4 Days in Da Nang: Plus Ba Na Hills
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Four days covers Da Nang’s city sights, a Hoi An day trip, and Ba Na Hills, the built theme park everyone photographs, without cramming. My Son and Hue still don’t fit, for those add a day with the 5-day or 6-day plans. See the full Da Nang guide for the wider context.
Book these before you go
- Vietnam’s e-visa , $25-50, apply 3-5 business days ahead
- Ba Na Hills cable car tickets, roughly 1,000,000 VND/adult (verify), buy same-day at the base station or in advance to skip the line
- A My Khe/An Thuong beach-strip hotel, $30-70/night in shoulder season
Day 1: My Khe Beach and the Marble Mountains
Check in on the beach strip, spend the morning at My Khe Beach, then Grab to the Marble Mountains (about 15-20 minutes, entrance roughly 40,000 VND) for Huyen Khong Cave’s skylit chamber. If it’s Friday through Sunday, catch the Dragon Bridge’s fire-and-water show around 9-9:30pm. Have Mi Quang for dinner, the actual local specialty.
Day 2: Hoi An Ancient Town
Grab or a private car (roughly 250,000-350,000 VND, $10-$13.50 one-way) covers the 45-60 minute drive to Hoi An Ancient Town, UNESCO-listed since 1999. Spend the day in the lantern-lit streets and old merchant houses, and stay for an evening lantern walk before heading back.
Day 3: Ba Na Hills and the Golden Bridge
Grab to the cable car base station (roughly 350,000-380,000 VND, 45 minutes), then ride the record-setting cable car up to SunWorld Ba Na Hills, a built 2018 theme park, not a historic site, and cross the viral Golden Bridge, held up by two giant stone hands. Budget the whole day, queues build fast on weekends, and go early for both the cable car and the bridge photo. Return to Da Nang for a seafood dinner near the beach.
Day 4: Son Tra Peninsula and departure
Grab up to Son Tra Peninsula (about 20-30 minutes) for Linh Ung Pagoda’s 67m Lady Buddha statue and views over Vietnam’s only remaining coastal rainforest reserve. Stop at the Museum of Cham Sculpture on the way back before heading to the airport, about 10-20 minutes from the beach strip.
Is 4 days enough for Da Nang, Hoi An, and Ba Na Hills together?
Yes, comfortably, this is close to the sweet spot for a first trip that wants all three without a rushed day trip. See our day trips guide for how My Son and Hue would extend it further.
One concrete tip: book Ba Na Hills tickets a day ahead if you’re visiting on a weekend, the base-station line for same-day purchases can eat over an hour you’d rather spend at the top.