Da Nang: Vietnam’s Most Underrated City

Most people use it as an airport, which is a mistake

Da Nang sits between Hue and Hoi An and most travelers use it purely as an arrival point before heading elsewhere. I did this on my first visit. On my second, I actually stayed for three nights and discovered a city with good beaches, excellent food, and almost none of the tourist infrastructure pressure of its more famous neighbors.

My Ba Na Hills take (controversial)

Ba Na Hills — the French colonial hill station resort with the Golden Bridge hands sculpture — is technically in Da Nang province and gets millions of visitors annually. It’s kitsch, it’s artificial, it’s extraordinarily crowded. I’d skip it. The cable car journey is impressive; the destination is a theme park. There are better things to do with a Da Nang day.

What I’d actually do

My Khe Beach is Da Nang’s main beach — 30km of sand, relatively uncrowded compared to the resort beaches further south, and excellent for swimming. Local seafood restaurants line the southern end of the beach road: grilled whole fish, steamed clams, BBQ prawns for 200,000–400,000 VND for a full meal. This is dinner.

Marble Mountains: five marble hills containing caves, tunnels, and Buddhist sanctuaries. 40,000 VND. Worth a morning. Go early before the tour groups and you’ll have the cave shrines largely to yourself.

The Dragon Bridge: crosses the Han River and breathes fire on weekend evenings (9pm Saturday and Sunday). Local Da Nang ritual, genuinely fun, free.

Getting between Da Nang and Hoi An

30 minutes by Grab (100,000–150,000 VND) or local bus (line 1, 20,000 VND, takes longer). I always Grab. The road follows the coast briefly and there’s a reason people pay for that view.