Danang is the largest city in the center and the 3rd largest city in Vietnam. It’s one of three biggest sea ports in my country together with Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City. The city is located in the Southern part of Truong Son Mountain range, around 100km south of Hue and 30km north of Hoi An town.
My first trip to Danang was in 2008 by overnight train from Hanoi and arrived nearly noon time the next day. I walked through the many streets, stopped at street food vendors to try Che Vietnamese dessert and a glass of fresh sugar cane juice before heading to Hoi An by motorbike. At that time, I had mixed impressions about this city. It wore an old T-shirt with many patches–houses with rusty tin roofs, streets were messy, yet the local people were awesome, always smiled when I asked where to rent a motorbike or the best place to try local food.
Within 5 years since 2011 until now, Danang has developed rapidly. The old T-shirt was changed by a new colorful one. High buildings rose up and roads opened widely. More flowers and trees were planted on streets. I couldn’t even realize Danang city of the past in my memory when I came back in 2014 and recently in May, 2016.
Danang has been voted as Vietnam’s most livable city by the locals and newspapers.
Stretching along the South-Centre coast of Vietnam, Danang has up to 92 kilometers of coastline and home to many pristine beaches such as the famous My Khe and Non Nuoc beaches. Today, the beaches come with luxury resorts, and are covered by lush gardens and authentic, charming buildings, villas, bungalows in special decoration.
The romantic Han River flows gently through the middle of the city, twinkling at night with thousands of street lights along both river banks and reflecting Dragon Bridge. The city is compared with Seoul city of South Korea, and the river hosts an annual International Fireworks Competition in March.
Similar to Hoi An, Danang has two seasons – dry season and rainy season. Dry season is May to September. It’s the best time with regards to weather for swimming and enjoying your beach holiday, but it’s also summer time for local families and children. The resorts will be more crowded and a little noisier. Some people suggest a beach relaxation in Danang from February to May. I agree with April and May as you can avoid the mass local tourism and the temperature is higher, 26 to 36 degrees Celsius. But February to March, from my experience, is still cold for swimming with temperatures from 19 – 27 degrees Celsius. Rainy season starts in October and lasts to January. It brings constant rain showers to the area and temperature is down to 14-17 Degree Celsius. It can be a wonderful time to visit the more natural city if you happen to avoid the rain storms.
CLASSIC SIGHTSEEING
You can see all the highlights of Danang city within a day, starting with the Museum of Cham Sculpture – the earliest museum in Vietnam built in 1919 with a huge collection of Cham artifacts from My Son Sanctuary, the Center and the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Ngu Hanh Son or Marble Mountain – a complex consisting of 5 marble mountains named with five elements in Fengshui theory: wood, metal, soil, fire and water. From the top of this mountain, you can admire the breathtaking view of Non Nuoc Beach and Danang City stretching behind. Non Nuoc stone carving village and pristine Non Nuoc beach at the foot of the mountain would be your next stops before heading to Son Tra Peninsula and Linh Ung Pagoda.
With half day excursions, you can choose either a Hoi An Ancient town walking or biking tour, My Son Sanctuary – a Cham ruins built between the 4th and 13th centuries consisting of hundreds of tower temples and monuments–a cooking class in Hoi An, working as a farmer on the field or living as a fisherman at Hoi An’s surrounding villages. Or you can combine two of those half day tours to have a full day tour.
Danang is only 100km or 2 hours drive from Hue, so you can visit Hue as a day trip. If you depart from Danang at 7a.m, you will have enough time to visit the impressive Imperial Citadel, one or two authentic king tombs and the picturesque Thien Mu pagoda in one day.
FAMILIES
Danang is home to the best white sand beaches where your families can swim, sunbathe, build sand castles or play water sports. Thanks to this advantage, Danang is the most wanted destination by local families in the summer period. To match this demand, many new resorts feature villas from 2 up to 5 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. Families can buy food and seafood at local markets and cook in their style in their resort.
Ba Na hill is an interesting amusement park and resorts. There, your family can enjoy the cool, fresh atmosphere, take a cable car above amazing scenery, or enjoy exciting funny games. The park holds daily joined tour excursions, pick up and drop off either in Danang city or Hoi An town.
Located right by the bank of Han River, Asian Amusement Park is another attraction for families. Besides various types of fascinating rides and attractions, the park includes top 10 highest sunwheel in the world with 115 height, 64 cabins and 15 minutes per round speed. With such height, you can take in a panorama view of Danang city.
HONEYMOON, RELAXING
Fusion Maia Resort was built based on the theme of an all villa and spa resort. The resort is the harmonious fusion of healthy living and indulging luxuries. Pool villa is specially designed for couples, with one bedroom, an open-plan living room and an outdoor intimate green courtyard with private pool. The villa is 96m2 (1000sqft) and surrounded by rammed-earth brick wall and trees. Especially, the room rate is inclusive of all spa services and breakfast can be served at anytime in the day, at any place. If you don’t want breakfast at the hotel, you can request a breakfast at their restaurant in Hoi An town too.Naman Retreat is also a luxury spa resort in Danang. The resort includes one spa treatment per person per day. Their spa area is spacious, open-air with free flow of natural sunlight and covered by flower vines, and lush green bushes. The resort was designed with impressive traditional bamboo architecture, and natural material that brings you the feeling of merging with nature when you stay there. I would suggest a pool villa for honeymooners. Each villa is 100m2 including an outdoor private pool and spacious interior area.
FOOD
Street food is delicious and various in Danang. The most famous for locals are Che Vietnamese dessert, sour fermented port rolls, Mi Quang (Quang noodle – flat yellow or white noodle with shrimp, pork, chicken, egg and herbals), wrap and roll dishes, and fresh seafood.
If you want to try seafood in Danang, walk along Hoang Sa street, you will find local seafood shops at reasonable prices. You can choose live seafood and they will cook for you – steam, grill or sautéed with lemon grass, tamarind or coconut milk.
WILDLIFE
Son Tra Peninsula is home to around 530 red-shanked douc langurs, the only place in Vietnam to see this Vietnamese Redbook endangered primate. To see the langur, you must show up at the Nature Reserve at 5:30am or 15:30. The Son Tra Nature Reserve is also famous for its rich biodiversity with 287 species of animals, 106 species of birds, and 15 rare wild animals under protection.
Located in the Centre of Truong Son mountain range, Bach Ma National Park is famous for the newly discovered Truong Son Muntjac species of deer. It’s also heaven of endemic colorful birds. To see the best of Bach Ma and bird-watch, you should spend an overnight there and follow a professional bird watching guide, also a ranger in the park. The park is 1.5 hours drive from Danang City plus one hour more to reach Bach Ma summit. From this peak, you can admire the view of Lang Co Beach and Tam Giang lagoon. This is a truly amazing view on a sunny day. You should avoid coming to the park in rainy season from October to January as fog covers the whole area and view is very limited.
WHAT TO EXPECT
More and more airlines operate direct flights to Danang from South Korea, China and Taipei…that makes the city more crowded and noisier. However, with abundant white sand beaches and a long dry season, Danang has become a hot destination for both locals and foreigners in recent years.
