Food

What to eat in Cam Ranh, and where

Short answer

Binh Ba lobster, eaten at the Binh Lap rafts or in town rather than on the island itself, sea grapes and grilled seafood at the floating raft restaurants on Cam Ranh Bay, and banh can in the city in the early evening.

Cam Ranh's food reputation rests on two things: the lobster rafts off Binh Ba, and a working fishing port that supplies the whole coast. On the resort strip you eat where you sleep. In the city you eat much better for a tenth of the price.

Sea grapes (rong nho, Caulerpa lentillifera), "green caviar" seaweed farmed along the Khanh Hoa coast. — Photo: pelican from Tokyo, Japan (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The dishes worth ordering

Binh Ba lobster

Tôm hùm Bình Ba

Spiny lobster raised in wooden floating cages in the sheltered, coral-fringed water of Cam Ranh Bay off Binh Ba island. Two grades dominate: tôm hùm xanh (green/bamboo lobster), the everyday medium-sized one, and tôm hùm bông (flower or banded lobster), the premium grade that can reach 2-3 kg a head. The lobsters are fed only fresh trash fish, crab, sea urchin and molluscs rather than industrial pellets, which local sellers credit for the firm, sweet, slightly chewy meat. Standard preparations are steamed in beer (hấp bia), grilled with salt and chilli or garlic butter (nướng muối ớt / sốt bơ tỏi), lobster congee (cháo tôm hùm) and lobster noodles. On the island you normally pick a live lobster from the cage, it is weighed in front of you, and it comes back grilled or steamed with the head made into congee.

Best in: Binh Ba island (Cam Binh commune, Cam Ranh) - nicknamed 'đảo tôm hùm' / lobster island; also Binh Hung and the Binh Lap rafts. Named in the old Khanh Hoa folk couplet 'Tôm hùm Bình Ba - Nai khô Diên Khánh - Cá tràu Võ Cạnh - Sò huyết Thủy Triều'.

Sea grapes

Rong nho

An edible green seaweed (Caulerpa, family Caulerpaceae) known in English as green caviar and in Japanese as umibudo. The tiny beads burst with a briny pop, so it is eaten raw rather than cooked: rinsed briefly to take the salt edge off, plunged into iced water for extra crunch, then served Japanese-style with wasabi and soy, or Vietnamese-style with mayonnaise and chilli sauce, on sashimi platters or in salads. Sold fresh (keeps 5-7 days unrefrigerated) or salt-dehydrated, which is the form to take home - rehydrate in cold water for 3-5 minutes.

Best in: Farmed in shallow ponds around Cam Ranh, Cam Lam, Ninh Hoa and Nha Trang. Khanh Hoa's ideal conditions are stable 25-28°C water and 30-35‰ salinity; farming covers about 85 hectares across Ninh Hoa, Cam Ranh and neighbouring Ninh Thuan and Phu Yen, producing roughly 7 tonnes a day, and one exporter ships about 40 tonnes a month to Japan, the USA, Canada, South Korea and Australia.

Clay-pot rice cakes

Bánh căn

Small round rice-batter cakes cooked in a wheel of individual clay moulds over charcoal. Unlike bánh khọt they are baked rather than deep fried, so they are lighter and less oily - crisp shell, soft airy middle. Fillings are quail egg, chicken egg, shrimp, squid or minced pork. They arrive in pairs, the halves pressed together with scallion oil, and are eaten by dunking in one of several sauces: sweet-sour fish sauce, mắm nêm (fermented anchovy), a thin fish broth, or a xíu mại pork-meatball sauce, with shredded green mango and fresh herbs on the side. A Khanh Hoa / south-central staple, eaten at breakfast or as an afternoon snack.

Best in: Nha Trang and Cam Ranh / Cam Lam; also sold at Binh Ba market and Cho Dam.

Squid sizzling pancake

Bánh xèo mực

The Nha Trang / Khanh Hoa version of bánh xèo: a thin, small, very crisp turmeric-yellow rice-flour crepe rather than the thick central-Vietnamese style, filled with whole baby squid, shrimp, bean sprouts and sometimes quail egg and pork belly. Cooked on a wheel of small pans and served straight off the heat with a basket of herbs and lettuce to wrap it in, plus sweet-sour fish sauce or mắm nêm.

Best in: Nha Trang street stalls and Cam Ranh; listed among Cam Ranh's headline specialities.

Ninh Hoa grilled pork rolls

Nem nướng Ninh Hòa

Minced lean pork (leg or shoulder, worked while still warm from the butcher) blended with fat and shredded pork skin, seasoned with garlic, sugar, pepper and salt, rolled into finger-sized logs on skewers and grilled over charcoal. You build your own roll at the table: rice paper, the hot nem, a crisp deep-fried chả ram roll, lettuce, herbs, cucumber and green mango, dipped in a thick sweet peanut-and-pork dipping sauce. Ninh Hoa also makes nem chua, the raw fermented sour version wrapped in leaves.

Best in: Ninh Hoa town, about 35 km north of Nha Trang; eaten all over Nha Trang and Cam Ranh. Recognised by the Asia Record Organisation in its 2023 list of Asian food and specialty-gift records.

Fish-cake noodle soup

Bún chả cá

Round rice noodles in a clear broth simmered from fish bones and tomato - clean and naturally sweet rather than heavy - topped with house-made chả cá (fish cake, some steamed and some fried golden), chunks of poached white fish, and mọc pork balls. Served with a plate of raw herbs and shredded banana blossom, plus chilli paste (ớt xay) and pickled scallion to add at the table. The Nha Trang standard, eaten from dawn onwards.

Best in: Nha Trang; the archetype is Bún cá Nguyên Loan at 123 Ngô Gia Tự, in business 42 years as of 2023.

Jellyfish noodle soup

Bún sứa

The same clear fish-bone broth and rice noodles as bún chả cá, but the headline topping is sứa - jellyfish, boiled until cooked, then served cold in translucent, crunchy-chewy pieces that soak up the broth. Usually ordered as a mixed bowl (bún cá sứa) with fish cake, poached fish and mọc alongside the jellyfish. A summer dish: the jellyfish is a seasonal coastal catch and locals eat it for its cooling, crisp texture rather than for flavour of its own.

Best in: Nha Trang - Nguyên Loan and the food stalls at Cho Dam are the usual recommendations for a first bowl.

Dien Khanh steamed rice sheets

Bánh ướt Diên Khánh

Rice flour blended with tapioca starch, steamed in paper-thin sheets over cloth and served hot, plate after plate, as fast as you can eat them. Each sheet is folded in two and dressed with glossy scallion oil, a scatter of orange-red dried shrimp floss (ruốc tôm) and ground mung bean, then dipped in a fish sauce made with fish or shrimp innards (mắm ruột). Local rule is to eat it with Dien Khanh chả lụa (pork sausage) on the side. You are charged by the plate, so the stack in front of you is the bill.

Best in: The strip of shops along Highway 1A through Dien Khanh old citadel town, about 10 km inland from Nha Trang - known locally as 'bánh ướt Thành' or 'bánh ướt Phú Khánh', effectively a craft village with more than 50 years of tradition.

Cured white anchovy salad

Gỏi cá mai

Cá mai is a small, scaleless, thumb-sized silver fish, flatter than a regular anchovy, with sweet flesh and almost no fishiness. Every fish is deboned by hand and blotted dry, then 'cooked' without heat in lime, starfruit and tamarind until the flesh turns from translucent to opaque white. It is tossed with roasted ground peanuts, fine-sliced ginger, onion and herbs and eaten wrapped in rice paper with lettuce, dipped in a thick sauce built from the boiled fish bones, roasted rice powder, peanuts, garlic, chilli, minced pork and fish sauce.

Best in: Nha Trang and the Cam Ranh bay coast; also sold on Binh Ba.

Oyster congee

Cháo hàu

Rice porridge cooked soft and loose, finished with plump 'milk oysters' (hàu sữa) so the congee takes on their brine and sweetness, then showered with spring onion and dill and a heavy hit of black pepper. A restorative, eaten early morning or late at night. The same oysters, pulled from the Thuy Trieu lagoon, are also grilled with butter and scallion oil, steamed with beer and herbs, or served with tamarind sauce.

Best in: Đầm Thủy Triều (Thuy Trieu lagoon), the 12,000-hectare lagoon between Cam Ranh and Cam Lam. The cluster of lagoon-side eateries at Cầu Mới, at the inland end of Nguyễn Tất Thành about 10 km from Cam Ranh airport, is where most people eat it.

Sea snails and blood cockles

Ốc và sò huyết Thủy Triều

The evening snail-and-shellfish table is its own eating ritual: a shared spread of ốc hương (sweet babylon snail, usually steamed with lemongrass or grilled), ốc vú nàng (limpet-like 'lady's breast' snail), abalone, scallops grilled with scallion oil, clams and mussels, picked out with a safety pin and dipped in salt-pepper-lime or a tamarind or chilli sauce. The star locally is sò huyết Thủy Triều - blood cockles raked out of the lagoon mudflats at low tide, soaked in rice water and scrubbed before cooking. The local verdict is that nướng tái, grilled barely-done so the juices stay in the shell, is the only way to eat them; they are also done with salt-chilli, in tamarind sauce, as a salad, or in congee. Sò huyết Thủy Triều is one of the six famous Khanh Hoa specialities of the old folk couplet.

Best in: Đầm Thủy Triều and the Cầu Mới strip; Binh Ba morning market; the seafood streets of Ba Ngoi in Cam Ranh city.

Cam Lam mango

Xoài Cam Lâm (xoài Úc)

Cam Lam, the district immediately inland of the Bai Dai strip, is Khanh Hoa's mango belt. The signature variety is xoài Úc (the Australian R2E2 type): a big blushing red-and-gold fruit with a small stone, little fibre, a measured Brix of 12-14% so it is sweet without being cloying, and a distinct perfume. Eaten ripe and sliced, green and crunchy with salt-chilli, or turned into bánh tráng xoài - sheets of mango pulp sun-dried into a chewy, tangy fruit leather that is the classic edible souvenir. Khanh Hoa mango is exported to Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai.

Best in: Cam Lam (roadside stalls along Nguyễn Tất Thành and Highway 1A), sold at Cam Ranh and Nha Trang markets.

Edible bird's nest

Yến sào

The nests of swiftlets, built from hardened saliva on the cave walls of Khanh Hoa's offshore islands and harvested by climbers on bamboo scaffolds. Served as a warm or chilled sweet soup (chè yến / yến chưng) stewed with rock sugar, sometimes with goji berry or lotus seed, and sold in glass bottles and gift boxes as Khanh Hoa's most prestigious souvenir. Under the Nguyen lords and emperors it was a tribute good and the first of the 'bát trân', the eight treasures reserved for royalty.

Best in: Hon Noi, Hon Ngoai and Hon Sam islands off Nha Trang - Hon Noi is the capital of the trade. Khanh Hoa records nest harvesting from 1237, and in 1328 the Tran-dynasty naval commander Lê Văn Đạt found the nesting islands off Bình Khang and is venerated as the founder of the craft - close to 700 years of continuous harvesting, still done by hand.

Cam Ranh sea salt

Muối Cam Ranh

Sun-evaporated sea salt, one of the classic sea livelihoods of Cam Ranh alongside boatbuilding, fishing, cage farming, fish sauce and seafood processing. Seawater is pumped into shallow pans and, in unbroken sun, crystals form in 5-6 days with harvest after 7-10 days; workers (diêm dân) rake the crystals into white pyramids and cart them off the flats. The local salt is prized for its brightness and clean, unadulterated salinity. Buy it plain, or as the muối ớt xanh (green chilli salt) and muối tôm blends that every market sells for dipping mango and seafood.

Best in: The salt flats of southern Khanh Hoa. Since the July 2025 merger with Ninh Thuan the province has become a 'salt kingdom' with over 4,400 hectares of salt pans; the southern belt alone holds more than 3,000 hectares along 100+ km of coast.

Fish-cake thick noodle soup

Bánh canh chả cá

Tapioca-flour noodles - here cut thin, closer to a hủ tiếu strand than the fat udon-like bánh canh of other regions, chewy and slippery - in a clear broth simmered from fish bones with no MSG, topped with fried and steamed chả cá made from freshly landed fish (mackerel, tuna) minced with aromatics, plus flaked poached fish. Finished with spring onion, pepper, chilli paste and a squeeze of lime. Breakfast food, but sold all day.

Best in: Nha Trang. Long-running shops read in sources: Bánh Canh Bà Thừa, 143 Hoàng Văn Thụ (40+ years, 100% fish-bone broth, special bowl 35,000đ); Quán Cô Cuội, 07 Bạch Đằng (20,000-30,000đ); Bánh Canh Hai Cá, 26 Núi Một (06:00-21:00). Also sold on Binh Ba.

Grilled seafood on the floating rafts

Hải sản nướng nhà bè

Not a single dish but the defining Cam Ranh Bay meal. You take a boat out to a working lobster raft - a timber platform floating over the cages, with plastic tables and a charcoal grill at one end - point at what you want in the holding tanks and cages below, watch it weighed, and eat it minutes later. The standard spread is grilled lobster with salt and chilli or garlic butter, grilled squid, oysters or scallops with scallion oil, sea urchin (nhum) grilled or made into congee, steamed fish with soy, a seafood hotpot, and the lobster heads turned into congee to finish. Rafts sit over the bay between Ba Ngoi, Binh Ba, Binh Hung and Binh Lap, and many will collect you by boat.

Best in: Cam Ranh Bay - rafts off Binh Ba (Cam Binh commune), Binh Hung and the Binh Lap fishing village on the Hoang Sa coast road.

Where to eat

Binh Ba island

Where to eat	Order	Practical details	$
Nhà Bè Sơn Anh Bình Ba Floating raft · ★ 4.9	Live lobster, grilled or steamed, Grilled fish, Squid, Clams, Crab, Seafood BBQ	Bãi Nồm, đảo Bình Ba, Cam Bình, Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa - reached by an 80 m floating walkway from Sơn Anh hotel; about 20 minutes by speedboat from Ba Ngòi port	$$$

bai-dai

Where to eat	Order	Practical details	$
Trạm Eo Biển Bãi Dài Seafood · ★ 4.7	Live seafood chosen from the tanks, Lobster, Grilled fish	Thôn Đèo Cù Hin, Bãi Dài, Xã Cam Lâm, Tỉnh Khánh Hòa 06:00-23:00 daily	$$
Vựa Hải Sản Thắm Seafood	Steamed lobster, Tamarind crab, Grilled oysters, Seafood hotpot	Chân cầu Mới (foot of the New Bridge), Tỉnh lộ 9 / Cam Hải Đông, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa 10:00-22:00 (PasGo); 09:00-22:00 (Cho Dem Cam Lam listing)	$$
Hải Sản Phố Biển Seafood	Cá mú hấp (steamed grouper), Ghẹ rang me (tamarind crab), Mực chiên giòn (crispy squid)	Đường N2, Cam Hải Đông, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa (next to the Cầu Hin border-guard post, Bãi Dài) 08:00-23:00 (PasGo); 07:00-22:00 (Cho Dem Cam Lam listing)	$$
Hải Sản Ốc Biển Bãi Dài Seafood	Seafood buffet - 200+ items, Scallops, Clams, Oysters, Jellyfish, Lobster, Mussels	Cầu Mới, Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Cam Hải Tây, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa 10:00-23:00 (PasGo); 09:00-22:00 (Cho Dem Cam Lam listing)	$$
Hải Sản Bến Thuyền Cầu Mới Seafood	Crispy squid, Tiger prawn, Lemongrass clams, Grilled scallops with scallion oil	01 Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Cam Hải Tây, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa	$$
Nhà Hàng Hải Sản Rạng Đông (Eo Gió) Seafood	Garlic-butter lobster, Cá mú hấp xì dầu (grouper steamed with soy), Ốc hương (babylon snails), Emperor crab, Scallops	Cam Hải Đông, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa 08:00-23:00	$$$
Hải Sản Kim Dung Seafood	Sò nướng mỡ hành (grilled scallops with scallion oil), Lẩu hải sản (seafood hotpot), Ốc hấp sả (lemongrass-steamed snails), Cá nướng muối ớt (salt-chilli grilled fish)	458W+G9P, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa (Cam Hải Đông) 05:00-21:00	$$
Nhà Hàng Hải Sản Vịnh Cam Ranh (Chợ Đêm Cam Lâm K9) Seafood	Shrimp, Lobster, Crab, Squid - cooked to order from the day's landings	Đường K9 (junction with Nguyễn Tất Thành), Cam Hải Đông, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa - about 4 km from Cam Ranh airport 09:00-22:00 (restaurant page); 10:00-23:00 (Cho Dem Cam Lam listing)	$$
The Colonial - The Anam Cam Ranh Fine dining	Six-course degustation menu with optional wine pairing, Modern French cooking with Vietnamese accents, European breakfast buffet and à la carte	The Anam Cam Ranh, Nguyễn Tất Thành, Bãi Dài, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa Club lounge 07:00-17:00 daily for premium suite and villa guests; fine dining by night	$$$$
Tropicana Beach Club - Mövenpick Resort Cam Ranh Beach club	Grilled meat and seafood platters, Cocktails, Nightly live music	Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, Cam Hai Dong, Cam Lam, 057615 Khanh Hoa Open in Google Maps	$$$
Atlantis Seafood Restaurant - Alma Resort Fine dining	Live lobster from the tank, Sea urchin, Flower crab, Grilled squid with green chilli salt, Braised claypot cobia, Alma Seafood Platter	ALMA Resort, Lot D7a2 TT4X6, Bãi Dài / North Cam Ranh tourist area, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa Dinner seatings 17:30-19:00 and 19:30-21:00 (per Tripadvisor listing); 17:00-21:30 per PasGo Open in Google Maps	$$$$

Cam Ranh city

Where to eat	Order	Practical details	$
Hải Sản Tươi Sống Hải Yến Seafood	Grilled seafood, Steamed seafood, Tamarind-sauce crab, Garlic-butter lobster, Crispy fried squid	Lương Văn Can, Mỹ Ca, Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa 10:00-23:00 (PasGo); 08:00-22:00 (Cho Dem Cam Lam listing)	$$
Nhà Hàng Ngộ Seafood	Fresh seafood, cooked to order	245 Phạm Văn Đồng, Cam Thuận, Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa 09:00-23:00	$$
Quán Vinh Cam Ranh Seafood	Cá lóc nướng trui (field-grilled snakehead), Tôm càng sông hấp bia (beer-steamed river prawn)	40-80 Phan Đình Phùng, Cam Thuận, Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa	$$
Green Cafe Cam Ranh Cafe	Vietnamese phin coffee, Cà phê sữa đá	Nguyễn Thái Học, TDP Lộc Thành, P. Cam Lộc, TP. Cam Ranh (listed elsewhere as 81 Nguyễn Thái Học) 07:00-12:00 and 16:00-22:00	$
U Coffee & Beer (U Café) Cafe	Coffee, Imported beer	270 Phạm Văn Đồng, TP. Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa	$
Tous Les Temps Cam Ranh Cafe	Over 50 specialty drinks	423 đường 3/4, P. Cam Linh, TP. Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa 07:00-22:30	$

Binh Lap peninsula

Where to eat	Order	Practical details	$
Nhà Bè Hồng Nhàn - Hải Sản Tươi Sống Floating raft	Live seafood chosen from the cages below the raft	Đảo Bình Hưng, TP. Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa 08:00-22:00	$$
Năm Ty Quán Seafood	Steamed fish, Shrimp in sauce, Stir-fried squid, Seafood hotpot	Bãi Lao, Bình Lập, Cam Lập, Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa 09:00-20:00 (PasGo); 08:00-22:00 (Cho Dem Cam Lam listing)	$$

nha-trang

Where to eat	Order	Practical details	$
Bò Nướng Lạc Cảnh Street food	Bò nướng - cubed marinated beef grilled at the table over charcoal, Seafood grills	44 Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm, Phường Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa 10:00-23:00 Open in Google Maps	$$
Nem Nướng Đặng Văn Quyên Street food	Nem nướng Ninh Hòa with chả ram and peanut dipping sauce, Nem chua, Bún cá Ninh Hòa, Bò nướng, Cơm tấm	16A Lãn Ông, Nha Trang (main branch); second branch 2-4 Phan Bội Châu, Nha Trang Lãn Ông 07:30-20:30; Phan Bội Châu 07:00-21:00	$
Bún Cá Nguyên Loan Street food	Bún chả cá (house-made fish cake), Bún sứa (jellyfish), Bún cá sứa combination bowl	123 Ngô Gia Tự, P. Tân Lập, Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa 05:00-22:30 (Foody); 06:00-22:00 (VnExpress)	$
Sailing Club Nha Trang Beach club	Beachfront cocktails, Vietnamese dishes, Indian curries, Western mains	72-74 Trần Phú, Lộc Thọ, Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa 570000 07:00-02:00 daily Open in Google Maps	$$$
Louisiane Brewhouse Beach club	House-brewed craft beer, Fresh seafood, Sushi, Pizza, House pastries	29 Trần Phú (Lot 29), Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa 08:00-02:00 daily Open in Google Maps	$$$

Markets

Cam Ranh Market

Slug	cho-cam-ranh
Name	Cam Ranh Market
Vietnamese name	Chợ Cam Ranh
Area	cam-ranh-city
Address	Central Cam Ranh city, near the coast; roughly 5-7 km south of Cam Ranh airport via Highway 1A (about 15 minutes by taxi). Reachable from Nha Trang on bus 6 or 18, about 45 minutes.
Hours	Busiest at first light; no published closing time found. Go in the morning, when the night boats have just landed.
What To Buy	Live and just-landed fish, prawn, crab and squid Dried squid and dried fish Cam Ranh sea salt and salt-chilli blends (muối ớt xanh, muối tôm) Cam Lam mango and bánh tráng xoài mango leather Yến sào (bird's nest) gift boxes
Price Guide	Prices quoted on one 2025 listing: tiger prawn and crab 200,000-400,000đ/kg; grouper and mackerel 150,000-300,000đ/kg; mud crab and dried squid around 250,000đ/kg. Treat as indicative only.
Notes	The market grew out of fishermen gathering on the Ba Ngoi shore in the early 20th century to trade the catch for household goods. Stalls have tanks and weather cover, with free parking and delivery to nearby hotels. Vendors will pack and ice seafood for the airport. Note: the source for prices and facilities is a local tourism-services site, not an official one - verify on the ground.

Ba Ngoi Market

Slug	cho-ba-ngoi
Name	Ba Ngoi Market
Vietnamese name	Chợ Ba Ngòi
Area	cam-ranh-city
Address	Ba Ngòi ward, Cam Ranh city (adjoining Ba Ngòi port, the departure quay for Binh Ba island)
Hours	Early morning is when it runs hardest; exact hours not published in the sources read.
What To Buy	Fish, squid and shellfish straight off the Ba Ngòi boats Everyday produce and dry goods for a self-catering stay

Da Bac fishing port morning fish market

Slug	cang-ca-da-bac
Name	Da Bac fishing port morning fish market
Vietnamese name	Cảng cá Đá Bạc
Area	cam-ranh-city
Address	Đá Bạc, Cam Ranh
Hours	Dawn, while the boats are unloading - the sources say only that the markets around the ports are at their busiest very early morning.
What To Buy	Whole fish, squid and shellfish at landing prices Wholesale lots - this is where the vựa (tank houses) buy

Dam Market

Slug	cho-dam-nha-trang
Name	Dam Market
Vietnamese name	Chợ Đầm Nha Trang
Area	nha-trang
Address	09 Phan Bội Châu, Vạn Thạnh / Phường Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa
Lat	12.2550959
Lng	109.1939809
Hours	05:00-18:30 daily; the seafood aisles and the food stalls run later into the evening. Best window 07:00-10:00 - fresh stock, thinner crowds.
What To Buy	Bánh tráng xoài (mango leather) Muối ớt xanh (green chilli salt) Chả cá (fish cake) Nước mắm 584 Nha Trang fish sauce Dried squid, dried fish, mực một nắng (one-sun-dried squid), dried shrimp Yến sào (bird's nest) Fresh fish, prawn, squid and crab in the left wing; souvenirs and handicrafts in the central hall
Eat Here	Bún sứa Nem nướng Bánh căn Bánh xèo with seafood Chè
Notes	Bring cash - smaller vendors do not take cards. Prices are negotiable; compare two or three stalls before committing and haggle politely. Buses 2 and 4 run there from central Nha Trang, 5-10 minutes from the tourist strip.

Binh Ba island market

Slug	cho-binh-ba
Name	Binh Ba island market
Vietnamese name	Chợ Bình Ba
Area	binh-ba
Address	Bình Ba village waterfront, Cam Bình, Cam Ranh
Lat	11.8399697
Lng	109.2309699
Hours	Morning seafood trading roughly 05:30-07:00 along the waterfront
What To Buy	Lobster and reef fish straight from the cages Squid, sea urchin, snails and shellfish Cheap cooked breakfast - bánh căn, bánh canh chả cá
Notes	The cheapest way to eat Binh Ba lobster is to buy at the morning market and pay a guesthouse or a raft to cook it. A substantial seafood meal on the island runs about 150,000-200,000đ a head. Coordinates are the OSM centroid of Binh Ba island, not the market building.

How not to get overcharged

In the vựa (tank houses), the raft restaurants and most Cam Ranh seafood places there is no fixed menu price: you point at a live animal, it is netted, weighed, and you are billed by weight at that day's rate plus a cooking charge. Ask for the price per kilo of each item BEFORE it leaves the tank, ask what the cooking fee is, and watch the scale - the K9 restaurant states outright that seafood prices move with the daily market. Fixing the price up front is the single thing that separates a 400,000đ dinner from a 4,000,000đ one. Where you can, buy at a market or landing and have a raft or guesthouse cook it - on Binh Ba that turns lobster from a restaurant splurge into a 150,000-200,000đ meal.
Go early: the markets around Ba Ngòi, Đá Bạc and Đầm Thủy Triều are at their best at first light, before the wholesalers clear the good stock. Look for prawns with bright, unyellowed shells, crabs that feel solid when pressed, and fish with glossy skin, clear eyes and red gills; walk away from anything with an off smell, faded colour or soft flesh. Buying at a vựa near the port cuts out the middleman and is both cheaper and fresher than a general market or a supermarket.
Cam Ranh Bay lobster is farmed in cages year-round, but May to August is the peak run for lobster and squid, and early summer is when the sea is calmest and the quality best; by autumn lobster prices creep up. Know the two grades: tôm hùm xanh (green/bamboo) is the everyday one at roughly 800,000-1,200,000đ/kg, tôm hùm bông (flower/banded) is the premium at 1,500,000đ/kg and up, over 2,000,000đ/kg cooked fresh on the raft. February to April is the better window for crab and oysters; autumn is good for mackerel and sea snails.
Rong nho grows best February to August and drops off sharply in September and October with the rains, so that is when the fresh trays in the markets are at their best. Fresh sea grapes keep 5-7 days and must NOT be refrigerated - the cold kills the beads. Rinse briefly to knock the salt back, then shock in iced water for crunch and serve with wasabi and soy. For a flight home, buy the salt-dehydrated version (rehydrate 3-5 minutes in cold water), which keeps 6-12 months.
Ask for 'đồ chay' or look for a sign reading 'Chay' - Buddhist vegetarian kitchens, which are strictly meat-, fish-sauce- and egg-free and usually cheap. Nha Trang has established ones such as Ẩm Thực Chay - Bồ Đề Sao; they are busiest on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month, when many Vietnamese eat vegetarian and every chay shop puts on a full spread. Two warnings for Khanh Hoa specifically: almost every 'vegetable' dipping sauce here is fish- or shrimp-based (nước mắm, mắm nêm, mắm ruột), and broths for bún and bánh canh are simmered from fish bones, so a bowl without fish on top is still not vegetarian. Say 'không nước mắm' and 'không mắm' explicitly. No dedicated chay restaurant in Cam Ranh city or on the Bãi Dài strip could be verified from a reliable source - the resort restaurants are the safe fallback there.
No halal-certified restaurant in Cam Ranh, on the Bãi Dài strip or in Nha Trang could be verified from a source during this research - treat halal availability as limited and do not rely on a certified kitchen being within reach of the resorts. Practical approach: ask your resort's food and beverage team in advance, since the international resorts on Bãi Dài (The Anam, Mövenpick, Alma) all run multiple kitchens and can usually accommodate a dietary request with notice; and be aware that pork, pork fat and fish sauce are baked into most local dishes, including broths that look meat-free. Seafood cooked to order on the rafts and at the vựa is the easiest local option. This tip is deliberately flagged as unconfirmed rather than guessed - confirm before travelling.
The Bãi Dài strip is a package-holiday coast built around international charter traffic into Cam Ranh airport, and the big resorts (Mövenpick, Alma, The Anam) run multiple restaurants precisely to serve that mixed clientele - Alma alone has six restaurants plus a six-outlet food court, Mövenpick has a Swiss beer house, and several of the independent seafood houses in Cam Hải Đông run free shuttles from the airport and the resorts. No specific Russian- or Korean-menu restaurant on the strip could be confirmed from a source in this research, so the guide should not name one until it has been checked on the ground; the safe advice is that the resort strip caters to non-Vietnamese speakers while the Ba Ngòi and Cầu Mới eateries do not, and photos of the tanks are the universal language there.
Coffee in Cam Ranh is a sit-down social act, not a takeaway. Order cà phê sữa đá (drip coffee over condensed milk and ice) or cà phê đen đá; it arrives in a metal phin filter that takes several minutes to drip, and that wait is the point. Town cafes such as Green Cafe on Nguyễn Thái Học (07:00-12:00 and 16:00-22:00), Tous Les Temps on đường 3/4 (07:00-22:30) and U Café on Phạm Văn Đồng charge roughly 19,000-70,000đ and open early and late but usually shut for the hottest part of the afternoon. Note for planning: despite the reputation of the DT702 coastal road and the Bình Lập / Bãi Lao run, no sea-view cafe along that stretch could be verified from a reliable source - the confirmed Cam Ranh cafes are town cafes with street views, and the sea-view drinking on this coast is at the beach restaurants and resort beach clubs instead.
Do not drink the tap water. Bottled water is sold everywhere for a few thousand dong, restaurants bring sealed bottles or trà đá (weak iced tea) to the table, and ice in established restaurants and cafes is factory-made from treated water. This is standard Vietnam-wide practice rather than a Cam Ranh-specific hazard; no Khanh Hoa water-quality source was located during this research, so the guidance is given as general precaution.
Carry cash in small notes: market stalls and street kitchens rarely take cards, and the smaller sellers at Chợ Đầm and Chợ Cam Ranh take nothing else. Market prices are negotiable and expected to be negotiated - compare two or three stalls before you commit, and keep it good-humoured. Shop between 07:00 and 10:00 at Chợ Đầm for the best stock and the thinnest crowds; for seafood, earlier still. Cam Ranh market vendors will pack and ice a purchase for the flight home, and deliver to nearby hotels.

Frequently asked questions

What food is Cam Ranh famous for?

Lobster from the Binh Ba rafts, sea grapes farmed along the bay, and grilled seafood served on the floating raft restaurants in the harbour. The area is also known for its mangoes.

How do I avoid being overcharged for seafood?

Seafood is priced by weight. Agree the price per kilo and watch it weighed before it is cooked, and ask for the total in writing if you are ordering several kinds.

Can you eat outside the resorts on Bai Dai?

Barely. The strip has almost no independent restaurants between the resorts. Most visitors eat in the resort or drive to Cam Ranh town or Nha Trang.

Sources

Every figure on this page was checked against these pages.