I decided to slow down my travels in 2025 and started the year by disembarking in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang for three months early in the year and then two more months in July and August. Why Da Nang? It is a mid sized city, it has great beaches, a strong expat scene, great food both for Vietnam and for international cuisine, a really friendly vibe and, like most of Vietnam, provides an incredible value for the money spent.
One of the key landmarks of Da Nang is the Dragon Bridge. Every Friday and Saturday night there’s a small fire and water show from one end. People line the bridge and the Han River rooftop bars are full. First bursts of flame shoot out.
Then bursts of water are shot out over the crowd.
The river itself provides a nice foreground to some other light shows.
It’s not quite as dramatic riding over it during the daytime, which I took as slow as possible to try to film it.
The city is very liveable. It’s big enough that you can find most things you need and small enough that riding a scooter through its streets is only moderately crazy, as opposed to the total insanity of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.
Intersections are always an interesting negotiation between traffic coming from different directions.
Sidewalks are sometimes for walking on, occasionally for riding on, and always for parking on.
Sidewalks can also be part of construction sites. Here this guy is welding as people, including me, are walking by avoiding the sparks.
There are a lot of small, tight alleyways intersperced with wide boulevards. And always there are scooters to maneuver around.
The restaurants do a great job of lighting up their areas. It makes for a festive feeling every night.
The Vietnamese love their coffee. Usually they take it in small chairs on the sidewalks.
Other times it’s in nicer coffee shops that cater as much to tourists as to more well-to-do Vietnamese.
A small Buddhist temple around the corner from my apartment.
One of the many weekly group dinners a few of us organized to try some of the multitude of Vietnamese and international restaurants in the city. Rarely did these dinners cost more than $15 each.
The star of Da Nang is its long, languid beach.
In the cooler winter months the beach is pretty mellow. But very early mornings in the hot, humid summer months the whole city seems to turn out. Below it’s 5:30am and the entrance is packed with people arriving.
The sun is barely coming up and everyone is on the sand exercising or in the water swimming or relaxing.
Facing towards the main part of town you can see just how crowded this place gets, even before 6am.
One of the iconic scenes of Da Nang is the Lady Buddha statue and neighboring temple looking down on the beaches.
The bowl shaped item on the beach below is one of the famous Vietnamese fishing bowl boats that are used up and down the South China Sea. On calm days in the morning you can see multitudes of Vietnames out on the water fishing in these.
The baskets are known as thuyen thung in Vietnamese. Legend has it that the boats were actually created centuries ago to avoid a fishing tax. The fishermen formed the boats to look like large baskets rather than fishing vessels to avoid paying the fees. Apparently, the ruse worked because basket boats are still very prevalent in the waters throughout Vietnam.
You can get a sense on how long this beach is from this video as its framed by highrises on one side and the Son Tra Mountain in the foreground. It was one of the rare sunny days while I was here.
There’s even surfing in Da Nang.
However, I didn’t do any surfing while I was in Da Nang. Unfortunately it was cloudy and drizzly about 2/3rds of the days I was here. We’d get a few days of sun, then a week or so of cloudy weather. It seemed when it was sunny and calm the waves were non-existent. When I came back in the summer, there was no surf at all. It was one big lake. And, to be honest, despite all the times I’ve gone out since I learned in Mexico a few years ago, surfing has never became a real passion for me.
Here are some videos of some relatively relaxed riding around Da Nang. I didn’t have my GoPro on me when I was navigating some of the crazy rush hour traffic. Below is a short ride along the Han River in the daytime. The river bysects the more local urban side of Da Nang from the more touristy beach side of the city. Again, in the foreground is the Son Tra Mountain, this time from a more easternly view than from the beach road.
I’m going back across the Han River on the Cau Song Bridge.
This is from the river back to the beach area where my apartment is. The streets are wider and quieter on this side of the river.
Da Nang Fresco Village
The Da Nang Fresco Village is a series of small alleyways where local artists have created some really nice wall murals. It’s nothing like all the murals in Georgetown on Penang Island in Malaysia, but it’s still a nice quiet break from the nearby busy city streets.
Son Tra Mountain
At the north end of Da Nang, rising from the coast like a benevolent god surveying its domain, is Son Tra Mountain. Or, as the US troops during the Vietnam War called it, Monkey Mountain, because of all the monkeys running around. To get to the main lookout you can ride a scooter about 2/3rds up, then you have to walk the rest of the way. Only cars or motorbikes with gears are allowed up the remaining steep road. So I did the really nice 50 minute walk version.
Part of the way up you can get a nice view of Danang through the morning haze.
I was really lucky to see a few red-shanked douc monkeys on the way up. They are found in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, but are considered to be critically endangered now.
There’s a nice little cafe at the lookout point.
With, of course, a monkey statue guarding the entrance.
Looking across the bay north of Da Nang you can see the mountains of the Hai Van Pass.
A much more common golden monkey by the tables providing a nicely framed view north.
A fresh, cold coconut is a great reward for a long hike.
Ba Na Hills Sun World
About a 45 minute ride west of Da Nang, on a 1,500 meter (4,900 feet) high mountain called Ba Na is a somewhat random French themed amusement park built by the Sun World development company. It’s something of a cross between Disney’s Epcot Center, a French ski resort, and a Buddhist mountain retreat.
Once you leave Da Nang city the drive up to Ba Na Hills is beautiful.
The main entrance to the park.
To get to the park from the entrance you take a 5,801 meter (19,000 feet) long cable car to the first part of the park. It was built in 2013 and held the world’s record for longest non-stop single track cable car.
Looking back from the cable car to Da Nang city.
If you look closely you can see sections of the five other cable car lines that connect the park together.
The star of the Park is the Golden Bridge, a 500-foot long arched pedestrian bridge that appears to be held up over the world far below by two giant stone hands. Since it was completed in 2018 it has become one of the most photographed sights in Vietnam. It’s also known for being insanely crowded.
The day we visited it alternated between being covered in a soft mountain mist and then peeking out from the sun. Luckily it wasn’t that crowded when we arrived in the morning.
A second, smaller nearby hand.
A lovely, random French garden near the Bridge. Why put the garden here and not in the larger French village up higher in the moutain. Because, why not?
And down from that a huge, serene Buddha. Why a big-ass Buddha in the middle of a French theme park? Because, why not?
Another, much shorter cable car is needed to get up to the main part of the Park.
There, the small streets have a strong French theme.
And to go with the French theme a small troop of French can-can dancers appear for a short, fun show. Because, why not?
Followed by a French puppeter. Because, why not?
And, of course there is a small Catholic themed cathedral. Because, why not?
Since we are “in” Northern Europe there is a Beer Plaza where we got to use the free beer tickets they gave us when we entered the park. Because, why not? Actually, the beer was from the in house brewery and was very good. We also had some nice, overpriced bar food to go with our free beers.
There was a Fantasy Park section with a fun looking drop ride and a score of arcade games.
There was a Jurassic section with some dinasours and ice age mammals. Because, why not?
It was a nice ride back to Da Nang. At least until we got back to the actual city where the traffic was typically chaotic.
Sun World Da Nang Downtown
Sun World also has a small amusement park in the center of Danang. The linchpin of the park is the Sun Wheel, which is one of the world’s top 10 tallest Ferris wheels. There are also minature replicas some of Asia’s landmarks, 18 different rides and a selection of food booths.
The Marble Mountains
The Marble Mountains are a cluster of five marble and limestone hills located south of Da Nang. A stairway of 156 steps leads to the summit of Thuy Son, the only Marble Mountain accessible to visitors. There are a number of grottoes and many Hindu and Buddhist sanctuaries. The top provides a wide panoramic view of the surrounding area and the other marble mountains.
The steep stairs to the top point of the mountain.
Looking across to one of the smaller Marble Mountains.
The view north to Da Nang beaches.
The view to parts of Da Nang bisected by the Han River.
Da Nang Museum of Cham Culture
Opened in 1919, the Da Nang Museum of Cham Culture encompasses lush grounds, a charming French-colonial building and a new wing that houses the world’s largest collection of Cham art. The museum displays around 300 priceless sandstone and terra-cotta sculptures.
The Cham people ruled the general area of South Vietnam for over 1,000 years. Given their coastal location, the Chams were a seafaring culture. At its peak, the Champa Kingdom controlled the trade in spices and silk between China, India, Indonesia, and Persia. Highly cosmopolitan, this culture was heavily influenced by Hindu beliefs adopted from India. The center of this kingdom is the beautiful archeological site of My Son. I had a chance to visit this site the year before when I was staying near Hoi An. It’s at the bottom of this post: https://theperennialpilgrim.com/charming-hoi-an
You can see the motion of the moving arms in this unique sculpture.
Da Nang Fine Arts Museum
This is a nice musuem in the center of the city that was founded in 2014. It has over 800 pieces of art on its three floors and was developed to preserve, introduce and promote the values of the artistic heritage in the Central and Highlands regions.
Diving In The Cham Islands
The Cham Islands are a group of 15 small islands about a 45 minute boat ride from the area near Hoi An. I did one day of diving there. There was some nice coral, but not a lot of sea life. Unfortunately there were large sections of dead coral and some sections of living coral covered in algae, which was not a good sign of the overall ecosystem there.
It was nice to see a small school of barracuda calmly swimming by us.
Here a brightly colored clownfish is not very happy with my camera being nearby.
Archery
Right next to my apartment was a small archery range.
I hadn’t done this since I was a kid. It was a fun diversion on some of Da Nang’s drizzly afternoons. It was only about $4 for each hour. I went a handful of times my first month and then sort of lost interest :).
The first few times my first day I hit the 05 target or the black background. It was an adventure just hitting my own target. By the end of that session I was getting consistent bulleyes. On one day one of the staff challenged me to a contest. We split the rounds.
Local Food
Some examples of the great food in Da Nang. A fresh beef pho dish and a beer for under $2.50.
A typical breakfast of My Quang with thick noodles, rice crackers, chicken, pork, shrimp, quail eggs and a thick, tasty broth. You put the fresh sprouts and lettuce into the broth as you eat it. There’s also free tea at these places. All for about $1.60.
It’s a very healthy diet. There are fresh vegetables served with every plate. The Vietnamese are prolific gardeners. Every single empty lot in the city has a local garden, most of which are sold to the local restaurants.
Here’s two fresh, warm banh mi sandwiches with eggs, vegetables and some really tasty sauces along with a cold, rich coconut coffee drink for under $2.50.
At a more adventurous restaurant I had salt roasted frogs and snails cooked with butter and garlic and some other pretty amazing flavors. I had eaten about half the snails by the time the frog meat arrived.
I thought I would try eels one night so I was given some slices of fresh, uncooked eel meat and a pot with a flame underneath containing hot water, spices and vegetables.
I was told to put the eel meat in the pot and let it cook for 10 minutes. Then I ladeled some meat the broth into the small bowl. It was really good.
They are a bit like the Chinese with their passion for super fresh seafood. In some restaurants you can choose your own seafood and it will be killed and prepared fresh for you.
Some things just don’t mean the same thing in Vietnamese and English.
My Apartment
I had a really nice, large studio apartment right by the beach.
There was a wonderful rooftop infinity lap pool.
The view of the building.
A unique component of the complex is a sauna, where it could get to over 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit). It was great to go from here to the unheated pool and then back again.
These two videos are of leaving my apartment and going to the beach road and then going from the beach road back to my apartment. I included these videos as a memory for me, since I did this ride numerous times both in the day and night. I was staying in a relatively quiet area north of where most of the restaurants and nightlife was. But it was a very easy 8 minute scooter ride or Grab (like Uber) car ride to the main tourist areas.
Da Nang 3D Museum
As a final whimsical section of this blog, I visited the 3D Museum in Da Nang. It’s in the middle of an industrial area in the northern part of the city. When I went on a Monday morning, there were just a couple of guests. It was a fun place to spend a bit of time and do something different. These huge wall sized pictures tell their own story, starting with a pensive King Kong overlooking Danang.
These women are actually drawn on the floor below the painting on the wall.
