snack, and hiked down.
The way down was actually much more challenging than the way up! The steep path was covered in loose rocks so it was easy to slip and stumble. We both ate shit a few times which resulted in some gnarly lookin’ bruises. But we made it down in one piece, ready for our second adventure of the day: Ba Ho Waterfalls!
Ba Ho is gorgeous. It’s very well done, with lots of great landscaping, cute sitting areas and swings, and most notably it is naturally stunning. Truly one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever seen.
The water is so blue and the greenery of the area is unreal! We walked slowly up towards the main attraction — the three lakes and connecting waterfalls — taking in the views along the way.
In order to get to the upper lakes you must walk over and through the big boulders lining the river. Fortunately, the grounds are very well maintained; there are painted arrows to show you the way, and they’ve installed ropes, and rebar steps in more challenging areas.
We arrived at the uppermost lake, hot and sweaty and ready to jump into the inviting clear water.
After swimming for a while we were joined in the pool by some friendly strangers who were cliff-jumping off the rocks. They had a great energy to them, so we (and by we I mean Wini, NOT me!) approached them and started chatting. We exchanged info and decided we would meet up for drinks with them later that night. Yay, new friends!
We swam for several hours and then scooted home to shower, eat, and relax before meeting up with Peter, Braden (Americans), and Elisa (German). It was a hilarious and wonderful night! We went for drinks at a restaurant, and then back to their hostel for a rooftop party. We met a few new people, like Matt from Australia, Lars from the Netherlands, and a couple more Americans, Kevin and Shelley.
Kevin and Shelley convinced our whole group to ditch the hostel party and go to karaoke, and who can say no to that?? We had an incredible night belting out our faves in a room full of strangers friends (because who can be strangers after serenading each other with Britney until 2am???).
Our last morning in Nha Trang we had a well deserved sleep-in before checking out. We left our bags and went for one final day of exploration.
The night before we had spotted The Pizza Company (the same chain that we’d eaten at in HCMC with the buy-1-get-1 deal) and just our luck, it was a BOGO Wednesday! It was the perfect hangover meal for two out-of-practice drinkers!
After lunch, we set out on a sweaty hour-and-a-half walk to the Thap Ba Mud Baths. We had a relaxing day soaking in pools of water and mud. It was the perfect way to spend the day, and it had its desired effect: sapping every ounce of energy from us so we’d be tuckered out for our overnight bus to Da Nang. Read all about our experience at the Thap Ba Mud Baths here!
We made our way back to the hotel, gathered our stuff, and headed out for the bus station.
Wini got manhandled by an extremely mean Vietnamese bathroom attendant because she didn’t have cash on her to pay the 5000 VND (0.21 USD) bathroom fee. Wini kept trying to explain that she didn’t have cash on hand and tried to go back to where our stuff was to grab it, but the lady wasn’t having it and kept physically preventing her from leaving, yelling in Vietnamese. It was also the most disgusting bathroom of all time that provided no toilet paper, couldn’t flush, and didn’t have a sink. It was literally just a hole in the ground. We’re pretty sure the “bathroom attendant” just used squatters’ rights to scam people into paying to use the bathroom. We should’ve just peed outside.
The sleeper bus was less comfortable than our one from HCMC, as there were no curtains to block off each section, and the driver was listening to loud music, speaking loudly, and honking almost constantly. But thanks to our action-packed few days in Nha Trang we slept for most of the drive.