Much has changed since the French first established Bana Hills as a luxury resort for the colonial elite. Today Bana 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 Bana Hills
April to August every year is the most beautiful time to travel Bana 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
Bana 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 “Bana 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 Bana 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 Bana 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.
You might be interested: Guide to Motorbike Rental in Da Nang
Option 2: By taxi, grab
This is the most convenient way to get to Ba Na from Da Nang but the cost is also the most expensive. You will have to pay about 300,000 VND/one-way to get to Bana Hills from Da Nang centre and 200,000 VND for the return trip. Also, to avoid scams, you should choose a well-known taxi brand:
- Mai Linh Taxi: +84 236 352 5252
- Song Han Taxi: +84 236 372 7272
- Tien Sa Da Nang Taxi: +84 236 379 7979
- Vinasun Taxi: +84 236 368 6868
There is a new service that recently launched at the Da Nang International Airport – Dichungtaxi (shared Taxi). By booking your taxi on their site, the system will send your booking information to drivers and have them pick you up. You can share the taxi with other people heading the same way by choosing the “share” option. If not, you can always take the “private” taxi as usual. This new service is potentially cheaper than other normal options and can also help you avoid being scammed since their pricing is fixed based on the package you select.
Option 3: Private car transfer service
Click here to check prices for the private car transfer service
If you want to be more flexible about time management as well as choosing your preferred route to get to Bana 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 Bana Hills thanks to its flexibility to kids.
Option 4: Bana Hills tour
Many people book Bana 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 Bana 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 Bana 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: Hoi An Coconut Forest – Enjoying the Basket Boat Rides on the River
What to eat in Bana 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 Hill is quite expensive.
Where to staying in Bana Hills
Not many people stay overnight in Bana 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, Bana 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?
Tips to enjoy the best of Bana Hills
- 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 Bana 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, Bana 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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