Ba Na Hills: Golden Bridge Tour with Local Guide & Pickup

4.33

(21 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I noticed was the mist — not thick, but just enough to blur the edges of those giant stone hands holding up the Golden Bridge. It felt almost unreal, like something out of a dream or maybe a movie set, except you could hear kids laughing in Vietnamese behind me and smell grilled corn somewhere nearby. Our guide, Minh, pointed out how the bridge curves gently so you see the whole valley below (if you’re not too distracted by taking photos — guilty). I tried to say “Cau Vang” properly; Minh grinned but didn’t correct me. Maybe it was close enough.

The cable car ride up Ba Na Hills is longer than I expected — about 20 minutes floating above jungle and waterfalls. My ears popped halfway up. Minh told us CNN ranked this as one of the world’s top cable cars, which made sense when we passed through clouds and suddenly saw French-style rooftops poking out below. The air was cooler at the top; I wished I’d brought an extra layer. We wandered past gardens and that big Buddha statue (27 meters tall — hard to miss), and there were bursts of music from somewhere in Sun World’s fantasy park area. It’s busy but not overwhelming; people seem happy just to be here.

Lunch was included for us — buffet style, lots of local dishes I couldn’t name but happily tried anyway (the crispy fried fish sticks in my mind). Afterward, Minh led us to a quieter spot near Linh Ung Pagoda where incense drifted on the breeze and you could see all of Da Nang city through gaps in the clouds. There’s something about being up there that makes everything below feel far away — not just distance, but time too. We took our time heading back down by cable car; nobody seemed in a rush.