Pat's Da Nang Guide

Da Nang
I spent all of February 2024 in Da Nang. First time in Vietnam and won't be my last.
Patrick Tammaro@pat

Dragon Bridge

Every Fri, Sat, Sun night the city puts on a show on the bridge at 9pm. The dragon blows fire. It's cool to see once. There are river cruises that go out to see it. Google Draft Beer Euro Village. That side of the dragon is where I like to watch it from. Not necessarily from that beer spot. You get to see the dragon blowing fire & the lights go down the dragon's body. It gets really crowded the closer you go to the dragon/Son Tra Night Market. Note, you can go on the bridge and get showered on with water. Tons of people line up to do that as well.

Hội An

Hoi An is a more traditional Vietnamese town about 30 minutes from Da Nang. You can day trip it from Da Nang or get a place there. I day tripped it twice on my scooter. Easy scooter ride along the coast. Beautiful architecture. At night, you'll see tons of lanterns lit up and people on the river. Definitely a huge foodie spot. You've got to try some Cao lầu, a noodle dish from Hoi An. I'll likely build out a separate guide for Hoi An as I have several recommendations.

Sơn Trà Mountain

This is the peninsula on the north east part of Da Nang. I frequented this part of the city several times. You can either climb the moutain (left or right) and shoot for Ban Co Peak. There's a great lookout up there. My friend and I threw up her drone from there. You can also simply stay low and ride the coast heading towards Ghềnh Bàng and not climb. It's still a beautiful ride on the scooter and there's a temple/pagoda that doesn't require a mountain climb. Note, you can no longer take automatic scooters up here so make sure to get a manual or semi-automatic. If you're nervous, I can't ride manual and was fine with the semi-automatic. Also as of early 2024, we no longer have access to get to Hang En Cave. There's folks who will stop you.

The Marble Mountains

I did this on my way to Hoi An. Some pretty cool caves you can climb around in. I believe this location was used by the Americans in the Vietnam/American war. You can either pay to walk up some stairs and enter the caves or pay a little more and take an elevator. I would recommend the stairs. You're going to be walking while you're up there anyways, so what's a few more stairs. I paid for the elevator, got up there, and was like ohhh I should've just taken those stairs...

Hải Vân Pass

If you've got a scooter, I'd recommend this. I love adventuring on the scooter and this is apart of it. Beautiful, mountainous pass very close to Da Nang. There's plenty of others riding scooters along the way. I stopped for some food and coffee along the way. Several of the coffee spots looked like they had incredible views.