The National Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam offers interesting exhibits of local marine life, including over 20,000 live and preserved marine specimens. Open to public since 1922, the institute also sponsors ongoing research and community projects, such as captive breeding programmed, preservation and regeneration of local coral reefs.
The collection of this museum is so extensive that it spans two floors within a French colonial building in Cau Da (a few kilometers south of Nha Trang town center). The ground floor houses glass tanks of various sizes filled with marine life such as reef sharks, turtles, scorpion fish, anemones, puffers, and lion fish as well as coral reefs and seaweed from many parts of the world. For clarification, each tank is also labelled with the name, origin, and characteristics in Vietnamese and English.
Meanwhile, the upper floor of The National Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam features thousands of preserved specimens, animal skeletons, local boats, and fishing artifacts. One of the highlights of the museum is the skeleton of a humpback whale, which was excavated in the Ha Nam Province back in 1994. The specimen measures at 18 meters in length and 18,000kg in weight. Also on display here is the skeleton of a dugong that was excavated in Con Dao back in 1997.
Visitors can also enjoy several themed exhibitions of the institute’s development in research equipment and technology as well as rooms that illustrate natural disasters, sacred legends and traditions, and fishing culture in Vietnam.
Accessible within a 10-minute drive from Tran Phu Beach, entry fee to The National Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam is priced at VND 30,000 for adults and VND 12,000 for children below the age of 12.
Opening Hours: Daily 06:00 – 18:00
Address: 1 Cau da, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa
Tel: +8458 359 0036
