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Hi everyone – My wife, my 18 y.o. son and I are currently planning our first trip to Vietnam (late Apr – early May), and like most people, we are very excited about it. I would like to ask a couple of specific questions about Ba Na Hills, and would appreciate your valuable insights and experiences. I have been reading a lot of posts and replies in the group, but couldn’t find much about these particular questions.For us, it’s not about whether to go or not (we have decided to go), but rather about different options. Is it worth staying the night at the Mercure hotel there, or would we be better off just doing a day trip? Are there any benefits to staying the night at the resort? We have heard that you can get early access to the Golden Bridge before it’s open to the public and that there might also be special illumination or light shows at night. So, your valuable experiences would be very much appreciated.And if we decide to do a day trip only, I understand there are shuttle buses you can take (but most likely with a fix schedule). Or could you hire a private car for an early morning ride, and return at a later time at night?Thank you 🙏
Hi everyone – My wife, my 18 y.
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Day trip with private driver suited us, don’t see the point in staying in the hotel unless there is something special to enjoy out of hours
To be honest, I live here but I have never stayed overnight at the Mercure. However, as a local photographer, I highly recommend staying there for one big reason: the crowd.
Probably more convenient to stay at the Mercure, we thought about it but they only seemed to have a family room with double bunkbeds for the 4 of us so we decided it was too pricey for bunkbeds. We got up early and got a grab from Hoi An. Got there before 9 and straight to the bridge, it wasn’t a crowded as I’d expected, May might be different. Most of the grab drivers don’t want to go one way especially from Hoi An so they will wait all day for you and you just come back down when you are ready. Ours had a 3 hour nap! Weather was perfect but clouds were rolling in by early/mid arvo so visibility not so great. You can get a grab or private driver very easily. I’d skip the buffet lunch too. This was last week.
Yes, smart thing to do if you’re only there for that hand photo, then book a night there to do that… Not good if you enjoy sleeping early (10 PM). Book the rest of your stay elsewhere for your remaining days unless you enjoy noise pollution at night.
We went 7 years ago, before BaNa Hills was completed. The bridge was packed with people and it was impossible to take a photo on it without a cast of hundreds, but we still had a great day. On Friday of this week we are going back to stay overnight this time. Guests of Mercure get priority access to the cable car and, as everybody else has said, early access to the bridge in the morning and after day guests have departed. We think it will be worth staying there overnight. I hope you have a great time.
A Grab taxi from Hoi An to Ba Na is about 570,000 VND or around $30. Assuming you could get one on the way back it would be about the same.
We stayed overnight there in January with my 3 teenage girls. We had a great time and it was worth it for us. But it was foggy, so our early morning shots of the bridge were not that great. It was about AUD$270 per night for 5 including buffet breakfast. You still have to pay for cable car and entry but it covers the day before and the following day.
A year and half ago, my 18 years old son and 3 of his teammates (19-20 yrs old) took a Grab there and stayed 1 night up in the mountain. They enjoyed the quiet night there and did a lot of activities when there’s not many people around which was great according to them. The next morning, they got up early and had the bridge for themselves. They also loved the buffet at the brewery. 400k vnd (about $16 usd) for a buffet that included 2 big glasses of a very good beers. They were thrilled to drink beer legally in Vietnam as they would have been under drinking age in the US. 😅🤣😂
We were there 2 days ago. We hired a driver who charged us 750,000 round trip, from DaNang. He stayed there and waited for us until we were ready to be picked up. We arrived around 9 am and were back in the car around 2:30 pm. We headed immediately to the golden bridge and it was already quite crowded but the clouds went away for about an hour so we got some great photos but then it clouded back up and there was still heavy clouds when we left. The early access sounds nice as long as it’s not too cloudy. Good luck in whatever you decide.
My main reason for visiting was the Golden Bridge, I’d watched enough clips on YouTube to know its fairly Disneyesque, so was prepared for that, but really didnt want the crowds.