Much has changed since the French first established Ba Na Hills as a luxury resort for the colonial elite. Today Ba Na Hills is a popular tourist destination featuring a replica of a French medieval town, a small theme park, lush gardens, striking countryside views and cool weather.
Furthermore, during the colonial years visitors used to be carried up the hill by local Vietnamese workers. Luckily times have changed, and today you’ll get there by cable car, which is the current world record holder for longest non-stop single track at 5,801 meters in length.
Best time to visit Ba Na Hills
April to August every year is the most beautiful time to travel Ba Na Hills. Around this time, Ba Na very crowded tourists to visit and the weather is also extremely convenient for enjoying the scenery. Especially, in a day, there are 4 times of change in temperature, the weather is like 4 seasons in a year of Northern Vietnam. In the early morning, Ba Na temperature is the same as Spring. At noon, Ba Na temperature is sunny as in the Summer. From 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Ba Na falls in the autumn. At night, Ba Na weather becomes colder as in the winter.
Planning your trip
Ba Na Hills is located roughly 40 minutes from central Da Nang. Strangely enough, it’s a bit of an issue to find the correct location using Google Maps – if you type in “Ba Na Hills” Google likely shows the actual resort at the top, but you want to go to the parking lot at the bottom of the hill. Therefore you should type in “Ba Na Cable Car Service Parking Lot” in Google Maps. See map below.
Actually, there’s no public transportation to Ba Na Hills. And even if it does, it makes little sense since there are far better options to get there. The following transportation options are the best way to get to Ba Na Hills
Option 1: By self-drive car/motorbike
Ba Na is about 40 km far from Da Nang city centre, you can easily drive a car/motorbike to get here in 1 hour. There are 2 routes you can choose:
- Route 1: Da Nang city centre – Duy Tan Road – Nguyen Van Linh Road – Nguyen Tri Phuong St. – Dien Bien Phu St. – national route 1A – Ba Na-Suoi Mo – see the road sign – Ba Na Hill
- Route 2: Da Nang city centre – Duy Tan Road – Nguyen Van Linh Road – Nguyen Tri Phuong St. – Le Do Road – Nguyen Tat Thanh Road – Nguyen Luong Bang/national route 1A – DT602 – see the road sign – Bana Hill
If you can use google map, you will be easy to get to Bana Hills base on this app.
Book online motorbike rental now
Option 2: By shuttle bus
A good way for getting to Ba Na Hills for solo travelers and small groups is taking a shuttle bus services. However, for taking this shuttle bus you need to go by yourself to one of the several pick up locations in My Khe Beach area or the city center.
If you are staying in Hoi An and want to visit Ba Na Hills, you don’t need to go to Da Nang for taking a shuttle bus to Ba Na Hills as there’s a shuttle bus between Hoi An and Ba Na Hills in operation.
The price is even lower when booked online here
For the Bana Hills shuttle bus to include a hotel pick-up and drop-off service, check the following service provider that is often offering a discount for online bookings.
Option 3: Private car transfer service
If you want to be more flexible about time management as well as choosing your preferred route to get to Ba Na Hills. The price above already includes wage for a driver, gasoline, parking fee and road traveling fee, passenger insurance. Families with children usually use this service for transportation to Ba Na Hills thanks to its flexibility to kids.
Click here to check prices for the private car transfer service
If you are flying to Da Nang International Airport (DAD) and want to head from the airport to Ba Na Hills directly, it is best to book a private airport transfer to ensure a smooth and hassle-free trip.
Option 4: Bana Hills tour
Many people book Ba Na Hills tour so it’s more convenient. Having a tour guide is much easier if you go on a vacation with your family. However, if you want to have more freedom, it’s better to consider going alone.
The best tour in Bana Hills
Recommended itinerary
There’s no official itinerary for Ba Na hills, and people just seem to walk around blindly. However, with this itinerary you’ll be able to cover pretty much everything worth seeing in a time efficient manner.
Bottom of the hill
After you buy your ticket (Discounts are offered when booking tickets online at Ba Na Hills Tickets), enter through the large main gate. Immediately inside you’ll find a copy of old Hoi An with some lush gardens. It’s a nice place to stroll for a while and click some photos. After you have finished exploring the gardens, continue on to the cable cars.
The hillside
In total there are three cable car lines to top, and you should use Hoi An Station for your journey up the hill. The cable car will take you to Marseille Station, where you’ll get off. Here you can spend some time exploring the many gardens, the wine cellar and Linh Ung Pagoda, especially Golden Bridge.
When you’re finished exploring this area, walk to Le Jardin station and take the funicular to D’Amour Station. Since there’s not much to see or do in this area, you can immediately walk to Debay station where you take the cable car up to Morin station.
Read more: Exploring Bana Hills Cable Car: Price, Schedule, World Records and More
Top of the hill
After you step outside Morin station, you’ll likely be amazed by the view – you’re standing in the middle of a medieval French town square, complete with churches, fountains and castles.
Next you will walk around and explore the many streets, alleys and snap photos of the impressive views. Since Ba Na Hills is very popular for weddings, you’ll likely see a lot of Vietnamese couples taking wedding photos. In addition, you also climb up the stairs to the pagodas for an even better view. From here you’ll be able to snap some panoramic photos of the medieval town. There’s even a small tea house here.
At this point it’s likely lunch time, and you can choose from many different cuisines. Here you’ll find French, Russian Turkish and even some Asian choices.
If you have children you can take them to Fantasy Park, where you’ll find many games and theme rides, especially 4D and 5D theaters.
When you’re ready to leave you should go to L’Indochine Station where you take the cable car down to the parking lot.
Read more: High-Altitude Adventure: Double Twists on the Ba Na Hills Alpine Coaster in Vietnam
What to eat in Ba Na Hills
There are a lot of restaurants in Ba Na that you can choose from such as Arapang buffet restaurant, Vietnamese restaurant, La Lavande buffet restaurant, Brasserie restaurant, bar Debay, doumer restaurant, buffet club…with all kinds of specialties from Vietnam and abroad. It will definitely help you have a good meal. However, the price of food on Ba Na Hills is quite expensive.
TIPS! As food at Ba Na Hills is quite expensive, consider buying the combination of Ba Na Hills ticket + Buffet to make it more cost effective.
Book Combo Bana HIlls Tickets Here
Where to staying in Bana Hills
Not many people stay overnight in Ba Na Hills, but it doesn’t mean that you cannot. This will absolutely be a great experience for couples or families looking for a quiet and romantic place to relax. Moreover, you can admire the sunrise and sunset here. Currently, Ba Na Hills has only one four-star hotel named Mercure Danang French Village. The hotel offers a gym, spa services, and a morning feast. Imagine sleeping on the mountain and waking up to the morning breeze, do you wish this time was everlasting?
If your budget doesn’t allow you staying at Ba Na Hills, you can stay at hotel in Da Nang City and just book a tour for visiting the place.
Tips to enjoy the best of Bana Hills
- Tickets should be booked at least one day in advance that can easily be done here: Ba Na Hills Tickets.
- Bring light: You need to walk a lot so it’s better to bring at least at you can.
- Clothes: It’s not too cold on the top of Ba Na Hills, so you only need to bring a light coat or jacket.
- Shoes: You should wear comfortable shoes or slippers because you’ll need to walk a lot.
- Ticket: You should book the ticket in advance because the ticket line is very long. Tickets are available only on the day you book. The ticket includes activities such as cable car, the train ride, the wine cellar, the French village, and almost every game in the Fantasy Park for guests to explore and enjoy.
- Time: It’s better to get there early from 8 am. It helps shorten the time waiting for the cable cars.
- Don’t go in the summer or Vietnamese national holidays: It’s full of tourist. There are 10,000 – 20,000 people per day, so you will be stuck in the flow of people and cannot enjoy anything.
- The last cable car is at 9 PM.
- Remember to bring a light jacket in winter and an umbrella in the rainy season.
Is Ba Na Hills worth a visit
Locals say if you haven’t visited Ba Na Hills, you haven’t visited Da Nang.
However, if you are used to seeing Europe and want something different, Ba Na Hills may be not your cup of tea. If you want to see the mixture between European architecture and Vietnamese temple, also hiding from the hot of Vietnam, don’t hesitate and just go.
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