Da Nang is one of the biggest cities in Vietnam with about one million residents, yet it feels smaller and tamer than Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. While it is a big city with everything big cities have to offer, it comes with a friendly and laid-back beach town vibe that keeps the pace slow. The Han River divides the beach from the city center, offering a natural boundary that is bordered by bars, parks, and promenades.
From its wide, well-paved streets to its wide, blue skies, Da Nang is remarkably clean. There is very little air pollution and litter. The tropical climate is warm during the rainy season and dry during the coldest weather, and it hovers between 19⁰C and 24⁰C (67⁰F and 76⁰F) even during the coldest “winter” month. Framed by mountains, national parks, and ocean, Da Nang feels submerged in nature.
There are lots of reasons that Da Nang is considered to be Vietnam’s “most livable city”. Here are only a few.
Da Nang’s well-planned city center
The city center sits to the West of the Han River. It’s the business district, a jovial conglomeration of cafes, restaurants, marketplaces, apartment buildings and family houses, all just within ten minutes from the international airport. It’s lively without being overbearing. In part due to Da Nang’s fantastic city planning, even the worst of rush hour traffic isn’t bad.
This is really a city of bars and craft beer, not nightclubs. The loudest party bars are on this side of the city, parallel to the river, but Da Nang’s nightlife really shines in its trendy cocktail bars or craft beer pubs. Head to the beachside for live music, or the East bank of the Han river for craft beer and seafood.
Da Nang has high quality of life and ease of access
With the exception of the waterfalls and mountains outside of the city, just about everything in Da Nang is no more than a fifteen minute drive from anything else. From the city center to the beach side, from the south side of the peninsula all the way to its northern tip, everything is close enough together that a bicycle is a reasonable method of transportation and Grab taxis are fast and inexpensive.
Cheap and healthy food is everywhere. Street vendors serve bowls full of Central Vietnamese flavor on every corner, and Western food is widely accessible in An Thuong, the expat district on the beachside peninsula. Seafood is as fresh as should be expected for a beach town – try it with a bowl of mì quảng or bún chả cá, two famous local specialties. Beer drinkers should opt for a Larue or a Huda, the two local brands.
Beaches in Da Nang: My Khe and more
Da Nang’s My Khe beach is one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. My Khe beach is immaculate and expansive, an ample strip of white sand that somehow remains relatively deserted until late afternoon, despite its universal popularity.
Sunset brings crowds out to enjoy the internationally-acclaimed beach, but it stretches north to south for many miles, so it’s easy to find a secluded spot. Head north to the national park for truly deserted beaches, some of which can only be accessed by hiking down from the mountain.
Da Nang’s Ba Na Hills: The top-notch recreational complex
Explore Vietnam’s extraordinary beauty and let the incredible views from Ba Na Hills take your breath away. Ascend the hill via one of the 10 most impressive cable car infrastructure systems worldwide (ranked by CNN), and see the giant hands of the amazing Golden Bridge.
Visitors who travel to Ba Na Hills are lavished with the changeable four seasons in a single day and a diverse set of festive, recreational activities and places of interests. Ba Na Hills is on its own a fascinating entertainment world in which grown-ups, children and young outdoor enthusiasts can figure out their fun in a single complex.
Ba Na Hills consists of 3 main parts including:
• Lower part: Linh Ung Pagoda, Le Jardin D’Amour Garden, Debay Cellar, Golden Bridge,…
• Upper part: French Village, Fantasy Park,…
• Mountaintop: Tru Vu Tea Corner, Spiritual Zone,…
Photo: Ba Na Hills – the world-class recreational complex.
Da Nang: City of rare animals and mountains
Marble Mountain, a collection of limestone karsts rather than a single peak, is the place of spiritual complex adorned with shrines, pagodas and temples many hundreds of years old. Hike up carved stone steps to access caves dripping with prehistoric vines, and ornate pagoda rooftops.
Just about everywhere in Da Nang comes with a view of the mountains. Son Tra Peninsula to the north-east, Marble Mountain to the south, and Ba Na hills to the west all provide an ample frame of mountainous wilderness that dwarfs the human city limits.
Son Tra Nature Reserve provides a habitat for more than 200 different animal species, including 29 rare and endangered animals. Most of the world’s remaining red-shanked douc langurs live on this peninsula.