Da Nang

Come down between five and six in the morning. The whole neighbourhood is in the water at that hour. Nobody is out at midday, when the sand is too hot to stand on, and the crowd returns after five in the afternoon. Red flags bring the lifeguards' whistles.

Five marble hills are named for the five elements; only Thuy Son is climbed. A lift serves the west gate, the east gate steps the whole way. Am Phu cave below is a 350m passage staged as the eighteen hells, and it lets you out at the white Heaven Gate arch.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at nine the head of the bridge breathes fire and then water. Traffic stops 30 minutes before, so people watch from the deck itself, and since the spray blows across the eastern pavement the western side is the dry one.

A white Kwan Yin stands facing the sea, picked out from boats well offshore. Red-shanked douc langurs cross the trees along the peninsula road up to it, and early morning is when they show. Some rental shops in town will not send motorbikes up this gradient.

Two huge stone hands appear to hold the walkway up. It opened in 2018. At 1,400m it is cool enough after the coast that long sleeves are worth carrying. Reaching it means a Ba Na Hills ticket and the cable car, and 10am to 2pm is a crush.

Sandstone carving lifted from the Cham towers at My Son, Tra Kieu and Dong Duong is gathered under one roof. The museum opened in 1919 and its rooms are divided by findspot, so which tower a piece came from is obvious, and one hour sees all of it.

You will only find green moss on these rocks between January and March; the rest of the year leaves black rock and nets. A path behind the fishing village drops to the shelf at low tide before dawn, and the moss holds water, so the footing is treacherous.

A rooster weathervane sits on the spire above the pink walls, hence the name Rooster Church. Built in 1923 for the French residents, it keeps a grotto of stacked volcanic rock in the yard behind. Visitors are turned away during mass, so skip Sunday morning.

Since the 2005 tunnel opened the lorries all run underneath, leaving the old pass to motorbikes and jeeps. A Nguyen dynasty gate and a French blockhouse hold the summit, reopened in 2024 after repair. Da Nang is often clear while the Hue side sits in cloud.

The stone no longer comes from the mountains above the village. Quarrying was stopped to protect them, so blocks come by lorry from Thanh Hoa in the north. Pass a yard and white dust drifts out with the saw noise; carvers work in masks, hosing as they cut.

An indoor market hard against the Han River Bridge on its western landing. The ground floor is piled with dried squid, snacks and coffee, and the upper floor holds fabric stalls and tailors. Tourists keep the opening prices high, so bargain.

Bigger than Han Market, and most of its shoppers are locals. The food section in the middle packs banh xeo, che and rice paper salad stalls shoulder to shoulder. Take a plastic stool and point at what you want.

A riverside amusement park, the old Asia Park, on the Han's western side. The crowd builds after dark around the Sun Wheel, whose rim tops the skyline opposite. A turn is slow, so many riders time it for sunset.

A riverside park laid out south of the Dragon Bridge when Da Nang hosted the 2017 APEC summit. At its centre rises a great curving canopy modelled on a kite. After sunset locals turn up for dance practice and children skate.

A cable-stayed crossing of the Han, its cables fanned out like a sail from one leaning pylon. At night the cables light up and shift colour. Turn south while waiting for the Dragon Bridge show and this bridge is in the same view.

Thermal pools on a slope past the western suburbs, along the Ba Na road. There are mineral pools, mud baths, and eggs you boil yourself in the spring water. Pairing it with Ba Na in one day is a squeeze, so give it its own half day.

A lagoon and sandbar village just over the Hai Van Pass to the north. Rows of oyster stakes stand in the lagoon, and seafood restaurants on stilts above the water grill those oysters. The best view of the sandbar's shape is from the pass on the way down.

A boulder beach on the east coast of the Son Tra Peninsula. The water between the rocks is clear enough that people bring snorkels, and stalls set up on the boulders grill shellfish. Reaching the water means a dirt path down, so wear shoes that grip.

Over some weeks each early summer, teams from several countries compete above the Han, on dates fixed yearly. Riverside stands are ticketed, yet far more simply watch from the bridges and far bank. Roads jam at once after, so stay within walking distance.

High on the Son Tra Peninsula, a stone pair of immortals sits over a chessboard on a boulder. The city, the mouth of the Han and the ridge toward the Hai Van Pass all fit in one look. The last climb winds hard with few lamps, so come down before sunset.