Colonial administrators across Asia built mountain retreats to escape the lowland heat. In central Vietnam, one of them was Ba Na. Today, the site is a resort with a French-style village and a footbridge held up by giant hands, and that bridge is the image Lonely Planet chose to represent Da Nang. The route from one to the other is a short history of how tourism remade this city.

A French retreat in the clouds

French colonists established the hill station at Ba Na in 1919, according to Wikipedia. It's about 42 kilometers from Da Nang and 1,500 meters above sea level, which made it cooler than the coast. That was the whole point. Accounts of how many villas were built and how quickly the site was abandoned after the colonial era vary widely, and we couldn't find a reliable source for the details, so we won't repeat the legends.

The cable car changes the math

For most of its history, getting to Ba Na meant a long, steep road. The modern resort's turning point was the cable car, which opened on March 29, 2013. At 5,801 meters, it holds the record for the longest non-stop single-track cable car, according to Wikipedia. The date isn't a coincidence. March 29 is the anniversary of the city's 1975 liberation, the same date the Dragon Bridge opened in 2013.

The resort is run by Sun Group, which expanded it into the attraction now branded Sun World Ba Na Hills. The cable car turned a mountain into a day trip from the beach hotels.

The hands

Then came the bridge. The Golden Bridge opened in June 2018 after construction from July 2017 to April 2018, according to Wikipedia's entry on the bridge. It's a 150-meter pedestrian walkway, 5 meters wide, that appears to be held up by two giant hands made of fiberglass and wire mesh, designed to look like weathered stone. It was designed by TA Landscape Architecture, a Ho Chi Minh City firm founded by Vu Viet Anh, for Sun Group.

The bridge became one of Da Nang's signature images. When Lonely Planet named Da Nang one of its Best in Travel 2027 destinations, it chose the Golden Bridge as the feature image, VietnamPlus reported.

What it costs now

Ba Na is one of the priciest entries on the city's own price list. According to the city tourism portal's 2026 price list:

  • Non-residents: 1,000,000 dong for adults and 800,000 dong for seniors and children.
  • Da Nang residents: 650,000 dong for adults and 550,000 dong for seniors and children.
  • Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For comparison, the same list puts the Marble Mountains at 40,000 dong and My Son Sanctuary at 150,000 for international visitors. See our guides to the Marble Mountains and day trips from Da Nang.

How to think about it

Ba Na is not a historic site in the way My Son or Hoi An is. It's a privately operated mountain resort with a famous bridge, and it should be judged as one. That's not a criticism, just a description.

If you go:

  • Go early if you want the bridge with fewer people on it.
  • Check the weather. At 1,500 meters, cloud can mean no view at all, especially in the rainy season.
  • Bring a layer. It's cooler at the top than on the coast.
  • Budget for food. You're inside the resort all day.

And if what interests you is the real history of the region, put the money toward a guide at My Son and a morning at the Museum of Cham Sculpture.

Sources

This story was compiled by the Da Nang Voice news desk from the published sources listed above. Facts, figures and quotes are attributed to those sources; Da Nang Voice did not conduct interviews for it unless the text says so. Corrections are dated and noted at the top of the story. Read our corrections policy. Spotted an error? Tell us.