Khanh Hoa Province has three bays including the Van Phong, Nha Trang and Cam Ranh. These bays are surrounded by mountains which sheltered them from wind.

With this favourable characteristic, these bays have great tourist potential. Provincial authorities have advocated projects to discover the beauty of the bays to promote their tourist potential.

Van Phong Bay in Khanh Hoa Province is one of the most beautiful bays in Vietnam. It is a natural wonder with a temperate climate, marvellous beach, superb hills and mountains with tropical forests, coloured corals and vestiges of mangrove forests, hundreds of plants and animals including precious animals and tens of thousands of precious aquatic and sea products. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has classified Van Phong Bay as “A key tourist area to be developed” in the sector’s long-term plan to the year 2010. The bay has also been listed among the four ideal tourist sites at sea by the World Sea Association.

Van Phong area expands in both northern and southern directions and is a general economic zone in which the international container transit port plays an important role. This zone concentrates on developing a multi faced economy including tourism, services, industry and sea-product culture. As planned, by 2010 Van Phong economic zone will have an area of 150,000ha with a population of 400,000 people, 275,000 of them will be urban dwellers.

Van Phong’s northern part will develop the oceanic tourism, international transit port, trade and financial centre and industrial parks. The southern part will build an urban area and develop tourism, services, education, and professional and vocational training. It will also build a shipbuilding industrial park, an oil port and a customs fuel warehouse.

The oldest and most beautiful bay in Khanh Hoa Province is Nha Trang Bay. According to researchers, in the past, the two banks of the Cai River’ estuary to Cu Huan seaport were bushy with thick reed trees, hence it was called Lau (Reed) River (Yjatran or Ea Tran in Cham language). Over time, it was mispronounced as Nha Trang. The name of the river became the name of the land and later the name of the whole bay. Shielded by 19 islands, Nha Trang Bay covers an area of 500km², sheltered from the wind and big waves. The estuary of the Cai River lies between two crescent-shaped beaches with smooth sand, 6-7km long. Under the tropical sunshine, the green colour of the mountains on the mainland and islands mingling with the blue colour of the sea water enhance the beauty of the yellow sand banks lapped with white waves. In Nha Trang Bay, there are nearly 10 swallow-inhabited islands, which earn Khanh Hoa Province millions of USD a year from harvesting the swallows’ nests. 
 
The largest project to discover the beauty of Nha Trang Bay is the Vinpearl Land Project that comprises two areas including the five-star Sofitel Vinpearl Resort and the Vinpearl Amusement Park. Located on the beautiful Hon Tre Island, the Vinpearl Land is known as “The paradise of a tropical region”, an ideal place for those who love sunshine and like to enjoy relaxing on this sunny and windy island. The Sofitel Vinpearl Resort & Spa has 500 spacious rooms, all with views of the sea. The Vinpearl Amusement Park boasts the world’s longest cable car system, a water park, a dance hall with unique architecture lying inside a mountain, a shopping street with an architectural style imitating that of the ancient town of Hoi An, and a high-tech game quarter.

Cam Ranh Bay covering an area of nearly 12,000ha has a beautiful landscape that enables the development of different forms of tours. It has a beach with smooth white sand, 16km long and 150-250m wide, very suitable for sport activities and relaxation and Cam Ranh Airport which has provided the civil service since 2004.

Khanh Hoa Province has a master plan that designates the northern area of Cam Ranh Peninsula as a tourism development area. Under the plan, a trade, financial and office centre of international standard will be built on an area of 70ha by 2010. Also, a system of showrooms and shops will be built to promote economic activities.

(Source: VNP)