Skip to content How long is the drive from Mui Ne to Nha Trang?
A private car takes about 3½ to 4½ hours from Mui Ne or Phan Thiet to Nha Trang, over roughly 230 km, without stops. It was five or six hours when the road ran along Highway 1, through every town. Since the expressways were completed, most of the trip runs on them.
The coastal expressway has three sections: Phan Thiet to Vinh Hao (about 100 km, opened 19 May 2023), Vinh Hao to Cam Lam (about 78 km, opened in April 2024) and Cam Lam to Nha Trang (49 km, opened 19 May 2023). The expressway is tolled, and our price includes the tolls.
The road from Mui Ne to Nha Trang
The driver takes the coast road from your resort to the expressway at Phan Thiet, which takes 20 to 40 minutes depending on where on the strip you start. Then it’s expressway most of the way: north-east through the dry hills of the old Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan coast, past Phan Rang, and on to Cam Ranh and Nha Trang.
This is dry coast, and it gets drier towards Phan Rang. Services on the long expressway stretches can be basic, so a stop for a coffee and a toilet is worth planning early. Tell the driver at pickup and they’ll choose a place.
Leave in the morning if you can. Midweek the road is quiet. Public holidays and Tết (early February in 2027) bring heavy traffic on the whole south-central coast, and a wet-season storm slows everyone down.
Stops between Mui Ne and Nha Trang
Because the expressway makes the drive quick, a stop is a better use of the day than a faster arrival. The best ones are around Phan Rang, about halfway:
- Po Klong Garai, the Cham towers above Phan Rang, for an hour.
- Ninh Chu beach, for a swim and lunch.
- Vinh Hy bay, if you want a long, scenic day rather than a transfer.
Phan Rang has more on all three. Add a stop on the way when you book, or ask the driver on the day. If you want to do the trip as a day out with a return, ask for wait and bring me back.
Bus or private car from Mui Ne to Nha Trang?
The bus is cheaper and perfectly safe. About 16 buses and limousine vans a day run from Mui Ne to Nha Trang, at roughly 170,000–220,000₫ a seat, and take about 4¾ hours on the road. For one person with a backpack, it’s the sensible choice.
It’s less good with luggage or children. The pickup is at a fixed point, there are no stops, and you’re dropped in Nha Trang rather than at your hotel. A booked private car picks you up at your resort’s lobby and takes you to your hotel’s door at a time you choose, for a fixed price per car. You know the car and the driver before you travel.
It’s also a long way to sit in someone else’s cigarette smoke. We hold every driver to the same standard: a non-smoking car, no heavy air freshener, calm driving with sparing use of the horn, working seatbelts and child seats on request. The resort’s own car is the other option; Anantara Mui Ne lists $128 per car (2026 price list), usually about twice the price of the same trip booked with us.
Which car for Mui Ne to Nha Trang
A sedan or electric VinFast is fine for two or three people with normal cases. For a family of four or five, tall adults and anyone with kite or golf gear, a 7-seater is more comfortable over four hours. Groups can book the limousine van or the 16-seater. Add child seats when you book.
Nha Trang to Mui Ne, and onward
The route is priced the same in both directions. From a Nha Trang hotel or from Cam Ranh airport, the driver meets you at the door or in arrivals. For a flight out of Cam Ranh, give us the flight number and we’ll time the pickup. For the guide to the beach you’re leaving, see Mui Ne and Phan Thiet. If you’re heading inland instead, the car also goes from Mui Ne to Da Lat.
Stops worth asking for
- Po Klong Garai Cham towers, Phan Rang: Brick towers from the late 13th and early 14th centuries on a hill above Phan Rang. Allow 45–60 minutes with the detour.
- Ninh Chu beach: A wide, calm beach 5 km from Phan Rang for a swim and a seafood lunch.
- Vinh Hy bay: A sheltered bay about 40 km north-east of Phan Rang by the coast road. Allow about 2½–3 hours for the detour and a look.
- Phan Rang vineyards: Grape farms 7–15 km from the town where you can cut your own bunch. Harvests peak around April–May, August–September and December–January.