Xin chào!! Here it is, Da Nang and Hoi An, Vietnam Travel Guide, we’re going to share with you recommended places to visit, interesting attractions to do and also tasty local Vietnamese food.

Earlier this month on September 2016, AnakJajan joined a media familiarisation trip arranged by AirAsia and Da Nang Tourism to explore Da Nang, the third largest city in Vietnam as well as experiencing the direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Da Nang.

Named as World’s Best Low Cost Airline from 2009 to 2016, AirAsia has 4x weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Da Nang, Vietnam. Duration of the flight between Kuala Lumpur and Da Nang is around 2 hours 35 minutes each way.

Fly-Thru connection to Da Nang is available from Melbourne, Gold Coast, Sydney, Guangzhou, Auckland and also Jakarta, but since AnakJajan will be joining the the group from Malaysia and fly together from Kuala Lumpur to Da Nang, AnakJajan had an overnight transit stay at Tune Hotel @KLIA2.

– TUNE HOTEL @KLIA2
Tune Hotel @KLIA2 is located conveniently at KLIA2 airport around 15 minutes walking distance from the arrival gate to the airport. You can simply follow the signs that will lead you to the link bridge straight to the hotel.

Check-in and check-out process is very practical and hassle-free, for check-in other than proceeding the check in at receptionist, you can do it easily with the Self Check-In facility and for check-out process you can simply drop your hotel keycard to the box and then leave.

For a quick transit, the room is comfortable enough and we can have more time to sleep and rest since it is located just 15mins away. It’s a great place to stay especially if you have an early flight, long layover or delay and day use rooms are also available.

– CURRENCY
Vietnamese Dong is the official currency of Vietnam, 1 VND equals to around 0.59 Indonesian Rupiah. TIPS: since the exchange rate from Indonesian Rupiah to Vietnamese Dong in Indonesia isn’t good enough, AnakJajan would highly recommend you to bring USD to Vietnam and exchange it directly there for a better exchange rate.

– TRANSPORTATION
For transportation, from our observation, motorbikes or scooters are the main transportation for locals, taxi and Grab are available but it’s rare to find driver who speaks more than a little English, so it is better to have your destination written down unless you can speak Vietnamese.

– INTERNET
After arriving to Da Nang International Airport, right in the arrival hall you can purchase sim card for local/ international call and internet data. AnakJajan purchased Vinaphone 3G sim card for VND 120.000 for 4GB. There were only 3G sim card available. FYI, Free Wi-Fi is available generously around the town.

DA NANG
Da Nang is a coastal city and famous for its sandy beaches therefore you can find many beachfront hotels and resorts with amazing view of Da Nang Beach.

– FUSHION SUITES DA NANG BEACH
AnakJajan stayed in the awesome Fusion Suites Da Nang Beach, one of the brand new places to stay with a range of 123 suites and 6 penthouses.

The suite that we stayed was Fusion Suite with 2 bedroom in a spacious 67m2, it has a modern interior concept with the combination of wooden furniture and pastel soft lime green color resulting a very relaxing and homey vibes.

The provided facilities and amenities are extremely complete from separate lounge area, dining counter, kitchen, microwave, bathtub, etc but the best part from our suite is the gorgeous ocean and city view sthrough the expansive windows.

Pool is located across the street right beside the beach. Fusion Suites Da Bang Beach also offers rooftop and spa but since we had a packed itinerary, we couldn’t explore it, maybe next time 🙂

Address:
Fusion Suites
An cu Residential
Vo Nguyen Giap street, Man Thai, Son Tra distric
Da Nang city, Vietnam
Map:

– DA NANG BEACH
Da Nang beach has a sloped coastline and it can be generally be separated into four beaches Son Tra Peninsula, My Khe, My An and Non Nuoc.
There are tons of activities that we can do at the white sand beaches such as parasailing, surfing, walking around, sunbathe, swimming, or even relaxing on a beach chair.

Right at the beach in front of our hotel, AnakJajan spotted the unique Vietnamese round boat or Coracle at the beach, to make it more fun, tourists can also try riding the boat.

– Mỳ Quảng Ếch Bếp Trang Restaurant
My quang is an iconic and popular central Vietnamese dish and one of the popular restaurants is Mỳ Quảng Ếch Bếp Trang. There are several outlets of this restaurant, AnakJajan visited the outlet in 24 Pasteur and we had some of the local and signature dishes.

Lucky us we had an awesome Vietnamese to guide us, share with us important local informations and also teach us how enjoy the food like locals (dear Quan, if you’re reading this, big thanks for the tips 😉 cam ơn) so I’m gonna share with you some tips on how to enjoy the dish.

Thịt heo bánh tráng cuốn 3 chi (Pork Roll) VND 39k
This is a grilled pork dish served with rice paper, local greens and shrimp paste with anchovies sauce. To enjoy this dish, simply arrange the pork and greens on top of rice paper then roll it, dip it into the sauce and enjoy it. It’s a fresh, unique and light dish, the shrimp paste sauce has savory and tangy flavors in it but the pungent aroma is not for everyone.

Sua Bap Corn Milk VND 15k
It turns out that corn milk is one of the common drink that you can find easily there, it’s a milk with corn juice drink, creamy milky with delightful aroma of sweet corn. A must try!

Phải thử tō đặc biệt – Special VND 59k
Here it is the iconic my quang noodle. AnakJajan had the special portion with chicken, pork, shrimp, frog, etc cooked in savory turmeric broth served with greens and rice noodle, it is huge enough for two or three people. To enjoy this dish, simply mix the broth, meat and noodle together, the taste is quite familiar with comforting warm turmeric broth, we enjoyed it.

Address:
Mỳ Quảng Ếch Bếp Trang
24 Pasteur, Hải Châu, Đà Nẵng, Vietnam
Map:

– MARBLE MOUNTAINS
Marble Mountain is a well known tourist spot where you can discover temples, pagoda, caves and tunnels inside. It consists of five granite peaks with caves that are Buddist and Confucian shrines and topped with pagodas, the mountains are named Thuy Son (Water), Moc Son (Wood), Hoa Son (Fire), Kim Son (Metal or Gold) and Tho Son (Earth) to represent the natural elements.
Remember to wear comfortable shoes since you will be climbing up the stairs, theres a glass elevator at the base with additional VND 15k.

Address:
Marble Mountain
81 Huyen Tran Cong Chua, Da Nang
Opening Hours: 07.00 – 17.30
Entrance Fee: VND 15k
Map:

– Local food around Hùng Vương street
During the night, AnakJajan and friends had a quick visit and ‘jajan’ activity at Hùng Vương street near the intersection of Big C Supermarket Da Nang, around that area there are street food stalls selling various local food.

AnakJajan had Pho Bo VND 35k, the traditional and popular Vietnamese beef noodle soup with comforting broth and tender beef slices. We also tried Bánh canh, a kind of noodle dish with thick soup and chewy tapioca noodle served with dough fritter or we call it Cakwe.

Map:

– HAN RIVER // DRAGON BRIDGE
Han River separates the bustling city area with the touristy resort beach side with seven bridges to link the two sides of the city.

Dragon Bridge is the new symbol of Da Nang City and every Saturday and Sunday night at 9 PM, the dragon’s head will spectacularly breathes fire and water making it an excellent touristy place to visit.

Address:
Dragon Bridge
Nguyễn Văn Linh, Phước Ninh
Đà Nẵng, Vietnam

Map:

– SKY36
Located at rooftop of Novotel Premier Danang Han River, Sky 36 is the highest sky bar in Vietnam with amazing night view of Da Nang City.

Address:
SKY36 Bar
36 Tầng 36, Đường Bạch Đằng,
Phường Thạch Thang, Quận Hải Châu
Đà Nẵng, Vietnam
Opening Hours: 17.00 – 02.00
Map:

– NUI THAN TAI HOT SPRING PARK
Than Tai Hot Spring Park is one of the new entertainment destinations in 2016 at Da Nang. It is a one stop hot spring park with various facilities such as the longest natural stone bathtub in Vietnam, mineral water wall sightseeing, onsen, mud/ wine/ milk/ tea/ coffee bath, egg boiling pool, jacuzzi, souvenir shop, hotel, restaurant, cafe etc in one large area.

To go to the hot spring park, you can simply ride taxi or using the shuttle transportation available from city centre at Dragon Bridge to the hot spring for approximately VND 50k per person for round trip.

Address:
Núi Thần Tài
Hòa Phú, Hòa Vang, Da Nang, Vietnam
Admission Fee: VND 200k for adult and VND50k for children
Map:

HOI AN, VIETNAM
Located just an hour of ride from Da Nang, Hoi An is an interesting historic town to visit famous for the well-preserved traditional Vietnamese architecture, and was designated a world heritage side by UNESCO.

– EMM HOTEL
In Hoi An, AnakJajan stayed at Emm Hotel, a new hotel located conveniently in the heart of Ancient Town. The hotel is clean and modern with combination of yellow, turquoise and blue colors as seen on the old houses of Ancient Town to capture the colorful spirit of Ancient Town. Around the hotel, there are lots of local food, cafe and shops, so it is very convenient to get around.

Address:
Emm Hotel
187 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, Cam Pho Ward
Sơn Phong, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province 100000, Vietnam
Map:

– VIETNAMESE COFFEE AT LOCAL STREET CAFE
One important thing that you MUST NOT MISS when traveling to Vietnam is having the famous Vietnamese Coffee!! It’s sooooo goood, Me and Mr. Jajan had at least two glasses of Vietnamese iced coffee or Cha Phe Sua Da everyday. This one is from random street cafe located just right across Emm Hotel, it costs VND 10k.

– COOKING CLASS
Another fun thing to do in Hoi An is cooking class, it is one of the highly recommended and popular activity among tourist. AnakJajan joined cooking class arranged by Coconut Tour/ Eat in Hoi An. The cooking class started with touring around the vegetable garden, you get to try wearing the traditional while exploring the garden and then continued with hands on cooking class cooking the local Vietnamese dishes such as Banh Xeo or Vietnamese crepes. It was fun experience to learn how to cook local food using local ingredients and of course we get to eat our cooking.

– HOI AN ANCIENT TOWN
Recognize as one of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Hoi An Ancient Town is definitely a must visit destination with the well-preserved buildings and street plan from 15th to the 19th century.

Inside the ancient town, there are lots of souvenir shops, cafe and restaurant along the river, museum, pupper show, traditional music show, etc. You can walk or rent a bicycle to go around the ancient town.

For us, the best time to visit Hoi An Ancient Town is in the afternoon when the sun starting to set, the lights are lit up and river reflects the light giving you a scenic night view of the ancient town.

Address:
Hoi An Ancient Town
Lê Lợi, Minh An, tp. Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam
Entrance Fee: VND 120k
Map:

– HOI AN ROASTERY
Hoi An Roastery is a cool little coffee house located in the Hoi An Ancient Town where you can order and try the famous Vietnamese iced coffee drip or Cha Phe Sua Da VND 49k while taking a break.

Address:
Hoi An Roastery
135 Trần Phú, tp. Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam
Opening Hours: 07.00 – 22.00
Map:

– Cafe Phố Xưa
Still in the Hoi An Ancient Town area, it was our last night in Vietnam, we needed local Vietnamese food so we decided to visit this restaurant because it offers various tasty looking local dishes. AnakJajan ordered Pho Bo or beef noodle soup VND 40k, Bun 5 Vi or vermicelli mixed with pork BBQ, veggie and peanuts VND 40k, Nem Ran or fried springroll VND 35k, Com Ga Roti or fried chicken with rice VND 50k and Cau Lau or the traditional Hoi An noodle with pork meat VND 30k. It was a satisfying and filling dinner.

AnakJajan got to say that Vietnamese food is very suitable with our Indonesian palates, it is flavorful, sweet, spicy, sour and aromatic, it makes our tummies happy.

Address:
Phố Xưa
35 Phan Châu Trinh, Minh An, tp. Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam
Opening Hours: 11.00 – 22.00
Map:

– MADAM KHANH BANH MI QUEEN
We’ve been wanting to try Banh Mi or the popular Vietnamese sandwich and finally our bucket list has checked off. Initially AnakJajan wanted to try the Banh My Phuong, the most famous and popular Banh Mi vendor in the whole Vietnam but sadly it was closed during our visit.

Lucky us Madam Khanh Banh Mi Queen, another famous Banh Mi vendor is located near our hotel (around 300 metres), so we decided to skip hotel breakfast and had breakfast there. The Banh Mi was SOOOOO GOOOD we had foodgasm!! Nicely toasted baguette bread, crunchy on the outside while soft on the inside filled with a bit of everything from meat, veggie, egg, etc. Definitely a must have when you’re in Hoi An, Vietnam. I’m going to write more detailed review about it on separate blogpost.

The area around Madam Khanh Banh Mi, there are lots of interesting local food such as this spicy beef noodle soup of Bun Bo Hue VND 30k.

Address:
Madam Khanh – “Banh Mi Queen”
115 Trần Cao Vân, Sơn Phong, tp. Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam
Opening Hours: 08.00 – 20.30
Map:

Overall, AnakJajan got to say that we’re pretty impressed with Da Nang, Vietnam. It is indeed a fantastic city in accordance with the tagline Da Nang FantastiCity. The next blogpost of #AnakJajanVietnam travel post is the magical Ba Na Hills, check the following link for Ba Na Hills Vietnam travel post anakjajan.com/2016/09/28/vietnam-ba-na-hills-french-village-travel-guide-da-nang/. Let’s Travel!!

Check link below for more Vietnam Travel posts  https://anakjajan.com/category/location/southeast-asia/vietnam/

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