Da Nang: how many days you need and the best months to go

When to go, and what each month costs you

Da Nang has two seasons: dry and hot from about February to August, and rainy from September to December, with typhoons and floods that can cut off the region. Spring is the best time; October and November are the months to avoid. The sea is calmest and clearest in the dry months.

1. January: Worth it, butJan
2. February: Go nowFeb
3. March: Go nowMar
4. April: Go nowApr
5. May: Go nowMay
6. June: Worth it, butJun
7. July: Worth it, butJul
8. August: Worth it, butAug
9. September: Worth it, butSep
10. October: Think twiceOct
11. November: Think twiceNov
12. December: Worth it, butDec

• Go now
• Worth it, but
• Think twice

• February to May

  Go now

  Dry, warm and before the great heat

  The rains end, the sky clears and the sea calms; days are warm and pleasant, getting hot in May. The lunar new year, usually in late January or February, closes many family businesses for several days and fills transport, and its dates move each year. After it, this is the best season for everything.

• June to August

  Worth it, but

  Hot, sunny and the beach season

  Hot and humid, with long sunny days and the sea at its calmest. This is the Vietnamese holiday season, the beach is full of families and prices peak; the city's international fireworks festival is usually held in early summer. Sightsee early and late, and spend the middle of the day in the water or the shade.

• September

  Worth it, but

  Hot, with the first storms

  Still hot, with more frequent afternoon storms as the rainy season begins and the first typhoons of the central coast. Prices fall after the summer holidays. Keep plans flexible.

• October and November

  Think twice

  Typhoons and floods

  The heart of the rainy season, with the heaviest rain of the year and typhoons that can flood the region, close the airport and cut the road to Hoi An and Hue. Hoi An's old town floods most years. Travel is possible between storms, but plans can collapse at short notice.

• December and January

  Worth it, but

  Cool, grey and still wet

  Cooler, often grey, with rain easing through January; the sea is often too rough to swim. The city is quiet and cheap, and good for the sights rather than the beach.

How many days Da Nang needs

Two days cover the city: the beach in the morning, the Marble Mountains and the peninsula of Son Tra, the river and its bridges at night, the market and the museum of Cham sculpture. Da Nang is easy and spread out, and most of it is reached in a short ride.

Two more days are for what lies around it: the hill station of Ba Na with its bridge held by giant hands, the old town of Hoi An forty minutes south, the imperial city of Hue over the Hai Van Pass, and the Cham temple ruins of My Son in the hills. Each is a full day, and Hoi An deserves nights of its own.

How the city is arranged

Da Nang is split by the Han River. The old centre and the airport are on the west bank; the long beach is on the east, between the river and the sea, joined by a series of bridges. The peninsula of Son Tra closes the bay to the north, and the Marble Mountains rise from the sand to the south, on the road to Hoi An.

• The west bank — the city centre, the riverside promenade, the markets, the cathedral and the museum of Cham sculpture.
• The Han River and its bridges — the Dragon Bridge, whose dragon breathes fire and sprays water on weekend nights, and the river at night.
• My Khe and the east beaches — kilometres of sand backed by hotels, seafood restaurants and the city's newest district.
• Son Tra — the green peninsula north of the beach: a giant white statue of the goddess of mercy, quiet coves and rare monkeys in the forest.
• The Marble Mountains — five limestone hills south of the city, riddled with caves and pagodas, with stairs to the top.

Where to stay, and what each area costs you

The beach is where most visitors stay, and it is the right choice for a beach holiday; the west bank is better for the city's life and food; and many people sleep in Hoi An and visit Da Nang from there. The distances are short, and ride-hailing cars make any base work.

Prices rise in the summer holidays, when Vietnamese families fill the beach, around the lunar new year, whose dates move each year, and during the city's international fireworks festival, which is usually held in early summer.

Compare these areas against your priorities

Getting there, and getting around

Da Nang's international airport is in the city, a short ride from the beach and the centre, with flights from all over Vietnam and from several Asian countries. The north–south railway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City stops here; the stretch north to Hue, over the coast and along the sea, is among the most beautiful train rides in the country.

In the city, ride-hailing apps are the easy way to move: cars and motorbike taxis at fixed prices shown in the app, without bargaining. Taxis with meters are also common.

• Renting a motorbike is common, and traffic is chaotic for anyone who has not ridden in Vietnam; a licence valid in Vietnam and a helmet are required, and travel insurance may not cover you without them.
• The Hai Van Pass to Hue is a famous ride by motorbike or car; a tunnel takes the main traffic under it, so the pass road itself is quiet.
• To Hoi An, a ride-hailing car or a taxi takes about forty minutes; buses are slower.
• Cash is still widely used at markets and small restaurants; cards work in hotels and larger places.

The beach, the mountains and the bridge in the clouds

Ba Na Hills was a French hill station of the colonial era and is now a mountain-top theme park, reached by one of the longest cable cars in the world. Its fame is the Golden Bridge, a walkway held up by two giant hands, made to look like weathered stone, in the clouds. It is crowded and artificial, and on a clear day the views are extraordinary; go early, and check the weather, because cloud often hides everything.

• My Khe beach — a long, wide beach in the city, at its best early in the morning, when locals swim before work. Lifeguards watch the main sections; the sea can be rough in the rainy season.
• The Marble Mountains — caves turned into Buddhist shrines, lit by shafts of light from openings in the rock, with stairways or a lift to the top.
• The museum of Cham sculpture — the world's largest collection of sculpture from the Cham kingdom that ruled the coast for over a thousand years. An hour, and the key to My Son.
• Son Tra — the peninsula with the great white statue at the Linh Ung pagoda, quiet beaches and forest where endangered langurs live.
• My Son — the ruined brick temples of the Cham kings in a valley in the hills, a World Heritage Site; go early, before the heat.
• Hue — the imperial city of the last dynasty, a day trip over the pass or by train, better with a night.

How eating works here

Central Vietnam has its own cooking, spicier than the north and full of herbs and noodles. Da Nang's dishes are noodles with turmeric, fish-cake noodle soup and rice-paper rolls with pork, and the seafood restaurants along the beach, where you choose from the tanks, are part of every visit.

Locals eat breakfast and lunch at small places with plastic stools, and dinner late at the seafood restaurants. The best food is often in the plainest places, where the menu is a single dish.

• At seafood restaurants, check the price by weight before the fish is cooked, and agree on it.
• The covered market of the centre sells everything from dried fish to clothes, and its food stalls are a good lunch.
• Drink bottled water, and choose busy stalls where food turns over fast.
• Tipping is not expected in local restaurants; in hotels and tourist restaurants a small tip is appreciated.

Where to eat in Da Nang, and what to order

Da Nang's food is the food of central Vietnam: wide rice noodles with turmeric and very little broth, a fish-cake noodle soup, and rolls of rice paper with pork and herbs. Add a seafood dinner on the beach and a coffee with condensed milk, and you have eaten the city.

• Mì Quảng

  What to order

  The region's noodle dish

  Wide rice noodles coloured with turmeric, served with only a ladle of rich broth, with pork, shrimp, quail eggs, herbs, peanuts and a sesame rice cracker crumbled on top. It comes from Quảng Nam, the old province around Da Nang that is now part of the city, and is eaten at any hour; the city has whole restaurants that serve nothing else.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Bún chả cá

  What to order

  Fish-cake noodle soup

  Rice vermicelli in a clear, slightly sweet broth with slices of fried and steamed fish cake, pineapple, tomato and greens, with chilli on the side. It is Da Nang's breakfast, and the best places sell nothing but this. Light, fresh and cheap.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Bánh tráng

  What to order

  Pork rolled in rice paper

  Thin slices of boiled pork rolled at the table in rice paper with herbs, lettuce and green banana, dipped in a pungent fermented anchovy sauce. You roll them yourself, and the sauce is the point; ask for it milder if you are not used to it.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Bánh xèo

  What to order

  A crisp pancake to roll with herbs

  A crisp rice-flour pancake fried with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts, cut and rolled in rice paper with herbs, then dipped in a peanut and liver sauce. The central version is small and crisp, made in little pans, and it is best straight from the fire at a busy stall.

  Check it on Wikidata

Things that change the trip

1. 1Avoid October and November unless your plans can bend: typhoons and floods hit central Vietnam hardest then.
2. 2Decide your base by the kind of trip: the beach for the sea, the west bank for the city, Hoi An for the old town.
3. 3Go to Ba Na Hills early, and check that the summit is not lost in cloud.
4. 4Use ride-hailing apps rather than bargaining with drivers.
5. 5Agree the price by weight before a seafood dinner.
6. 6Give Hue at least one night: it is too much for a day trip over the pass.