Da Nang and Nha Trang: Comparing the two great beach cities of Vietnam

Da Nang And Nha Trang are two of the largest coastal cities of Vietnam. Both cities have municipal beaches and they have become tourism powerhouses in the country. Here is a comparison of the two cities as of 2025.

I first visited Vietnam in 2005, and I have been a regular visitor ever since. I was back in Vietnam in 2025, and I revisited Da Nang and Nha Trang while I was there. Both cities have changed considerably over the last 20 years, and I was reflecting on these changes while I was thinking about that first trip.

I like both cities, so this isn’t trying to be a viral article where I pit the two cities against each other. These are my observations of Da Nang and Nha Trang in 2025. I won’t update this article either, so it will remain a time capsule for future reference.

Population

Da Nang has a population of 1,276,000 (2024), and Nha Trang has a population of 579,000 (2023).

Changes in travel patterns from 2005 to 2025

In 2005 there was a distinct overland trail up and down the coast of places to visit. From HCMC you either went inland to Da Lat and then Nha Trang (as I did), or HCMC – Mui Ne – Nha Trang.

[Nha Trang Beach in 2005.]

After Nha Trang, the trail continued to Hoi An. The coastal city of Quy Nhon wasn’t on the radar at that point, and it still has a way to go until it’s in the same league as Da Nang and Nha Trang. I visited Quy Nhon in 2025 as well, and there are currently no international flights. It’s a city on the rise, so maybe in 20 years there will be articles comparing Da Nang, Quy Nhon, and Nha Trang.

After Hoi An, most people used to go straight to Hue, skipping Da Nang. The beach area was still mostly undeveloped at that point, and the city area by the river was still a provincial outpost.

One of the most popular places in Da Nang is the An Thuong streets area near the beach in My An Ward. To get an idea of how undeveloped it was, here is the Google Satellite view of the beach area of My An in 2002.

[My An area in April 2002.]

Here is the same area on Google Earth from February 2024.

[My An area in February 2024.]

I mention this because Nha Trang was a locked-in stop on the coastal trail in 2005, while Da Nang wasn’t. Now in 2025, Da Nang has emerged to be most international of the two cities.

Location and weather

Da Nang is located in Central Coast region, which has a different weather pattern to that of Southern Vietnam. The wet season is from September to January, and it gets cold (by Vietnam standards) in the winter months when it is raining. October is unbelievably wet, and July is even hotter than Southern Vietnam. As payment for these crap months, there are days in February and March that are in the mid twenties celsius. When you are riding a bike along the coast on such a nice sunny day, it feels like the most wonderful place in the world.

[Typhoon Trami, October 2024.]

Nha Trang is on the South Central Coast region and it has a weather pattern more similar with Ho Chi Minh City. The temperature range in Nha Trang is typically tropical, with the hottest days around 33c, and the minimum temperature not going below 20c throughout the year. The rainy season in Nha Trang is from around September to mid-December (shorter than HCMC which starts around May).

City status

Vietnam is divided into 57 provinces and 6 centrally governed cities (municipalities). Da Nang is one of the 6 cities (alongside Hanoi, Haiphong, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City, and Can Tho), while Nha Trang is the capital of Khanh Hoa province.

[Da Nang City Administrative Centre (left) and Novotel.]

The government is planning to merge provinces and cities in 2025, bringing the total number to 34.

Da Nang will merge with neighbouring Quang Nam province, which means that Hoi An will become part of Da Nang.

Khanh Hoa will merge with Ninh Thuan province, thus forming the province with the longest coastline.

Khanh Hoa is preparing to become a centrally governed city by 2030, so it will join Da Nang in this club.

[River and mountain view in Nha Trang.]

Old towns

Da Nang and Nha Trang don’t have old town areas of significance. There are colonial remnants here and there, and some historical temples. Other than that, both cities resemble the style of every other provincial capital in Vietnam.

[Remnants of an old shophouse in Da Nang.]

I wonder what might have been when I see old photos of Da Nang and Nha Trang, but now both cities now live off being beach cities with a growing skyline.

[Beachfront skyline in Nha Trang.]

Beaches

Da Nang and Nha Trang have city beaches with their own distinct styles, and the beaches have been a driving force for tourism.

The beach of Da Nang is a long and sandy stretch of coast that goes all the way to Hoi An. This will technically be all Da Nang when the merger goes through. My Khe Beach (the main beach in the city area) has often made it on the list of the world’s best beaches (though coastal erosion is taking its toll).

[Da Nang Beach.]

The Nha Trang beach is not as long and the beach sand isn’t as soft, but it’s no less beautiful. The beach is framed by mountains at either end of a scenic bay. Nha Trang Bay was listed as one of the world’s most beautiful bays in 2005 by some organisation, and Nha Trang ran with this title for many years.

[Nha Trang Beach promenade.]

These lists by travel sites are always a bit dubious, but you can’t fault the cities for making the most of the good publicity. Personally, I think the definition of a best beach or bay is somewhere in a natural environment.

What I like about Da Nang and Nha Trang is that they are functioning cities that have a nice-enough beachfront. I didn’t fully appreciate this when I first visited Vietnam. It wasn’t until I travelled around the rest of Southeast Asia that I realised that there are not many great beach cities.

[Beach promenade in Da Nang.]

Thailand has Pattaya and Hua Hin. Other “cities” in Thailand are better described as tourist containment areas (Patong in Phuket and Chaweng in Samui). The Philippines and Indonesia have thousands of islands between them, but where are the great beach cities? The most comparable city with a great beach is Sihanoukville, but Sihanoukville have blown it by handing over the city to casinos and scam compound gangs.

[Morning by the beach in Nha Trang.]

From provincial to international city

Both cities were very provincial 20 years ago, with no international flights and very few familiar brands that are seen in a typically globalised city. The US lifted its trade embargo on Vietnam in 1994, but international brands are still finding their way to Vietnam. 7-Eleven only opened its first branch in Hanoi in 2025 after having established itself in Ho Chi Minh City. There are still no international convenience stores in Da Nang and Nha Trang (FamilyMart, Circle K, and 7-Eleven are in HCMC).

One metric I use in Vietnam to measure the international standing of a city is if it has a Starbucks or McDonald’s. Both of these F&B giants only arrived in Vietnam in the 2010s, and they are still rolling out now. Some places like Vung Tau (the prosperous port city near HCMC) still don’t have either, and Hue got its first Starbucks in 2024. Da Nang and Nha Trang now have a Starbucks and McDonald’s.

Another international indicator is if Michelin comes to town. Da Nang joined Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in 2024 as the third Vietnamese destination to be scouted by the MICHELIN Guide Inspectors.

In retail, AEON from Japan is currently rolling out AEON Malls across the country. Hue got an AEON Mall last year, and Da Nang is expected to open an AEON Mall by the end of the year.

UNIQLO is a another good brand to gauge if an international company has confidence in the city. UNIQLO now have branches in Haiphong and Hue, but not Da Nang and Nha Trang.

Rail transport

[Da Nang Railway Station.]

Da Nang and Nha Trang are on the North-South Railway, but the line in its current form is too slow to be efficient transport for frequent travel.

This will change if the proposed Hanoi-HCMC high-speed railway is built. The new railway is expected to have a top speed of 350 km/h, reducing the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City travel time to about 5 and a half hours. The current journey takes up to 40 hours.

There will be 23 stations on the line, with 5 express stations (Hanoi, Vinh, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City). There will be stopping-all-stations services as well as express services. Da Nang and Nha Trang should see a surge in tourism by being one of the express stations.

Da Nang is ideally placed in the middle of the line, making it convenient for either Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. For Nha Trang, it will mean closer ties to Ho Chi Minh City as the trip between the cities will take only 71 minutes.

[Passengers from Saigon to Nha Trang. No more 8-hour train trips to Saigon after the HSR.]

The project has a very ambitious timeline of starting construction in 2026 and being operational in 2035. A possible scenario is that the first phases (Hanoi-Vinh and HCMC-Nha Trang) are completed and begin partial operations, giving cities on those sections a potential head start by a few years.

Urban railways

Da Nang and Nha Trang don’t have urban railways at this point. Vietnam has only recently joined the urban railway club (Hanoi in 2021 and HCMC in 2024), so it will be years before Da Nang and Nha Trang join the list.

Da Nang has been talking about building some sort of metro system since at least 2012. The reports include building a line to the airport and new high-speed station to the city and beach area. There is also talk of a railway to Hoi An and Chu Lai Airport. Here is a news archive of the Da Nang Metro project.

Nha Trang has not made any public proposals for any sort of urban railway, but maybe they will get rail envy if Da Nang start building a railway.

One thing I like about Nha Trang is that the current railway station is close to the city centre, so I will be sad to see the high-speed station further out of the city.

I wondered what it would take to build a transit line connecting the high-speed railway to the city centre, so I made a Nha Trang urban railway concept map.

[Nha Trang HSR Airport Railway Concept Map (view full size).]

While I was making the map, I upgraded this fantasy line into an airport railway.

Airports

Da Nang International Airport and Cam Ranh International Airport are the third and fourth busiest airports in Vietnam (after Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Noi Bai International Airport).

[Da Nang International Airport, wedged between the mountains and the sea.]

The Da Nang airport is 3.8 km from the city (Han Market) and 6.3 km from the beach. Nha Trang used to have a city airport like Da Nang (both former US air bases), but the Nha Trang airport was closed down and the new airport for Nha Trang is 37 km to the south at the former Cam Ranh air base.

Domestic flights

Da Nang and Nha Trang have busy domestic airports, with regular connections to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Da Nang is ahead with more domestic connections.

Da Nang domestic flights
Buon Ma Thuot, Can Tho, Da Lat, Hai Phong, Ha Long, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Thanh Hoa, Vinh

Nha Trang domestic flights
Can Tho, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh

There is a Vietnam Airlines flight between Da Nang and Nha Trang, and there used to be a Vietjet Air flight. It’s a route that wont exist once the high-speed railway is built.

[Nha Trang and Da Nang flight advertising.]

International flights

Da Nang International Airport has flights to 33 destinations in 15 countries as of June 2025.

Cambodia: Siem Reap
China: Chengdu–Tianfu, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Lanzhou, Macau, Shanghai–Pudong, Wuhan, Xi’an
India: Ahmedabad
Indonesia: Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta
Japan: Ibaraki, Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Haneda, Tokyo–Narita
Kazakhstan: Almaty
Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur–International
Myanmar: Yangon
Philippines: Manila
Singapore: Singapore
South Korea: Busan, Cheongju, Daegu, Muan, Seoul–Incheon, Yangyang
Taiwan: Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taipei–Taoyuan
Thailand: Bangkok–Don Mueang, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi
United Arab Emirates: Dubai–International
Uzbekistan: Tashkent

[International flights from Da Nang International Airport (June 2025).]

Cam Ranh International Airport has flights to 53 destinations in 11 countries as of June 2025.

China: Beijing–Capital, Changchun, Changsha, Chengdu–Tianfu, Chongqing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hong Kong, Jinan, Kunming, Macau, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shanghai–Pudong, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Taiyuan, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Wuxi, Xining
Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek
Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur–International
Kazakhstan: Almaty, Astana
Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar
Russia: Barnaul, Blagoveshchensk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk–International, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg
Singapore: Singapore
South Korea: Busan, Cheongju, Daegu, Muan, Seoul–Incheon, Yangyang
Taiwan: Taipei–Taoyuan
Thailand: Bangkok–Don Mueang
Uzbekistan: Tashkent

[International flights from Cam Ranh International Airport (June 2025).]

Nha Trang has been traditionally popular with the Russian market, but during the 2010s there was a surge in interest from the Chinese and South Korean market. In my Vietnam aviation report from 2019, there were 32 cities from China with flights to Nha Trang. There are currently 27 cities from China with flights to Nha Trang, so this is nearly a full recovery from the pre-pandemic levels. The number of China destinations puts Nha Trang among the primary air hubs of Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Kl, and Bangkok.

[International terminal at Cam Ranh International Airport.]

Da Nang is better connected with Southeast Asia than Nha Trang. Da Nang has flights to 7 cities in 7 Southeast Asia countries, and Nha Trang has flights to 3 cities in 3 Southeast Asia countries.

A sign of Da Nang’s rise in stature are flights from non-capitals in Southeast Asia. There is a flight from Da Nang to Siem Reap, and before the pandemic there was a Da Nang to Chiang Mai service by AirAsia. I am hoping this one is restored.

My prediction is for flights from Da Nang to Bali, Cebu, and Penang.

Even though Nha Trang has a lot of international flights, it’s not a household name in Southeast Asia. It’s a close beach destination for cold countries, but it is competing with the rest of Southeast Asia that already have their own beach resort destinations.

As of 2025, neither airport has flights to Australia or the USA.

My predictions for the future is that Da Nang will eventually have flights to Australia (VietJer Air and Jetstar would be suitable airlines). United could also start a service via Hong Kong, as it has done with Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

With Emirates having arrived in Da Nang in June 2025, other ME3 airlines (Qatar and Etihad) could follow suit. This would be a harder route for Nha Trang though, as the Gulf airports would be too much of a detour to collect passengers from the main markets of China and Russia.

Nha Trang is the only airport with a scheduled flight from a European capital (Aeroflot to Moscow), and at this point, Russia is still the only likely European country to send flights to either cities. Turkish Airlines could also be a possibility considering that they are as aggressive as Emirates in global expansion.

(Maps by gcmap.com.)

Digital nomad scene

Da Nang is the digital nomad hub of Vietnam, and at this point there isn’t even a competition. It was distinctly obvious in my 2025 travels that Da Nang has now become the digital nomad centre of Vietnam. I would go as far to say that Da Nang is the digital nomad capital of Southeast Asia, overtaking Chiang Mai and Canggu in Bali.

I know of a few digital nomads in Nha Trang who are doing their own thing. I saw some nomads at a few cafes in Nha Trang, but I realised how few there were once I saw how many nomads there were in Da Nang.

There have been nomads in Ho Chi Minh City since before I arrived there in 2012, but it is a different nomad scene there. The city is so big that you can melt into the background. Da Nang has a neighbourhood in the An Thuong streets area with a high concentration of nomads.

The over-abundance of nomads in Da Nang might mean that nomads move to other cities if it becomes too much of a scene. Nha Trang could get a second look, and cities like Quy Nhon might finally get their time in the international spotlight.

Da Nang or Nha Trang?

[Dragon Bridge Da Nang.]

While Da Nang has stole the march on Nha Trang, Da Nang was always geographically destined to become a major city of Vietnam. Located almost equidistant between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, it’s the ideal city for a company that wants to be between both.

Also note that Nha Trang is a much smaller city by population than Da Nang, so it punches above its weight for a city of this size. How many cities of half a million people have international flights to over 10 countries?

I occasionally get asked which is the best city to base from out of Da Nang and Nha Trang. The answer to that question is, I don’t know. Everyone has their own personal tastes, and I don’t know what your taste is. My suggestion is to try them both out as they are both worth a visit.

[Nha Trang beach walk.]

Perhaps you got this far down the article and wondered why I haven’t picked a favourite. I like both cities, and if I ended up having to live in either of them I wouldn’t be upset.

I spend more time in Da Nang, mainly because it is the most international of the two and I know more people there. I could see myself spennding more time in Nha Trang though if/when the HSR is built.

I also am just fascinated with the development of both cities. I keep a list of Da Nang construction projects and Nha Trang construction projects, and if you like reading about urban development you should subscribe to my newsletter at Future Southeast Asia.

For more articles at Nomadic Notes, subscribe to my newsletter here as well.

So I am sitting on the proverbial fence regarding Da Nang and Nha Trang, but what about you? Or why don’t we have both?