Geography of Khanh Hoa

Relief

Most of Khánh Hòa is hill and low mountain country tied to the southern end of the Trường Sơn range; peaks over 1,000 m are common but few reach much higher, and Vietnamese Wikipedia gives the province an average elevation of only about 60 m despite this^[1]. In the north and north-west the Vọng Phu range, running over 60 km on a south-west to north-east line, forms the natural boundary with Đắk Lắk and includes the Tam Phong group of three peaks over 1,100 m^[1]. To the south and south-west, on the former border with Ninh Thuận, a broader mountain zone rises past 2,000 m; Vietnamese Wikipedia names Hòn Giao, at 2,062 m in Nam Khánh Vĩnh commune, as the province's highest peak, though a 2,051 m summit called Chư H'Mư, in the Vọng Phu range, is also cited elsewhere as the highest point, including in English Wikipedia's infobox^[1][2].

The narrow coastal plains, formed by old and new alluvium mixed in places with sandy soil, are broken into pockets by mountain spurs reaching the sea; the largest are the Nha Trang-Diên Khánh plain, at 135 km² along the Cái river, and the Ninh Hòa plain, at 100 km² along the Dinh river, with smaller plains at Vạn Ninh and Cam Ranh^[1]. English Wikipedia gives the former Khánh Hòa 87,100 ha of farmland, 16.7 percent of its area, and says forest covers more than half the province^[2].

The coast and the three bays

Vietnamese Wikipedia describes the coastline, from Đại Lãnh to Cà Ná, as about 490 km long with roughly 200 coastal islands, and names Vân Phong, Nha Trang (also called Cù Huân) and Cam Ranh as the province's three principal bays, along with smaller bays and lagoons at Đại Lãnh, Hòn Khói, Nha Phu and Vĩnh Hy^[1]. Cam Ranh Bay, 32 km long and 16 km wide with a narrow 1.6 km entrance and depths of 18 to 20 m, is often described as one of the best natural deep-water harbours in South East Asia and was used as a military anchorage through the twentieth century^[1].

Offshore, the continental shelf is narrow and its underwater ridges, continuations of the same mountain spurs that reach the coast, break the surface as islands such as Hòn Tre, Hòn Miếu and Hòn Mun, with the sheltered ground between them forming the floor of the three bays^[1].

Rivers

The province has about 40 rivers of 10 km or more, nearly all rising in the western mountains and flowing east to the coast, with a river mouth roughly every 5 to 7 km of shoreline^[1]. The Cái river of Nha Trang is 79 km long, rising at Hòn Gia Lê, 1,812 m, and flowing through Khánh Vĩnh, Diên Khánh and Nha Trang before reaching the sea through two mouths, Cửa Bé and Cửa Lớn^[1]. The Dinh river rises in the Chư H'Mư area of the Vọng Phu range and drains a 985 km² basin through Ninh Hòa before emptying into Nha Phu lagoon; the Tô Hạp river, rising in Khánh Sơn, is unusual in flowing west into what is now the former Ninh Thuận^[1].

The dry south

The former Ninh Thuận, in the province's south since 2025, has a different geography: hills and mountains cover about 63.2 percent of its area, semi-mountainous terrain 14.4 percent and coastal plains 22.4 percent, with a coastline of about 105 km and three sea gates at Đông Hải, Cà Ná and Khánh Hải^[3]. Its climate is markedly drier than the coast around Nha Trang, discussed in the climate article, and its terrain and landmarks, including Núi Chúa National Park and Vĩnh Hy Bay, are described in their own articles and in the Ninh Thuận article.

Truong Sa

Beyond the mainland coast, Khánh Hòa also administers the Trường Sa special zone, a scatter of about 100 islands, reefs and shoals across 160,000 to 180,000 km² of the East Sea, of which only 23 to 25 features stay permanently above water, together covering about 10 km²; the largest, Ba Bình, is only 0.65 km²^[1]. The Trường Sa (Spratly) Islands are claimed in whole or in part by several other states besides Vietnam, and this article states only which features Vietnam administers, not who has the stronger claim^[1].