We pulled up to Da Nang with the goal to connect with a buddy that had flown up from South Vietnam. Our buddy Olly, originally from Aotearoa, now calls Vietnam home and is one of the few foilers in the country. He was stoked on our visit and a bonus was that we timed our trip perfectly for the best surf window of the year.
The quick 45 minute drive from Hoi An had us in the heart of Da Nang in a nice enough hotel just a few blocks from the beach. A hotel with a pool was a must for our kids and many of these hotels had them up on the roof. It’s so darn hot, so if the ocean isn’t appealing, the pool is usually perfect. After heavy rains, or a typhoon, the ocean gets pretty churned up. But the rest of the time, the ocean was pretty darn clean!
After unloading our stuff, we headed straight to the beach and quickly found our buddy Ollie. The brown guy with the foil! Sounds a lot like me. The ocean is so warm, you can keep swimming late into the night. Parts of the beach get lit up with lights making night swimming appealing. You could even surf if you wanted!
We spent the next three days surfing, foiling, eating, contemplating, exploring and just soaking in the beach vibes we didn’t realize even existed in Vietnam. The beach vibes seemed similar to Rio de Janeiro except this place was extremely safe and less crowded. Maybe a bit like Waikiki really.
The stitches are still in. No infection. The bandages suck. Didn’t work. Probably shouldn’t be going in the ocean, but the waves were perfect! Couldn’t help myself. HAHAHAHA!
Swimming was confined to a smaller area but surfing was fair game anywhere outside of the swimming area. The surf was super fun and we got a mix of knee high to overhead glass that was fun for all levels. The bigger sets closed out easily but I know that there are some spots that had to have been lighting up. Not necessarily a surf destination, there is still a ton of potential if you happen to find yourself here while traveling around SE Asia.
We planned on going to Ba Na Hills but after seeing the cost for the whole family, we decided against it. The company VinWorld creates lots of attractions around Vietnam and they all seem to be tourist traps. For some reason, you get drawn to them and this company is raking in the dough from the visitor industry. They’re kind of like a Disney/Disneyland deal. Regardless, we tried to dodge their attractions but still got stuck going to a few. In Da Nang though, we dodged Ba Na Hills and were happy to have done so. We ended up saving about $200 as a result. Money we got to spend in the community more. Instead of Ba Na Hills we went to the Buddha Statue and Monkey Forest up on the point on the north end of Da Nang. Other than the $5 taxi rides, there was no cost to explore the temple and surrounding area. At sunset it was beautiful and when the lights turned on, the place to on a whole new vibe. Kids were stoked, wife stoked, me stoked.
The night time vibes in Da Nang are epic. We luckily timed it with a weekend where they activate the dragon bridge. Highly recommend. The area around it comes even more to life and the kids absolutely loved it.
Strolling around one night, we stumbled upon a little festival. As they saw us being curious, they encouraged us to come in and join! The result? A great experience for the kids and the whole family in general.
We really enjoyed our time in Da Nang. Here I discovered the next coffee addiction…..Coconut Coffee. It was like a slushy coconut ice cream on the top of Vietnamese coffee. Absolutely addicting and full of energy. Loved it.
We had originally planned to head up North from here but another typhoon changed our plans and we decided to book it to Angkor Wat in Cambodia while the next typhoon landed in Northern Vietnam. That’s the beauty of traveling with flexibility, move with the flow of the weather, prices, crowds, and other variables to increase your successes of happy traveling.
We left in the early evening, said goodbye to our now good friend Olly, and headed to Siam Reap.
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