DA NANG · VIETNAM
Beaches below, the Golden Bridge above.
A bright, modern beach city on Vietnam’s central coast, and the launchpad for the lot: the Golden Bridge in the clouds at Ba Na Hills, the lantern streets of Hoi An, the imperial citadel at Hue and the Cham ruins at My Son, all within a day’s reach.
Only around Da Nang
Three sights that are pure central Vietnam.
Beaches and boat trips turn up on every coast. A gold bridge held up by two giant stone hands, a town that glows by lantern after dark, and a mountain hollowed into temples do not.
Up in the clouds
The Golden Bridge
Forty minutes from the coast, one of the world’s longest cable cars climbs through the cloud line to Ba Na Hills, where a 150-metre ribbon of gold walkway curves out of the mountainside, cradled by two vast weathered stone hands. There is nothing else like it anywhere, which is exactly why it ended up on screens around the world.
- 1 Full Day Golden Bridge and Ba Na Hills Small Group Tour
- 2 From Da Nang/Hoi An: Golden Bridge Ba Na Hills Full-Day Tour
- 3 Da Nang: Golden Bridge, Lady Buddha, Marble Mt & Am Phu Cave
Lit by lantern
The Lantern Town
Half an hour south, the old trading port of Hoi An keeps its streets low-lit and lantern-strung. Silk lamps glow over the canals, the Japanese covered bridge arches across the water, and on full-moon nights the river fills with paper candles set adrift. A UNESCO town that turns into something else entirely after dark.
- 1 Marble Mountains – Hoi An Ancient Town Sunset Daily Ingroup Tour
- 2 Lady Buddha, Marble Mountains, Coconut Jungle & Hoian City Tour
- 3 Linh Ung Pagoda – Marble Mountains – Hoi An Ancient Town Daily Ingroup Tour
Hollowed into temples
The Marble Mountains
Five marble and limestone hills rise straight out of the flat coast between the city and the beach, each named for an element and riddled with caves. Inside are Buddhist grottoes lit by shafts of daylight, hidden pagodas and stairways to viewpoints over the whole stretch of sand. A stone-carving village still works the base.
- 1 Da Nang: Golden Bridge, Lady Buddha, Marble Mt & Am Phu Cave
- 2 Morning Small group to Marble Mountains – Am Phu Cave – Monkey Mountain
- 3 Marble Mountains – Am Phu Cave – Monkey Mountain Sunset tour
The one everyone books
Da Nang's single most popular day out.
More travellers reserve this than anything else here. If you only lock in one thing before you land, make it this one.
The classics
Da Nang's Most Popular Tours & Day Trips
Ba Na Hills and the Golden Bridge, the Marble Mountains, Hoi An by lantern and the run over the Hai Van Pass. The days most travellers book first.
Where to begin
The days a Da Nang trip is built around.
The Golden Bridge, the lantern town, the Marble Mountains, the imperial city and the pass. The handful of experiences nearly every Da Nang trip is planned around, and the best of each.
The big question
Three World Heritage sites, one base.
Few cities put three UNESCO sites within a day’s drive. From Da Nang you can reach all three, so the only real question is which day gets which.
Up in the clouds
The Golden Bridge, held in two giant hands.
Forty minutes from the coast, a cable car climbs through the cloud line to Ba Na Hills, where a ribbon of gold walkway curves out of the mountainside, cradled by two vast weathered stone hands. Up top there’s a French-village replica, flower gardens, a wine cellar in the rock and the cool mountain air the old colonists came for. Go early, before the cloud and the crowds roll in.
Read the guide: Ba Na Hills & the Golden Bridge →Half an hour south
Hoi An, once the lanterns come on.
The old trading port keeps its lights low. Silk lanterns string across the lanes, the Japanese covered bridge glows over the canal, and on full-moon nights the Thu Bon river fills with paper candles set adrift for luck. Tailors and yellow walls by day; one of the most photographed streets in Asia by dusk.
See the Hoi An tours →The high road north
Where the mountains drop into the sea.
The Hai Van Pass switchbacks over a spur of the mountains between Da Nang and Hue, ocean on one side and jungle ridgelines on the other. Ride it pillion behind a rider, or take the slow road by car and stop at the old bunkers on the saddle for the long view back over the bay.
Browse Hai Van Pass tours →On the peninsula
The white Buddha watching the bay.
On the Son Tra peninsula, the tallest Buddha in Vietnam stands serene above Linh Ung Pagoda at 67 metres, facing out to sea. The road up winds through jungle where wild macaques and the rare red-shanked douc langur live, past lookouts over My Khe Beach and the whole sweep of the coast. Sunrise or late afternoon, it’s the city’s quiet counterpoint.
- 1 Morning Small group to Marble Mountains – Am Phu Cave – Monkey Mountain
- 2 Marble Mountains – Am Phu Cave – Monkey Mountain Sunset tour
- 3 Marble Mountain, Monkey Mountain Peak, Lady Buddha PRIVATE TOUR
Da Nang after dark
The bridge that breathes fire.
On weekend nights the Dragon Bridge lives up to its name, the great steel dragon over the Han River breathing real fire and water at nine to a crowd on the banks. Around it the city lights up: river cruises slide under the spans, the night markets fire up the grills, and the riverfront fills with families out late in the warm air.
See the river cruises & nights out →Day trips & heritage
Pick a corner of central Vietnam.
Ba Na Hills for the Golden Bridge. The Marble Mountains for the caves. Hoi An for the lanterns. Hue for the citadel. My Son for the Cham ruins, and Son Tra for the Lady Buddha above the bay.
By activity
Or pick how to spend the day.
A boat trip if you want the river and the coast. A motorbike if you want the pass. A food tour if you came hungry. Plus city tours, cooking classes, snorkelling off the Cham Islands and the evening cruises.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Da Nang? A long weekend that pairs the city and its beach with the heritage all around it.
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