Central coast, Vietnam

Day tours from Da Nang

Da Nang is a working city of a million people with a long beach along one side and mountains at both ends, and it is the arrival point for central Vietnam whether or not you intend to stay. Most people treat it as a transit stop on the way to Hoi An, which undersells it: the Marble Mountains and Monkey Mountain are both twenty minutes from the beach hotels, the Ba Na Hills cable car and the Golden Bridge are about an hour inland, and the Hai Van Pass north towards Hue is one of the best coastal roads in the country. Tours from here leave slightly later than the Hoi An departures, because the drive is shorter, which makes Da Nang the easier base if you dislike early starts.

Day tours from Da Nang

13 tours

Cheapest first, per adult, hotel pickup included. Children pay less on every one.

A rower sitting in a round bamboo basket boat on a narrow channel between tall water-palm fronds

Cam Thanh Basket Boat & Cooking Class

7:30 – 13:00 / 12:30 - 18:30 · 1 set menu lunch

₫570,000 per adult

Green island shore meeting clear blue water, with small wooden boats moored off a low settlement

Cham Island Sightseeing and Snorkeling Tour

7:30 – 15:30 · 1 set menu lunch

₫650,000 per adult

Close view of a weathered brick Cham tower wall with carved pilasters and a niche holding a stone figure

My Son Holyland & Rice Paper Making Afternoon Tour

13:00 – 18:00 · 1 set menu dinner

₫700,000 per adult

Red brick Cham temple towers standing in cut grass with jungle-covered hills rising behind

My Son Holyland & Rice Paper Making Morning Tour

7:30 – 13:30 · 1 set menu lunch

₫700,000 per adult

Row of moored boats lit with red and blue lanterns along a riverbank after dark

Hoi An City Tour, Boat Ride, Release Flower Lantern

13:30 – 20:00 · 1 set menu dinner

₫710,000 per adult

Cam Thanh Coconut Jungle & Lantern Making

8:00 – 13:00 / 13:00 - 18:30 · 1 set menu lunch

₫780,000 per adult

Wide view of the wooded limestone outcrops of the Marble Mountains rising straight out of low-rise streets

Marble Mountains, Hoi An City, Boat Ride & Release Flower Lantern

1:30 – 19:30 · 1 set menu dinner

₫780,000 per adult

Boats hung with glowing lanterns on a dark river, their colours doubled in the water at night

Monkey Mountain, Marble Mountains, Hoi An City by Night

13:30 – 21:00 · 1 set menu dinner

₫780,000 per adult

Road curving along a green hillside high above a bay, with mountain ridges fading into haze

Hai Van Pass & Hue City Explore Full Day Tour

8:00 – 18:00 · 1 set menu lunch

₫1,150,000 per adult

Detail of carved brickwork on a Cham temple facade, with moss and lichen across the mouldings

Marble Mountains, Monkey Mountains & My Son Holyland Full Day Tour

8:00 – 18:00 · 1 local dish for lunch + 1 set menu dinner

₫1,200,000 per adult

Golden Bridge held up by two giant stone hands, curving above a sea of cloud on a forested ridge

Ba Na Hills, Golden Bridge Full Day Tour

7:30 – 17:00 · With Buffet Lunch

₫1,400,000 per adult

Visitors walking the Golden Bridge between the two stone hands, with wooded hills falling away behind

Late Departure Ba Na Hills, Golden Bridge Full Day Tour 10:00am

10:00 – 18:00 · With Buffet Lunch

₫1,400,000 per adult

Afternoon Ba Na Hills, Golden Bridge & Dragon Bridge by Night

12:30 – 19:00 · NO MEAL

₫1,510,000 per adult

What Da Nang is actually good for

The Golden Bridge and Ba Na Hills

A 150-metre walkway held up by two enormous stone hands, at the top of one of the longest cable cars in the world. It is unashamedly a theme park at the summit and it is still worth the day. The full-day tour includes the cable car; afternoon departures trade the crowds for a shorter day.

Marble Mountains and Am Phu Cave

Five limestone hills with pagodas, viewpoints and caves cut into them, twenty minutes from the city. Am Phu is the one to see: a cave laid out as a depiction of the underworld, with a climb to daylight at the top.

Monkey Mountain and the coast road

The Son Tra peninsula rises above the city with a huge Lady Buddha statue at its foot and macaques on the road up. Sunset tours here are the reliable way to end a day, and they pair with the Han River bridges after dark.

A beach that is genuinely good

My Khe runs for kilometres of clean sand with real surf in the winter months, and it is free and public along its whole length. It is the reason Da Nang works as a base rather than a stopover.

Hue and My Son, both in a day

Hue over the Hai Van Pass is a long day out and back, and the My Son temples are around ninety minutes south. Both run from Da Nang with hotel pickup, so you can see the region's two big historic sites without changing hotels.

When to go

February to May is the sweet spot: dry, warm, and the sea is calm enough for the offshore trips. June to August is hot, bright and the busiest, with the fireworks festival filling the city. September to December brings the wet season and rough seas, and the Ba Na Hills summit is often in cloud, which is worth knowing before you pay for the cable car.

Getting there

Da Nang International Airport is inside the city, about 10 minutes from the beach hotels, with direct flights across Asia and connections from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The main line train station is central, and trains north to Hue over the Hai Van Pass are one of the best rail journeys in Vietnam. Hoi An is 45 minutes south by road.

What it costs

Day tours from Da Nang run from roughly 350,000 VND for a half day to about 1,550,000 VND for the full Ba Na Hills or Hue days, per adult, children lower and infants usually free. The city itself is cheaper than Hoi An for food and rooms.

Worth knowing first

Hotel pickup is included for central Da Nang and the beachside strip, but not beyond Tho Quang on some tours. Give your hotel name when booking so any surcharge is known upfront rather than on the day.
The Ba Na Hills summit sits above 1,400 m and is frequently in cloud between September and December. The cable car still runs; the view may not be there.
Several tours are priced by a child's HEIGHT rather than age, with the cut usually at 1 metre and 1.4 metres. Each tour page here states which rule it uses.
Da Nang departures are usually 30 to 45 minutes later than the same tour from Hoi An, and occasionally a slightly different price.
The Han River bridges and the Dragon Bridge fire-breathing show run on weekend evenings only, so check the day if that is the reason you are going.

Da Nang questions people actually ask

Is Da Nang worth staying in, or should I go straight to Hoi An?

Stay in Da Nang for the beach, the shorter airport transfer and a later start on tour days; stay in Hoi An for the old town and the food. Nearly every day tour in this region picks up from both, so the choice is about where you want to spend your evenings rather than what you can see.

How much is the Golden Bridge tour from Da Nang?

The full-day Ba Na Hills tour runs around 1,400,000 to 1,550,000 VND per adult from Da Nang, with the cable car included and children priced lower. Afternoon departures cost a similar amount for a shorter day and thinner crowds at the top.

How far is Hoi An from Da Nang?

About 30 km, or 45 minutes by road. A taxi is straightforward and shuttle services run all day, so it is entirely practical to sleep in one and spend the day in the other.

Do I need a tour, or can I do these places myself?

The Marble Mountains, Monkey Mountain and the beach are all easy on a rented scooter or by taxi, and cost little more than the entrance fees. Ba Na Hills, My Son and Hue are far enough out that a guided day with pickup usually works out simpler and not much dearer once transport is counted.

Elsewhere in Vietnam

Ha Long Bay Phong Nha Hoi An Hue Khe Sanh

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