Some places are popular for a reason.
The romantic appeal of Hoi An Vietnam is undeniable.
A place that feels like it was taken straight from the pages of a fairy tale.
Recently voted as the number one tourist destination in the world.
But there is a side to Hoi An that you don’t see on instagram.
Underneath it’s photogenic exterior, the magic of this historic place is being destroyed
by mass tourism.
So it’s half past nine in the morning and we’re just taking a walk through the ancient
town and it is almost completely deserted.
The name Hoi An translates as the “quiet meeting place” and at this time in the morning
it’s easy to see why.
You can walk along the peaceful streets.
Admire the beautiful colonial architecture.
And stroll alongside the peaceful canals.
But get to the late afternoon at about four o’clock when the sun goes down the lanterns
turn on.
It’s a completely different story.
It is ten past three and the coaches have already started arriving.
It’s at this time when the outskirts of town turn into a giant parking area.
From about three or four pm onwards we just sit by the hotel pool and watch all of coaches
come in.
There is so many.
And the quaint, charming streets become clogged with giant tour groups and cycling trips.
Don’t get me wrong the streets and the architecture are really really nice but I just feel that
Hoi An has become a victim of it’s own success.
Any sort of authentic feeling is gone and it’s been replaced by this sort of Disneyland
vibe.
The perfect example of that is the speakers that are all around the town blasting out
music all day.
Which is literally how they manufacture atmosphere in theme parks.
And when sunset comes around, it gets even worse.
We’ve spoken to quite a few locals since we’ve been here in Hoi An and they’ve
all told us the same thing which is in the last five years the tourism has just exploded.
Emma was here only two years ago and even she’s noticed the difference.
It’s just completely overrun with people that in the evenings its just hard to enjoy
now.
It just seems like the quiet meeting place is long gone.
Hoi An’s priorities have changed, catering more and more to mass tourism, the instagram
crowd.
We booked 10 days here, but we ended up cancelling our booking after 5 days.
And instead headed 30km down to the coast to a city that became a highlight of our time
in Vietnam.
The point of this film isn’t to dissuade you from going to Hoi An completely.
I actually think you should go and make your own mind up.
But I think you should limit your time there and maybe focus more attention to some of
the areas around the city.
45 minutes from Hoi An is a really underrated city that most people just skip right through.
Welcome to Da Nang.
Da Nang is the 5th largest city in Vietnam.
But if you think it’s just another concrete jungle, then think again.
You’ve got amazing nature.
Beautiful secluded beaches.
Nightlife, restaurants so much more.
Da Nang is not a Hoi An replacement.
It doesn’t have the old buildings, the cute streets and the amazing lanterns.
It’s a very cool city in it’s own right and here are some of my favourite things about
it.
Let’s start with the obvious at Da Nang’s amazing beach.
The silky smooth sands of My Khe beach make up the best section of Da Nang’s 5km coastline.
And amazingly it’s almost never busy.
In my opinion it’s even nicer than An Bang beach which is the most popular beach for
tourists near Hoi An.
Now no trip to Da Nang is complete without checking out the Son Tra Peninsula which is
just over there.
Son Tra was renamed Monkey Mountain by American Soldiers during the Vietnam War for pretty
obvious reasons.
There's a baby one up there!
The best way to explore the peninsula is by motorbike but if you can’t ride one or the
sloping twisting roads are a little bit scary for you, then you can hire your own driver
for the day.
The weather on our first trip to Son Tra wasn’t the best.
But despite the dampness, we still had an amazing time.
Stopping at the Linh Ung Pagoda, home to the tallest buddha statue in all of Vietnam and
normally some amazing views over the city.
We stopped at some other viewpoints and by an 800 year old Banyan tree.
We ended our first day at the top of Ban Co peak, where again, you usually get amazing views
but the weather really wasn’t playing ball by this point.
It’s also home to a statue of a chess playing Confucius, who seemed pretty unfazed by the
wind and rain.
As you saw from the footage yesterday the weather on the peninsula was pretty grim so
it looks a little bit nicer this morning and we’ve got some spare time so we’ve got
Emma on the bike and we’re going to see if we can get some clearer views.
This is more like it!
There was one main thing that we missed the first time around, which is the many hidden
beaches of the Son Tra coastline.
I mean…
I just want to point out that we are the only people on any of these beaches.
Completely deserted.
Paradise.
15 minutes from the city.
This is a day trip that most people take from Hoi An, which is a lot further away.
Another of Hoi An’s most popular day trips is Marble Mountain which is again a lot closer
to Da Nang.
A cluster of 5 unique hills with tunnels, caves, hidden temples and some amazing viewpoints.
This is one of the most touristy spots in the area so you should definitely get there
early but there was far more climbing through little gaps in the rock than I expected which
ended up being a lot of fun.
There’s also the My Son sanctuary, Vietnam’s answer to the Ankor Wat temples.
Which is an hour closer to Da Nang than Hoi An which makes those sunrise trips a lot easier.
In Da Nang, we stayed in an area called My An which sits right on the beachfront.
Boasting an amazing restaurant and bars scene.
Da Nang is full of cool restaurants, coffee shops and bars with all sorts of different
vibes so there’s something for everyone and there’s something new popping up everything
single day it seems.
And it’s coffee shops in particular where Da Nang really goes wild.
My An is home to some of the most unique and out there designs I’ve seen for a place
that sells coffee.
This place is so cool.
Probably the most hipster place I’ve ever been in my life but very cool.
And in the evenings where better to sip a cocktail than in one of the rooftop bars.
Looking over some amazing views of the beach and the city skyline.
Right in the the centre of the city you’ll find Da Nang’s most famous landmark.
Da Nang has a strong bridge game and none are stronger than the Dragon Bridge.
The bridge is 666m meters long, fitting 6 lanes of traffic.
It has great views over the river and the skyline but also has a much more unique feature.
On Saturdays and Sundays the dragon’s head actually blows fire from it’s mouth.
You can’t say that about most bridges in the world.
The riverside is decorated with it’s own light show, which admittedly is not as impressive
as Hoi An’s, but it definitely has it’s own charm.
I loved Da Nang for everything that it offered us as long term travellers.
But there is one problem.
It’s not quite finished yet.
My An in particular feels a bit like a work in progress.
Building work is common as they rush to bring more hotels and apartment complexes to the
area.
Meaning it can be a little dusty and noisy temporarily.
But honestly in a couple of years time this place is going to be the new Chiang Mai.
It’s such a livable city with so many nice cafes, places to eat, things to do.
I can’t see anything but a bright future for this amazing place.
Thank you so much for watching this film if you liked it please make sure you subscribe
to the channel, I’ve got loads of other films on there from China, Japan, Thailand
and of course Vietnam and I’ll see you next time.
I just want to give a quick shout out to Hepsima, make sure you go and check out their channel
and to see how you featured in the next video see the comments below.