Vietnam

Danang, Vietnam

Cầu Vàng

Danang is a coastal city located in central Vietnam known for its beautiful beaches, stunning landscapes and rich cultural heritage.

From Hue to Danang

Hue to Danang is about 100 km.

During my research, I read that the train takes a coastal route via the Hai Van Pass, where there would be panoramic views of the mountains and sea as part of the 2 1/2 hours journey so why not?

If you are game for this, remember to book the window seat on the left of the cabin for the best views.

Booking of train tickets iseasywith.me.

Initially, I booked my train ticket on Vietnam Railways' website but the site accepted only Vietnam-issued credit cards thus I selected the option to make payment at the train station. Subsequently, they sent an email to inform me that the ticket was reserved and I was given only about 12 hours to make payment at the train station else it would be cancelled. I wrote to them to inform that I was not in Vietnam yet and would be unable to make it in time to make the payment, and requested to pay when I arrive but they could not accommodate my request and the ticket was subsequently cancelled.

They did not leave me in the lurch but were kind enough to recommend booking the ticket through their authorised agent, Baolau, which accepted international credit cards for payment. I did just that and the ticket was emailed to me.

Although the price of the ticket on Baolau was slightly higher, I was ok with it as that seemed to be the best alternative of the various ticketing sites. There were also another 1 or 2 websites which sold tickets but their prices were much higher and specific seats could not be selected.

iseasywith.me Travel Hack

To get the better ocean view from Hue to Danang, book the left window seats.
When I was doing my research, I noticed that when I moused over the seats, different seats were reserved for different distances. The window seats were reserved for those travelling long distances so if you would like to take those seats when you travel from just Hue to Danang, you might have to pay more for a long-distance seat. If you plan to travel with others, you might have to do some trial and error on the seats and routes, and pay higher fares in order to be seated together.

The seats within a cabin can face or back-face the direction which the train travels so look out for them when you are booking your seats. Personally, I prefer seats facing the direction which the train travels as it feels more comfortable.

Although there are about 4 train trips per day, you may want to book your seats once your travel plan is in place as there may be limited cabins allocated for each train for your selected time.

Arriving at Danang

After I arrived at Danang train station and similar to my research in Hue, I read that there was a public bus #1 where I could take from the train station to town but when I asked the folks there, they replied that there was no such bus!

It was Grab time again. 💸

In and Around Danang

Popular places to visit include:

Bridges
- Cầu Rồng (Dragon Bridge- spews fire and water on weekend nights)
- Cầu Sông Hàn (Han River Bridge)
- Thuận Phước Bridge (longest suspension bridge in Vietnam that connects Tien Sa Port with the city center)
- Cầu Trần Thị Lý (Trần Thị Lý Bridge- oldest bridge among all the Han river bridges that was built by the French during their colonial period)
- Cầu Tình Yêu Đà Nẵng (Love Bridge) and Tượng Cá Chép Hóa Rồng (Dragon Carp Statue)
Chợ Cồn (Con Market)
Ngũ Hành Sơn (Marble Mountains)
Sun World Ba Na Hills where Cầu Vàng (Golden Bridge) aka hands bridge is located

Bridges

You can take a stroll along the tranquil Han river in the evening to view Cầu Rồng, Cầu Sông Hàn and Cầu Trần Thị Lý. The lights on the bridges would start to be switched on at about 1900 hours so you can have a 2-in-1 view of the bridges with and without the lights.

Han river with Cầu Rồng in the background

Cầu Tình Yêu Đà Nẵng is about 200 metres from the dragon head end of Cầu Rồng. To get to the bridge, search for Cầu Tình Yêu Đà Nẵng on Google Maps. When I was there, the bridge was pinned with the English name and led me to a wrong location near the tail end of Cầu Rồng instead. The pin was amended since.

When you are at Cầu Tình Yêu Đà Nẵng and if you are in love with someone or if your loved one is with you, you can buy a lock, write or engrave your names or initials and perhaps the date which you met, lock it at the barriers at the bridge and throw away the key, to symbolise the unbreakable love.

You may want to plan for your visit to Cầu Tình Yêu Đà Nẵng in the evening/night when the heart-shaped lights on the lamp posts which are in turn made up of smaller individual heart-shaped lights, are switched on.

When you are there, you can also drop by Tượng Cá Chép Hóa Rồng behind the shops at the entrance of the bridge.

The Tượng Cá Chép Hóa Rồng (Dragon Carp Statue) is 7.5 metres tall and weighs about 200 tons. It depicts a carp transforming into a dragon and symbolises perseverance, success and transformation.

Chợ Cồn (Con Market)

Marble Mountains

Marble Mountains is a group of five limestone peaks located about 7 km from downtown Danang. The five karsts (Ngu Hanh Son) are named after the five elements: Hoả (fire), Kim (metal), Thuỷ (water), Thổ (earth) and Mộc (wood).

I visited only the Thuỷ Sơn mountain as it is the largest and tallest of the 5 mountains and due to the limited amount of time, I researched and pre-selected the caves to visit.

You can take the elevator to the top of the mountain or climb up the flights of stairs. I chose the former and had to pay 22,500 VND. If your fitness is not too good or if you want to conserve some energy for walking or climbing to the peaks, you can consider taking the elevator.

The caves on my must-visit list were Huyen Khong Cave and Van Thong Cave (Heaven Cave).

Huyen Khong Cave is the largest at Marble Mountain. There is a collapsed section of the ceiling which allows shafts of light to pierce into the dark cavern, creating dramatic sun rays. The cave houses a massive stone Buddha and 2 shrines. I would recommended to visit the cave between 1200 and 1400 hours on a sunny day when the sun is out, to get the full effect of the rays piercing into the cave.

In Van Thong Cave (Heaven Cave), there is a Buddha statue standing in the middle of the cave. As you go behind the shrine deeper into the cave, you would notice a large skylight with lots of rubble on the ground. Yes, you guessed it! It was created when the roof of the cave collapsed.

airwell in the cave with rubble at the bottom left

At the end of the cave, there is a narrow tunnel with an uneven marble path which is only wide enough to allow one person to climb up at a time (be careful as it may be slippery), followed by a short rugged path before you step through Heaven Gate onto Trung Thai Peak and be rewarded with a breathtaking view of the East Vietnam Sea for your effort (spoiler: that is not the highest point on Thuy Son mountain). After catching your breath and taking your photos, you can descend by the flight of stairs around the corner on the left. Do not be the odd one out and try to descend the way you climbed up.

If you are adventurous, you can challenge yourself to ascend Đỉnh Thượng Thái (Thuong Thai Peak), the highest peak on the mountain about 1,450 meters above sea level. You will pat yourself on your back when you reach the top as you would be rewarded with a better view than from Heaven Gate and with more space to take your selfies/wefies/photos. You can also see Trung Thai Peak lower than where you were. Try saying 'hi' to the folks there.

Sun World Ba Na Hills

Sun World Ba Na Hills is where the Cầu Vàng is.

Some say it is like Disneyland while others say it is like Universal Studios because of the look-alike signature globe but whatever it may be, you can decide for yourself when you are there.

Most visitors go there for Cầu Vàng rather than for the park. The park opens at 0800 hours and if you prefer a lesser crowd on the bridge to take your photos, you should get to it as soon as it opens.

I researched and day tours or ticket agents which offered the transport option would start to go around town to pick up passengers only from about 0800 hours and my guess was that by the time I reached Ba Na Hills at about 0900 hours, the bridge would be quite crowded thus I just bought the Ba Na Hills Ticket + Buffet Lunch ticket to save a wee bit but more importantly, to save time anticipated to queue and buy tickets on the day I visit.

💡

Use promo code 'BetterOnApp' to get 5% off your first booking on the Klook mobile app.

Tickets came in a few combinations. Check here to see which suits you best.

Do note that the Sun World Ba Na Hills' website, like Vietnam Railways', accepted only Vietnam-issued credit cards for payment. You could buy tickets from ticketing agents like Klook like I did.

As there was not a lot of difference between a ticket with and without a buffet lunch, I went for the latter. I noted that the price difference has since been widened.

On the day I visited, I took a Grab (334,000 VND) there.

If your aim is to hit Cầu Vàng upon arrival, you would have to walk towards the left of the building from the drop off point, pass the main entrance and the giant arch with a sun-like design (building facing you) to Ga Hoi An cable car station.

The cable car ride will bring you close to 1,500 metres up the hills.

When you arrive on top of the hills, just follow the directional signs to Cầu Vàng.

My long-awaited visit to Cầu Vàng was ruined when I saw from the door leading to the bridge that it was all white outside and I could only see the floor of the bridge and not even any hint where the 2 hands were! 😭

As I was there in December 2022, it was winter and was foggy, freezing and windy, and yes, because the weather was cooling in Danang, I did not think much about the temperature at the top of Ba Na Hills and went without a jacket! I had only a disposable raincoat that helped to shield me a bit from the cold in the open.

Given the weather when I was there, the outdoors were all fogged up and I could hardly see the buildings around and could also barely see the 'Universal Studios' globe thus would not be able to share much information about the outdoors.

As it was nature's control, there was nothing much that could be done. I went to the indoor amusement park where I played with some long-outdated rides like the motorbike racing game. The 'best' ride of the day was the bumper car.

Lunch was served at Arapang Restaurant and the ticket stated that it would start at 1100 hours. Recently, I saw that they have changed the time to 1030 hours. When I was there, I did not notice that the restaurant was spread over 3 levels with each serving slightly different buffet spreads but just went to the one which was connected from the indoor amusement area. You could go slightly earlier to recee the spreads on the different floors before arriving in time for the opening of the buffet at the floor that you prefer and also have the choice to select a table you wish to be seated. It got crowded quite quickly when I was there.

The buffet spread was quite decent but as it was winter when I was there, it was quite surprising that they did not serve hot beverages.

After lunch, I decided to try my luck and went back to the Cầu Vàng and lo and behold, the fog cleared up, and the hands and bridge were visible! I quickly went out to snap as many photos as I could, from one end of the bridge to the other and from the little balcony from a building at the exit of the bridge.

iseasywith.me Travel Tip

To take photos/selfies with less visible photobombs aka strangers in the background, you could stand somewhere near the entrance and position your camera outside the railing and capture the bridge, the 2 hands and yourself at the same time, like the photo on top of the page.

The fog moved back in quite quickly. As I reached the end of the bridge, the further hand was already buried back in the fog. I managed to take a few more shots from the balcony and left a happy soul. Truly a blessing!

My objective of visiting Sun World Ba Na Hills was met. ✌️

💡

Use promo code 'BetterOnApp' to get 5% off your first booking on the Klook mobile app.

Food and Beverage

Chợ Cồn

There is a food court where you can try lots of local dishes including Mì Quảng (Quảng noodles) and Bánh Tráng Cuốn Thịt Heo (sliced pork rolled with rice paper).

The main ingredients of Mì Quảng (30,000 VND) are turmeric rice noodles, meat and herbs, commonly served with a small amount of broth and topped with freshly fried peanuts or rice crackers, and served together or separately with raw vegetables.

The pork in Bánh Tráng Cuốn Thịt Heo (50,000 VND) is selected for its balance between meat and fat, lightly seasoned, boiled until tender and cut into sliver-thin slices. The stall I had from plated the meat with rice noodle sheets and a small bowl of mam nem dipping sauce. There was also a plate with a mountain of raw vegetables and slices of mango at our disposal to include them in the wrap. Apparently, the dipping sauce was made of crushed pineapples, fermented anchovies, garlic, sugar, lemongrass, thai chili pepper and gave the pork rolls the added oomph!

After food, you can have Chè (dessert) (35,000 VND for the 2 here) from the many stalls there as well.

There are also quite a few makeshift food stalls in the market area where you could try the food there as well but do note that there are no seating areas.