Ba Na Hills and the Golden Bridge

A cool hilltop resort above the clouds, reached by one of the longest cable cars in the world, with a golden footbridge held up by two giant stone hands.

Area

Hills & passes

Start from

Da Nang

Distance

about 40 km

Time needed

1 day

Best season

All year; clearest February – August

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Taxi, tour bus or car, then a long cable car

Tickets & rules

Expensive combined ticket (around 900,000 VND, check current price)

Why go

Ba Na Hills is not the sort of place I usually look for, and I still went. It’s a mountaintop theme park built around an old French hill station, with a mock-French village, gardens, a funfair and restaurants. It’s busy, sometimes kitsch, and fascinating in its own way.

The highlight is the Golden Bridge, Cau Vang, a 150-metre gold-coloured walkway that curves along the mountainside, held up by two enormous weathered stone hands. Since it opened in 2018, photos of it have spread around the world. In the morning mist, with clouds swirling around the hands, it is genuinely striking.

The cable car ride is spectacular in itself: several kilometres long, rising over forest and waterfalls to a summit around 1,400 metres. Temperatures at the top can be 10 degrees cooler than in Da Nang, which is a relief in summer.

The story

In 1919 a French officer named Debay is said to have explored the mountain and found it a perfect retreat from the coastal heat. A hill station followed in the 1920s, with villas, a hotel and a road for cars. At its height there were dozens of villas, but after the French period the station was abandoned and the forest took over.

In the 2000s, a large Vietnamese company redeveloped the summit as a resort, building cable cars and the French-style village. The cable cars set several records at the time of construction, including for length and height difference.

The Golden Bridge was designed by a Vietnamese architecture firm to look as if the hands of a mountain god were lifting a strip of gold from the earth. The hands are built from fibreglass and wire mesh, painted to look like old stone covered in moss.

Beyond the theme park, the mountain is covered in forest and remains part of a protected area. Some old French villa ruins can still be found on quiet paths, a reminder of the original hill station.

Getting there

Ba Na Hills is about 40 km west of Da Nang, roughly 45 minutes by car. Tours from Da Nang and Hoi An include transport, and some shuttle services run from the city centre.

From the base, cable cars carry you to the summit. Tickets include the cable car; food and some attractions cost extra.

A suggested plan

1. 7:30Leave Da Nang early to arrive at opening time.
2. 8:30Cable car up and straight to the Golden Bridge before the crowds.
3. 10:00The French village, gardens and Linh Ung pagoda on the summit.
4. 12:00Lunch, then a walk to quieter viewpoints.
5. 14:30Cable car down and back to the city.

Where to stay

Stay in Da Nang. There is a hotel at the summit if you want to see the hills after the day visitors leave.

Good to know

• Weekdays are much quieter than weekends.
• Take a light jacket for the cooler summit.
• Bring your own snacks; food at the top is expensive.
• Check the weather; on cloudy days, views are limited.