Nha Trang islands — Hon Tre, Hon Tam and the closed Hon Mun

Six islands in the bay are open to visitors. Hon Tre carries the cable car, the theme park and five resorts. Hon Tam sells beach-and-mud-bath day passes. Hon Mieu has the cheap beaches and a fish-shaped aquarium. Hon Mot has the snorkelling cove that quietly replaced Hon Mun. Hon Mun itself is the protected core. And Bich Dam, a fishing village on the far side of Hon Tre, barely exists in English at all.

Prices checked on 6 September 2026. Conversions at roughly 26,000 VND to the dollar.

Which island to pick — the short answer

Go to Hon Tre for rides, the cable car and resorts. Go to Hon Tam for a beach day with a mud bath and a buffet. Snorkelling now happens in Coral Bay off Hon Mot. Hon Mieu is the cheap half-day. Bich Dam is the quiet one. Hon Mun stays the protected core: your boat can approach it, your tank cannot go in the water.

• Hon Tre (Hòn Tre): VinWonders, 3,320 m cable car — 950,000 VND (~$37) · park 08:30–20:00
• Cable car station (Ga cáp treo Vinpearl): Mainland, former Vinh Nguyen ward — Cable car 08:00–21:45
• Hon Tam (Hòn Tằm): Beach, mud bath, buffet — 430,000–855,000 VND (~$17–33) · 7 min by boat
• Hon Mun (Hòn Mun): Reserve core, tank diving banned since 27.06.2022 — Mask only, at designated points
• Hon Mot (Hòn Một): Coral Bay snorkelling stop — 30,000 VND (~$1) · where the tours actually swim
• Hon Mieu (Hòn Miễu): Tranh Beach 50,000 VND (~$2) — Tri Nguyen aquarium 170,000 VND · 08:00–17:00
• Bich Dam (Bích Đầm): Fishing village, 855 residents, 1890 lighthouse — Wooden boat 30,000–40,000 VND (~$1.5) · 1.5–2 hours

Three misunderstandings show up in that table immediately. Hon Tre and "Vinpearl Island" are the same place — the park simply gave the island a second name. Hon Tam is sold as "mud baths on an island", but it is a resort package rather than a therapeutic spa. And Hon Mun gets booked for diving that has not happened there in over four years.

One naming note, because English listings are inconsistent. Hòn Tre appears as Hon Tre or Vinpearl Island; Hòn Miễu as Hon Mieu or Tri Nguyen Island; Hòn Mun sometimes as Black Island. Same rocks, different marketing.

Administratively every island in the bay now belongs to Nha Trang ward. Vietnam abolished the district tier on 1 July 2025 and merged Khánh Hòa with Ninh Thuận, so operator websites still printing "phường Vĩnh Nguyên, Nha Trang City" are quoting an address that no longer exists.

For islands beyond this bay, meaning Phu Quoc, Con Dao and Cat Ba, see the country-wide guide to Vietnam's islands. For temples, waterfalls and museums on the mainland, see what to see in Nha Trang, and for the city as a whole, the Nha Trang guide.

Hon Tre — the island with the cable car

Hon Tre (Hòn Tre) is the largest island in the bay, roughly 3,000 hectares, of which about 200 in the north are given over to tourism: the VinWonders park, the Vinpearl Harbour waterfront and five five-star hotels. The other nine tenths are forest, hills and coves that no organised tour visits.

From Tran Phu beach the island reads as a green hill topped with ride towers. After dark the cable car turns into a lit string across the water, which is why it ends up on every postcard of the city.

Cable car or speedboat

Two ways across, and they are not equivalent.

The cable car runs 08:00–21:45 and the park opens at 08:30. Cabins therefore start half an hour before the rides: to be first through the gates, be at the station before eight. On a weekday the ticket queue takes five minutes. On weekends and Vietnamese public holidays it runs to half an hour, and that is before you board.

Strong wind stops the cable car and everyone shifts to boats. The reverse also happens: in rough seas the boats stop and the cabins keep going. Either way, do not schedule your island day for the morning of your flight.

What else is on the island

Vinpearl Harbour is a waterfront strip of restaurants, shops and an evening music show. Entry is free, but you can only get there by cable car or boat, so "free" is relative. The bundle of cable car, harbour and show costs 360,000 VND (~$14), which is the cheapest way to set foot on Hon Tre if the rides mean nothing to you.

The beach is imported white sand and the water is calm, since the bay shelters it from swell. Loungers are free for hotel guests and for anyone holding a park ticket.

VinWonders itself is six themed zones, a water park, an aquarium and a zip line. No point relitigating it here: the full VinWonders guide covers zones, queue strategy and the one-day route.

Checked 6 September 2026 against VinWonders and Vietnamese ticket agents. Some channels still list 1,050,000 VND for standard entry — same gate, no promotion. Confirm on vinwonders.com before paying.

Sleeping on the island

Five five-star properties share one island: Vinpearl Resort, Vinpearl Resort & Spa Bay, Vinpearl Luxury, Vinpearl Condotel and Nha Trang Marriott Resort & Spa. The logic is straightforward — hotel guests get unlimited park access, and for a family of four that often beats buying day tickets.

The trade-off is that evenings leave you stuck on an island. No street food, no city, dinner at resort prices. Over two weeks that wears thin.

Two write-ups already exist: Marriott on Hon Tre for service, rooms and booking mechanics, and Vinpearl Resort for the oldest wing on the island. If you would rather stay on the mainland with a quiet beach, read the Amiana Resort review.

Hon Tam — what the ticket actually covers

Hon Tam (Hòn Tằm) is a resort island seven minutes by boat from the pier next to the cable car station. Everything is sold as a package: return boat, entry, beach and a set of facilities that depends on the tier. In 2026 that runs from 430,000 to 855,000 VND (~$17–33).

The ticket structure changed on 1 January 2026. The island used to be split into zones A and B, and guests had to work out what their tier unlocked. Now you choose by experience instead: sea bathing plus the whole island, or mud bath plus the whole island.

From the resort's own price list, 6 September 2026. The 2026 policy also throws in a sea-bathing package worth 250,000 VND at no extra charge.

Boats out leave at 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00. Returns run at 10:20, 12:20, 14:20 and 16:20. That last one is firm: miss it and you are negotiating with a private boatman at private-boatman prices.

The mud bath is a resort feature, not a clinic

Worth being clear about. The mud soak on Hon Tam is part of a resort package — a warm tub, mineral water, showers, pools nearby. Pleasant, photogenic, fine. But if the mud is the point, the mainland complexes deliver more for less: in our comparison of Nha Trang's mud baths a basic soak at Thap Ba costs 120,000 VND against 540,000 VND for the island package here.

Go to Hon Tam for the island, the beach and the pools, and treat the mud as a bonus. Go for the mud alone and stay on the mainland.

Not included

• Kayaks and water rides: paid on site.
• Parasailing: separate price list at the beach operator.
• Mask and snorkel: rental.
• Drinks outside the buffet.
• Premium-zone loungers on some tiers.

About the water: the beach is calm with a gentle slope, but there is no coral near the shore. Fish live in Coral Bay off Hon Mot, not here.

Hon Mun — there has been no diving since 2022

Scuba diving inside the Hon Mun (Hòn Mun) marine reserve has been banned since 27 June 2022. The suspension followed a collapse in live coral cover from 52% in 2015 to under 11% in 2022. As of September 2026 it still stands: swimming, diving, boat activity and glass-bottom boats are stopped inside the strictly protected core.

How it unfolded

For scale: the protected area covers roughly 160 km², of which 122 km² is water. It holds more than 350 hard coral species, over 230 reef fish species and 112 molluscs. Hard coral grows about a centimetre a year, which is why specialists put partial reef recovery at five to six years and up.

Hon Mun's coral reef ecosystem has shown considerable but slow recovery after these incidentsDam Hai Van, deputy head of the Nha Trang Bay Management Board, Nhan Dan, 24.02.2025

What you can still do

The management board's wording, published in July 2025, is that all scuba diving inside the reserve is temporarily stopped, while tourists may still look at coral with ordinary swimming goggles. Swimming with a life jacket at designated points is allowed too.

In practice:

1. Tanks and scuba gear inside the reserve core: no.
2. Mask and snorkel at the designated stops boats use: yes.
3. Landing on the beach and mooring at marked points: yes.
4. Anchoring outside marked points, collecting coral, feeding fish: no, and fined.

Where the diving went

Dives moved to Hon Rom (Hòn Rơm), listed in English catalogues as Madonna Rock. Same archipelago, with caves and swim-through tunnels and depths of 28–30 metres. The other name on schedules is Hon Bac. The regime is a pilot: the permit was granted in June 2024 for one year with a cap on visitor numbers, and the deputy head of the management board said openly that diving at Hon Rom will also pause once functional zoning of the bay is complete. Treat it as temporary access, not a replacement site.

Budget 300,000–600,000 VND (~$11–23) for a guided dive with gear, $50–75 for a Discover Scuba session with a one-to-one instructor, and $60–105 for certified-diver packages. Centres, certifications and visibility seasons are covered in diving in Nha Trang.

So why is "Hon Mun" still in every listing

Because it sells. As of September 2026 TripAdvisor carries live products named "Mun Island Snorkeling" and "Mun Island Snorkeling, Mini Beach, Floating Bar", Klook runs a tour at the address mun-island-tranh-beach-tour, and a PADI 5-Star centre in town lists "Fun Diving Hon Mun" next to "Hon Bac". English-language guides repeat the phrase "Nha Trang's best dive site" without checking the date.

Here is what happens on the water. The boat heads toward Hon Mun, stops at a permitted point (usually Coral Bay off Hon Mot) and you snorkel there over what the reef has left. It is not fraud in any legal sense: the island really is nearby and the water really is clear. But if you booked with a C-card and plans for two dives along the black cliffs, those plans need rewriting.

Ask the operator two questions, and not about the island name: which point do you actually dive, and what licence does the centre hold. An honest answer sounds like "Hon Rom" or "Hon Bac". An answer of "Hon Mun, of course, best coral in the bay" means the seller is either uninformed or counting on you being so.

Hon Mieu, Hon Mot and Tranh Beach

Three stops carry almost every island programme sold in Nha Trang. Entry runs 30,000–170,000 VND (~$1–6.5) and is normally folded into the tour price — only independent travellers pay at the gate.

Checked 6 September 2026 against Vietnamese ticket aggregators. Expect surcharges in peak season and on public holidays.

Hon Mieu, the cheap one

Hon Mieu (Hòn Miễu), also called Tri Nguyen, sits twenty minutes off the mainland. It has two very different bays: Tranh Beach with fine white sand, and Hon Soi where the sand is replaced by smooth pebbles. The second photographs better and punishes bare feet.

The Tri Nguyen aquarium opens 08:00–17:00. The building is shaped like a ship, and that is usually where the enthusiasm ends. Inside there are live tanks with sharks, sea turtles and reef species. Next to Singapore it is modest. For a child who has never seen an aquarium it is a decent forty minutes.

Hon Mot, where the snorkelling actually is

Hon Mot (Hòn Một) is a small island between Hon Tam and Hon Mun. Its cove is called Vịnh San Hô — literally Coral Bay. Entry is 30,000 VND, the water is calm and shallow near shore, and this is where the snorkelling stops migrated after 2022.

Keep expectations calibrated. There are fish and the water is clear, but live coral near the surface is thin: the bay is still recovering from the bleaching events of 2020 and 2023. Anyone who has snorkelled Phu Quoc or Con Dao will notice the difference in five minutes.

Tranh Beach or Hon Soi

Tranh Beach is for lying down: sand, loungers, a café, and you can arrive on your own boat and stay all day for 50,000 VND. Hon Soi is for looking: pebbles, rocks, clearer water because nothing stirs up sand. Twice the price, none of the infrastructure. With kids take the first; for photographs, the second.

Nha Trang beaches · Tours from Nha Trang · Nha Trang prices

Bich Dam — the village no tour visits

On the south-eastern tip of Hon Tre, an hour and a half to two hours by wooden boat from the mainland, sits Bich Dam (Bích Đầm): over 200 households, 855 residents, six families in ten living off fishing and aquaculture. There is no grid electricity — generators and solar panels only, with the lights going out around nine in the evening. Same island as VinWonders, other side of the mountain.

Getting there. Sources disagree, and that matters when you plan:

• a wooden boat from the old Cau Da port at 40,000 VND (~$1.5), about two hours, one or two departures a day, leaving between 09:00 and 10:00;
• per a Thanh Nien report from August 2025, a departure from Phu Quy port at 11:00, 30,000 VND, about ninety minutes;
• a private boat from a fisherman at 500,000–1,000,000 VND (~$19–38), negotiable.

The timetable lives on word of mouth. Ask the day before, at the pier, and show the Vietnamese spelling: Bích Đầm.

What is there. The Hon Lon lighthouse, built in 1890 and one of the five oldest in Vietnam, reached by a 1.5 km forest trail. A village temple with a tree around a century and a half old. Coves without a single lounger. A homestay bed costs from 100,000 VND (~$4) and a bowl of bánh canh 20,000 VND.

Since early March 2025 Bich Dam has been formally designated a community tourism site, with a management board and planned crews for transport, catering and water rescue. The village is being developed deliberately rather than by accident.

English is close to non-existent, so a translation app matters more than sunscreen — a few useful lines are in our Vietnamese phrasebook.

Who will love it: anyone who has already done Hon Tam and VinWonders and wants to see what the bay looks like without turnstiles.

The northern islands — monkeys and orchids

Hon Lao (Monkey Island) and Hon Thi (Orchid Island) are not in Nha Trang Bay at all. They sit in Nha Phu Bay, twenty kilometres north of the city: forty minutes by road, then a ferry. Entry to Monkey Island is 180,000 VND (~$7) for adults and 100,000 VND for children 100–139 cm.

The format is different too — not a beach day but circus-style animal shows and fifty-odd macaques with a documented interest in your phone. Some travellers rate it the highlight of the trip; others find it grim. The full breakdown with show times and safety notes lives in what to see in Nha Trang.

Combining northern and southern islands in one day does not work. Different ends of the city, different piers.

The 4-island tour, honestly

The group tour costs 450,000–810,000 VND (~$17–31) per adult and around 225,000 VND (~$9) per child, running from eight in the morning to half past four. English-language operators selling the same day with a "floating party" on international platforms charge $29–35. The version with mud baths and a "Robinson" cove stop runs 950,000 VND (~$37).

A typical schedule:

Included: hotel transfer both ways, speedboat, entry tickets to the listed stops, lunch, lounger and umbrella, insurance, guide.
Not included: parasailing, water skiing, diving, drinks beyond the set menu, mask rental with some operators.

What to check before booking

The "four" is different at every operator. One sells Tranh Beach, the fishing village, Hon Soi and the Tri Nguyen aquarium. Another runs Hon Mot, Hon Tam, Tranh Beach and Vinpearl Harbour. A third keeps Hon Mun in the title although nobody lands there. Read the stop list with timings, not the headline on the voucher.

The classic wooden boat with a sound system, a "floating bar" ringed by life jackets and a dancing guide has not disappeared, but it moved into a niche and is now sold separately as a party boat. The mass-market 2026 product is a speedboat running to a timetable.

Lunch is not when you get hungry; it is at 11:30. Snorkelling is not as long as you like; it is forty minutes while the boat is moored. Music plays the whole way. It is a conveyor belt, and it works precisely because it is one.

Doing it yourself

Four of the six islands are reachable without a tour. The order of operations:

1. Hon Tre: Grab to the cable car station in the former Vinh Nguyen ward (12.2028, 109.2173), buy at the counter or show the QR code you bought online, board a cabin. The speedboat leaves from the same complex.
2. Hon Tam: same area, the neighbouring pier. Buy a tier, take a boat between 08:00 and 14:00, return by 16:20.
3. Hon Mieu: Cau Da port, shared canoe at roughly 150,000 VND per person, twenty minutes on the water. Beach entry is paid on arrival.
4. Bich Dam: Cau Da or Phu Quy port, wooden boat at 30,000–40,000 VND, one or two sailings a day, mornings only.

Hon Mun and Hon Mot cannot be reached independently: only licensed vessels may stop inside the reserve, which always means somebody's tour.

Chartering a boat

A day charter from the fishermen at Cau Da runs 500,000–800,000 VND (~$19–31). Bargaining is expected but bounded: fuel costs what it costs, and a quote under half a million usually means you will be dropped somewhere other than promised. Agree three things in writing over chat: the stops, the return time, and how many people share the boat.

Tour versus DIY, for two people

The counterintuitive result: for a four-stop day the tour usually beats doing it yourself, because operators buy boat capacity wholesale. DIY wins when you want one destination and half a day on it rather than forty minutes.

Bring the passport itself, since pier staff record passenger details before boarding, plus small notes and water. Vinpearl and Hon Tam take international cards and issue QR e-tickets; local boats, the Bich Dam ferry and village homestays are cash only. What things cost across the city is broken down in Nha Trang prices.

When to go

February to May is the best window for the islands: calm sea, clear water, sun that has not turned punishing yet. October and November are the worst, when the north-east monsoon brings peak rainfall and tours get cancelled in batches.

A weather cancellation is not an operator failing but standard practice: the port border authority makes the call, and it lands in the morning. Refunds are neither universal nor fast, so in the wet season put your island day early in the trip and keep a spare one.

Water temperatures and rainfall month by month are tabulated in Nha Trang weather, and the piers and beaches are plotted in maps of Nha Trang. If the islands fall through, the city beaches will do.

Mistakes that cost money

Booking "diving at Hon Mun". The expensive one. Ask for the name of the dive point and the centre's licence. The right answer is Hon Rom or Hon Bac.

Taking a Hon Tam tier without the buffet and planning to eat there. Island food prices sit above city ones, and the gap between Seamud and Seaday disappears over one lunch.

Arriving at the cable car at 08:30 on a weekend. Cabins start at 08:00 and the queue is already there. School holidays turn thirty minutes into an hour.

Planning Bich Dam as a day trip with no slack. One return sailing is one chance. If the boat stays in because of swell, you are sleeping in the village regardless of your plans.

Paying cash with no voucher. Everyone on the promenade sells everything. Insist on a paper or electronic voucher with the company name, the stop list and a phone number — at minimum you then have somebody to call.

Assuming the island ticket covers everything. Kayaks, parasailing, mask rental, premium loungers: extra almost everywhere. Ask outright what else you will pay for on site.

FAQ

Read next: Nha Trang guide · VinWonders on Hon Tre · Diving in Nha Trang · Islands of Vietnam