There's something really intriguing about Vinpearl Land. Perhaps it's the Hollywood style sign that lights up at night, or the fact that it's on it's own island, or maybe it's because the Vietnamese go crazy with excitement when you mention it's name, or even just the words Nha Trang for that mater. When Harmony and I arrived in Nha Trang, we immediately knew we had to go.
Vinpearl Land sits on the island of Hon Tre, just off of the mainland. When Vinpearl bought the island, they wasted no time in turning it into Vietnam's answer to Disneyland. Though, the cable car system wasn't open until the following year.
The cable car takes about 10-15 minutes and takes you right over the bay - offering fantastic views of the city and sea. It's actually the longest over-water cable car system in the world! At night, the pillars that hold the cable car system up (60 metres in the air) look just like mini Eiffel Towers because of the way they're lit! If heights aren't your thing, then taking a ferry is an alternative option.
The cable cars are about a 15 minute journey from the centre of Nha Trang, so the first challenge of the day is getting there. Harmony and I thought a taxi would be the easy option, but we knew we made the wrong decision when the taxi randomly stopped half way. The driver turned to us and said "you buy ticket here". He beeped his horn and a woman came running out from a small shop saying "you can only buy ticket here, you have to buy it here". This wasn't right... But, to be fair, they were offering a ticket at the same price as the park's own cable car system - 650,000 Dong. We could've avoided all of this if we had just taken the number 4 bus.
When we arrived in the park, we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. The roller coasters looked decent and, better yet, they had no queues! Our favourite ride span us around, whilst we were upside down! I was almost scared and was actually pretty impressed!
Walking around the park was also a pleasant experience. It's clean, well decorated and there's always a stall for refreshments nearby. We had to walk through the "Shopping Town" at one point. It’s basically a long, paved pathway with souvenir and clothing shops on each side. The option to buy gifts is always nice but, when you're on a budget, it's not even worth looking.
The next thing we checked out was the 4D cinema. Playing across three big screens was a 15-20 minute show with English speaking characters. It had excellent effects and animations, but the storyline wouldn't appeal to anyone over 8 years old. The park also has an aquarium, with undersized and overpopulated exhibits, but some incredibly interesting species of fish.
The park's main attraction is the rather large waterpark. There are all kinds of slides, as well as a lazy river for when you're feeling lethargic. Like most things at the park, the price is included in the entrance fee. However, lockers do cost extra. At any one point in the day, only half the slides will be open. We didn't get to go in the wave pool (the biggest in SE Asia), but we had fun on the slides that were open!
Next to the waterpark is Vinpearl's very own beach. It's the perfect place to sit back and soak up the sun. Though, I personally didn't stay long in the water, as it wasn't the cleanest. Near here is a dolphin show, but we wouldn't have watched it even if it were open. There's also a fountain show on the other side of the park that we missed because the only showing was quite late in the evening. Instead, we wanted to go on the Alpine Coaster - where you ride down a mountain in a small sled-like seat, at super-fast speeds. We queued for about an hour, and the experience was somewhat ruined someone going stupidly slow, but we still had fun and it was definitely worth doing. Doing it in the dark made it more thrilling and exhilarating, even though there may have been more to see in the daytime. There's also two cameras set up at different places on the ride and somewhere you can buy the photos printed out for a very reasonable price.
Perhaps the place we spent most of our time was in the games room. There are lots of different arcade games you can play for FREE! Shooting games, racing games and so much more! That was a particularly fun part of the day, but the park in general is really great. I've recommended it to everyone that I've spoken to since, and will continue to do so!