Da Nang City Tour

Why I like this one

Da Nang is an easy city to drive through and an easy city to miss. Most people use it as an airport and head straight for Hoi An.

Give it one day and you get a mountain full of caves and pagodas, a giant Lady Buddha looking out over the bay, the best sandstone sculpture collection in the world, and a beach where the entire city turns up to swim at six in the evening.

We go at your pace. Longer in the caves and no market? Fine. Straight to the beach after lunch? Also fine.

Highlights

• Huyen Khong Cave — daylight falling through holes in the roof onto a stone Buddha
• The 67-metre Lady Buddha at Linh Ung Pagoda, with the whole bay below
• Vong Giang Dai: 270 degrees, from the Dragon Bridge to Hoi An
• My Khe Beach in the late afternoon, with local families rather than tourists

The plan, hour by hour

This is how the day usually runs. Nothing is fixed — if you want longer somewhere, or you'd rather skip a stop entirely, just say so on the day.

1. 08:00

   Hotel pick-up

   I meet you in the lobby, we go through the day over a cold towel, and you change anything you like before we set off. The roads are calm at this hour, which is exactly why we leave now.

2. 08:30

   Marble Mountains (Thuy Son)

   Five limestone and marble hills named after the five elements — water, wood, fire, metal, earth. Only Thuy Son, the water mountain, is open to visitors. Entry is 40,000₫; the lift is 15,000₫ each way, or we walk the steps if your knees are willing. We spend about ninety minutes here.

3. 09:00

   Huyen Khong Cave

   The stop people remember. A cathedral-sized chamber inside the mountain with shafts of daylight coming through holes in the roof, a stone Buddha at the back, and two small shrines used as a field hospital during the war. It stays cool in here even in August.

4. 09:45

   Vong Giang Dai viewpoint

   Five minutes of climbing for the best photograph of the morning — Da Nang and the Dragon Bridge to the north, the sea straight ahead, and the road running south to Hoi An.

5. 10:30

   Non Nuoc stone village

   At the foot of the mountain, workshops where families have carved this marble for four hundred years. We stop to watch them work. Nobody will follow you down the street.

6. 11:15

   Lady Buddha, Linh Ung Pagoda

   A 67-metre statue standing on a 35-metre lotus, the tallest in Vietnam, facing out to sea to keep the fishermen safe. Free to enter, and the terrace gives you 180 degrees of Da Nang bay. Shoulders and knees covered for the halls — I keep a scarf in the car. Watch your snacks: the macaques here are quick.

7. 12:30

   Lunch, your choice

   Mi quang — turmeric noodles with just a little broth, peanuts and a crisp rice cracker on top — or grilled seafood by the water. I order in Vietnamese, so you get the version the locals get, not the tourist one.

8. 14:00

   Cham Museum or Han Market

   The museum (60,000₫, open until 17:00) holds the finest collection of Cham sandstone sculpture anywhere, in a French colonial villa. Or the market, for noise, fruit, coffee and fabric. You choose one — we do not need to do both.

9. 15:30

   My Khe Beach

   Six kilometres of white sand that American soldiers called China Beach. Late afternoon is the hour it belongs to Da Nang again. Swim, or sit with a coconut coffee and watch.

10. 17:00

    Dragon Bridge and the Han River

    666 metres of steel dragon, lit by more than 2,500 lights after dark. On Saturday and Sunday at 21:00 it breathes nine bursts of fire and then sprays water for about five minutes — if you are staying out for it, stand on the east bank unless you want to get wet.

11. 18:00

    Drop-off

    Back at your hotel, or I leave you by the river for dinner.

What's included

Good to know

• MeetingYour hotel lobby, anywhere in Da Nang
• TimingStart at 08:00. Marble Mountains before 10:00 is cooler, quieter and the light in the caves is better.
• LengthHalf day or full day
• GroupPrivate — your group only