Ba Na Hills Da Nang – What to See and Play There – Local Tips

Is it always hot in Danang during summer? The answer is yes, but no – not everywhere. If Danang is one of your next destinations, make sure you don’t miss Ba Na Hills.

Located at 1,487m above sea level, Ba Na Hills is special for its unique weather. Travelers can feel the changes of 4 seasons just within a day there. That’s why Ba Na Hills is considered the “green lung” or “The Pearl of Climate” of Central Vietnam. 

Since the very first day, Ba Na Hills has always been a top bucket list option for every traveler to Danang City. After enjoying Hoi An lanterns, let’s off to Ba Na Hills to behold the magnificent view from the Golden Bridge and French Village.

Whether or not you have ever been to Ba Na Hills, this post is for you. Let’s follow my steps to explore the history of Ba Na Hills, what’s there to see and do, and why it’s worth visiting. 

History of Ba Na Hills Da Nang

Before 1945  

Captain Debay was the discoverer of Ba Na Hills in 1901. He found it an ideal place to build a resort in a peaceful atmosphere and beautiful weather. 

Source: VTC

Later, in 1911, the Governor General of Indochina proposed Ba Na Hills to be a forest reserve. In 1919, Beisson became the first person to design and build a resort here. 

The roads to Ba Na were also completed in 1928, making it easier to travel to the mountains. Since then, Ba Na Hills has attracted more and more visitors – most of them were Vietnamese and French government officials. It was one of the most popular destinations in Indochina at that time. 

After Vietnam Declared Its Independence in 1945

After the revolution in 1945, Ba Na was fading away in people’s minds. Also, the locals implemented the scorched-earth policy at the time. They destroyed most of the buildings in Ba Na, leaving it abandoned for almost half a century. 

It wasn’t until 1998 that the People’s Committee of Danang rebuilt Ba Na into a resort with facilities and activities to attract tourists. Ba Na Hills was then under the management of Sun Groups from 2007 to renovate the whole area and promote it to be back on the bucket list of travelers all over the world. 

To bring the best and most unique experiences to visitors and make it convenient to access different areas in Ba Na Hills, Sun Group launched the cable car system in 2009. Following that were many other points of interest, such as the French Village, flower gardens, and Fantasy Park year after year.

From 2014 until 2019, Ba Na Hills was continuously honored in the Vietnam Tourist Awards. Ba Na Hills has been the pride of the Vietnamese generally and the locals particularly ever since. 

Enough about history, let’s find out what’s there that you haven’t known about Ba Na Hills in the next part. 

Name Origin of Ba Na Hills

Are you curious about what “Ba Na” means? Who defined the name “Ba Na” for the area? There’ve been stories and rumors about the origin of this name. 

The first theory was that when the French set foot in the area, the hills were covered with bananas, so they called it “Ba Na” – similar to “banane” meaning “bananas” in English. 

Some locals believed the name originated from a local ethnic group in the area – Ba Na, whereas there was a legend that the name is a short form of “Ba Thien Y A Na” –  the Ponagar Goddess to honor her.

Thanks to those stories, Ba Na Hills has always been appealing to people with not only its natural beauty but also its name origin. 

Ba Na Hills’ Records

Ba Na Cable Car Network – The Cable Car System that Holds the Most Guinness Records in the World 

The Ba Na Cable Car network was launched in 2013 with 3 routes and 2 more routes in 2017. Out of all the routes, Route 3 from Toc Tien Waterfall to L’Indochine Station, after 420 days of construction and completion, has won 4 Guinness World Records: 

• The Longest Nonstop One-Wire Cable Car at 5,771 meters. 
• The Longest Cable Roll at 11,587 meters.
  The Heaviest Cable Roll at 141,21 tons. 
• The Highest Altitude Difference between the Departure and Destination Station at 1,368 meters. 

The Largest Indoor Amusement Park in Vietnam

Fantasy Park – the total area of which is 21,000 m2 – is the largest indoor amusement park with entertaining and exciting games for children and families. It’s not exaggerating to say that it’s heaven for your kids. 

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Source: SunWorldBaNaHills

How to Get to Ba Na Hills

Ba Na Hills lies around 35 kilometers away to the Western North of Danang. Even though Ba Na is in a mountainous area, you can easily follow one of those 2 routes below to get there.

• Option 1 – Ba Na – Suoi Mo

• Option 2 –  Highway 14B

Your destination will be at the foot of Ba Na Hills where you will need to buy the entrance ticket – which will be mentioned in detail in the next part.

In favor of the traffic in Danang and enjoying nature on the way to Ba Na Hills, it’s best to ride a scooter. However, make sure you have your phone with data so that you can check Google Maps.

If you travel in a group of 4 or so with your friends, you can take a two-way taxi with quite a reasonable fare. 

How to Buy Ba Na Hill Cable Car Ticket? 

You can easily grab a ticket to Ba Na Hills via the official website of Ba Na Hills. 

Click here to choose the destination as “Ba Na Hills” and the preferred date to book the ticket. 

Other ways are:

• To buy the tickets directly at the kiosks on Ba Na Hills, but you will have to wait for a while
• To reserve via local travel agencies, traveloka.com or klook.com. 

Ba Na Hills Entrance Fees

Below are the current entrance fees to Ba Na Hills. 

	Adults	Children (1m – 1.4m)
Vietnamese from Other Regions and International Guests	VND 850,000	VND 700,000
Local Guests	VND 550,000	VND 450,000
* Children under 1m are free of charge.  *The ticket price is inclusive of the two-way cable car, hiking train at Le Jardin, and free access to Fantasy Park and Moon Castle.

The most hassle-free option? Join a private tour to Ba Na Hills with Phoebe and Besties! Our local besties will show you the best of Ba Na Hills, including paths to avoid crowds and nice restaurants for lunch!

When to Visit Ba Na Hills

Whenever you’re in the mood for travel, Ba Na Hills welcomes you. You can travel to Ba Na Hills all year round. 

The best time to visit Ba Na Hills would be from February until August – the dry season of the year. 

It’s around 17-20 degrees Celsius at the time. It’s obvious that you can enjoy a full view of Danang City, the green mountain range surrounding Ba Na Hills with a crystal clear and blue sky. 

If you’d love to admire how beautiful it is when Ba Na Hills is under the coat of bell-shaped peach blossoms, mid-Jan until early March is the best. At that time, other plants and trees are also in their phase of sprouting. 

How about visiting Ba Na Hills during the rainy season? Ba Na Hills is just beautiful in another way with floating clouds and sudden drizzles during the day. 

Don’t forget to bring comfortable walking shoes, light jackets, and scarves as it might get colder in the afternoon when the weather drops down to 13-15C.   

Things to Do at Ba Na Hills

Ba Na Hills is really huge, which makes you feel that it’s impossible to discover the whole area within a day. There are “numerous” activities to join, shows to watch, and things to do.

Many travelers got confused because of the cable car system and the interlinking areas in Ba Na Hills. If that’s ever been the reason you hesitate to go there, let me be the guide. Highlights at Ba Na Hills

Cable Car System with 4 Guinness Records

The cable car system at Ba Na Hills was designed and constructed by Austria’s Doppelmayr and Switzerland’s CWA Construction Company. 

Source: SunWorldBaNaHills

One fact that you may not believe is that the whole cable car system at Ba Na Hills can seat up to 6,500 passengers per hour. “Yes, it’s not a typo error – more than 6K people per hour!”

Cable cars are the only way to travel from the foot of Ba Na Hills to other areas of the complex. There are currently 6 cable routes as below (2022 update): 

Ba Na Hills Cable Car Group 1 

• Route 1: Hoi An – Marseille (Operating time: 07:30 – 17:00)

Hoi An station (no.5 – Ba Na Hills map) is the first station to start your trip after you buy the ticket. Before taking the cable car, you can take a rest after the ride from the city with a drink. 

The destination of this route is Marseille station (no.18 – Ba Na Hills map). 

Located just right at Thien Thai Garden is the famous Golden Bridge (no.20 – Ba Na Hills map) which is hunted by millions of travelers, TikTokers, and Instagrammers.

From here, you can also take the unique hiking train at Le Jardin (no.13 – Ba Na Hills map), and reach D’amour station (no.12 – Ba Na Hills map).

• Route 2: Bordeaux – Louvre

Back to Marseille station, take the next cable car at Bordeaux station, and you will reach the top of Ba Na Hills – where Fantasy Park is located.

From there, you can reach the wine cellar, Linh Ung Pagoda and the flower garden.

Ba Na Hills Cable Car Group 2 

• Route 3: Ba Na – Suoi Mo

From the foot of the mountain, Ba Na station (no.18 – Ba Na Hills map) is the second way for you to reach the top. 

At this station, you can visit the historic Debay Wine Cellar.

The destination of this route is Suoi Mo station (no.08 – Ba Na Hills map). 

• Route 4: Debay – Morin (Operating time: 07:30 – 17:00)

There’s a small transit from the previous route. 

Take the cable car at Debay station to reach the top of Ba Na Hills at Morin station.

Ba Na Hills Cable Car Group 3 

Route 5: Toc Tien Waterfall – L’Indochine (Operating time: 12:30 – 17:00)

This longest non-stop route in the world will take you directly from the bottom to the French Village. (It’s the route that won 4 Guinness Records that you read in the previous section of this post.)

Ba Na Hills Cable Car Group 4

Route 6: Champa station – French Village (Operating time: 7:30 – 17:00)

The Holy Linh Ung Pagoda

There are 3 Linh Ung Pagodas in Danang, and the one on Ba Na Hills was the second one to be built. Together with the other 2 Linh Ung Pagodas on the Marble Mountains and Son Tra Peninsula, they form the spiritual triangle that is believed to protect Danang City from disasters.  

To Buddhists, the temple is one of the largest in the city at an altitude of nearly 1,500 meters. You can witness the breathtaking meditating Buddha statue on a lotus base at 33 meters high covered in clouds.

Golden Bridge

Introduced to the public in 2018, Golden Bridge was rapidly on the first pages of local and international newspapers. It was voted by Times Magazine as one of the top attractive destinations in the world in the same year.  

It has brought a huge impact on the growth of Sun World Ba Na Hills with its impressive appearance and design. The way the giant hands show up from nowhere in the middle of nature looks like an enormous delicate silk band resting on the mountain. 

Because of its reputation, be prepared that there might be hundreds of people at the time of your visit. However, if you manage to get there early on the first cable car, you can certainly grab an amazing picture of your little self in beautiful nature. 

French Village

The French Village is one of the must-see places in Ba Na Hills, especially if you’re a photoholic. 

The French Village’s a replica of classical France in the 20th century with a square, cathedral, village and inns.

In the French Village, you will find

• St Denis Church with impressive texture on the colored glass door that will take you to the wonderland.
• Chateau De Chenonceau Castle where you can grab the view of Ba Na from the windows. Imagine how dreamy it is.
• Apremont sur Allier Village with a modest and peaceful vibe that will comfort you. 
• The square where you will have the opportunity to join different festivals and watch entertainment shows.

Fantasy Park

People usually consider Fantasy Park as DisneyWorld of Vietnam because of how large it is. The park theme is based on the two novels “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. 

There are more than 100 kinds of indoor and outdoor games for all ages from shooting, driving, dancing, or even extreme ones. Besides, there are also attractions, 3D, 4D or 5D cinemas that bring you brand-new experiences that you can hardly find anywhere in Vietnam. 

Exciting enough? Hold on tight. Do you ever visit a Wax Museum where you have the chance to meet the wax replicas of celebrities? 

You know what to expect here – yes, there’s one in the Fantasy Park and trust me, you might be freaked out because of how real the wax statues are. 

Grand Cascade

Just recently, in 2022, Ba Na Hills just brought Grand Cascade to the public. If you’re a fan of Greek mythology, I’m sure you will be crazy about this. 

Grand Cascade is a cluster of 40 artistic life-size sculptures of Greek Gods, from Apollo, Athena to Poseidon. Imagine how spectacular it is, you must be feeling like you’re in a real Olympus. 

With the dream of bringing the world to Vietnam and bringing Vietnam to the world, Ba Na Hills created the cluster based on the Grand Cascade in the Peterhof Palace. 

The highlight of the cluster is the Sun God Helios in the center riding the chariot. Observed from a distance, it looks like the horses are running strongly on the water surface. 

100-Year-Old Debay Wine Cellar 

Debay Wine Cellar was built in 1923 by French colonialists. Remember Captain Debay? Yes, it’s named after him. 

The wine cellar is nearly 100 years old, storing many precious and ancient French wines. The temperature in the cellar is between 16-20 degrees Celsius to preserve the wine quality. 

Just right inside the cellar, you can try French wine at the bar.

What to Eat on Ba Na Hills

“Only with food can one achieve enlightenment” – it truly is. Discovering Ba Na Hills might seem tiring at some points, so you’ll want to boost your energy with food. 

• Light food at food stalls: walking around Ba Na Hills, you will find some food stalls or stops where you can have some light food, ice cream, cakes or skewers. 
• Buffet at Ba Na Hills: Buffets give you a wide range of choices for your meal at a reasonable price. There are several restaurants serving regional buffets. Check out the next section to know which one is the right fit for you. 
• À La Carte: Besides buffets, you can also sit down and enjoy your meal with an a la carte menu. Just so you know, it might be a bit more pricey, so you might want to consider this upon planning your budget. 

Restaurants at Ba Na Hills

1. Brasserie Restaurant – Italian & Korean Cuisines

• Opening time: 09:00 A. M – 07:00 P. M
• Food choices:
  • Italian food – pasta, pizzas or spaghetti.
  • Korean food – kimbap, kimchi or Korean grilled food. 
• Location: No.35 – Ba Na Hills map

2. Doumer Restaurant – BBQ

• Opening time: 09:00 A. M – 04:30 P. M
• Food choices: Grilled & stir-fried food, European food. 
• Location: No.15 – Ba Na Hills map

3. Morin Restaurant – Traditional Vietnamese Cuisine

• Opening time: 06:30 A. M – 10:00 P. M
• Food choices: Traditional Vietnamese food
• Location: No.29 – Ba Na Hills map

4. Kavkaz Restaurant – Russian Cuisine

• Opening time: 09:00 A. M – 04:30 P. M
• Food choices: Russian food – salad, beef, grilled lamb, and Pelmeni. 
• Location: No.26 – Ba Na Hills map

5. La Lavande – Vietnamese Regional Buffet

• Opening time: 11:00 A. M – 03:00 P. M
• Food choices: Vietnamese regional foods
• Location: No.39 – Ba Na Hills map

Events and Festivals

There are exciting events and festivals at Ba Na Hills throughout the year. You can always check out the latest news on Ba Na Hills official website. 

Flower Festival

Time: Spring – February and March

The flower festival usually takes place during Lunar New Year Holiday. It’s an annual festival where travelers can admire the magnificent beauty of the green nature adorned with various colors from tulips, roses, bell-shaped peach blossoms, or chamomiles. 

Carnival Festival

Time: April – September

The festival originated from the story of future robots’ time travel to the future. More than 100 European artists and dancers will join the performance, letting you blend in with a European festival atmosphere. 

Wine Festival

Time: May

Wine Festival is the dream of oenophiles because they can enjoy free wine during the event, and also have the chance to learn about how ancient people used to produce wine. 

B’estival

Time: June – September

B’estival brings you the excitement of Germany with millions of liters of beer and traditional performances. It’s been one of the favorite festivals at Ba Na Hills for international visitors since the first day.

Halloween

Time: October

It’s trick-or-treat time! It’s Halloween “parties” instead of “a” Halloween party because Ba Na Hills runs the event during the whole month. Of course, you’re more than welcome to put on your favorite costumes and check in at those amazing points at Ba Na Hills.

Winter Festival

Time: Christmas

The Winter Festival is to celebrate Christmas at Ba Na Hills. During those days, it’s colder than in the city and in the scene of French Village, you might find yourself waiting for Santa Clause in a real European country.

Source: DanangFantasticCity

Can I Stay at Ba Na Hills Overnight?

Most travelers visit Ba Na within a day. Meanwhile, some wish to stay there overnight. And if you’re wishing for the same thing, then the answer is “Yeep!”. 

There are several hotels on Ba Na Hills with comfortable rooms and top-notch services. On the next day, you can wake up early and enjoy the Golden Bridge without being cloaked in the crowd.

You are sure to love Ba Na Hills in a very different way – more peaceful and more mysterious with fewer people. 

Tips to Visit Ba Na Hills

• Arrive at Ba Na Hills as early as possible to enjoy it without people. Hopping on the first cable car is ideal. 
• Check the weather 3-4 days before your trip.
• Bring your camera, sunscreen, cap, some cash, and ID card. 
• Grab a light jacket with you as the weather in Ba Na switches from hot to cold very fast. 
• Wear sneakers, trainers, and comfortable shoes as you might walk a lot. If you travel with kids, take a stroller with you. 
• Book a hotel and stay overnight, so you can experience the beauty of Ba Na Hills to the fullest. 

Discover Fantastic Ba Na Hills with Phoebe and Besties!

If you’re looking for Disneyland in Vietnam, or the well-known Golden Bridge that the world’s talking about, or a unique experience during your trip to Vietnam, Ba Na Hills is the best answer to the question mark in your head. 

The next step is to take your journal and plan for the trip. Feeling lazy? Phoebe and Besties, with nice cars and lovely local friends, are here to take care of your discovery from A-Z.

Frequently Asked Questions