Vinh Hy Bay and Phan Rang: a Day Trip from Nha Trang and Cam Ranh

Maps, signs and older guidebooks still call the area Ninh Thuan province, but that province no longer exists. On 1 July 2025 it merged into Khanh Hoa, the same province as Nha Trang and Cam Ranh, and districts were abolished. Expect to see both the old "Ninh Thuận" and the new "Khánh Hòa" with a ward or commune name.

Where Phan Rang and Vinh Hy are and how long the drive takes

Phan Rang (Phan Rang – Tháp Chàm) sits on Highway QL1, 63 km south of Cam Ranh airport and 103 km from central Nha Trang. Vinh Hy Bay lies off the highway on the edge of Nui Chua National Park, reached by the coastal road ĐT702. The figures below come from the OSRM router, which uses posted speed limits and tends to be optimistic: the Vietnam Airlines travel guide allows about two hours by taxi from the airport to the bay, where OSRM says one. Add a buffer.

Distances: OSRM between OpenStreetMap points, 23 October 2026.

The full loop (Nha Trang → Vinh Hy → Hang Rai → towers → Bau Truc → Nha Trang) is about 265 km and four hours of pure driving. With stops, leaving at 7–8 am gets you back by evening. Starting from Cam Ranh cuts roughly 80 km.

• Vinh Hy Bay pier (Bến tàu làng chài Vĩnh Hy): Fee 20,000 VND (~$0.80) — Glass-bottom boat 100,000–150,000 VND
• Hang Rai (Hang Rái): Coral rocks in the national park — Fee 40,000 VND (~$1.50) — 7 km from Vinh Hy
• Po Klong Garai towers (Tháp Pô Klông Garai): Late 13th–14th c. — Fee 20,000 VND (~$0.80) — 650 m from Thap Cham station
• Hoa Lai towers (Tháp Hòa Lai): 8th–9th c. — On QL1 on the way from Cam Ranh
• Po Rome tower (Tháp Pô Rômê): 17th c., 16.5 m — 17 km from Po Klong Garai — 6:00–17:00
• Bau Truc pottery (Gốm Chăm Bàu Trúc): Hand-built without a wheel — 9 km from the towers
• Binh Tien beach (Bình Tiên): Quiet beach on ĐT702 north of Vinh Hy

Coastal road 702

ĐT702 runs north from Ninh Chu beach (Ninh Chữ) along Nui Chua National Park, sea on one side and forested slopes on the other. Báo Hà Tĩnh ranks it among the country's most beautiful coastal roads and puts the stretch to the Binh Lap peninsula at about 57 km. Along the way you pass the Thai An vineyards, Hang Rai and Vinh Hy, then Binh Tien beach.

Coming from Nha Trang or Cam Ranh, the router keeps you on QL1 and turns onto 702 near the bay. You can follow the coast the whole way via Binh Tien instead: only 5 km longer, about fifteen minutes slower.

By train to Thap Cham station

Tháp Chàm station on the North–South railway is 650 m in a straight line from the Po Klong Garai towers. The train works if you only want the towers and Bau Truc. The bay is another 45 km or so, and you'll need a car for that. Check timetables and fares on the Vietnam Railways site; we couldn't confirm them from other sources.

Vinh Hy Bay: glass-bottom boats, coral and floating restaurants

Vinh Hy Bay (Vịnh Vĩnh Hy, Vinh Hai commune, former Ninh Hai district) is a sheltered bay ringed by the hills of Nui Chua National Park, and it's the reason most people make the trip. It holds national scenic heritage status. The visitor fee is 20,000 VND (~$0.80) for adults; children 6–16 pay half and under-6s go free. Boats leave from the fishing village pier.

What you can do in the bay, according to the Vietnam Airlines travel guide. The guide was written for the 2025 season, so treat its prices as a rough guide:

Besides the boats, the bay has seafood restaurants on floating rafts (nhà bè) next to the fishing village. From the water you'll see the beaches of Bai Hom and Mui Ca Heo and the quiet coves of Bai Coc and Bai Chuoi. The Amanoi luxury resort overlooks the bay.

At the rafts, ask the price per kilo before the fish goes on the scale.

The downsides: VnExpress warns about submerged rocks off Vinh Hy and Binh Tien, and Vietnam Airlines says October to December brings rough seas when boats may not run. For snorkelling the bay is a sensible pick: in Nha Trang, swimming and snorkelling in the core zone of the Hon Mun marine reserve have been banned since June 2022 (see our Nha Trang tours guide).

Nui Chua National Park and Hang Rai

Nui Chua National Park (Núi Chúa) wraps around Vinh Hy Bay on land and at sea. In September 2021 UNESCO designated it a biosphere reserve: 106,646 ha, 7,352 ha of it marine, combining forest, sea and semi-desert. It's Vietnam's 11th biosphere reserve (Viet Nam News); the certificate was handed over on 14 April 2022 (VOV). It has been a national park since 2003.

VnExpress counts 330 species of land vertebrates and more than 1,500 species of higher plants. Trekking and camping need advance registration, and visitor numbers are capped.

Hang Rai

Hang Rai (Hang Rái) is a rocky stretch of shore 7 km from Vinh Hy along ĐT702. The name means "otter cave" (rái cá is an otter). You come for the rock outcrops over the water and a coral reef that runs about a kilometre along the shore. It's a favourite with photographers.

Entry is 40,000 VND (~$1.50) per adult. A provincial resolution of 14 December 2023 doubled it from 20,000 VND, so older guides still quote the lower figure. The same rate applies to the My Hoa "stone park" and the Binh Tien freshwater stream. Children 6–16 pay half.

Cham towers: Po Klong Garai, Hoa Lai and Po Rome

Phan Rang sits in what was Panduranga, the southern principality of Champa, and three groups of towers survive around the town. The most complete is Po Klong Garai on Trau Hill; the others stand by Highway QL1 and southwest of town. They're still working temples. Rituals happen year-round, and the biggest Cham festival comes here every October.

Po Klong Garai

Tháp Pô Klông Garai stands on Trau Hill (Mbuen Hala) in Do Vinh ward. According to Khanh Hoa's official Cham culture portal, it was built in the late 13th–14th century under King Jaya Simhavarman III as a temple to Shiva. Only after the 15th century did it become a shrine to King Po Klong Garai, who reigned from 1151 to 1205 and is remembered for his dams and canals.

Three of the original six structures remain:

• the main tower, 20.5 m tall with four tiers and an east-facing door. Inside is a mukhalinga bearing the king's face, declared a national treasure in 2024;
• the gate tower, 8.65 m, a miniature of the main one;
• the "fire" tower, 9.31 m, with a curved boat-shaped roof.

The complex has been a special national monument since 2016. Entry is 20,000 VND (~$0.80) for adults and 10,000 VND (~$0.40) for children 6–16, under provincial resolution 13/2020. We found no official opening hours, and travel sites disagree: most say 7:30–17:30, some 6:00–18:00. Arrive in daylight. Midday can hit 35 °C, so morning or late afternoon is easier.

The Kate festival (Katê) begins on the first day of the seventh month of the Cham calendar and runs for a month, with the main rites in the first few days at three temples at once. In 2026 the main days fell on 9–11 October, centred on Po Klong Garai. Dates for 2027 follow the Cham calendar, usually in October.

Hoa Lai

Tháp Hòa Lai is older, from the 8th–9th century, the early period of Panduranga architecture. Two of its three towers still stand; traces remain of the middle one. They sit right by QL1 in Thuan Bac commune on the way from Cam Ranh to Phan Rang, so you can stop without a detour. They became a special national monument in 2016 together with Po Klong Garai. Check fees and hours on site.

Po Rome

Tháp Pô Rômê in Phuoc Huu commune is one of the last Cham towers ever built, from the 17th century. Only the 16.5 m main tower survives; the gate and fire towers collapsed. Inside is a relief of King Po Rome about 1.2 m tall, a national treasure since 2020. It's open 6:00–17:00, per Khanh Hoa's tourism portal, which doesn't list a fee.

Po Rome is 17.5 km (about 25 minutes) from Po Klong Garai. Unless you're keen on Cham history, Po Klong Garai alone will do. Seen Po Nagar in Nha Trang already? Same culture, same red brick, so don't expect a revelation.

Bau Truc pottery village

Bau Truc (Bàu Trúc, Ninh Phuoc commune) is a Cham pottery village 9 km from the Po Klong Garai towers. Pots are shaped by hand, with no wheel, using an anvil, bamboo rings and shells. They are fired in the open over wood and straw, which gives every piece its own colour (Viet Nam News, 6 October 2025).

On 29 November 2022 UNESCO added Cham pottery-making to its list of intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. The number of skilled potters is shrinking and younger people are moving into other work. More than 500 families live here, and 85% of them make pottery.

You can try shaping something alongside a potter. We couldn't find a set price, so agree it on the spot. Souvenirs cost 30,000–100,000 VND (~$1–4), according to VnExpress. A big jar won't fit in your suitcase and breaks easily, so go small.

Phan Rang vineyards

Grapes here are harvested up to three times a year: late March to May, August to September, and before Tet. Former Ninh Thuan is Vietnam's main grape region, growing red and green table grapes, dark wine grapes and apples.

Two places come up most often. One is the Thai An grape village (Thái An, Vinh Hai commune) on road 702, about 30 km from Phan Rang, where several hundred vineyards take visitors. The other is the Ba Moi farm (Ba Mọi), under 10 km from the centre. A 2023 report in Tạp chí Công Thương says both are free to enter; you pay only for what you buy, from grapes and wine to syrup and dried fruit.

In tour itineraries, a "tasting" means local wine, fresh grapes and dried fruit at a farm, with the option to buy. None of the listings mention a winery production tour.

Beaches on the way

Right by Phan Rang is the Ninh Chu ward beach, 8–10 km from the centre and backed by hotels. The northern end of road 702 is wilder: past Vinh Hy you reach Binh Tien (Bình Tiên), a quiet beach where people camp. Inside Vinh Hy Bay, swimming happens at Bai Hom and Mui Ca Heo, usually reached by boat.

The Mui Dinh lighthouse and sand dunes are about 30 km south of Phan Rang. That's the opposite direction, and you can't fit it in on the same day as Vinh Hy. Jeep trips there are covered in our Cam Ranh activities guide.

When to go

Former Ninh Thuan is Vietnam's driest province, with 700–800 mm of rain a year and 25–35 °C year-round. Rain falls mostly from September to November, and Vietnam Airlines says the sea stays unsettled through December.

Sources: Vietnam Airlines and VnExpress travel guides, October 2026.

Nha Trang's rainy season falls in the same months; month-by-month details are in our Nha Trang weather guide.

Tour or DIY

You have three ways to do a Phan Rang day trip from Nha Trang: a group tour at $55–110 per person, a private car with a guide at $240–450 for the party, or a taxi on your own. Tours last 9–12 hours and usually include hotel pickup, a guide, lunch, entry tickets and a boat in the bay.

What a typical tour includes

Here is what recurs across 15 itineraries on two large Russian-language marketplaces as of 23 October 2026. These are the only listings whose prices we could open and read; English-language listings exist too, so compare their "not included" lines:

Sources: Tripster, Sputnik8, 23 October 2026.

What the itineraries show:

• Group tours rarely stop at Po Klong Garai. They're built around the bay, grapes and private petting zoos with capybaras and alpacas. For Cham history, look at private tours or go on your own.
• Many include Tu Van, the seashell pagoda. It's in Cam Ranh, not Phan Rang. If you're staying in Cam Ranh, it's an easy half-day on its own.
• Private tours pay off from four people. $400 split four ways is $100 each, close to a group tour, with your own route.
• Driving takes 4–5 of the 10–12 hours. If that's too much, start from Cam Ranh, which is 40 km closer each way.

On your own: a one-day route

Going independently saves money with 3–4 people and lets you pick the stops. Vietnam Airlines puts a taxi from Cam Ranh airport to Vinh Hy at 700,000–1,000,000 VND (~$27–38) one way. Booking a car with a driver for the whole day is more reliable than hunting for a return taxi in Vinh Hy.

An order that avoids backtracking:

1. Nha Trang or Cam Ranh → Vinh Hy via QL1 and ĐT702, 60–100 km. Aim to arrive by 9–10 am while the sea is calm.
2. The bay: boat or speedboat for 1–2 hours, lunch on a raft.
3. Hang Rai, 7 km, half an hour to an hour.
4. Thai An: vineyards on the way south along 702.
5. Po Klong Garai, about 30 km further, late in the day.
6. Bau Truc, 9 km, if the potters are still working.
7. Back on QL1: 112 km to Nha Trang, about 1.5 hours.

Things to know before you go

Where people slip up:

• Booking a tour "for the Cham towers" without reading the itinerary. Group tours rarely include them.
• Trusting old prices. Hang Rai has cost 40,000 VND since December 2023, but many guides still say 20,000.
• Going in October–December for the sea. You might catch the Kate festival, but your boat might not sail.
• Forgetting to cover shoulders and knees. The towers are active temples with ongoing rituals.
• Arriving at the towers at noon. It's hot year-round, up to 35 °C in the middle of the day.
• Buying an add-on trip to Binh Ba island. Tourism there is banned; details in our Cam Ranh guide.

If a sign uses a name you don't recognise, our 2025 reform guide shows how the old districts became communes.

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Read next: Cam Ranh tours · Things to do in Cam Ranh · Nha Trang sights · Vietnam's national parks