Hi all,

Did anyone visited Cham Island before? a snorkeling/diving islands which opposite Hoi An.
How the views undersea?

just got back from there
1 thing i notice that is super different in danang is it seems that the ppl there are rich compared to saigon and hanoi
got big C there in danang and hue, lotteria, lotte mart as well
and there is actually someone eating inside lotteria
and i saw tons of BMW, MERC, jaguar and even BMW i8 there that i don't even see in saigon/hanoi

These are my itinerary to Danang, Hoi an & Hue

30th Sept – Hoi An
1st Oct – Hoi An
2nd Oct – Hoi An -> Hue
3rd Oct – Hue -> Da nang
4th Oct – Da nang
5th Oct – Da nang
6th Oct - Back

Day 1

Upon arrival at danang international airport, i took a Shuttle bus to Hoi an(this is the cheapest form of transport i can find to hoi an other than the troublesome bus)

After arriving at Hoi an, i checked into my hotel(Ivy hotel hoi an) and dropped my bags 1st, location wise is fantastic..it is just next to the ancient town and a stone away from the night market but some of it's appliances doesn't work and breakfast is just meh due to the number of people staying there

After dropping my bags, i walked to the nearest booth to purchased my entrance ticket for the ancient town
there are actually many entrance to the ancient town that is unguarded but you wouldn't want to be caught without a ticket when they requested for 1 when they doing spotcheck
the ticket is 120k VND and includes 4 ticket that enables you to enter any 4 of the many halls, temples and museum in hoi an..maps is provided to you alongside with the ticket
This is my view at the ticket booth(1 of the entrance/exit of ancient town)


After having my ticket, i walked to 09 Shoe Shop to custom made my working shoe, you can custom made many things that is leather in hoi an. From shoes, to jacket to hats to wallet and bags, they also custom made shirt, pants, suits, dresses.
I paid 1.7Mil VND for my shoes, it cost almost the same as shoes sold in branded shop but this is custom made to fit your feet and made using good quality leather, overall it's worth it

After having my feet measured, i walked to madam khanh to eat their banh mi for late lunch..it is said to be the 1 out of 2 most delicious banh mi in hoi an

Price is 20k/banh mi with everything in it

After finishing my banh mi, i stroll around 1 of the many streets in ancient town






After reaching the end, i decided to go to the mia coffee shop. It is said to be better than Hoi an roastery
Decided to kill some time here since it's almost 6PM already


After relax for awhile and finish my coffee, i walked back and the lanterns in town has started to light up which is extremely beautiful

For dinner, i decided to go to "old garden restaurant"
ordered their white rose, cao lao and mi quang that is only available in hoi an due to the water used to make it

White rose

Cao lao

Mi quang

Cao lao for me tasted good but mi quang on the other hand for me is totally tasteless, not sure is this particular shop's problem or what but it is totally tasteless..not malaysian friendly
Price : Mi quang(30k), White rose(30k), Cao lao(50k)

After finishing up my dinner, decided to walk to the hoi an night market
Along the way, u can see the night light and lanters game are in full swing which is extremely beautiful




Reaching the bridge that connect the ancient town to the night market


The lanterns and instagram game at the night market is seriously strong
Tons of insanely beautiful lanterns and statues, you can basically insta all you want here






After that i walked back to the hotel and call it a day

Very nice your sharing..next trip go where? i go wait for your post. haha

will post the rest 1 by 1
next trip will be mid january, destination unknown
end of february is yogyakarta, this one confirmed

day 2

Woke up to a rainy morning, at least i have planned to rent a bicycle and ride it to an bang beach
but sadly it rain almost throughout the day and it rained heavily especially when i'm walking around ancient town around 9-10AM
Since the ticket granted everyone 5 entry to any of the many museum and temples in hoi an
1st stop is museum of folklore




after walking around the museum of folklore...it was already around 10.30 and my custom made shoes fitting is scheduled to be on 11AM
i head over to 09 shoe shop, reach near 11AM but they inform me there is delay and ask me to come back 1 hour later
With an hour to kill, i headed to the famous black sesame soup(Xi ma phu) stall that is nearby there...it's somewhere at the opposite road of Hoi an orphanage and Catholic Cathedral
Can't miss here because the drum of her stall will also write "xi ma phu"



Price is 10k/bowl

it is a bliss to be eating a hot bowl of xi ma phu when it just rained and the weather is cool
After walking around there to kill time, i return back to the shop for fitting and picking my shoes
After pick up my shoes, i walk to Bánh Mì Phượng for lunch, the other most delicious banh mi shop in hoi an
and there was a queue outside it but no worries because the queue move quite fast







Price is 25k/each banh mi

After finishing our lunch, we hit a few more temples and museum around hoi an while completing our walk throughout the whole hoi an ancient town




We bought this drink when we're walking, they call it "mut", for me it's basically our calamansi juice but it's not sour at all, 10k/cup


Before you know it, it's already dinner time
For our last meal in hoi an, we settled for Cao lầu Không Gian Xanh
We ordered Bun thit nuong, Cao lau and wanton soup(which actually came with noodle)
and this shop's cao lau is the best i've eaten, way better than the previous one
no need to say about bun thit nuong because this dish is basically my favorite dish in the whole vietnam..it's a must order for me








After finishing our meal, we walked around the ancient town and the night market which opens everyday to see if there is anything we wanted to buy before we leave
After that we went back to the hotel and call it a day because we need to wake up early tomorrow for our hoi an to hue drive through hai van pass

Day 3

Today we've booked a private car to take us from Hoi an to Hue
https://www.transfertohoian.com/tour/transp...ue-private-car/

First stop will be marble mountain which is like 15-20 minutes from Hoi an town only
The entrance ticket for marble mountain is 40k VND/person
There is an option an elevator for 15k VND/person but i don't think it's worth it
I always saw blogs mentioning there is an elevator that takes you to the top
Apparently it only eliminates the 1st fleet of stairs from your journey only so it's totally not worth it at all

This is the only stairs that you eliminate using the elevator


Upon reaching up by stair, this will greet you first




If you chose to go up using elevator, you'll be greeted by this first


These are all the attraction at the same level and you'll be able to enjoy it by walking around
After that, we'll have to climb more steps going up


After passing that hole, you'll reach a place where you can do some rock climbing should you want to
At the place of where they're doing rock climbing, turn left...there is an entrance to a cave
THIS cave entrance is actually a gateway to the top of marble mountain and it's not an easy climb should you want to proceed
it's tight and tricky inside and apparently not a lot of people chose to do it and just keep walking straight
Should you chose to do it, once you've entered the cave, you'll be greeted by this


just keep going forward and eventually you will reach the top


The view on top should be quite spectacular if the weather is good but unfortunately it was raining when i was there
and that adds up the difficulty to reach the top more
Once you reach the top, there is another way down on the other side
NEVER EVER go down the way you went up because it's too dangerous, you could get hurt based on the position of those rocks

After u reach bottom, it's actually the same place where you entered the cave if you walk back abit
Continue forward and you'll enter a another cave
This cave basically has a temple in it and the lighting is


This will greet you at the end of the cave




The whole marble mountain can be finish in about 2 hours

Next stop will be cham museum which is in danang
Entrance ticket is 60k VND/person
It's basically a museum full of ancient scupture






After cham museum comes the main highlight of the day which is hai van pass itself
It's a must do trip when in danang/hoi an when going to hue
my advice is do not go by bus because they will just use the hai van tunnel which has nothing to see
1st pitstop


Further up


the legendary bend at the top


The view from on top


After that you start going down and you'll reach lang co beach

After reaching hue, i decided to drop off my bags at my hotel 1st, i stayed at poetic hue which is walking distance to the truoung tien bridge
After dropping my bags, i went to the nearby huetourist office to buy my bus ticket for the next day because that is the only company that has bus that will go danang at 4PM
The train and other buses will leave really early(before noon) or too late at 7PM which doesn't suit my plan because i have a tour early morning next day that will end at 2PM and i don't want to waste another day staying at hue
The bus ticket are 150k VND/each
Upon purchasing my ticket, i walked to truoeng tien bridge
This is the bridge that connects the south and north island of hue
North side consist of market and the imperial city
South side is where all the restaurant, supermarkets and hotels are
This is the park near the bridge


This is truong tien bridge in broad daylight


I walked over the bridge and walked back because i can't seem to find the food area in dong ba market
After i walked back, it's dinner time so i proceed to hanh restaurant where they have a 120k VND set that let u sample 5 vietnamese dish at once
This place is full of tourist and locals, it's not a pure tourist business

Banh Beo




Banh cuon thit nuong


Banh khoai


Nem lui


Nem ran



This place is packed with people

After my meal in hanh restaurant, we headed to Che Hem for dessert to wash it down
This place is super local because there is absolutely no tourist here and there is no english menu
If you ask for an english menu, there is however someone that will vaguely tell you what do they have
price is 10k VND flat for every che they have




The way they serve it here is different because they separate the che and the ice, you have to add it yourself
whereas other places will come mixed for you


After finishing our dessert, we walk back to the bridge area because i've been told there is a night market there
But end up i regretted it and don't recommend people doing so because the night market is super short, it's practically a few stalls that you can finish in 5 minutes
You're better off going somewhere else like the big C
Here is a picture of truong tien bridge at night


After relaxing and killing some time at the bridge area, we headed back hotel and call it a day since there will be a tour early tomorrow morning

How much return flight ticket kl to danang? Is 450 reasonable for AA?

Return all in Rm450 is .

that's expensive
should be RM300 max

Rm300 ??? Damn ...

ya, mine is under 300 under promo
but if u can afford 450, ok lah since u get to visit 3 cities at once

How long in advance you need to book for those price or the promo happen every now and then.

oh i buy my tix way way wayyyy before the departure date

to aim AA cheap tix, there are only 2 period
1. abt 1 year before on those free seat promo
2. 1-2 months before departure date(last minute travel)

This post has been edited by MR_alien: Nov 13 2018, 07:33 PM

Which is the best option for solo traveler to travel from Danang to Hoi An? Am thinking of grab..

Is there any good hotel/resort within walking distance to the pink church?