Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [203]
The most popular land crossing into Laos open to foreigners is Lao Bao border gate, west of Dong Ha (see "Lao Bao border crossing into Laos" for details, and Da Nang listings for visa information). International bus services run from Da Nang’s Lien Tinh bus station direct to Savannakhet daily (3pm; 24hr; $24).
From Da Nang airport, Vietnam Airlines operates daily flights to several Vietnamese cities, including Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, while Jetstar also flies to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Haiphong.
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The central provinces | Around Da Nang |
East of Da Nang
Long, lumpy Son Tra Peninsula, tipped by Monkey Mountain, shelters Da Nang and its port from the worst winter monsoons. The peninsula’s seaward side provides the city with its nearest unpolluted beach, My Khe, the original China Beach. Its rival to the south, the quieter Non Nuoc Beach, also claims the same sobriquet. If you’re heading for Non Nuoc, or down the coast to Hoi An, the honeycomb cave-shrines of the Marble Mountains, just back from the beach, are worth a quick trot round in passing.
The central provinces | Around Da Nang | East of Da Nang |
Monkey Mountain and China Beach
A low-lying neck of land forms the Han River’s east bank and then rises 700m in the north to rolling Nui Tien Sa. The name means “descending angels”, a reference to heavenly creatures who apparently would often alight on the summit for a game of chess, but most people know it as Monkey Mountain on account of its wildlife population. Monkeys still inhabit the promontory, which is mostly a restricted military area. Head up to the observatories, or skirt round the northern tip where you can scramble down to coves and beaches in several places. A road along the promontory’s south coast provides easier access to a sandy cove called Bai But, about 8km from the city centre. At weekends Da Nang day-trippers fill the beach, but at other times it’s a good place to escape the noise and bustle of the city. Refreshments and reasonably priced seafood are on offer at a simple bar-restaurant behind the beach. A return trip to Bai But by xe om will cost around 120,000đ including a couple of hours’ waiting time.
Da Nang’s nearest beach resort, My Khe, lies at the southern end of the peninsula, less than 3km southeast of the centre; better known as China Beach, it’s where US servicemen were helicoptered in for R&R during the American War. Just behind the beach the My Khe Hotel II, 233 Nguyen Van Thoai (0511/394 1095, mkbeach@vnn.vn; US$21–50) offers more modern facilities than its nearby sister hotel at the same price. The Tourane Hotel, a couple of hundred metres north, is a large renovated French colonial-style property that offers spacious yet simple rooms in villas (0511/393 2666, touranehotel@dng.vnn.vn; US$21–50). A xe om should cost 20,000đ (slightly more at night) for the ride from Da Nang.
Three kilometres further south, on the road to Hoi An and the Marble Mountains, you come to a turning for Bac My An Beach, which is home to the five-star Furama Resort (0511/384 7333, www.furamavietnam.com; US$151 and over). This $40-million development set in lush gardens stands out as one of Vietnam’s top beach resorts. It offers luxuriously appointed rooms, international cuisine, two swimming pools plus a guarded beach and a range of recreational activities from tennis and golf to scuba-diving, ocean kayaking and windsurfing. It’s soon to be joined by many more resorts, with construction lining most of the seafront towards Hoi An; Hyatt and Crowne Plaza are among the big boys moving in, as well as at least two golf