February 2023

I have been to Vietnam in 2000 and 2007. It has been over 16 years since I have last visited. It was surreal to visit as an adult and seeing family again, it was nice. I want to visit again a lot sooner. I spent 7 days there and have listed the places of things to see and do in alphabetical order. I added some photos & information below the list that I have experienced. I also did not note down restaurants names, but I am sure you can find places online OR just try any that you see in Da Nang! I listed different Vietnamese dishes for you to try though! There are hundreds of food stalls near one another on each block – it is not hard to find something to eat in Vietnam 🙂

I am very thankful that my family took their time out and hosted me. Cam on Bac Hung, Bac Mai, Chi Mi, Xi Muoi, and Ba Noi.

Random side note, it is Year of the Cat for 2023 in Vietnam, but every other country, it is Year of The Rabbit. I have no idea why and I should! 

How To Get Around Da Nang
Da Nang and Vietnam in general mainly use motorbikes to get around! You can rent one and drive it around. Make sure to wear your helmet! They also have Grab which is like Uber/Lyft. Be careful when crossing the streets!

Where Did I Stay
I stayed with family in Da Nang. If you are visiting Da Nang, I would recommend to get a hotel right across from My Khe beach! We also did an overnight stay in a hotel in Hoi An and I apologize for not having the name. There are tons of resorts and hotels out in Hoi An (with pools too!)

How was the weather in February?
It was really warm and sunny all six days I was there. On my 7th and last day, it rained. I think February is a perfect time to visit (after Lunar New Year), because the weather is not too hot. If you visit before or during Lunar New Year, I believe most businesses will be closed. There may be some celebrations here and there.

Things to do/see
Ba Na Hills (all day trip)
Con Market
Dragon Bridge
Ling Ung Pagoda 
Marble Mountains
My Khe Beach
Nam Son Tu Temple
Son Tra Night Market

Overnight Trip to Hoi An
-Coconut Basket Ride
-Downtown Hoi An

Things to Eat
Mi Quang (some places spell it as My Quang), it’s my favorite!
Banh Beo
Banh Canh
Banh Coc
Banh Cuon
Banh Nam
Banh Tet
Banh Xeo
Bun Bo Hue
Bun Cha
Bun Rieu
Com Tam
Hu Tieu
Pho
Vermicelli Noodles
and so much more!! Try the fruits too! Try everything you can 🙂 oh and, don’t forget the Vietnamese coffee too!

Things to Do/See

Ba Na Hills
I enjoyed this place a lot because my cousin and I bonded! This place is an hour away from downtown Da Nang. My uncle dropped us off. However, we did see cars and tour buses parked here if you choose to take that route. Ba Na Hills is an amusement park. It reminded me of a mixture of Universal Studios/Vegas/Europe. Some of the architect here are inspired by Europe. Ba Na Hills is filled with park rides, beautiful temples/pagodas, mazes, gardens, a large food court, shows/performances, a few restaurants, and more! My cousin bought the tickets that included the free buffet. If you do not want to eat at the buffet, you can buy the ticket without the buffet, and you can eat at the restaurants located there. Ba Na Hills is also known for the famous Golden Hand Bridge. I was really impressed! The park opens at 8am and if you want to take pictures of the Golden Hand Bridge without tourists in the background, then arrive early. There is also a gondola ride that takes about 5-10 minutes to get to the top – that was fun too! It was very sunny so we were able to see the entire bridge and Ba Na Hills. I have seen pictures where it can be foggy at the top, but if you like that vibe and weather, then go for it! The park opens until 5pm and the “last call” for the gondola ride back down is at 4:30pm. They have hotels here, but I would not recommend to stay overnight, because there is not a lot of stuff to do there at night (since everything seem to close early?). I had a lot of fun and felt like a kid again.  

Con Market
This market is filled with hundreds of produce, food vendors, clothing, houseware, jewelry stalls, etc. There is not a lot of souvenirs such as magnets, keychains, etc. You can shop for those at the Son Tra Night Market. This Con Market is more for grocery and household items. You can buy food to bring back as souvenirs (chips, tea, noodle packs, etc.) – whatever you can legally bring back to your home country. 

Dragon Bridge
This bridge was located about 5-10 minute walk from my uncle’s house. So cool!! The design is so unique! I saw this bridge almost every single day I was here, during the day, evening, and night. You can walk across the bridge and see the beautiful view of the water and the buildings. On the weekends at 9pm, the dragon blows out fire and water. It is about a 5 minute show. It gets crowded. They also stop the traffic for the show a few minutes prior so that everyone can go in the middle of the bridge too. 

Ling Ung Pagoda
This pagoda was so beautiful and tall! It took about a 20 minute motorbike ride to get here from Downtown Da Nang. There is a free motorbike parking area. The Ling Ung Pagoda is completely free. The view from the top was pretty as well. There are SO many temples/pagoda to see in Da Nang, but I would definitely say this is something you should see and not miss. 

Marble Mountains
Marble Mountains consist of 5 mountains that has a name for each element. I think you are only able to go inside 1 mountain (I could be wrong haha), and the mountain we went to (Thuy Son) has 2 different entries. Wear comfortable SHOES. Tennis shoes, hiking shoes, etc. There are A LOT of stairs and climbing to see the beautiful temples inside and outside the mountains. Bring a hat, sunglasses, and/or sunscreen since some of the walk/hike is outdoors (until you go inside a cave).The first entry that we went to is called Am Phu Cave (number 15 on the map) and it cost $20,000 VND per person. It was a smaller cave, but had about 5 different spots inside to see the Buddha statues and all. There is one part where you can climb to get to the top. Also, be aware that it can be very slippery from the natural water that goes into the mountain/caves. Once you get to the top, there is a very narrow “hole” to climb to get in and out of. Once you reach the top, there is a very small space to stand around and take photos. When I went back down, it was more scary to me than going up. I was afraid to slip and fall, so be extra careful!

The other entrance cost $40,000 VND per person and it is a lot bigger. There are more caves, Buddha statues, etc. As you can see with the photo above, this area has numbers 1-14 that you can look at.  If you do not want to hike up all of those stairs, you can pay $15,000 VND to go up the elevator to get to the top – but you will still need to walk around and hike up other places if you choose to. I liked all of them, but I liked number 14 the most and number 8 next. Number 14, you could see the other four mountains and partial city view of Da Nang. Number 8 was also nice too, but it was very foggy/cloudy for me so I barely got to see the view. On the upside, it was a good workout going up those stairs! One of the caves on the map had a fun crawl into the cave to get to the top. It was very dark and you may need to use your iPhone’s flashlight. When you get to the top, you can see the beach! Then you can take the stairs down. If you do not want to climb into the cave to see this view, you can also take the stairs up and down too. 

Overall, I really liked Marble Mountain. I would say you can spend at least half a day here. My cousin and I spent about 4 hours here with some quick rest in between climbing and all. Bring some snacks for fuel if you want! There will be a few vendors throughout Marble Mountain selling water, coconut juice, ice cream etc. 

My Khe Beach
Ofcourse, it is like any other beach. You definitely cannot miss this one! The water is warmer than Bay Area beaches haha. There are lots of restaurants right by/on the beach too. Look at these cute coconut bowl decorations. 

Nam Son Tu Temple
As I stated above, there are hundreds of temples throughout Da Nang, but this one was another beautiful one! It was free to enter. It was not crowded at all. I loved this place. It was so serene with the gardens and I felt so safe and protected here. You can park inside for free if you take the motorbike to get here.

Son Tra Night Market
This night market was fun! Lots of food and souvenir stalls. Bring cash! Pro tip, you can go to the night market prior to the Dragon Bridge to see the fire/water show. Son Tra Night Market & Dragon Bridge are right next to each other. Or you can go to Son Tra Night Market after the show, whatever works for you! 

Hoi An
Lastly, Hoi An. This town is not in Da Nang. It is about a 45 minute drive south. My cousins and I stayed overnight. I would recommend to go to Hoi An later in the afternoon and stay to see the lights and lanterns lit up around downtown Hoi An and in the water and all. We got there around 2/3pm, checked into the hotel. Then, we called a Grab to take us to the Coconut Basket Boat ride. It was about a 10 minute drive out of downtown Hoi An. The coconut basket boat ride was about a 40ish minute ride through the water. They provide the nong la (traditional Vietnamese hat) or an umbrella to use to as shade. If I am being completely honest, we were ripped off. We understand that some countries raise their prices (because they need money) and they know that I am the tourist and not an actual native Vietnamese citizen – however, it did not feel good. They tried to distract me to get into the coconut boat, while my cousin was paying for it. I wished I stayed back with my cousin and denied them to lower the price. It left a sour taste in my mouth (and ofcourse, I always focus on the positive and gratefulness – that I get to bond with my cousin. We are also “helping” these Vietnamese people with their business by paying more)…but if they did not rip us off, maybe we would have tipped more at the end. I do not want to sound shallow nor selfish, but it does not feel good to be ripped off! Besides that downfall, I enjoyed the ride through the water, seeing the plants, and all. They also have an area where they can spin you around on a coconut boat (if you want to do that). They can spin you for as long as you want and you can tell worker to stop spinning when you want them to. I went for 1 minute before I got more dizzy haha. We gave him a little bit of tip for that. After that, there is an area where people are singing karaoke on the water, and then they bring you back to the start. If you decide to go on this coconut boat tour, becareful of getting ripped off! Read some more reviews on Trip Advisor and such. Minus 1 point for Hoi An on that part.

After that coconut basket boat ride, we called a Grab back to downtown and we explored. There were A LOT of stores, shops, food markets, restaurants, and the infamous river area to see the lanterns. It was pretty but FILLED with tourists. We did go on a weekend, so that could be it too. My cousin and I went on the mini 20 boat ride on the river, it was nice. It is a pretty town with all of the lanterns. After that, we walked back to our hotel, showered, relaxed, and went to bed!

Those are some of the things to see/do in Da Nang & Hoi An! Some things that I did not mention. One of the days, I went to the country side to visit more relatives. Being on the countryside, it felt so nice. It is not crowded at all compare to downtown Da Nang (or even Ho Chi Minh….the most crowded place in Vietnam). Everyone on the country side was so humble. They do not have much but seem to be “content” with what they have. I saw a lot of rice fields, plants, gardens, etc. It was a breath of fresh air. 

I want to go back sooner and visit my family again. When I return, I want to experience the “nightlife”. Everyone is out and about in Vietnam in big groups drinking beer and enjoying life. It seems so much fun, so I do want to do that next time. And maybe even go karaoke. 

As I stated above, I don’t have any restaurant names but I did list different type of Vietnamese dishes that you should try! Here are some of the food I ate. It’s not even all of it! 

 As always, thank you for visiting Vivian’s Ventures. Have you been to the Da Nang or Hoi An? If so, tell me in the comments/reply section about your experience. What should I do when I go back? If you haven’t been, tell me what you are planning to do there. Any questions or comments, let me know. Let’s chat! #viviansventures