Vietnam: Nha Trang v

Apr 2025

I recently passed through Nha Trang on my Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang moto tour, stayed 4 days. The place is awesome and ticks all the boxes as a tourist playground, accentuated by the fact that it's the dive capital of Vietnam. I did 1 day / 3-dives with Rainbow Divers - all-in-all a decent day out. But, the reality is, diving in Vietnam is just so-so, and Nha Trang is no exception..

Rainbow Divers was just around the corner from the Amber Hotel, where I was staying (highly recommended). I visited the shop, had a chat, and signed up for the next day. Turned out that on Fridays, they offer a 3rd dive at no extra charge, as they do one clean-up dive as part of their commitment to PADI Aware (or one of those organisations).

The bus departed from the shop early, a 45-minute ride to their dedicated boat, a large converted wooden fishing vessel. It was then about 1 hour to the dive sites located at some islands. The scenery above water is great and there was some good socializing on the boat.

I am writing this a bit after the fact, but in general, I don't recall any "wow" moments on any of the 3 dives. There wasn't much fish or coral, the dive sites were fairly barren. Not sure if this is just the natural state, or if over-fishing has impacted the environment (I suspect it has, given the massive fishing fleet in Vietnam, and the general lack of wildlife observed in the country, above or below water). One dive had some cool swim-throughs. Another key feature of the day was water temperature - it was uncomfortably cold, and I was struggling to deal with it.

Rainbow Divers is a top-quality operation, with good communication, a professional crew, new equipment, and a big, roomy boat. I highly recommend them.

Is it worth diving in Nha Trang? If you are like me and keen to dive anywhere, then yes, I recommend going out for a day. But don't expect it to be anywhere near the level you experience in, say, Indo or the Philippines. That said, Nha Trang was much better diving than Cham Island near Hoi An, where I dived 1 day in 2024 (I also heard Phu Quoc is not great - hate to be a negative nelly here, but just sharing the info, fyi).

Questions or feedback?

Contact me at terraxplor1@gmail.com,