Marble Mountains of Da Nang

We took a trip to Marble Mountains, a series of hills made from limestone and marble with caves, temples and pagodas scattered amongst the mountains themselves. The largest cave, Huyen Kyong Cave was stunning with towering ceilings and light rays shining through lighting up the shrine inside.

Afterwards, we rode the Hai Van Pass made famous by the Top Gear Vietnam special where the three of them also rode it on scooters. Thankfully the rain held off although it was a little cloudy. Clarkson named this route “a deserted ribbon of perfection — one of the best coast roads in the world” and we could see why. This 21km mountainous road snaked through the steep hills and jungles making for some amazing views over Da Nang. This road was also a particularly important link between the cities Da Nang and Hue during the American war.

This evening we took a sunset stroll along the beach and had a surprisingly good stone baked pizza from a mobile van whilst watching a group play beach volleyball. Being coastal, Da Nang is known for its great seafood so we decided to try some fresh seafood for dinner and enjoyed scallops, king prawns and crab. It was nice but reminded us how messy and long winded seafood is to eat! Lots of restaurants had fish markets where they displayed their catches in tanks for locals to choose. Some sea creatures were huge and unfortunately many were often rammed into the tanks with little space (if any) to move.

This was our last day in Da Nang as tomorrow we ride over to neighboring Hoi An. Now this will be an interesting ride with both of us and our rucksacks on one scooter but fortunately Hoi An is only 40 minutes away.Read more