Da Nang to Hoi An on OUR OWN

Hello all,

We are going to do the 28 day cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore in Jan 2015.

As we are independent travellers, I do a lot of research before each trip. I have been reading roll calls related to Asia...

I found that Smile Tours will charge about $70 USD for a group of 16 people and u+. I find it's a lot of money for a bus to pick you up at the port, drive you to Marble Mountains. Take a lift up to visit Linh Ung pagoda/Tang Chon cave/Heaven cave/Huyen Khong cave/Tam Thanh pagoda/River Watching terrace. Take lift down. Then, transfer to Hoi An where you will enjoy a pleasant city walk to the history museum/market/Fujien Chinese temple/Tan Ky ancient house/famous Japanese pagoda bridge and great shopping.Enjoy lunch of local specialties. at Ly's Cafe. (Not included in price of tour). Transfer to visit Cham museum in Da Nang. Finally, transfer back to port.

Is there anybody who has done the same but by taxi a taxi or the bus? Also, anybody who would have negotiate a tour right at the port? I understand the driver might not speak perfect English but limited English I think would be okay...

In my research, a taxi from Da Nang to Hoi An is only $15 USD.

A guided tour from Hoi An to My Son: $8 USD or $15 but return part of the way by boat, stopping at a couple of craft villages along the way. My Son is not included in the above tour (Smile Tours) and I don't know why. Anybody knows?

Should I be afraid of trying to travel independently?

Thank you for your help. As well, if you have any comments on travelling independently for Halong Bay, Nha Trang and Phu My, don't hesitate to write...:)

Do you know where your ship will port?

Small ships up to vaguely 30,000 tonnes (Azamara Quest, Azamara Journey etc) can berth in the harbour at Da Nang, about 20 miles north of Hoi An.

Larger ships have to use the container port at Chan May, some 25 miles north of Da Nang & about 45 slow miles from Hoi An.

We ported at Da Nang about 3 years ago & had no difficulty negotiating with vans at the port. We wanted to see Hoi An & the Marble Mountain. We were a group who'd met-up on the ship & there were about 10 of us. There were a few vans in the port, & a few more beyond. We had a driver who spoke no English & a guide with understandable English, though it was hardly a "guided tour". IIRC we agreed a price of $90 for the van for the day, paid on our return to the ship. Negotiating a price is a fun challenge but a dollar means more to those guys than to us, and we gave them a good tip at the end. Total was about $15 each. Bear in mind this was a few years ago.

We first went to Hoi An, spent a couple or three hours there on our own.

Then to China Beach and to a big marble workshop along the seafront road - the guy was anxious for us to visit, clearly he gets a bung, we found the easiest way to say "no" was to say "yes" but make it a brief visit. ;) It was pretty interesting anyway, I bought a small figurine for peanuts, I know others from the ship (not our group) bought large & costly marble furniture for shipment but rather them than us.

Then round the corner to the steps at the bottom of Marble Mountain - the elevator was built after our visit & it was a steep 10 minute climb up high steps to the cave temple & the pagoda beyond. Well worth the effort & good views too. About an hour there. A street of super little one-man marble workshops at the bottom.

Finally to a huge new white Buddha overlooking the coast at Ling Ung, something we'd not known about & was nearing completion at the time. Well worth the visit.

A van (you might need two) for the day is very definitely the way to do it, hiring a vehicle at each place isn't worth the grief.

............................................................................................................................................................................

Also did our own thing in Halong Bay - negotiated a junk for 6 hours for $90 total (pay on return), we didn't bother with food & bought cheap cold beers & sodas on the junk. We were again about 10 to 12. Great experience.

Saigon we ported in the city, you will need to fix up in advance a tour or transfer from Phu My, but once in Saigon it's very easy to walk all the main sights.

We hired a speedboat to take us from the city to the Cu Chi tunnels. About 80 minutes each way, same as by road but a whole lot more fun. Eight of us, worked out about $50 each. Fixed it in advance over the 'net. Sorry, lost contact details along with all my other e-mails when my computer was taken very ill.

Worth booking an overnite hotel in Saigon. And take in a water puppet show.

Nha Trang - we were there only for a morning on our 30-day cruise & we were templed-out, so we took the morning off from sight-seeing & took the cable car over to Vin Pearl island.

A resort island, a few rides, water-park, aquarium, shops, beach, very laid-back. Kinda like Disney on tranquilisers. $15 per person incl the cablecar.

Very pleasant. But not "Vietnam". I'm sure others can come up with better suggestions.

Plenty of info on all ports if you search this forum.

So click to the Asia forum, & click on "search this forum" in the brown bar above the announcements & threads. Type in the mame of a port to find all threads about it.

Brilliant part of the world to visit - have a good one.

JB :)

JB, Thank you so much for your reply. You travel exactly like us. Unfortunately, we will be on HAL Volendam and not a small ship like Azamara or Oceania... which means we will sometime sberth further from the cities we want to visit.

Thank you also for the suggestion "So click to the Asia forum, & click on "search this forum" in the brown bar above the announcements & threads. Type in the name of a port to find all threads about it" as I didn't know about "this...

Again, people, I am waiting for replies. Keep them coming.

Do you know where your ship will port?

 

Small ships up to vaguely 30,000 tonnes (Azamara Quest, Azamara Journey etc) can berth in the harbour at Da Nang, about 20 miles north of Hoi An.

Larger ships have to use the container port at Chan May, some 25 miles north of Da Nang & about 45 slow miles from Hoi An.

 

We ported at Da Nang about 3 years ago & had no difficulty negotiating with vans at the port. We wanted to see Hoi An & the Marble Mountain. We were a group who'd met-up on the ship & there were about 10 of us. There were a few vans in the port, & a few more beyond. We had a driver who spoke no English & a guide with understandable English, though it was hardly a "guided tour". IIRC we agreed a price of $90 for the van for the day, paid on our return to the ship. Negotiating a price is a fun challenge but a dollar means more to those guys than to us, and we gave them a good tip at the end. Total was about $15 each. Bear in mind this was a few years ago.

We first went to Hoi An, spent a couple or three hours there on our own.

Then to China Beach and to a big marble workshop along the seafront road - the guy was anxious for us to visit, clearly he gets a bung, we found the easiest way to say "no" was to say "yes" but make it a brief visit. ;) It was pretty interesting anyway, I bought a small figurine for peanuts, I know others from the ship (not our group) bought large & costly marble furniture for shipment but rather them than us.

Then round the corner to the steps at the bottom of Marble Mountain - the elevator was built after our visit & it was a steep 10 minute climb up high steps to the cave temple & the pagoda beyond. Well worth the effort & good views too. About an hour there. A street of super little one-man marble workshops at the bottom.

Finally to a huge new white Buddha overlooking the coast at Ling Ung, something we'd not known about & was nearing completion at the time. Well worth the visit.

 

A van (you might need two) for the day is very definitely the way to do it, hiring a vehicle at each place isn't worth the grief.

............................................................................................................................................................................

 

Also did our own thing in Halong Bay - negotiated a junk for 6 hours for $90 total (pay on return), we didn't bother with food & bought cheap cold beers & sodas on the junk. We were again about 10 to 12. Great experience.

 

Saigon we ported in the city, you will need to fix up in advance a tour or transfer from Phu My, but once in Saigon it's very easy to walk all the main sights.

We hired a speedboat to take us from the city to the Cu Chi tunnels. About 80 minutes each way, same as by road but a whole lot more fun. Eight of us, worked out about $50 each. Fixed it in advance over the 'net. Sorry, lost contact details along with all my other e-mails when my computer was taken very ill.

Worth booking an overnite hotel in Saigon. And take in a water puppet show.

 

Nha Trang - we were there only for a morning on our 30-day cruise & we were templed-out, so we took the morning off from sight-seeing & took the cable car over to Vin Pearl island.

A resort island, a few rides, water-park, aquarium, shops, beach, very laid-back. Kinda like Disney on tranquilisers. $15 per person incl the cablecar.

Very pleasant. But not "Vietnam". I'm sure others can come up with better suggestions.

 

Plenty of info on all ports if you search this forum.

So click to the Asia forum, & click on "search this forum" in the brown bar above the announcements & threads. Type in the mame of a port to find all threads about it.

 

Brilliant part of the world to visit - have a good one.

 

JB :)

As we will be in at the container port of Chan May about 44km (56 min) from the main part of Da Nang on a Friday from 7am to 6pm (11 hours), I was wondering if we would be able to see everything mentioned below. I want to add that Hoi An is another 29km (40 min) from Da Nang and My Son is 40km S/W of Hoi An.

Do you think my plan is realistic with let say 10 hours?

My Plan: Negotiate for a van, group of 10. First, My Son (but return part of the way by boat, stopping at a couple of craft villages along the way). Second, we went to Hoi An (2-3 hrs on our own). Then to China Beach and to a big marble workshop along the seafront road. Then round the corner to the steps at the bottom of Marble Mountain (1 hr). A street of super little one-man marble workshops at the bottom. Then, to a huge new white Buddha overlooking the coast at Ling Ung, something we'd not known about & was nearing completion at the time. Finally, visit Da Nang (hopefully 1 hr) and back to ship.

Although we had a relaxed & un-hurried day, you have almost an extra hour's drive each way between Chan May & Da Nang, and the same for Hoi An to My Son, plus time in My Son, plus I guess more than twice as long coming back if you want to incorporate a boat trip & craft villages - all of which means you're 6 to 7 hours worse off.

So, sorry, but IMHO your plans are way too ambitious. :eek:

Something's got to give. And simply dropping the big Buddha at Ling Ung won't cut the mustard.;)

You have a few options:

Marble Mountain for 60 - 90 mins, China Beach drive-by, Hoi An for about 90 mins, probably plenty of time to also visit the Big Buddha overlooking Da Nang.

You'll need to allow an hour to include Big Buddha on the way back. It's well worth planning for it, then if delayed you can skip it.

I guestimate that at about 8 hours.

Mebbe you can add My Son if you forget the boat & craft villages, in which case aim for the furthest (My Son) first, then work back to the ship - Hoi An, China Beach drive-by, Marble Mountain.

I guestimate that at about 9 hours

Or if you're really keen on My Son & the craft villages, again make that first then you'll have to choose between Hoi An and Marble Mountain.

Probably choose Hoi An, even though logistically Marble Mountain being closer to your ship is the safer bet. But neither is worth a drive-by - the historic part of Hoi An is traffic-free and Marble Mountain isn't worth the deviation just for a drive-by along the coast.

I guestimate that at about 9 to 10 hrs, so you might be unable to fit Hoi An or Marble Mountain.

A one-day ship visit doesn't make me an expert, and my timings are very suspect so expect to adjust according to progress.

You could really do with other opinions. And your driver will know best.

JB :)