Weekend Getaway Series (Da Nang, Vietnam)

Da Nang at a Glance

Among the 3 major cities in Vietnam connected by a direct flight to Singapore, Da Nang has taken my heart as my favourite city in the country, with its regional food options, chill vibes and a good mix of different activities that can take up your long weekend! There are even day trips you can take out of the city.

Month Visited: August

Recommended Duration: 5D4N

Getting There: Da Nang is only directly connected to Singapore via two airlines, Singapore Airlines, with 2 flights daily, as well as VietJet Air, also twice daily. Return flights for SIA costs around $369 during deals, but are usually elevated at around $450 return. Despite a lot of negative reviews about Vietjet Air, my trip there was pretty uneventful, and you can get cheap return tickets at around $200, without luggage and food of course.

Cost (Out of/$$$$$): $. Vietnam is definitely a place that is pretty value for money, with food and drinks at very reasonable prices against our Singapore Dollar.

Currency used: Vietnamese Dong (VND)

Weather: Hot and humid, but can get cooler during the end of the year. When I went in August, it was the typical humid and hot weather you are used to here in Singapore. Therefore, do recommend your typical sunscreen, caps and sunglasses as the sun can be pretty relentless. Also bring along extra shirts or towels when walking a lot. However, as Ba Na Hills is located in the mountains, it can get quite chilly in the early morning. A safe gauge will be around 5-10 degrees colder than what is felt in Da Nang city itself.

Accommodation: I stayed at a boutique hotel called PAMA Boutique Hotel and Bistro, which was super value for money as i paid around $55 per night (Solo trip), which even included a free hour massage daily!! Super worth. You can book it via Agoda here!

Places to visit:

Da Nang City

• Ba Na Hills (Golden Hands Bridge / Alpine Coaster) - Make your booking here on Klook for a cheaper ticket + avoiding the queues at ticket counters (Around $45 per pax) - I did not get the buffet lunch, but you can choose if you want for another $15). You can also buy the full package which includes a tour bus return trip, but it likely means you have to squeeze with many people during peak periods.

• Han Market (For your value for money clothing, authentic or not depends on your discerning eye ;) - also can buy souvenirs here

• Dragon Bridge (Sat/Sun night - Usually have a fire show from the dragon's mouth at 9pm)

• Marble Mountain (15-20 minutes by bike/car, can see Da Nang city and the surrounding areas, but require some uphill trekking + rocks quite slippery, but fun nonetheless!)

• My Khe Beach (Long stretch of white sand beach, with many value-for-money activities like Parasailing and banana boat!)

• Cho Dem Son Tra (Large Local night market)

• Trees Spa (2 hour massage for only S$28!) - Can book via Klook

Day Trips out of Ho Chi Minh:

Hoi An

• Coconut Boat - Please book this via Klook, and not be convinced by any private hire cars to bring you to the more expensive experiences. Klook only sells this activity at around $7 per pax, but you will get scammed if you go there at the recommendation of any driver. I paid $40...

• Hoi An Old Town - Prettiest at night

• Cycling to the Rice Paddy Fields

• Hoi An Night Market

Hue & Ha Giang Loop

Did not have a chance to visit these 2 areas, but i heard very nice things about Hue, being a former imperial city, with many ancient architecture etc which one can easily spend half a day there.

For Ha Giang Loop, it would be better if you can rent a motorbike to see the loop, which consists of several roads around the mountains and have great views from the top.

Recommended Restaurants/Cafes:

Da Nang City

Food

• Bep Cuon Da Nang (Local Vietnamese Pancakes, super unique)

• Hon Fishcake Soup (Local crab paste noodles called Bun Cha, super flavourful soup!)

• Moc Quan (One of the best restaurants + value for money option in Da Nang!!! Must go) - Had the butter garlic prawns (min order 300g), cheese scallops and clams for only $28, which includes 2x beer!) - Long queue but worth the wait.

• 4Ps Pizza (Staple for every Vietnam Trip!!) - Couldn't finish 1 pizza by myself, two pax should be filling enough. Also recommend the crab pasta which I did not eat this trip but my previous HCM trip!

• Mi Quang Dung (Famous Mi Quang Noodles which I did not manage to try, but it is fish cake with noodles)

Cafes

• Kokoro Cafe (Chill Korean Aesthetic Cafe Vibes)

• Homnay Cafe (Decent coffee, also a flea market during weekends)

• Nam House (Local Egg Coffee in a retro cafe vibes)

• Ikigai Garden Cafe (Another Korean Aesthetic Vibes, with nice refreshing teas)

• Bread N Salt Cafe (Amazing Eggs Benedicts!)

Hoi An

• Morning Glory (I only recommend the wantons!)

• Roving ChillHouse (A cafe in the middle of the rice paddy fields)

• Quan Cao Lau Ba Le (Outside of the old town, a much more authentic, value for money Cao Lau noodles!)

Getting Around:

From/To Airport:

Grab is easily accessible throughout the entire city, and I was able to get a Grab very easily to my hotel near the beach area from the airport, for around S$5. That will definitely be your main mode of transport, although the traffic might delay your travel plans a little, especially during peak periods.

Within the city:

If you are travelling solo, GrabBike is really a great and safe option, with skilled drivers being able to avoid jams at several intersections, and a helmet is also provided with every ride. If not, Grabcars can also get you around.

For Day Trips out of Da Nang City:

For locations like Ba Na Hills as well as Hoi An, you can book a private car charter for about S$16 one way, which is quite worth as it is around 45-60 mins one way. I booked it via Klook here!

Some key tips:

1. Data

I got my e-SIM Card from Shopee under the ICC banner for $8.99 for 1GB daily fast data for 5 days here. Do take note that you will not be able to access Tik Tok due to regulatory concerns. 2. Apps to Use

• Grab (To get around, or for Grabfood options)

• Google Maps (For Directions)

3 . Tax-Free Refunds

Unable to advise here as I did not do shopping in Da Nang. Based on what I read online, you can get up to 85% of the VAT spent as seen via this website, which also includes Da Nang Airport. It must be valued at more than 2million VND (~$185 USD) per receipt.

4. Travel Card

Not applicable, since Grab will be your main mode of transport.

5. Visa/Entry Requirements

There is currently no visa nor entry requirements to enter Vietnam as a Singaporean, making it a fuss-free weekend trip.

General Itinerary:

Day 1: Chill in Da Nang City

Most flights will arrive around midday to late afternoon, giving you only enough time to check in to your hotel and have dinner. I recommend having a good meal nearby your hotel and perhaps a nice massage in preparation for an early day the next morning! I had a meal at a local shop called Bep Cuon, which was famous for their regional pancakes, a great meal to start off the trip!

Day 2: Ba Na Hills

Ba Na Hills advertise their opening hours to be open from 8am to 5pm on most days, but their operating hours may differ depending on the season. I highly recommend you to reach by 8-830am if you want to avoid the large tour buses coming up at around 9am. Given the journey is around 45 minutes, arranging with your driver to leave your hotel at around 7/715am would be a perfect time to get a full cable car cabin to yourself!

I reached at around 815am and was still able to get on a cable car by myself, but i already encountered a few tour buses making their way up the hills! Honestly, I think it is an engineering miracle to be able to build so many cable car routes up to Ba Na Hills, with around 4 lines I see making parallel runs up to the top of the hills. It has been designed so you won't need to take the same cable car route twice.

(The massive map of Ba Na Hills)

If you take the first route up, you will reach the Marseille Station, and the first thing you will witness is the Golden Hands Bridge, and it should be less crowded for you to take your Insta-worthy photos! It was really quite nice, but shorter than you might think!

The next stop after another cable car is to the main Theme Park area, where you can take the Alpine Coaster. Do note that there are two routes for the Coaster, but just go for the one that is nearer to your cable car exit as it is included in your ticket! It is super fun, and you can go more than once. I went twice HAHA.

There are also different theme park activities like a height drop ride, as well as bumper cars, which unlimited uses are included in your pass, so it was honestly pretty worth it.

You can even just walk around the vast park to appreciate the pretty beautiful architecture, as well as seeing the beautiful views around the park.

You should end up at the IndoChine Station for your journey back down to Da Nang City. I spent around 4-5 hours up there, but I am pretty sure you can spend more time if you include the time to take more rides, having lunch and also the queues for the various rides. I was able to make it back down by 2pm for a late lunch, and more time to just take it easy.

I visited the Kokoro Cafe, had lunch at a famous Bun Cha place called Han and visited the famous Han Market in Da Nang, before taking a nice walk along the Han River in the evening.

If you visit Han, there is also a nice cafe called Ikigai Garden Cafe which is just a road across which you can visit too!

Finally, ended off the day with a spectacular seafood dinner at Moc Quan, a super worth seafood place with a long queue. I only paid $28 for all of these seafood and 2 beers!! Pictures are all above in the F&B section :)

Day 3: Hoi An

Regarding Hoi An, I do have some friends commenting that you can actually stay here instead of within Da Nang city itself, but to me, I feel a half day journey here is more than enough.

I left the hotel at around 1030am, and reached the coconut boat place in around 45 minutes. It was pretty hot as it was in the middle of the day, but it means you get nice pictures as well. The journey takes around 45 minutes, and you can even top up to do the spinning boat. There are also performances throughout the journey. Remember to book via Klook and make sure the driver drives you to the right place!

After that, the driver dropped me off at the Old Town at around 2pm. The Old Town will be closed to vehicles from around 4pm onwards, so it might be a good idea for you to grab lunch then, before walking around the Old Town. I have some recommendations to also do your tailoring in Hoi An as they are well known for it!

I don't have much recommendations for within the city itself, as I think you can just enjoy a nice walk throughout the Old Town. However, for food, I recommend going to this restaurant outside the Old Town called Quan Cao Lau Ba Le , which serves their famous Cao Lau noodles, which is essentially thick rice noodles with charsiew and wantons.

I also rented a bike from Bee Bike to ride around the Old Town as well as further out to the rice paddy fields, which is a nice chill ride away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. I stopped by the roving Chill house as recommended by a friend, a great cafe to chill as you gaze into the rice paddy fields.

The appeal of Hoi An Old Town is probably at night, when you get to see the beautiful sights of multi-coloured lanterns and boats rowing down the Thu Bon River. You can also visit the Hoi An Night Market which you can take nice portrait photos with the lanterns and to buy souvenirs.

Day 4: Chill in Da Nang City

If you are someone that needs to do multiple things in a day, I reckon you can squeeze Marble Mountain after Ba Na Hills or before Hoi An, and leave this day for exploring the further city of Hue (2 hours one way) or to try out the Ha Giang Loop.

However, for me, given it was a chill trip, I wanted to have some time to relax. With the knowledge that I might likely perspire a lot during the Marble Mountain hike, I decided to climb it in the morning, come back shower, then enjoy the nice cafes and the beaches of Da Nang city itself in the evening.

Marble Mountain itself is around a 15-20 minutes ride from Da Nang city itself, and it costs 40,000 VND (~S$2.29) for their entrance fee, and a further 15,000 VND if you want to take the elevator up one way (Which i recommend you do). This will put you on the right track to explore the mountain, plus you still need to trek further up if you want to go to the top of the mountain! You can choose to walk down after.

Here are some photos of the mountain and me with new friends I made from Australia and New Zealand!

After the hike, you can either cool down at the nice cafes around Da Nang, or go for a quick shower in your hotel. I ended up having lunch at 4Ps and went to a nice local coffee place with retro vibes in the vicinity!

I walked the My Khe beach in the evening, and was tempted to go for the parasailing activities. However, decided against it as I did not have anyone to take care of my belongings! However, it does look pretty fun and price was around $40 per ride, a pretty reasonable price in my eyes!

Ended off with a nice walk at the Cho Dem Son Tra Night Market , and to walk along the Han River to see the bridges light up. I also decided to go for the Trees Spa 2 hour massage package which only costed me $27! You can book it via Klook as linked above.

Conclusion

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from the trip as I am not a major fan of Vietnamese food, and my previous trips to Hanoi and HCM gave me the impression of traffic chaos, which I am not a major fan of. However, Da Nang definitely did change my impression and even though there is still the distinct traffic chaos found everywhere in Vietnam, I would definitely recommend coming to Da Nang once in your life! The cafe culture here is great and there are activities for everyone. Hope this inspires your next weekend trip to Da Nang, and happy travels!

-Daryl , Sep 2023