Ba Na Hills – Is the Instagram famous location really worth it?

Ba Na Hills, fittingly situated in the hills near Da Nang, boasts the world’s longest cable car ride, a huge area with gardens, seemingly old buildings and fun games and rides for the whole family. But it is most well known for the “Golden Hands Bridge”, a golden bridge held up by two giant concrete hands, frequently used for Instagram pictures. So, is Ba Na Hills worth it?

TLDR: Eh. 🤷🏼

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Ba Na Hills is an amusement park. As Erica Wertheim Zohar put it in a Forbes Article from 2020 the park is “something of a cross between Disney’s Epcot, a French ski resort, and a Buddhist mountain retreat”.

Most people go there to take pictures on the Golden Hands Bridge, as mentioned above. But, when it’s foggy – and it often is, since the location is so high up – you can barely even see the bridge. I was there with a bad weather day forecast, during shoulder season, just after the Vietnamese borders had reopened after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was over and it was STILL packed.

It certainly is something to do and to meet people, or to experience one of the longest cable car rides in the world, but if you’re not keen on crowds or just taking pictures, this might not be something you want to spend your travel budget on.

The tour I took included transport between Ba Na Hills and Da Nang, entry to the park, a lunch buffet and a guide who wasn’t needed, but tried his best to be useful to both the Vietnamese and international tourists. It isn’t offered anymore, but you can easily DIY it with a round trip bus ticket from Hoi An* (for 12€) or round trip bus ticket from Da Nang* (for 7€) and buying your admission tickets to Ba Na Hills* yourself.

If you are looking to spend a day in Da Nang, visit Son Tra Peninsula and the Monkey Mountain instead, or spend the day at the beach, taking a surfing class, relaxing on a day bed and eating seafood!