Ba Na Hills is partly resort, partly theme park and partly Buddhist mountain retreat.

Ba Na Hills is located 1500 meters (slightly under 1 mile) above sea level on the peak of Truong Son Mountain about 20 km (12.4 miles) away from Da Nang, Vietnam. The resort is part of Sun World Amusement Park Group and it has been nicknamed “heaven on earth” due to its high location. On a cloudy day in Da Nang, it can be bright and sunny in Ba Na Hills with views of the cloud tops below.

Entrance and Hoi An Replica

After passing through the entrance, visitors are welcomed with a replica of Hoi An, Vietnam complete with bridges, colorful lanterns and bicycles along the traditional yellow colored buildings.

Cable Car

The resort is connected to the base of the mountain through one of the longest cable car systems in the world. The Ba Ha Hills cable car holds the world record for the longest nonstop single track cable car ride of over 19,000 feet in length.

In addition to experiencing the longest cable car, the 20 minute journey passed beautiful scenery and finishes above the cloud line.

The Golden Bridge

Near the top of the cable ride, passengers get there first glimpse of the famous Golden Bridge (aka Hand Bridge). The Golden Bridge is a 500 foot long arched pedestrian bridge that appears to be held up by two giant stone hands. As is with many popular tourist place, get to the park when it opens if you want to take photos without crowds of people on the bridge.

Note: See my post on the Golden Bridge by going to the photo link at the bottom of this post.

French Village

The exit of the cable ride is at the center of a replica French village complete with French Gothic style cathedral, French restaurants and cobblestoned streets. The French village also is the center of the resort where other cable car rides, funiculars and walkways lead to the other attractions in the resort.

Spiritual Area

One of the larger sections of the resort is the spiritual area with multiple buildings which features temples, pagodas, a Japanese garden, a giant Buddha and other stone statues that are commonly seen at typical religious sites.

Gardens

There are several gardens scattered around the resort. Some are very formal and others are small exhibitions. A few of the gardens and other flower decorations are shown in the following photos.

Above the Clouds

On my first trip to Ba Na Hills, it was raining and overcast at the base of the mountain but we decided to take the risk and continue to visit the resort. I am glad that we did because the cable care took us through the cloud cover and into the bright sunny blue sky above the clouds. We spent the day in the sun shine while it was rainy all day in Da Nang. The following photos show the Ba Ha Hills scenery above the clouds.

Other Decorations

Ba Ha Hills is a theme park but there are many other decorations scattered throughout the park. Some of these other decorations are shown below.

Dance Show

There are several different types of entertainment at the resort including an alpine roller coaster ride that each cart controls its own speed, a three story indoor video arcade which is the largest in Vietnam and a wax museum but my favorite was the dancing show in the street. The costumes were colorful and the dancers had a lot of energy. A few photos of the dance show are included below.

The Dust on My Shoes

Ba Na Hills is completely different from anything else that you will find in Vietnam. It is built like an amusement park with some rides and other theme park entertainment but it feels a little bit like a resort get away from the busy city of Da Nang. In fact, it is a place where you can go to relax in the cooler mountain air even if you don’t want to go on any of the amusement park rides.

I enjoyed Ba Na Hills on my first visit but I returned to Vietnam a year later and the Golden Bridge had been added so I felt like I had to go again just to see the unique bridge. The park seems to be continually adding new features so my second visit was just as enjoyable with some new items that I had not seen on my first visit.

Ba Na Hills is not the normal place that many people have on their itinerary when visiting Vietnam but it was a fun place to visit and it is a nice place to relax.

I always try to find places that aren’t on everyone’s travel itinerary. Many times those are enjoyable memories from my travels.

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