A day above the clouds — a record-setting cable car to 1,487 metres, the Golden Bridge held up by two giant stone hands, and a French village built in 1919.
Photo: Ivan Wong / Unsplash
Day 1
We collect you from your hotel in central Da Nang at 7:30 am for the 45-minute drive to the cable car station. From Hoi An Station the cabin climbs over primary rainforest and the Toc Tien waterfall to nearly 1,500 metres. Our first stop is the Golden Bridge, a 150-metre pedestrian walkway curving out from the hillside on two moss-covered stone hands — best in the morning, when cloud is still moving across the slope. You then have free time in the French Village: Du Dome Square, Saint Denis church, the Le Jardin D'Amour gardens and the Debay wine cellar, tunnelled into the mountain during the colonial period. In the afternoon you can use the indoor rides at Fantasy Park or visit Linh Ung Pagoda and its 27-metre seated Buddha, before taking the cable car down and returning to Da Nang around 4:30–5:00 pm.
Ba Na is the easiest day trip out of Da Nang and by far the most requested. The drive to the cable car station takes about 45 minutes, but by the time the cabin reaches the top the temperature has dropped close to ten degrees and you are standing in a hill station the French began building in 1919.
The Golden Bridge is why most people book this trip. We aim to get the group onto the bridge as early in the day as possible: after ten o’clock it fills up and the cloud usually burns off. If photography matters to you, tell your guide in advance and we will plan the morning around it.
The trip runs out and back in a single day, so there is no hotel change. It works well for anyone with only one free day in Da Nang. Most of the summit is paved and served by lifts and internal shuttles, so children and older travellers manage it comfortably.
Vietnam ToursThree UNESCO World Heritage sites within 150 km of each other, unhurried over four days — Da Nang's coast, Hoi An's lantern-lit old town and the imperial capital of Hue.
Vietnam ToursA morning in a bamboo basket boat among the water palms of Cam Thanh, then an afternoon in Hoi An's old town that lasts until the lanterns come on.