Da Nang is gaining popularity among discerning travellers seeking authenticity and immersion. Photo / Supplied
Hoi An and Hanoi are full of international tourists eager to see Vietnam. Yet, discerning travellers eager for authenticity and immersion will follow Vietnamese travellers and head to coastal Da Nang, writes Claire Boobbyer.
At 5.30am I stroll on to a beach milling with dozens of swimmers and down on to the soft, golden sand in central Vietnam for a cool dip in the dawn light.
Some 60 years ago, Da Nang’s main strip, My Khe, also known as China Beach, was used by American GIs on R&R (Rest and Relaxation) away from the battlefields of the Vietnam War. Today, this fabulous broad curve of 18 miles is one reason it’s popular among Vietnamese and Asian visitors looking to R&R themselves. Western travellers, it seems, haven’t got the memo just yet.
Dozens of hotels from high-rises to low-slung wellness resorts dot the coastal road and sands all the way from the forested Son Tra peninsula, 10km north of central Da Nang, down to Hoi An, Da Nang’s mega popular southern neighbour.
Today’s Da Nang isn’t known for ancient temples, like Hanoi and Hoi An, and pavements brimming with street stalls, and it’s often overlooked by international travellers. However, it’s slowly gaining popularity among knowing travellers who make it their affordable base from which they can visit Hoi An (45 minutes away). Young Vietnamese folk from bigger cities are moving here too, for the business opportunities and the alfresco lifestyle.
Their youthful influence has already made its mark. Burgeoning Da Nang has Michelin-starred restaurants, delicious noodle stops, a world’s-only museum, is lively with cafes and cool bars and, oh yeah, that awesome beach. There’s even a golden “fire-breathing dragon” bridge and a thrilling international fireworks festival.
As well as a good base, it’s a 90-minute drive southwest to the elaborately carved red-brick ruins at My Son, once the spiritual capital of the Cham people, a Hinduised kingdom that ruled swathes of Vietnam from the 2nd to the 13th centuries. Once here, I head through deep forests of Indian almond, jackfruit and starfruit trees near “Beautiful Mountain”, to see exquisite petite Unesco-protected towers made from fired brick, weathered with time and moss, and decorated with sandstone bas-reliefs. Most temples honour Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and transformation.
“The Cham decided to build their holy land in the valley as it’s isolated, quiet, calm and difficult to attack,” my tour guide Lang explains.
“The first brick temples date from the early 7th century but it’s still unknown how the bricks are stuck together. It’s believed it’s some botanical glue.” Even modern technology can’t figure it out.
After a walk among the ruins, I returned to Da Nang to pay homage at a temple of an alternative kind: Nen Da Nang – the first restaurant in Vietnam to earn a green Michelin star, an award that celebrates sustainability, low food miles, and cultural preservation. Ten years ago, Summer Le ran food tours amid the markets and street stalls of this city before signing up to culinary school for a year.
“My vision was to use Vietnamese ingredients and explore the potential of Vietnamese cuisine,” she tells me. Today, her restaurant continues that vision by starring hyperlocal cuisine. Menu cards detail ingredients, their source and are accompanied by illustrations (something travellers flummoxed by foreign names and flavours when dining abroad will appreciate.) Plus, the waiters are happy to patiently explain the dishes at your table.
I dine on novel delicacies such as banana rhizome fermented in beetroot, the sea-nourished meat of a Giant isopod accompanied by a bisque made from its shell, and scooped out sapodilla fruit filled with coffee and a salt cream. All of it was clever, delicious, fascinating and I would have dined again if I’d had the chance.
After lunch I go for a quick swim in my sky-high partially shaded pool before dressing up for a night on the town and heading out into the city with Secret Experiences (https://secret-experiences.com/experiences/secret-cocktail-experience-in-danang) for a taste of Vietnam’s craft spirit revolution.
Down alleyways and behind closed doors, we discover rose tea cocktails in a tea shop that transforms into a candlelit bar on Friday nights. And a bar hidden above a Vietnamese pub that served a very moreish tequila, fish sauce, rice milk and green chili cocktail served in a small bowl. I wanted to stay out in the city on the drinks’ trail with my guide Ms Loan who was great company, but I had an early date the next morning with the under-renovation Museum of Cham Sculpture. It’s the only one of its type in the world. Standing tall are sandstone sculptures, dating from the 10th-12th century, of Hindu mythological creatures Nandi, the sacred bull, Garuda, a bird, and the striking elephant-lion hybrid Gajasimha. All are beautifully carved and preserved.
It sets me up for a move from religious wildlife to the real deal. The Son Tra peninsula is home to one of the world’s rarest primates, the critically endangered, red-shanked douc langur. It’s a handsome monkey with its long, grey-white tail, copper red legs, like leg warmers, and appealing red and white face.
At the InterContinental Da Nang, a hotel that sits on a simply beautiful stretch of beach hidden away among the Son Tra forested slopes, I’m able, to my surprise, to get up close. I board the cute funicular down the hill to Michelin-starred Maison 1888. Due to some strategic planting of the langur’s favourite trees, a family is munching on their own dinner right above the resort’s restaurant.
There is Laurent-Perrier champagne and a melt-in-the-mouth cheese waffle to start, followed by dishes such as seabass with Kristal Caviar bathed in Buttermilk, which is a nod to consultant chef Christian Le Squer’s childhood memories, growing up in France. With surprising flavours and familiar tastes, too, it’s a wonderful meal celebrating French cuisine inside a whimsically decorated restaurant.
As I savour my eight-course meal and reflect on my central Vietnam experiences – both at the table and on the road – I promise myself I’ll be back. Da Nang, you’re an absolute knockout. The city might not be on the radar just yet but it’s definitely worth your time.
The writer was hosted by Inside Asia, Vietnam Airlines, Radisson Red Da Nang, Nen Da Nang, InterContinental, La Maison and Secret Experiences.