Da Nang - (Spring 2025) - Day 2
Started the beautiful sunny day at the hotel pool
Followed by a walk on the beachfront
Buddhist temples are scattered around the city
We then called a car and headed to Hoi An for a day trip. On the road headed south, I had thought that the ride would be prettier and was hoping to be able to see the beachfront along the way. You really couldn’t see the water from the road since there were mostly resort buildings blocking the view.
Hoi An
This is a very popular tourist destination. People flock here to see a quaint village around the old town area with traditional houses (which is pretty much all shops now). At night the river is filled with lantern boats making the entire surface of the water a colorful parade.
Entering Hoi An
Hoi An Riverfront
Walking along the river going west in the old town, the river gets narrower along one of the islands and you can start to see more of the tour boats and lantern boats tied up waiting for the sun to set to take people for river rides.
Cau Lau 76 (Hoi An)
Cau lau is the local noodle dish in Hoi An. You can order it with different meats at this river front restaurant. One of the above has shrimp and the other one has chicken. The mango smoothie also tasted good on a hot day.
River Islands
After lunch we walked over a bridge to one of the river islands that is a focal point for the lantern boats at night.
Cafe Bi (Hoi An)
We walked over the far side of the island. The locals were setting up the night market on one of the roads. This cafe sat on the south side of the island facing the main part of the river.
Shamrock Irish Pub (Hoi An)
Why to all the way to Vietnam and then hit up an Irish Pub? Well, the view was pretty good. They had a great location where you could sit on the patio and see everyone start to prepare for the night time festivities.
Lantern Boats
As the sun started to set, all these boats started just appearing along the river. They were all ready to light the colorful lanterns and take tourists out along the river. We did not plan to stay at night so we did not get to see the spectacle on this trip.
Hoi An Streets
Heading out of town, the streets were still crowded and bustling with tourists.
Nhà hàng NHÀ BẾP CHỢ HÀN
Back in Da Nang for dinner. We did a search for restaurants and headed across the river from the beach side of town to try a place. This is one of the places that comes up with great reviews when you search for restaurants in the city but it turns out to be a bit too touristy. The food is very good but it does cater mainly to tourists and has that feel. I think most of the clientele were Korean in the restaurant.
Han River
Took an after dinner walk along the river front. The river has a nice walking path on both sides. Much more enjoyable when it’s cooler in the evening.
Libre Bar
After dinner we looked for some of the cocktail bars on the west side of the river. This was one of the places that had been recommended to us when we were in Ho Chi Minh City. Nice classy establishment with great drinks and attention to detail.
I didn’t understand what the rectangular leather mats were for on the bar until they told me that it was a place to rest your smart phone.
Below are places in Da Nang that one of the bartenders told us to try to avoid the touristy places to eat.
TE Bar
The next bar on this side of the river we visited was TE - also a place recommended while in Ho Chi Minh. You access the bar by going into the back of a store and going up the staircase in the back. This place had more of a Vegas vibe to it with great drinks. One of them was served in an impossibly thin stem glass. The bartender confirmed that yes, they do break them often.