[Nha Trang Travel Log] Day 2: Visiting Nha Trang's Sightseeing Spots!

Xin chào! We're Yuki, a Japanese husband living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and his Vietnamese wife Ngoc. On this blog, we share information about living and moving to Vietnam, as well as travel information for all over the country. If you come across an article that catches your interest, please follow us first ♪ Today, on day 2 of our Nha Trang trip, we plan to thoroughly explore the sightseeing spots around Nha Trang city. Since Nha Trang isn't a major destination for Japanese travelers, you're probably curious about what kind of leisure time you can spend there. If you're interested, please take a look! Dam Market | The first spot you should visit when sightseeing in Nha Trang city

The first place we visited was Dam Market — the largest market in the city, located in the center of Nha Trang. It's an indoor market, but there's also a long row of shops lining the outside.

It seems like all Vietnamese people shop while still riding their motorbikes. It's amazing how drive-through culture has been rooted there since long ago… ( ｀ー´)ノ If you're going to the market, I recommend going first thing in the morning while it's not hot yet. Especially indoors, it gets quite hot and humid once the sun rises. Po Nagar Cham Towers │ Let's visit the ruins of the Champa Kingdom

Next, we visited the "Po Nagar Cham Towers." We headed straight north along Tran Phu Street on Nha Trang Beach, then turned left — and arrived in no time. Po Nagar is a relic of the Champa Kingdom, an independent nation that once flourished in central and south-central Vietnam. It's not a huge site, but it's definitely worth seeing.

By the way, it seems my timing was good when I went, as you can see, I was able to enjoy a traditional dance performance. By the way, the ethnic minority Cham people are said to be descendants of the Champa Kingdom (though I'm not sure if these particular performers were actually Cham (lol)). Lunch: Nha Trang's famous Banh Can

After finishing our visit to Po Nagar Tower, we went to a Banh Can restaurant right across from it. What we really wanted was to go to a proper air-conditioned restaurant, but unfortunately there didn't seem to be one nearby.

This is Banh Can. Guidebooks present it as a Vietnamese version of takoyaki, but the taste and appearance are completely different, right? The batter is made with rice flour, and the typical fillings are ground meat, shrimp, and octopus. You eat it by dipping it in diluted fish sauce. One plate had about 10 pieces, but even us girls can easily polish them all off! Also, there was a shop nearby that served raw oysters, so I tried them there too, but my husband got a stomach ache, so I'll hold off on recommending them... (;_;) Hon Chong Cape | That indescribable resort vibe is absolutely irresistible

What we visited after lunch was "Honchon Cape." You go up onto a small hill to enter, then head down to the rocky area. It's better to carry small children in your arms. The path isn't particularly well-maintained, and some of the rocks can be slippery, so it's a bit dangerous.

This is the famous attraction of Hongchon Cape — a rock wedged between the surrounding rocks. It's a classic spot to stand right beneath this rock and take a commemorative photo. In person it's actually much bigger than it looks in photos, and it gives off a silent, almost overwhelming presence. Take a break at Hongchon Café

Near Hon Chong Cape, there's a dining area called Hon Chong Cafe, built on a hill. The ocean view is amazing, and the atmosphere at the cabana seats is wonderful too. We took a bit of a break there, sipping cocktails and fresh juice. By the way, it was just before 4pm at this point. Actually, after finishing our visit to Po Nagar Tower, we went on to enjoy the mud baths, which I'll introduce next time. It turned out to be quite a fun experience, so please don't miss the next post either♪ Dinner: We came all the way to Nha Trang and ended up having... German food, of all things

I may have mentioned this in an article before, but one thing I really want you to enjoy when you come to Nha Trang is the "multinational cuisine." Westerners who fell in love with Nha Trang and ended up settling down here have opened restaurants serving food from their home countries. This time, I visited a German restaurant. When I think of German food, sausages are pretty much the only thing that comes to mind, but when I looked at the menu, I was surprised! It really was almost all sausages... (lol)

Sausage and mashed potatoes. The restaurant was dimly lit with indirect lighting, so I couldn't get a great photo, but it tasted even better than it looked! The customers around us often ordered chicken dishes as well as sausage, so that might be worth recommending too (though I can't say for sure). We wrapped up our second day in Nha Trang with a visit to the night market.

For the second and last stop in Nha Trang, I'd like to wrap things up at the night market. The night market is located right across the street from Nha Trang Beach, and it takes place along a roughly 300-meter stretch of road. Over 100 night stalls line the street, and there's also a food and drink area. Nha Trang doesn't have that many souvenir shops, so this might be a good place to pick up some general goods. Summary and preview of next time   The sightseeing spots in Nha Trang city are compactly clustered together, so if you have one full day, you can visit them all with plenty of time to spare. If your stay is short, I think even half a day would be fine. If you go to Dam Market → Po Nagar Cham Towers → Hon Chong Promontory like we did this time, you can cover them all in the morning. Next time on the blog… We enjoyed the mud hot springs that everyone in Nha Trang is talking about ♪ Next time, I'll introduce the mud hot springs we visited after Po Nagar Cham Towers.It's a place known among foreigners as "Thap Ba Hot Spring," and since it's right behind Po Nagar Tower, you can visit both on the same day. Don't miss it! If you're even a little interested, please follow along so you don't lose track of this article, and stay tuned♪ Hẹn gặp lại! ※This means "See you again!" in Vietnamese (^^)/