Nha Trang Visa Run from Cam Ranh: pickup times, prices, and the 2026 border day

The Cam Ranh visa run is the same Moc Bai border run as the one from Nha Trang, with a later pickup and an earlier drop-off. The convoy collects Cam Ranh Bay guests last in the dawn sweep, around 04:00 to 05:00, and drops them off first on the way home, around 19:00. In between is the full border day: 500 km over Khanh Le Pass, three stamps at Moc Bai and Bavet, and a fresh 90-day entry stamp before dinner.

Cam Ranh sits about 35 km south of Nha Trang center, so it makes no sense for the bus to finish the sweep in Nha Trang and then backtrack. The order runs one way down the coast: Nha Trang center first from 02:30, then An Vien and Vinh Hoa, then Cam Lam, and finally the Cam Ranh Bay resorts. What that means for you is a lie-in. A rider in Tran Phu is in the van before 03:00; a rider at a bayside resort boards up to two hours later and still arrives at the border at the same time as everyone else.

Prices are identical to Nha Trang: 1.5M VND for transport only, 5M VND for the Standard bundle with the Cambodia visa and the 90-day e-visa, 9.5M VND for a private car. The only differences are the pickup time, the drop-off time, and the fact that the border arrival does not move. If you are staying south of the airport, this page walks through how the day actually runs.

The sweep runs one way down the coast, and Cam Ranh is the last stop before the road turns inland. Pickup order: Nha Trang center from about 02:30 to 03:00, then An Vien, Vinh Hoa, and the western districts, then Cam Lam, then the Cam Ranh Bay resorts between 04:00 and 05:00. By the time the coach reaches you, it is full, the driver has the route memorized, and the border clock is already running. That is why the confirmation matters more here than anywhere else: dispatch sends your exact pickup time the night before, and that time, not the range on this page, is the one to trust.

Your address needs to work at 4 a.m. in the dark. Give the resort or hotel name, the building or block if it is a large complex, and the gate a driver should use. Resort security is used to early departures, so a booking confirmation from us plus your name is normally enough to get the coach through the gate. If you are in a private villa on the peninsula, say so when you book; the driver needs the villa number or the guardhouse name to avoid a wrong turn down a dark lane.

Cam Ranh splits into two pickup zones in practice. The airport area and the bayside hotels on the main road are straightforward stops. The peninsula resorts, reached over the bridge, take a little longer and are usually the very last boardings. Either way, be at the lobby or the guardhouse ten minutes early. The convoy does not wait long, because every minute shifts the border arrival toward noon.

One thing that catches first-timers: the pickup is not a hotel shuttle, and the coach will not swing back to collect you if you oversleep. Miss the sweep and the next departure is tomorrow, or the 21:00 night sleeper from Nha Trang if it is the same day. Message the WhatsApp line right away either way; the team will tell you the fastest fix.

A Cam Ranh rider's day is about an hour shorter at each end than a Nha Trang center rider's. The border window does not change, so the shape of the day is fixed; only your seat in the sweep moves.

Door to door that is about 15 hours for a Cam Ranh guest, versus 16 for someone boarding first in Nha Trang. The total drive is the same 500 km each way, mostly on QL27C, over Khanh Le Pass, then QL14 through the highlands toward Tay Ninh. The border arrival between 10:00 and 12:00 holds for everyone in the convoy, because the whole group crosses together and nobody gets left behind at a counter.

The 21:00 night sleeper is an option too, but note it departs from Nha Trang, not Cam Ranh. If you pick the night departure, you travel up to Nha Trang yourself or arrange a separate pickup; the standard booking flow assumes the dawn sweep for Cam Ranh addresses. Ask on WhatsApp when you book if you want the night sleeper from a Cam Ranh start; it happens, but it is arranged case by case.

Prices from Cam Ranh are the same as from Nha Trang. The pickup zone does not change the ticket, and you pay on arrival in cash or by bank transfer, so there is no prepayment to arrange from the resort.

The e-visa add-on has its own tiers. Four-day processing starts at 65 USD, and the rush tiers, one, two, and four hours, go up to 165 USD. Rush tiers run Monday to Friday only; slower tiers process on weekends too, so a weekend run from Cam Ranh works if you can wait a day or two for the new e-visa.

What the ticket does not include: food and drinks on the road, and the Cambodia visa if you booked transport only. The convoy stops for coffee and lunch; those are on you. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure, and because the convoy runs every day, a cancelled booking usually just shifts to the next departure.

For the full line-item breakdown in both currencies, see the 2026 cost page. The cheapest visa run page works through when the private car undercuts the bus.

Once the sweep is done, the convoy climbs out of the coast on QL27C, over Khanh Le Pass, and across the highlands on QL14 toward Tay Ninh. It is about 500 km each way, five to seven hours depending on truck traffic, with two coffee and fuel stops and a photo break near Pleiku. The bus arrives at Moc Bai between 10:00 and 12:00, and the border window runs roughly 11:00 to 19:00.

The border part is three stamps, in order: exit Vietnam at Moc Bai, cross into Bavet in Cambodia, and re-enter Vietnam. The fixer queues passports at all three counters, so you do not stand in the slow line twice. If you booked the Standard bundle, your e-visa is filed the moment your exit stamp lands, which means the clock on the new 90 days starts while you are still on the Cambodian side. Lunch happens in Tay Ninh while the paperwork works.

Cam Ranh riders get the same service as everyone else here. The fixer does not care where you boarded. Transport-only riders hand over their passports for the stamps and keep their existing visas; Standard riders get the whole reset handled in the booking. The only practical difference for a Cam Ranh guest is the return leg: the coach comes back down QL13, drops the bayside Cam Ranh riders first around 19:00, and finishes in Nha Trang between 20:00 and 21:00.

What to bring: your passport with six months of validity and two blank pages, a little USD cash for the Cambodia visa if you are transport only, a long-sleeve layer for the air conditioning, and phone battery. The full packing list and route detail live on the Moc Bai route guide.

If you are deciding where to board, the honest answer is that it barely matters. Same convoy, same border, same fixer, same prices. The real differences are the wake-up call and the homecoming.

Sleep matters more than people admit. A Tran Phu rider is standing in the dark at 2:30 a.m.; a Cam Ranh rider gets two more hours. On the way back the positions reverse, and the Cam Ranh rider is first out, which is worth a lot after a 15-hour day.

The private car changes the comparison. A Premium car from Nha Trang at 9.5M VND splits into about 4.75M per head for two people, under the 5M Standard bus bundle, and about 2.375M per head for four, cheaper than a bus ticket alone. From Cam Ranh the math is identical; the car simply starts its day at your resort gate with no sweep. Couples, families, and anyone with a suitcase usually pick the car. Solo travelers take the bus.

The rule of thumb for Cam Ranh stays the same as Nha Trang: solo, take the bus and enjoy the later pickup; two or more, price out the car. The per-head math is on the cheapest visa run page, and the car's own page is private car to Moc Bai.

Still comparing options? The schedule page covers run days and holiday operations, the bus page covers the full sweep and the night sleeper, and the FAQ answers everything from luggage to overstays. Riders comparing other cities can check Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, which run their own schedules and pricing.