Tom On day 3 of our Da Nang Travel Itinerary, we journeyed back from Hoi An Old Town to Da Nang City. We work up at about 7am and tried out Mi Quang, included as part of breakfast at NGO House Villa…
Happy Day Hotel Da Nang City
After breakfast, we headed to Da Nang City where we will continue with the rest of our trip. This time, we stayed at Happy Day Hotel Da Nang due to its location next to Han River. The drive from Hoi An back to Da Nang took about 45 minutes. We arrived at Happy Day Hotel at about 10:45am and was able to check in!
Again, we opted for budget rates this time, choosing to go with the “windowless” room. As we were out for most parts of the day, we figured that this would help stretch our budget a little. At $25 a night, inclusive of breakfast and a great location, it was certainly a good deal…
The room and toilet was clean. TV had cable channels, though not HD, was sufficent. There was a “window” with curtains as part of decorations but really, there was no view outside. Nonetheless, everything we needed was there. Thereafter, we made a booking with the hotel to bring us, one-way to Ba Na Hills. However, we were charged 450K VND ($27) by the hotel. As we didn’t check with Grab, we accepted the price. Turns out, Grab was only 300K VND ($18). Yeah…could have saved 9 bucks there. The journey took about 30 minutes and we finally reached Ba Na Hills at about 12pm!
Ba Na Hills Da Nang – All You Need to Know!
Ba Na Hills is a resort and themed park, located about 42km west of Da Nang. Located at about 1500m above sea level, it has a relatively cool temperature year round, which reminds a little of Genting and Cameron Highlands.
Our driver dropped us at the HUGE parking area of Ba Na Hills. From there, another shuttle bus transferred us to the main entrance and ticketing counter of Ba Na Hills…
The attendant at the ticketing counter spoke perfect English and we were able to purchase our tickets promptly. 2 tickets for 1.4 Million VND! Sounds like alot right? But it actually translates to about $84SGD which is about $42SGD per person – inclusive of the cable car ride…
If you’re heading right to the top of Ba Na Hills (where the theme park and resort is), head to Toc Tien Station. The ride up was rather long. About 20 minutes. But it was scenic!
Cable Car up Ba Na Hills
Once at the top, we checked out Fantasy Park – the theme park of Ba Na Hills!
The amusement park and resort area of Ba Na Hills has a French colonial era architecture to it. The streets resembled that of a French village and there’s even a replica of Notre Dame Cathedral here. We headed in the direction of Fantasy Park to check out the rides. But first, we had a rather expensive hot dog at the entrance of Fantasy Park ($2.7SGD). As we saw that the most popular ride at Ba Na Hills (Alpine Coaster) had a super long queue, we entered into Fantasy Park first…
Fantasy Park is really a HUGE amusement park. Inside, there are rides that range from “Giant Drop” to bumper cars and 4D/5D rides. There are also many up to date arcade machines that will keep teens and kids entertained for a pretty long time. Our favourite has got to be bumper car. Unlike most other bumper cars that we’ve tried, the bumper cars here can drift and spin – especially when you rear end another car at max speed! 😛 We then headed out to check out the other parts of the French village…
We also did some scouting to find out a few other information. For instance, we found Ga Louvre station which would take us from Toc Tien (top of Ba Na Hills) to the Golden Bridge Station – probably the most famous landmark in Da Nang. We also located Beer Plaza where we planned to head to for dinner. After considering our options, we decided against catching sunset at Golden Bridge (to avoid the crowds and cold weather). Instead, we headed over at about 3:30pm where the sun would still illuminate our shots of the famous pair of hands…
Though it was very crowded at Golden Bridge, we were still able to take some pretty good shots. Just got to wait a little while for the crowds to…move along now. Definitely worth a visit, especially with the sea of clouds in the background – adding a little touch of magic and allure to Golden Bridge. Before heading back for dinner, we decided to go for Alpine Coast!
Alpine Coaster is a luge ride at Ba Na Hills. You can choose sit with someone or go at it alone. All you have for controls is a brake – pull to engage. Otherwise, you can just zoom down the hills without pulling the brake at all and you’ll be zooming down at maximum speed, much like a roller coaster! There is usually a long queue here as its probably the most exciting and scenic ride (you’ll be able to see the hills and sea of clouds on the way down). Plus, it seemed to be pretty much advertised in Korea as we saw advertisements of Korean celebrities taking this ride as well. More shiok than the luge in Sentosa 😛
Before heading back to Beer Plaza for buffet dinner, we played some arcade games, including a large screen PacMan with unlimited tokens, StarWars and another shot at bumper car! Soon it was time for dinner!
Buffet Dinner with Beer at Ba Na Hills Beer Plaza Restaurant
Dinner at Beer Plaza was relatively cheap. At 280K VND (or $15) per person, it includes a buffet, live entertainment as well as 1 litre of draft beer!
Although the spread seemed pretty good, taste wise, there was really nothing to shout about. Liked the fruits though. Sweet and fresh. But at $15, inclusive of a 1L draft beer, there’s really nothing to complain about. The quality of live entertainment was pretty good as well…
Glimpse of the live music performance at Ba Na Hills Beer Plaza during its Buffet Dinner
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Having been to Disneyland Anaheim, Universal Studios Hollywood and Busch Gardens, we can’t say that Ba Na Hills is ranked anywhere near.
However, if for its beautiful views, magical allure of the Golden Bridge as well as cheap buffet and entertainment only, it it still worth a trip. If you’ve been to Ba Na Hills, let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Stay tuned as we continue to chill and dine in Da Nang City on Day 4 of our travels in Da Nang!
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Da Nang Travel Itinerary Day 3: Day Trip to Ba Na Hills!
Da Nang Travel Itinerary Day 5: Relaxing at Seashore Hotel Da Nang and Temple Resort Da Nang
What to do in Da Nang Hoi An: 12 Things to do and Attractions in Danang and Hoi An!
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