Honestly, I never heard of Da Nang because whenever I hear Vietnam, I always think about Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, nevertheless, I was still excited because I can finally cross out Vietnam on our travel bucket list. My husband purchased our plane tickets, even though we don’t know our son’s schedule in school yet.
Knowing my son, he doesn’t like to be absent. Fortunately, my son is still on blended learning but unfortunately, natapat yung flight namin sa face-to-face class niya. So when his classmates asked him why he was absent, he simply said “forced vacation”. Nakakaloka, nag-enjoy naman siya sa forced vacation na ito.
5 Days in Da Nang Vietnam
A month before our trip, the event that my husband was supposed to attend in Da Nang was canceled so we had the option to go or not. Of course, we wanted to pursue the trip because even though we have travel insurance, the reason is not valid for a refund. Also, we are looking forward to this trip.
Then a week before our trip, I checked the weather and I was a little bit disappointed because all I could see was rain showers. Why oh why? This is a 5 days trip and wala talagang araw? Well, no matter how we plan our trip, we have no control over the weather. As Sir Ranulph Fiennes said, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” so I packed clothes for rainy weather.
Day 1 Manila to Da Nang + Hoi An Tour
At the time of our trip, there was no direct flight yet from Manila to Da Nang so even though Vietnam is a few hours away from Manila, we traveled for more than 14 hours.
Manila to Ho Chi Minh City via Philippine Airlines - 2hrs and 45mins
Layover 5hrs and 25mins
Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang via Vietnam Airlines - 1hr and 20mins
We had an arranged transport service from the airport to the hotel and vice versa so our travel was very convenient. There is no traffic but it took us more than 30 minutes to reach the hotel.
Sheraton Grand Da Nang is really a grand hotel, even though I’ve seen photos of the hotel, napa-wow pa rin ako nung nakita ko. This deserves a separate post.
Hoi An Tour
Prior to our trip, I was checking different tours on Klook website but my husband informed me na may nag-aarranged na ng tour so it is up to us if we will join or not. When I saw the rate and inclusions, okay naman. All we need to do is prepare USD for payment.
Hoi An Tour for $35 per person
Inclusion: tour guide, transportation, dinner, entrance fee, and tips
- Hoi An Ancient Town
- Guang Dong Assembly Hall
- Japanese Bridge
- Night Market
- Lantern Festival
- Dinner at a local restaurant
The hotel pick-up time for this trip is 3PM but because of our late arrival, we could not make it. But we wanted to join this tour so kahit namiss na namin yung ibang tourist spots, okay lang. The tour guide fetched us at 6PM and we traveled to Hoi An. Our tour lasted until 9:30PM so it was really a long day for us.
Day 2 Sheraton Grand Da Nang
We did not join the Hue City Tour because we wanted to recharge and rest. #signsofaging hehehe! But I will share the itinerary, just in case you are planning a trip.
Hue City Tour - $69 per person
Inclusion: tour guide, transportation, lunch, seafood dinner, entrance fee, and tips
- Stop at Hai Van Pass, Lap An for photos
- Visit Thien Mu Pagoda; the oldest pagoda in Hue
- Visit the Imperial Citadel; one of Vietnam’s seven UNESCO World Heritage sites.
- Visit Khai Dinh King’s Tomb; the tomb of the 12th king of the Nguyen Dynasty
- Lunch and seafood dinner at a local restaurant
For our second day, we just explored the hotel, ate and rested.
Day 3 Ba Na Hill Tour
From what I’ve read, your Da Nang trip is incomplete if you did not visit Ba Na Hill so we made sure that we joined this tour. When I saw the pictures online, I was so excited about this trip but unfortunately, we were not able to appreciate the beauty of this place because of the fog and rain. But of course, we won’t allow the bad weather to ruin our trip so we still try to enjoy our vacation despite the gloomy weather.
Ba Na Hill - $70 per person
Inclusion: tour guide, transportation, lunch, entrance fee, and tips
- Golden Bridge
- Linh Ung Pagoda
- Flower Garden
- Fantasy Park
- French Village
- Wine Cellar
- International buffet lunch
After our tour, we had no time to rest because we needed to prepare for our International Buffet Dinner at Table 88. Overflowing of food and drinks. #foodcoma #hangover
Day 4 Sheraton Grand Da Nang
We did not schedule a tour on this day because we wanted to savor our remaining days in the hotel. Like our tour guide said, we need to enjoy our hotel because it is one of the most beautiful hotels in Da Nang.
Finally, we saw Mr. Sunshine and we had a good time with the famous infinity pool, pwede nga magkayak sa sobrang laki.
After lunch, we were supposed to go out and buy pasalubong at Lotte Mart but it started to rain again so tinamad na kami lumabas. I packed our stuff while my husband registered us to e-travel. It is one of the requirements if you are flying back to the Philippines.
Day 5 Da Nang to Manila
On our last day in Vietnam, we checked out as early as 5AM so sayang ang buffet breakfast. We requested packed meals na lang so we had something to eat and drink while waiting at the airport.
Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City via Vietnam Airlines - 1hr and 20mins
Layover 4hrs and 10mins
Ho Chi Minh City via Philippine Airlines - 3hrs
It was a long trip, imagine umalis kami ng madaling araw sa Vietnam and dumating na kami ng gabi sa Manila. It was long and tiring but we were happy, Da Nang was not on our bucket list but this place surprised us and we were happy for the opportunity to visit this place.
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