Is Ba Na Hills Worth It? Da Nang, Vietnam

One of my main reasons for heading to the Da Nang and Hoi An area of Vietnam, was that I wanted to visit Sunworld Ba Na Hills. As someone that likes going to theme parks around the world, I had my eye set of the alpine coaster. The entrance fee to Ba Na Hills is 900k. This includes a return trip on the cable car and some of the ‘games’/rides at the top. It’s quite expensive, so is Ba Na Hills worth it?

Sunworld Ba Na Hills

• 💰Adult entrance fee: 900k
• 📍Da Nang, Vietnam

In my case, yes Ba Na Hills was totally worth it, I thought it was brilliant. I saw many people comment before I visited, saying it was a ‘tourist trap’ and ‘wasn’t authentically Vietnamese’…It’s not meant to be, it’s a THEME park. A THEMED amusement park. It’d be like saying Disneyland Paris isn’t authentically French. You wouldn’t necessarily expect it to be (well I didn’t when I visited).

Even without the rides, as I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, I took HUNDREDS of photos.

Weather

BUT, I think my opinion may have been different if I was visiting on a day with bad weather. 

Ba Na Hills is located on the top of a mountain. It’s notorious for unpredictable weather. Hoi An and Da Nang could have bright sunshine, but the top of the mountain could be in a cloud and rainy. When the weather is bad, everything is surrounded by fog and some of the attractions, especially in the rain, shut. Specifically the alpine coasters.

I was somewhere in the middle…the top of the mountain was ABOVE the clouds for most of my visit. Yes, the views weren’t totally clear, but I could handle that. After all, Ba Na Hills sits 1487m above sea level!

Other than trying to attempt to visit on a nice day, my tip would be to get there early. Trips can be done from both Da Nang (which is closer) and Hoi An (which is where I was based). I decided to book a private driver through Klook.

This way I had the flexibility and wasn’t stuck buying an even more expensive package that included a buffet lunch that I didn’t really want.

Cable Car

I booked my driver for 7am so I could reach Ba Na Hills when it opens at 8am. I was one of the first up on the cable car, which was perfect.

The cable cars themselves are quite impressive, as they break several world records such as:

• Longest non-stop single-track cable car (5801m in length)
• Heaviest cable
• Greatest change in elevation

Golden Bridge

There are several different base stations that take you to different sections of the mountain. 

Most people visit for the Golden Bridge, which you may have seen, looks like a bridge that is held up by two giant concrete hands. It can also get extremely crowded. 

So I took the cable car which stops at the Golden Bridge first. That way I could get some photos of the bridge when it was less crowded and then head up to the top.

There is a designated photo spot at the far end of the bridge, furthest from the cable car station. Later on in the day, there was a line for this.

On the way back down, I went via the bridge station again. There are some gardens, a pagoda, and a giant statue of Buddha, so it’s worth checking out this whole level. 

Otherwise, there are cable cars that go directly to and from the top of the mountain. It takes around 20-30 minutes to reach the top.

Alpine Coaster

💰2x free tracks, 2x paid tracks (70k per ride)

While the sun was out, of course, my priority was to go on the alpine coaster and it did not disappoint. For those that don’t know what an alpine coaster is, they are individual carts attached to a track. They are gravity powered and you have a lever that controls the speed/brakes.

You can ride the carts solo or with two people. Riders need to take small bags and backpacks on with them.

At Ba Na Hills they have 4 tracks altogether. However, during my visit in March 2024, the 2 free ones were closed for maintenance and only one of the paid tracks were open. (I have since read that they ALL shut THE DAY AFTER my visit until ‘further notice’.)

During regular operation, I hear that the 2 free coasters can get quite large queues. The paid ones cost an additional 70k on top of the entrance fee. I paid to have 2 turns. On my first run I went on straight away and on the 2nd turn, I had to wait around 15 minutes.

I also asked if I could hold back from the person in front because I wanted to go full speed. They had no problem with this. There is nothing more un thrill-seeking and disappointing than getting stuck behind a slowy on a gravity-fed alpine coaster. And when watching others going down, some were so slow they were almost going backwards.

At the bottom, there is a camera that takes a photo available for purchase, and then you attach to a lift hill that takes you back to the top.

10/10, would recommend. Even the paid track, in my opinion, is worth it.

Fantasy Park

💰Most rides are included in the entrance fee (arcade games are extra)

The alpine coasters exit into Fantasy Park, an indoor mini-theme park. Several of the attractions are included in the admission cost including:

• Drop ’n’ Twist tower, which was my favourite as it goes up past all the floors and drops down
• A spinning ride
• A 5D Wild West shoot-out game where you sit on a (not real) horse
• A 4D car race simulator
• Adventure To The Middle Of The Earth (a ‘ghost’ train where you shoot lights)
• 360 Cinema (they show 4 movies throughout the day, I watched 2)

There are a couple of additional attractions and arcade games that cost extra, including a wax museum. But in this area, I was content just going on the free things.

French Village

For people that don’t particularly enjoy rides, along with the Golden Bridge, the French Village is an extremely busy area. Mostly with people wanting photos in front of the Sunworld golden ball. The buildings surrounding the plaza are meant to look French. They mostly house restaurants, hotels, and a few gift shops.

Another ride included in the entrance fee was the ‘Swing du Fantasie’ outdoor chair ’o’ plane style ride. The Helios Waterfall is quite cool too.

Spiritual Land

Another zone without rides is Spiritual Land. This area has a range of different pagodas and temples. It also has awesome views looking back across the mountain towards the French Village. It’s worth going up all the steps, just for the viewpoint. 

It was photoshoot central though, so be prepared to have rude people telling you to ‘get out of their shot’. This was my only qualm about other tourists in Vietnam. Many seemed to lack awareness of those around them.

They would happily ‘hog’ a photo spot in a busy location for 10 minutes to get their perfect Instagram shot. Rather than just take a quick couple and then let someone else have a turn. I’ve been to nearly 50 countries and Ba Na Hills and Hoi An were the worst for this type of behaviour.

Luna Castle

💰4D & 5D theatres included in the entrance fee

Luna Castle seemed really big and empty but it has 2 really cool attractions that are well worth checking out. Both are included in the main entrance fee. 

The ‘Flying Eyes’ theatre is another 5D style ride where it looks like you are flying over different countries around the world. The moving seats face a curved screen that has the added elements of wind, heat, water etc.

The second attraction is a 4D theatre which is similar but we had to wear glasses. This time it was a cartoon show about a family on a ghost train and then it turned into a bit of a roller coaster simulator with movement, and wind etc. The story was fun and the animation was good. It was in English but had Vietnamese subtitles.

Outside of Luna Castle is Lava Castle, which is bright pink and is fun to photograph. It seems to be empty at the moment but in the future, there are plans to have a volcano show inside. One end is ‘held’ up by an Atlas statue, so make sure you stop and see that!

Rather than walking back to the main area, in the depths of Luna Castle there is a 400 year old funicular railway that takes 2 minutes to reach a building back in the main plaza. I almost missed it because it really is tucked away at both ends.

Food & Drink at Ba Na Hills

As mentioned above, if you book a package to Ba Na Hills that includes a transfer from Da Nang or Hoi An, many include the lunch buffet. However, compared to other food options in Vietnam, I didn’t think it was very good value for money, as it’s quite expensive. I’ve also heard that the food is just OK, nothing to write home about.

I took my own bottle of coke, then my transfer driver gave me a bottle of water too. I did end up buying a sausage on a stick for 50k, but I was too cheap to spend another 50k on a bread roll to make it a hot dog. 

Generally, prices are what you would expect when you are a ‘trapped market’ as such. There’s even a Starbucks at the top of the mountain.

Return Trip Back To Hoi An

I asked my driver to collect me at 4.30pm. This gave me 8.5hrs at Ba Na Hills (which is around 3.5 hours longer than the group tours). For me, I think this was about the right amount of time. I was starting to feel like I was done by 3pm.

The lines to get down the mountain were HUGE from the Golden Bridge station. I started lining up at 3.30pm and it took until almost 4.15pm for me to get to the bottom. If you are part of a group coach trip, MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE PLENTY OF TIME!

My driver was already waiting for me in our agreed location. From here we then had to get on a free transfer bus to the car park. (He dropped me off right at the entrance in the morning). It took just over an hour to get back to Hoi An.

Converted into UK pounds, the whole day with my driver and entrance ticket cost me just over £65. Compared to other activities I did in Vietnam, it was equivalent to ‘Western’ theme park prices.

Asia Park

📍Da Nang City

In comparison, Sunworld have a second location in the centre of Da Nang, called Asia Park. I went here too and personally, I don’t think that was worth the money. I definitely think they put all their budget into Ba Na Hills.

An all-in-one ticket to Asia Park is 250k although entrance is free if you don’t want to go on anything. It’s a bit of a weird one. It is more of a typical theme park with ‘proper’ rides, like roller coasters. The Sun Wheel is one of the most popular attractions.

There were a lot of families with young kids, so maybe it is better suited to a younger audience, as there were several other rides aimed at smaller children. So in hindsight, for adults, Asia Park is probably not worth it, I would just stick with Ba Na Hills.

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Last Updated on May 23, 2025