Inga Ecker | Vastfreedom

With a Population of about 952000, Đà Nẵng is the biggest city on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. Like in Hanoi, People are sitting in the streets, eating and selling their stuff. If you cross the bridge over the Han River, you will find a lot of fish restaurants, huge holiday resorts under construction and a  long sandy beach. The sea was rough during my entire stay, I think this place could be a great surf spot as well.

I stayed at the Holiday Beach Resort, which was my favourite Hotel on this trip. The staff was friendly and they tried to do their best in order to make my stay as comfortable as possible.

Despite the growing development in hotel activity and the many construction sites, Da Nangs coastline is still a  place where one can wonderfully recover. In the restaurant it is clearly noticeable that there are barely tourists in this place, due to the low prices, but despite of that, the quality of food is good.

If you want to do some outdoor activities, visit the marble mountains, five marble and limestone hills located in Ngu Hanh Son, just 30 minutes by taxi from Da Nang, representing the five elements, metal, water, wood, fire and earth.  If you feel a bit more adventurous, like me, you can climb on one of the summits. But be aware of the women, who appear friendly at first sight and try to help you  climbing up by illuminating your way up to the top of the mountain with flashlights! They want some money for that and if you don’t carry enough with you they could get rough immediately 🙂 Me, I climbed up on my own the slippery marble, and was rewarded with a fantastic view!

There are a number of grottoes carved into the Marble Mountain, like Huyen Khong Buddhist grotto, and a lot of Buddhist sanctuaries.

Another place, I would recommend you to visit is Mỹ Sơn, some Hindu temples ruins, hidden in the jungle, 70 km southwest of Da Nang. In the afternoon this place is crammed with tourists and accordingly noisy. But in the morning it is a mystical place of unique atmosphere, unleashing the imagination. Most of the temples are clothed by lians, mosses and ferns. The reddish brown colour of the ruins forms a great contrast to the greenery of the jungle.

Back to civilization, Hội An, 30 km from Da Nang, is worth a visit. It is a beautiful, lively town, where you can spend a few hours shopping. You can buy there custom made clothes at an excellent price-performance ratio!