More than a thousand free-roaming monkeys on a small island in Nha Phu lagoon — children adore it
More than a thousand semi-wild monkeys — nothing like it in the region
The tour children enjoy most among the near-shore trips
Ten minutes by speedboat; half a day covers the whole thing
Hold on to your phone, sunglasses and any plastic bag — the monkeys snatch in a blink; do not go near a mother carrying a baby, and buy their food at the counter rather than offering your own.
Hòn Lao — everyone calls it Monkey Island — is a small island in the Nha Phu lagoon north of the city, home to more than a thousand semi-wild monkeys, descendants of the research colony kept here decades ago. The speedboat from Long Phú landing takes little more than ten minutes, and there are usually monkeys sitting on the jetty waiting as you step off.
They are used to people and roam freely across the beach and the casuarina woods — a rare zoo-in-reverse, where the visitors are the ones walking through someone else's territory. There is also a small swimming beach, an animal show and beach games; a morning covers it, and it suits families with children better than anything else nearby.
Come to Nha Trang without eating gỏi cá mai and the trip is not complete
One family, one recipe, nearly 50 years. Fish landed that morning, rolled in rice paper and dipped in a secret fish sauce — the same taste since 1977.
