We Came Back to Da Nang Vietnam… Here’s What We Found

A couple of years ago we came to a city in Vietnam that completely surprised us and honestly it quickly became one of our favorite places in the world. Da Nang had this incredible mix of things we love when we travel. A beautiful beach, amazing food, a lively atmosphere, welcoming people and a city that just felt easy to live in. It was one of those places where we could actually picture staying for a while, not just visiting. But cities change, prices change and places that feel special can sometimes lose a little bit of their magic. So this year while traveling through Vietnam again we decided to come back to Da Nang to see if it still lives up to the hype. If you're planning a trip to Da Nang we wanted to let you know what it's really like here in 2026. We were here back two years ago in 2024 and we're looking at all the things that have changed, what hasn't changed, what's better, what's worse and there's actually one thing that really surprised us. Okay so we were in Da Nang in 2024 and we really we fell in love with it. We really did. Some of our favorite things I mean it was the beach is such a highlight and it's so accessible like it's just right there like you can you don't have to stay at the beach to have the beach accessible because it's you can walk from blocks anywhere it's so long and it's such a big city but yet it's spread out and so you can kind of have these little areas that just almost feel like a little town. Yeah that's the weird part so obviously we were staying right near the beach but it just didn't feel like this massive town. Yeah and then the big promenade like yeah where everybody was and there's cafe shops and people are exercising and running. So we love walking the beach and or walking along the beach and Da Nang offers both it has a beautiful long promenade that stretches right across the beach is extremely walkable you're not on a big you know slope or angle or whichever kind of thing it just it's just really walkable. And it's so spread out so even though it's a big city because that beach is so long like it just never feels crowded like you can always walk and find a spot that's less crowded or like has more of a vibe you can find whatever you want like it was just it was like it was everything we wanted in a city. Yeah. And but we were there and it was 2024 so it was still sort of coming out of COVID still post COVID so it was pretty quiet and things were pretty affordable and so we were going back this year and like slightly nervous like is it still going to be the same. Yeah is it going to be way too touristy even though we're tourists but it's going to be way too busy and we won't enjoy it as much it's sort of what we were thinking. And another thing that we loved I mean the locals are super friendly and amazing and very very English speaking too when you're in that area by the beach anyway but also there was just so many other visitors and like expats there was Canadians and Americans and anyway it just it was almost like we had our own little community as well and that was really special I really was surprised to find that in in a big city like Danone. Yeah like I was excited that like it didn't feel like a resort town or a resort city it felt like the town was just sort of on the beach. Yeah it was amazing. Yeah it really was. Okay so there is a tourism boom happening in Vietnam we read about it we read about such an increase millions more people visiting Vietnam and specifically even Danone it's really sort of starting to be discovered. Yeah. So we were worried going back has it gotten too touristy? Yeah and it hasn't. It's obviously busier and I think busier in a good way we've seen more shops and cafes and places opened up and more people obviously but not it's not overwhelming it was a nice influx of people. Yeah it definitely did not feel like it was you were overwhelmed with tourists nothing was crowded you definitely saw more and I mean that's great for the businesses and everything in Danone of course and the people there so we were happy to see that. Definitely you're seeing more tourists from everywhere like you you know we definitely saw more tour buses you know they're so close to China to South Korea and you're seeing more of those tourists coming in but it absolutely didn't feel overrun. Not at all. That was like a huge relief for us. For sure. So of course with a tourism boom then you're wondering about the airport and Danone International Airport is actually just amazing it's big enough but it's not overwhelmingly big and tons of direct flights coming in. We came direct we didn't have to transfer in Vietnam. Yeah so I think maybe in the past you maybe had to transfer through Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi but a lot of countries have just opened up direct flights direct to Danone like my favorite is the airport's basically in the middle of the city and you know to get to the beach to get to our hotel was like a 15 minute you know grab ride. That is an amazing thing when you're arriving especially after a long travel day you know if you're coming internationally you're going to be at your Airbnb lickety split after arriving in the airport. Okay and of course one of our favorite things is food and restaurants so this had changed in a great way since 2024. Yeah like definitely a lot more places opened new places have opened up and yeah just the variety you can get anything you want of course we're in Vietnam we want Vietnamese food because that's what we love but you can find everything you want in Danone and yeah it was just nice to see more places opened up. Yeah there were places that were there before but never seemed to be open those seem to be open now there's new places there was a couple new pizza places so you know anybody wanting their western style food you're going to find that even for the the Brits and things there was like bangers and mash and there was Sunday roast we always laugh when we see those in other countries you Brits love your Sunday roast and they cater to that and then like the restaurants that were there just had more of a vibe they didn't feel as empty so not crowded and we never arrived anywhere and couldn't get a seat really but some of them were like full and that goes from like the really local affordable places our favorite banh mi spot to yeah the newer places it was just it was it was a nice vibe and there was just something for everybody and still lots of coffee like the coffee culture is alive and well and I think the coffee culture is the first thing that maybe we fell in love with when we first arrived in Danone back in 2024 it was just such a normal thing for people to show up maybe with their laptop and buy coffee and you know spend an hour working or on their laptop buying another coffee spending another hour and that's just sort of the norm there and it's accepted which is just really really nice and we fell in love with the coffee scene and it's still there and it's fantastic yeah and it's just it's so unique I mean they have nothing like going and sitting at a Starbucks is just boring compared to these beautiful cafes that they have in Vietnam and each one is so unique and different and so pleasant and you know a lot of outdoor space that's very cool and fans going and greenery and it's just outstanding and the coffee is so affordable and so delicious so yeah that has not changed it's only getting better yeah for sure okay and now of course the beach like has the beach changed is the beach still amazing yeah there aren't many cities in the world where you can walk from your hotel to the beach in a couple of minutes and still have the city behind you it's just an amazing feeling to be that close yeah it's really interesting because it's not like you have to plan a day at the beach and pack up and go there you can literally leave your hotel just walk go hang out there for an hour go back to your hotel or apartment or whatever have lunch like it's so close and it's so close it's so close for everyone because it does do that big stretch if you stay on that beach side of Da Nang for sure it is amazing yeah like it just reminds me of like Miami in Florida right so that stretch of beach and the road and all that kind of stuff it looks like A18 right and it's just such a magical place for us yeah it really is and it's clean like I do think the city is working hard and I mean all of your beach bars and everything along there really keeping the beach the promenade everything clean the promenade has kind of come up a little bit they've got some more artwork and they've they're really growing the grass there and around the trees we noticed the Da Nang beach sign had changed from the last time we were there I don't know if that's something they change yearly just to keep it keep up with the times because we had heard like there was some bad storms there a year or two ago that really ate away at some of the beach and we were worried like oh dear you know what's it going to look like but the beach is actually fabulous and there was more little um coffee places and and drink you know smoothie and ice cream spots sort of popping up than when we were there before which was nice yeah but the one big thing about the beach though it is so walkable right like I like I said before the angle the slope is really gradual it's a nice walking beach uh like you're not sinking in the sand it's hard it's so nice it's so great and so many people are running on the beach which is great and if that's not your thing you know just hop on the promenade the promenade is one of my favorite we would walk that every day maybe walk the promenade one way and walk back the beach the other way kind of thing usually whatever was the sunniest because the promenade's kind of shady it's got all those palm trees so you can get some shade so yeah beach when the sun's like behind you and then back in the shade of the promenade or it's just such an enjoyable experience yeah one of our favorites just the accessibility and the whole beach lifestyle just really works there no absolutely so I mean obviously with the increase in tourism there are more people on the beach but again this beach is so huge so I just felt like it was more lively it was more lively but not in a way that felt uncomfortable right yeah like you weren't crowded it still has the relaxed beach city feel kind of thing definitely does yeah so still ranking top notch it's yeah it's not overcrowded okay so I can really see and we ran into some people who are staying longer term here so um whether it's digital nomads um people you know expatting or just people sort of like us escaping that Canadian winter getting away snowboarding and using Da Nang as their home base for like three months maximizing that time in Vietnam no for sure but it's a nice jumping place even if you want to do some day trips or like a weekend trip to somewhere it's sort of like central right and you can get to places fairly quick but uh yeah just fantastic it really is yeah you still have that home base of again it is a big city so you can find so much you need and you know if you don't want to do the beach every day there is so much else to do there's markets inside there's the dragon bridge to go and see and there's night markets to go and see there's the river so you're you know you have the beach but then and it's actually walkable you can walk across that stretch of land and walk the river for a bit or take a riverboat cruise and so it's just like it's water water it's such a cool city yeah it really is we talk a lot about the beach because we absolutely love the beach we love the ocean we love all of that kind of stuff so that's sort of our thing but like Jen said yeah the river is there there's so many cool things to see um you know in the city core and all that so and beautiful bridges they have like a bunch of bridges stretching across that river and each one's a bit unique like they've got the dragon bridge which you know is just a favorite it's so cool but they have that i don't know the name of that bridge it looks beautiful it's just like i don't know suspension bridge it's very modern it's just yeah it's so nice and then at night when that skyline lights up i mean the beach skyline lights up by the beach but the river skyline has got some really cool buildings with all the leds on the side and the screens and all that it's actually just really really cool to see so i can definitely see why people stay long term i mean it's super walkable it is still a big city but very livable affordable just everything you want in a city to kind of stay long term because you can get in those pockets where it doesn't feel like a big crowded city and for a city pretty good air quality like you've always got that ocean breeze so you're not dealing with like those sort of city pollutants so this is just that beautiful mix yeah but also easy for especially canadians we can get our 90-day visa so easy to spend time there yes and for people who need to stay connected with that airport being so central in 20 minutes at the most you're at that airport if you need to get somewhere else in the world or in vietnam so for sure great long stay place and mitch kind of touched on this too it is a really good jumping off point so if you're staying in danong whether it be a week it's two weeks it's a month it's three months it there's some great day trips like there's places really close in danong so you've got lady buddha you've got marble mountain and then of course like we talked about the dragon bridge the markets just all the things happening within the city but it's really great for like day tripping yeah like hoi an 30 minutes away it is one of the most beautiful cities in vietnam it's so unique and it's only 30 minutes from danong i mean they're essentially the same you don't even know you've left the city when you get to hoi an and it has its own beach and just its own it's a complete complete different vibe yeah in hoi an yes and it's so cool and if you want to get your your suits made and tailored all that kind of stuff there's so many places there that do that for you just a lot of cool things happening in hoi an hoi an's very cool it's got the rice pies and you can bicycle around for sure but then there's like you can take a train or just do a day trip to hui that ancient city there's you can go up to bona hills sort of into the mountains see the famous handbridge that's been on my list for a long time and we've been there twice and we still haven't done it but definitely because we're definitely heading back next year we're definitely doing the handbridge oh like we've left so many things on the table because there is so much to do for sure so it's really yeah a really great place to base yourself i know can you tell we love it and being in southeast asia if you want to do those trips it's just so affordable to fly on the discount airlines so do it yeah okay so also you might be wondering like when is the best time to visit danong because a lot of people get this wrong when it comes to vietnam because it is a very long country that really has a lot of different climates and danong is sitting right in the center of vietnam and it's that the best time to visit is february to may because that's the dry season that's when you're getting the nice warm weather and the sea is going to be a little bit more calm i mean you can still get some small surfs for surfing for sure but you know the sea isn't going to eat you up it you know you can swim in it and whatnot so the rainy season is september to november however december and january is sort of just getting out of the rainy season it can still just be a bit cooler and just a little more overcast and then i believe like if you're looking at sort of july august it's just starting to get really hot so the best season if you're wanting the best weather is okay so we did talk about being surprised about one thing in particular and this was a happy surprise yeah so we thought that danong was going to be more expensive than it was two years ago and we were pleasantly surprised that it's not it it seems like prices are still the same as they were in 2024 our accommodations same price to get the same unit that we had before the meals eating out basically the same we went to the same our favorite bahn mi place same price we went to our breakfast place same price yeah it like really shocked by that yeah prices had pretty much just stayed the same grab rides like still super affordable it was that was one of the best surprises yeah um that we could have had because again just this is such a cool destination we thought for sure it was going to be at least a little bit more expensive and it is just so affordable yeah like i one of my big things i just love the people and i love the community in danong it just feels that you meet some other expats um and you just form some relationships and like we did some meetups we met up with some people who followed us on youtube um it was just so great to meet like-minded travelers i just really really enjoy it we also met some friends that we had met on our travels last year and when we were in turkey a and they happened to be there so it's really it's just such a great gathering place and you know people are there for a bit longer they like to stay in danong for like a month we were actually i felt sad this year we only stayed one week but we'll stay longer next time so really our final thoughts on danong i mean i think it's obvious we love it um if this all sounds amazing to you we do encourage you to go and check out danong it's uh it's just one of our favorites it's just got such a vibe yeah sometimes you go somewhere and you fall in love with that place and you wonder if i go back you know in a couple years is it going to be the same have things change will i love it as much should i go back because i don't want to you know you don't want to ruin it i don't want to ruin you know that wonderful place and danong does not disappoint in that area we came back and we loved it even more than we loved it the first time you just uh i i just can't say enough anyway if you found this video helpful uh please give us a like it really helps out the channel and uh until next time cheers and happy travels