At the beginning of the 20th century, as market districts were formed alongside fishing villages, and streets gradually connected to the seaport, office buildings, research institutes, and hotels also emerged along the coast. The French planned Nha Trang as a Riviera de l'Extrême-Orient (Riviera of the Far East) because its cool climate and the stunning beauty of the bay resembled the famous Riviera in the Mediterranean (southern France and northwestern Italy). Avenue de la Plage (beach avenue), now Tran Phu Street, was established as Nha Trang's waterfront from that time.
However, in the living space of the inhabitants of the old Nha Trang region, there was not only the sea to the east, but also rice paddies to the west. From the formation of the city until many decades later, the west remained a "non-city" area with rice paddies, rivers, swamps, mangrove forests, and distant mountains. The east and west sides of Nha Trang presented two contrasting faces: one side the sea/the other rice paddies; one side green trees and white sand/the other rice paddies with golden harvests; one side bustling city/the other quiet and peaceful…
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| A view of Nha Trang. Photo: VUONG MANH CUONG |
Perhaps the earliest authors to "paint" a second image of Nha Trang were Minh Ky and Ho Dinh Phuong, with their song "Nha Trang" composed in 1954. The first image: Nha Trang - the sea: "Nha Trang is a homeland of white sand - On some nights, you hear echoes - The roaring sound of distant waves…"; and the second image: Nha Trang - the rice fields: "Nha Trang, a vast and boundless rice field - The fragrant scent of the countryside rises - Harmonizing with peaceful life…".
2. The rice paddies west of Nha Trang existed for quite a long time, until the early 21st century. More than 15 years ago, at the end of 2010, when the My Gia urban area (in Vinh Thai) offered houses for sale under the VinaLiving brand, the area west of Le Hong Phong and Dong Nai roads (where Le Hong Phong Urban Area 1 and 2, and VCN Phuoc Hai Urban Area are now located) was still rice paddies. But just a few years later, a series of urban areas such as VCN Phuoc Long, Hoang Long, An Binh Tan… sprang up very quickly.
Now, traveling along the western banks of Nha Trang, the once vast plains have become urbanized. The "vast, boundless fields" mentioned in Minh Ky's song years ago have now become an entire new city. Driving along the winding Ring Road 2, following the Quan Truong River, many who have been away from Nha Trang for only a few years are astonished by the rows of modern, high-rise apartment buildings that appear and disappear from view from the Ngoc Hoi roundabout towards the Binh Tan bridge.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Quan Truong River, the area of swamps and shrimp ponds stretching to the banks of the Tac River is a massive construction site for urban park areas – the province's new administrative center, the Sun Group urban area (Charmora City), the Thanh Phong Peninsula ecological urban area, the VCN urban area... The "heart" of these urban areas is the new administrative center of Khanh Hoa, "established" south of Phong Chau road, next to the largest riverside ecological park in Nha Trang.
The eastern and western sides of Nha Trang are divided into: the old administrative center/the new administrative center; large coastal parks/large riverside parks; coastal and island tourism areas/mountain tourism areas…
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| The western urban area belongs to Nam Nha Trang ward. Photo: VAN KY |
3. According to the new urban plan, Nha Trang will open up in many directions, with the west being the main development direction, featuring the largest road, Vo Nguyen Giap. Tran Phu road is the eastern facade of Nha Trang, while Vo Nguyen Giap road is the western facade and the most important artery connecting the west and east.
Vo Nguyen Giap Street reminds us somewhat of the largest main road running through Nha Trang in the early 20th century - Route Colonniale No. 1 - Rue Graffeuil (now Thong Nhat - Phan Boi Chau). The old Route Colonniale No. 1 - Rue Graffeuil connected the old town center with the railway station – the most important transportation hub at the time. Vo Nguyen Giap Street will connect the center of Nha Trang with a series of other hubs: the new railway station (in the old Vinh Trung area), the high-speed railway station (in the old Dien Lac area), and the southern bus station (in the old Dien Toan area). Therefore, this road is not only the western gateway, but also opens up a second face for Nha Trang with a series of new urban areas extending indefinitely, potentially reaching the intersection with the North-South Expressway and the Nha Trang-Da Lat Expressway (in Dien Tho).
One late afternoon at the end of the year, the golden sunlight stirred a feeling of wistfulness often experienced during the changing seasons. Walking along Vo Nguyen Giap Street, we currently only see high-rise buildings on the coastal side. However, the prospect for the next one to two decades is that modern high-rises will spring up on both sides of this road – as planned by urban planners McKinsey & Company (USA) and architect Dr. Ngo Viet Nam Son. These will be multi-functional high-rise complexes following the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) model, integrated with public transportation. These high-rises will be linked to the formation of a metro line along Vo Nguyen Giap Street, and will also help to alleviate the pressure of the coastal high-rise wall, allowing the sea breeze to reach further into the city.
That was also the time when western Nha Trang became more modern and bustling, as a backdrop in the overall Nha Trang, making the seaside city even more beautiful and elegant.
NGUYEN VINH XUONG
Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/bao-xuan-2026/202602/nha-trang-hai-phia-dong-tay-df448ca/
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