Cam Ranh travel guide
Deep-water bay, the Nha Trang airport and lobster on Binh Ba
A port town on Cam Ranh Bay, home to the airport that serves Nha Trang. Come between February and August, the dry season on this coast, for the beach resorts and a boat to Binh Ba island. One or two days is plenty. Prices are low, and many nationalities enter visa-free.
Cam Ranh wraps around one of the deepest natural harbours in Southeast Asia, at the southern end of the Nha Trang coast. Most visitors only see its airport, Cam Ranh International, which handles flights for Nha Trang and stands on the sandy peninsula across the bay from the town.
Navies have prized the bay for over a century. Russia's Baltic Fleet anchored here in 1905 on its way to defeat at Tsushima. The Americans built a large base in the 1960s, and the Soviet and then Russian navy stayed on until 2002. Little of that history is open to visitors, but it explains the military feel of parts of the shore.
Beach time means the coast road north of the airport, lined with resorts on long, quiet sand. Binh Ba, a small island in the bay reached by boat, is where locals go for lobster and grilled seafood. Nha Trang is about 45 minutes north of the airport, so Cam Ranh works well as the calm end of a Nha Trang trip.
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Quiet beaches, a deep bay with a naval past and seafood on the islands.
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Best time to visit Cam Ranh
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
A long dry spell with calm seas for swimming and island boats.
The wettest months, with occasional storms; boats to the islands may not run.
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Getting there
Landing at CXR across the bay from town
Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR), with domestic and international flights, serves the whole Nha Trang coast. It stands on the sandy peninsula on the seaward side of the bay, with beach resorts along the coast road to its north and Nha Trang about 45 minutes away; taxis and resort transfers meet arrivals. The town of Cam Ranh itself lies on the mainland side of the bay, on Highway 1, the main north-south road, which long-distance and sleeper buses follow down the coast. By rail, Nha Trang station on the North-South line has the widest choice of trains, and from there it is a drive south to the bay.
- Cam Ranh (CXR)
- Domestic and international flights; the airport for Nha Trang
- Airport to Nha Trang
- About 45 minutes north on the coast road
- Rail
- Nha Trang station, on the North-South line, has the most trains
- Road
- Highway 1 runs through Cam Ranh town on the mainland side of the bay
- If you are staying at one of the beach resorts north of the airport, book its pick-up with the room; late flights land when few other options are waiting.
Getting around
Rides along the Bai Dai coast road and boats to Binh Ba
Nothing in Cam Ranh is close to anything else: the airport, the beach resorts and the town sit on different shores of a large bay, and public buses are sparse. Most visitors use Grab or metered taxis for every trip, and both run easily along the coast road toward Nha Trang. Many resorts rent scooters or bicycles, which are fine for exploring the coast road on a quiet morning but not for Highway 1 traffic. Walking is pleasant only on the beach itself. Binh Ba island, out in the bay, is reached by boat from piers on the town side, so allow time for the drive round before departure.
- Grab or taxi
- The usual way between the airport, resorts, town and Nha Trang
- Scooter or bicycle
- Rented by resorts, good for the coast road early in the day
- Boat
- From the town side of the bay to Binh Ba island
- Ask your hotel which pier the Binh Ba boats are using and when the last one returns; arrangements change with the weather.
Know before you go
What makes Cam Ranh worth the trip, and what catches visitors out.
Why travelers love it
- Lobster on Binh Ba, picked from the tank and cooked at a table by the water.
- Empty sand along the coast road north of the airport, far from Nha Trang's crowds.
- The sweep of Cam Ranh Bay, one of the deepest natural harbours in the region.
Good to know
- Military zones remain around parts of the bay; obey no-entry and no-photography signs.
- Check boat schedules to the islands in the rainy season, when rough seas cancel trips.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Cam Ranh, month by month
Cam Ranh is one of Vietnam's sunnier coasts, with most rain falling from about September to December. Tap a month for long-term averages.
Climate figures are approximate long-term averages for Cam Ranh (Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology, Nchmf.gov.vn, via Wikipedia).
Lobster cages on Binh Ba, an afternoon swim on Bai Dai
Binh Ba, a lobster-farming island in Cam Ranh Bay, makes the best day out from Cam Ranh. Take an early car round the bay to the town-side piers and cross in the cool of the morning; floating cages fill the sheltered water as you arrive, and a xe om from the landing reaches Bai Nom or Bai Chuong beaches.
Lunch is the point of the trip. Choose your lobster from a tank at one of the restaurants by the harbour, agree the price by weight before it goes on the grill, and add a plate of grilled sea urchin with scallion oil. Catch an early afternoon boat back to the mainland.
Spend the rest of the day on Bai Dai, the long beach that runs north from the airport along the coast road. Away from the resort frontages it is often almost empty, and the sand stretches for kilometres. Stay for sunset, then either eat at your resort or drive the 45 minutes up to Nha Trang, where the seafront restaurants stay busy late and the Po Nagar Cham towers make a good first stop the next morning.
Bánh căn moulds, fish-cake noodles and Cam Lam mangoes
Cam Ranh eats from its bay. Spiny lobster (tôm hùm) raised in cages off Binh Ba and other islands is grilled with butter and garlic or steamed with beer, sold by weight, so check the scale. Nhum, sea urchin grilled in its shell with scallion oil and crushed peanuts, is the cheaper and more interesting order.
Breakfast on this coast is bánh căn. Cooks pour rice batter into rows of small clay moulds over charcoal, crack in a quail egg or drop in shrimp or squid, and cover each one with a lid; the little cakes come out crisp at the base and soft on top, served with a bowl of fish sauce and green mango. Look for the stalls with smoke rising from the moulds in the early morning along the town's main streets.
At lunch, order bún chả cá, rice noodles in a clear broth with slices of fried and steamed fish cake, a Nha Trang classic that is just as good at this end of the bay. In early summer, the orchards of Cam Lam district, just north of the town, send their mangoes to market; buy them ripe from roadside stalls. Bird's nest, harvested from the islands of Khanh Hoa, is sold in shops as a pricey gift.
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How we research our Cam Ranh travel guide
Cam Ranh's airport, Binh Ba boats and beach details are checked against the official Cam Ranh website, the city's Wikipedia entry and Vietnam Travel; visa rules come from the e-Visa portal.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Quick answers to the questions travelers ask most before visiting Cam Ranh.
Getting there
About 45 minutes by road along the coast. Taxis and resort transfers meet most flights.
Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR), with domestic and international flights, serves the whole Nha Trang coast. It stands on the sandy peninsula on the seaward side of the bay, with beach resorts along the coast road to its north and Nha Trang about 45 minutes away; taxis and resort transfers meet arrivals. The town of Cam Ranh itself lies on the mainland side of the bay, on Highway 1, the main north-south road, which long-distance and sleeper buses follow down the coast.
General
Eat seafood, above all lobster, and swim from small beaches. It is reached by boat across Cam Ranh Bay.
No. Much of the shore remains a military zone; respect no-entry and no-photography signs.
Bai Dai, the long beach running north from the airport along the coast road, with resorts along parts of it.
Russia's Baltic Fleet anchored here on its way to the Battle of Tsushima, where it was destroyed by the Japanese navy.
Bai Nom and Bai Chuong, small coves on the island reached by xe om from the boat landing.
Small rice-flour cakes cooked in clay moulds over charcoal, topped with quail egg, shrimp or squid and dipped in fish sauce. It is a breakfast staple along this coast.
Much quieter. The resorts along Bai Dai have long beaches with few people, and Nha Trang's restaurants are 45 minutes away when you want them.
Swiftlets nest in sea caves on the province's offshore islands, and the harvested nests are sold in shops around Cam Ranh and Nha Trang as an expensive gift.
Nothing in Cam Ranh is close to anything else: the airport, the beach resorts and the town sit on different shores of a large bay, and public buses are sparse. Most visitors use Grab or metered taxis for every trip, and both run easily along the coast road toward Nha Trang. Many resorts rent scooters or bicycles, which are fine for exploring the coast road on a quiet morning but not for Highway 1 traffic.
Timing & weather
September to December. November is the wettest month at about 320 mm, against a dry February to August.
The best time to visit Cam Ranh is Feb to Aug. Dry, sunny months on this coast, before the autumn rains and storms.
- Best: February - August (A long dry spell with calm seas for swimming and island boats)
- Rainy: September - December (The wettest months, with occasional storms; boats to the islands may not run)
Visa & documents
Citizens of a number of countries, including the UK and many EU states, can visit Vietnam visa-free for up to 45 days. All nationalities can apply for a single or multiple-entry e-Visa valid for up to 90 days on the official portal.
Health & safety
Vietnam is generally safe. Traffic is the main hazard, and bag snatching from motorbikes occurs in cities.
