Marble Mountains
Five limestone hills riddled with cave shrines, buddhas standing in the dark.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 2 hrs 30 min
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The Ngu Hanh Son are five marble and limestone hills rising out of a sandy plain, named after the five Chinese elements. Only Thuy Son, the water hill, is open to visitors.
It is hollowed with caves turned into Buddhist shrines, including Huyen Khong: an immense chamber with a pierced roof, where a shaft of light falls on a stone Buddha at midday. The marks on the ceiling come from bombing — the cave served as a Viet Cong field hospital, a few kilometres from an American base.
Getting there
Nine kilometres south of Da Nang on the Hoi An road. A paid lift avoids the hundred and fifty steps up.
What the price covers
paid site entry; the lift and the Am Phu cave cost extra; rates to be confirmed
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Headlamp
- 1.5 L of water
Rules on site
The steps are steep, uneven and slippery in the damp caves: closed shoes. The carving shops at the foot of the hill use hard-sell tactics, and the marble is no longer quarried here since it was banned.
Other places in Da Nang
- Golden Bridge, Ba Na HillsA gilded walkway held up by two giant stone hands, at four thousand feet.
My Khe BeachTwenty miles of straight sand, the beach GIs came to on leave.
Ba Na Hills and the Golden BridgeThe longest cable car in the world leads to a mountaintop park and the bridge carried by two giant hands. Very busy: be there at opening.
- Hai Van Pass by scooterTwenty kilometres of bends between Da Nang and Hue, the sea on one side, the mountain on the other. Check the forecast: the pass takes cloud.