Central Vietnam - Da nang & Hoi an

[Jman888]

Da nang

 

Da Nang is a coastal city in central Vietnam known for its sandy beaches and history as a French colonial port. Da Nang is the 3rd largest city of Vietnam, they call it a touristy city. It's a popular base for visiting the inland Bà Nà hills to the west of the city. South of Da Nang toward Hoi An is Marble Hill, these 5 limestone outcrops are topped with pagodas and hide caves containing Buddhist shrines (copy from wiki).

 

Da nang is famous for its beaches they called it Hawaii of the East. Many 5* resorts and spa resorts build along the long stretch of the beach all the way to Hoi An. 

 

 

First day arrived at Da nang around 8pm, queue up at the taxi stand, there is no visible sign and we just follow the little crowd (like 3-4 people) waiting. There was an airport staff managing the queue and will ask where you are going, please be careful when he assign you to another guy whose taxi is not in the queue cos those are not charge by meter. You can be charged 4-5x the meter fare but if you arrange for hotel transfer, it will probably about the same but you feel safer then taking public transport.

 

 

 

Our hotel is 3min walk away from the river and 5 min walk to the dragon bridge. There are 2 streets with many eateries and more variety if you go somewhere further by taxi. Day time walk around in Da nang you will see many Korean tour group. The Han central market is a must to visit in Da nang, you get reasonable price as the local also shop there. Almost all the stalls sell G7 kopi. The market is divided into 2 floor, ground floor for dried food, wet market, household necessities & food stalls. Upstairs were clothing, shoes and fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.................................... more to come!

 

 

 

 

[Jman888]

We decided to stay in Da nang for 2 nights as it is nearer to Ba Na Hill (http://banahills.sunworld.vn/en/), a knock off French village up in the mountain like Genting highland. We arrange our own transport for a day to go there and he came back to pick us at 4pm, you can either take a transport/taxi or follow tour group to the base of the mountain, then choose one of the 3 cable car stations that lead to different part of the hill, VND650,000 for the cable car ticket, they have short cable car ride from the hill top to some garden attraction on a slightly lower part of the hill. There will be street parade or performance at certain time slot and almost all the performers are ang mo.

 

 

 

 

 

This place attracts many locals from different cities during their holiday and tourists from Korea and asia, apparently not many ang mo want to go there. A very picturesque place where Korean and PRC girls busy taking selfie on every few steps you walk and immediately post on instagram. There are many restaurants to choose from, from buffet to Russian cuisine, etc. For kids and teenage, there is a 4 storey building for families entertainment (indoor amusement park and few outdoor rides). You can also choose to stay in one of the 4 resorts on the hill if you want to spend more time up there and the cable car close at 7pm, hotel guests get to have the hill to themselves, its quite cold and scary I imagine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dleodleo]

 

We decided to stay in Da nang for 2 nights as it is nearer to Ba Na Hill (http://banahills.sunworld.vn/en/), a knock off French village up in the mountain like Genting highland. We arrange our own transport for a day to go there and he came back to pick us at 4pm, you can either take a transport/taxi or follow tour group to the base of the mountain, then choose one of the 3 cable car stations that lead to different part of the hill, VND650,000 for the cable car ticket, they have short cable car ride from the hill top to some garden attraction on a slightly lower part of the hill. There will be street parade or performance at certain time slot and almost all the performers are ang mo.

 

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This place attracts many locals from different cities during their holiday and tourists from Korea and asia, apparently not many ang mo want to go there. A very picturesque place where Korean and PRC girls busy taking selfie on every few steps you walk and immediately post on instagram. There are many restaurants to choose from, from buffet to Russian cuisine, etc. For kids and teenage, there is a 4 storey building for familiar entertainment (indoor amusement park and few outdoor rides). You can also choose to stay in one of the 4 resorts on the hill if you want to spend more time up there and the cable car close at 7pm, hotel guests get to have the hill to themselves, its quite cold and scary I imagine. 

 

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Wow!  I didn't know Dan nag is so nice.   Looking forward to more updates.

[Jman888]

We left Ba Na Hill at 4pm and went to Asia Park (https://danangwonders.sunworld.vn/category/explore.html), a theme park inside the city. The high ticket price stop many from wanting to go in, there was not many activities in the park and fewer rides compare to USS. It was very quiet on the weekend we went, most rides were waiting for people to come in so you probably get to the whole ride by yourself or your group, imagine how dead the place can be on weekday. However, the place is well maintained unlike those run down amusement theme park. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Night scene in Da nang city area and Dragon bridge.

 

 

[Lala81]

i only thought da nang was the beaches haha

[Jman888]

From Da nang, you can go few places nearby, we went to Linh Ung Pagoda and Marble mountain both feature big Buddha statue but the marble mountain have more. At Linh Ung Pagoda, you can view the Da nang city and the beach from where it is.

 

 

 

Marble mountain is quite popular amongst the local, foreigners and asian tourists. Entrance fee is VND40K, if you need to go up by elevator cost another VND15K or you can walk up the stairs. The mountain is a bit challenging where there are 7 caves to explore, some are more interesting than other. Along the way there are temples so basically you can say it is 满山神佛. I didn’t complete all the 7 caves cos a few were difficult to old man like me, and also some scenic site I didn’t get to walk up too as my knee really can’t make it. I was told in one of the caves that you practically have to squeeze through a narrow hole to climb up but coming down is a problem on slippery rock. Be prepared to spend at least 4-5 hours if you wish to cover everything. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walk down the hill didn’t make it easier too, but with a bit of motivation will help you forget about the tireness 

 

. 

 

 

There are dozens of marble sculpture factories/shops selling thousands and thousands of sculptures, some can be few storey high and many smaller ones. Apparently these business owners dun get the marble from that same mountain anymore, they purchase from other mountain in northern side of the country or from Thailand.

 

 

[Jman888]

Hoi An ancient town

 

This is an exciting place and the main reason we chose as our first destination to visit in Vietnam. Hoi an is about 30min drive from Da nang that by taxi. The small town is touristy with ancient Chinese town like Malacca or Penang (or more closer look like Suzhou with the river), It should be the first place that the Chinese migrant came to Vietnam where the town has a few dialect huay kuan, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese, common Chinese, also has a very run down Confucian temple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the tourists were ang mo from Europe, US, Aust/NZ. They can spend weeks staying here. Other tourists you find  more Korean, some PRC/HK, Msia/SG. Many foreigner came here for the custom make suit and silk dress, or leather products. However every shop seem to sell the same thing, including some counterfeit brands product. Day time on a clear day is really beautiful for photo shoot. The town is quite quiet during day time on weekday, but more tourist start to come in bus loads in afternoon, Hence night time is super crowded with people walking in the streets and eating in the restaurants. The night market is exciting with street food and local souvenir products. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jman888]

Activities beside shopping and eating (from hundreds of makan choise) in the ancient town, many like to go to the beach, cooking classes, cycling in other small island, river cruise or tour around the whole Hoi An by bicycle, bike, makan tour, snorkeling in one of the island nearby, or a day tour to visit to some historical site around Da nang/Hoi an, etc.

 

I did a cycling tour alone to the countryside as my wife was not feeling well last minutes. We have 7 in the group and I was the only asian, and 2 local guide. They promise that will be a relaxing route but a quarter of the route were through narrow rice field, narrow bamboo bridges and more bridges, sand patch, muddy road (due to the rain the day before) and bumpy rocky road. Being a noob in cycling, I was so tense most of the time but we can stop when we dun feel confident of riding across certain path, or take picture when we see beautiful scene, the guide behind will always follow the last member..

 

We ride across 3 islands where there is no car, visited some families in the island that make rice noodle, straw mat, fishing boat making, making of rice wine, learn to paddle in basket boat along the way. After doing 14km, we had lunch in a local family. After lunch it started to rain and we continue to ride for 9km in light rain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end this was the most memorable tour I ever had (maybe because wife didn’t come along!) 

 

[Jman888]

end of my trip report, and all the photos were taken by the one and only reliable Samsung S7 Edge    

 

with added 16mm wide lens with samsung case from Aliexpress 

 

[Jman888]

Wow!  I didn't know Dan nag is so nice.   Looking forward to more updates.

 

 

Da nang is a city which is quite boring, Hoi an is where everyone will go.

[Jamesc]

 

Activities beside shopping and eating (from hundreds of makan choise) in the ancient town, many like to go to the beach, cooking classes, cycling in other small island, river cruise or tour around the whole Hoi An by bicycle, bike, makan tour, snorkeling in one of the island nearby, or a day tour to visit to some historical site around Da nang/Hoi an, etc.

 

I did a cycling tour alone to the countryside as my wife was not feeling well last minutes. We have 7 in the group and I was the only asian, and 2 local guide. They promise that will be a relaxing route but a quarter of the route were through narrow rice field, narrow bamboo bridges and more bridges, sand patch, muddy road (due to the rain the day before) and bumpy rocky road. As a noob, I was so tense most of the time but we can stop when we dun feel confident of riding across certain path, or take picture when we see beautiful scene, the guide behind will always follow the last member..

 

We ride across 3 islands where there is no car, visited some families in the island that make rice noodle, straw mat, fishing boat making, making of rice wine, learn to paddle in basket boat along the way. After doing 14km, 

 

 

 

In the end this was the most memorable tour I ever had (maybe because wife didn’t come along!)

 

 

[Dleodleo]

Da nang is a city which is quite boring, Hoi an is where everyone will go.

 

OIC

 

[Koster]

Excellent review! Thanks for sharing!

[Rayleigh]

 

Activities beside shopping and eating (from hundreds of makan choise) in the ancient town, many like to go to the beach, cooking classes, cycling in other small island, river cruise or tour around the whole Hoi An by bicycle, bike, makan tour, snorkeling in one of the island nearby, or a day tour to visit to some historical site around Da nang/Hoi an, etc.

 

I did a cycling tour alone to the countryside as my wife was not feeling well last minutes. We have 7 in the group and I was the only asian, and 2 local guide. They promise that will be a relaxing route but a quarter of the route were through narrow rice field, narrow bamboo bridges and more bridges, sand patch, muddy road (due to the rain the day before) and bumpy rocky road. Being a noob in cycling, I was so tense most of the time but we can stop when we dun feel confident of riding across certain path, or take picture when we see beautiful scene, the guide behind will always follow the last member..

 

We ride across 3 islands where there is no car, visited some families in the island that make rice noodle, straw mat, fishing boat making, making of rice wine, learn to paddle in basket boat along the way. After doing 14km, we had lunch in a local family. After lunch it started to rain and we continue to ride for 9km in light rain.

 

 

 

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In the end this was the most memorable tour I ever had (maybe because wife didn’t come along!) 

 

 

 

I think one of the episodes of TopGear was filmed in this location too. 

[Jamesc]

Most important lesson.

 

When go Vietnam leave wife behind

 

and it would be the most memorable

 

trip in your life.

 

[Jman888]

Most important lesson.

 

When go Vietnam leave wife behind

 

and it would be the most memorable

 

trip in your life.

 

only for the cycling tour

 

can see I was having a good time? [laugh]

 

[Jman888]

actually we had another tour to Hue, the Imperial City of Vietnam where we visited one of the 4 Kings' tomb, a pagoda and the forbidden (imperial) city. 

 

It was a disaster to start with as it rain heavily in the morning before the bus came to fetch us, hoping that the rain will stop while the journey will take 3 hours from Hoi An, unfortunately the rain gets bigger and bigger and it took longer due to the rain. End up we were rushing through the whole itinerary and soaking wet, that was when my wife fall sick after the trip.  

 

 

 

 

 

a very hardworking tour guide!

 

 

 

 

[Pocy]

actually we had another tour to Hue, the Imperial City of Vietnam where we visited one of the 4 Kings' tomb, a pagoda and the forbidden (imperial) city.

 

It was a disaster to start with as it rain heavily in the morning before the bus came to fetch us, hoping that the rain will stop while the journey will take 3 hours from Hoi An, unfortunately the rain gets bigger and bigger and it took longer due to the rain. End up we were rushing through the whole itinerary and soaking wet, that was when my wife fall sick after the trip.

 

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a very hardworking tour guide!

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Looking forward to Vietnam. Difficult to plan own trip?