Nha Trang’s Popularity Surge: Russian Travel Blogger Compares It to a Crowded Russian Beach

Russian travel blogger Elena Liseykina recently analyzed the list of most popular international destinations from Moscow for the May 2026 holidays and shared her firsthand impressions. She published the rankings on her personal blog, “Traveling with a Camera,” on the Zen platform. At the bottom of the list was Vietnam’s Nha Trang, a resort Liseykina says is experiencing a tourism boom thanks to visa-free entry, low prices, and direct flights. But she warns that this popularity comes with a catch.

“Lately, I keep seeing videos from the local beaches. It looks exactly like Anapa in the middle of August—packed, barely any room to walk along the shore,” Liseykina wrote. “Vietnam itself hasn’t gotten worse, but Nha Trang has long been operating on mass-market rules.”

The seventh, eighth, and tenth spots went to Chinese cities Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing. Liseykina noted that flights there are abundant and the local flavor is “more than enough.” Thailand’s Phuket ranked sixth, Belarus’s Minsk fifth, and Turkey’s Antalya fourth. The top three were Armenia’s Yerevan, the Maldives, and Istanbul.

“The Maldives has stopped being a luxury-only destination with villas on private islands. Local guesthouses with affordable prices have opened on inhabited islands. It’s a solid option for those who’ve already visited Turkey or Thailand and just want a beach and sea,” she concluded.

Previously, Russian tourists criticized vacations in Vietnam due to overcrowded beaches, actively discouraging others from heading to Nha Trang’s shores.