In short
Đà Nẵng lines up thirty kilometres of beach, a clean and recent city, and a cost of living below Thailand at equal comfort.
The city is orderly, almost too orderly: wide avenues, lit bridges, a new waterfront. It is not an old postcard, it is a city being built.
Hội An is forty minutes away, the mountain passes start to the north, and the whole country connects by night train.
What it really costs
A new apartment with a view costs markedly less than in Thailand, and that is the city's main financial argument.
Vietnamese street food is excellent and among the cheapest in Asia; local coffee is an institution and a real line in the budget.
The scooter is still the default way to move, at a marginal monthly cost.
Working here
There are fewer coworking spaces than in Chiang Mai but enough of them, and fixed connections are good.
The thing to know is how sensitive the undersea cables serving the country are: slowdowns lasting several days happen, and a mobile backup is necessary.
The time difference with Europe is the same as Thailand's, and suits a split day.
What nobody tells you
Typhoon season, in autumn, is not scenery: it closes the beach and floods some districts.
The lack of a clear status for remote workers forces administrative round trips that cost time and money.
And the language barrier is higher than in Thailand as soon as you leave the tourist areas.
