【Da Nang Travel Diary】Day 4: A plan to fully enjoy the last day exploring Da Nang city!

Xin chào! We are a couple — Yuki, a Japanese husband, and Ngoc, his Vietnamese wife, living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. On this blog, we share information about moving to and living in Vietnam, as well as travel information from all over the country. If you find an article that catches your interest, please follow us first! ♪ Our long-running Da Nang travel diary (2025) finally reaches its final installment today — Day 4.Just like many Japanese travelers, we too are heading back to Ho Chi Minh City on a night flight. Click here to see our previous Da Nang travel journals! Da Nang Travel Journal | 2025 | A Vietnamese-Japanese family's tour around Vietnam - Food, healing, and shopping tips from a family who relocated abroad. This is the article list page for Yuki & Goc's blog theme, "Da Nang Travel Journal | 2025.ameblo.jp After checking out of the hotel, we walked to the Michelin-starred restaurant "Madame Lan.

After checking out of the Novotel hotel a little past 11 o'clock, we headed to "Madame Lan," a 7-minute walk away. This restaurant has been around for quite a while, but ever since it received a Michelin recognition (Bib Gourmand, no star) in 2024, it has been packed to capacity every single day. Even though this day wasn't particularly peak travel season, it was already full. Staff at the entrance were checking reservations on a tablet device, so a reservation seems to be essential.   As usual, I'm making my reservation using "Tabispa," the booking site for travelers to Vietnam. I'm posting this because I always rely on it and appreciate it. Please give it a try too! Madame Lan reservation: https://tabispavn.com/store/madamelan-danang/   Reservation │ Restaurant "Madame Lan" (Da Nang, Vietnam) | Tabispa Da Nang "Madame Lan" stands along the riverside in the city center of Da Nang. It's a restaurant geared toward travelers, serving classic Vietnamese dishes as well as central Vietnamese seafood cuisine. It's a popular spot, so reservations are recommended. tabispavn.com

We have lived in Vietnam for a long time, and this is truly delicious. Unlike other upscale restaurants, you can really feel the original sauces and cooking methods here. The prices also don't seem all that high, even from a traveler's perspective — around 800 to 1,500 yen per dish. Beef and seafood dishes run about 2,000 to 3,000 yen. We had beef steak, a noodle dish, and 2 to 3 side dishes, and the total came to about 1.8 million dong (around 10,000 yen).   Just one thing that annoyed me a little was that at first we were shown to a garden seat on the 1st floor, but since it was hot, we asked to be moved to an indoor seat on the 2nd floor, and we were refused because it was supposedly fully booked. But when we actually peeked inside, it was practically empty, just like in the photo. There were only about two groups of customers. And even while we were eating, there was no sign of any large group coming in. It left us feeling somewhat unsettled.      I finally got my hands on the Vietnamese raw honey I absolutely had to buy!

On the first day, when I shopped at the general store near Da Nang Cathedral, I did buy some YUGOC sweets and Marou chocolate, but they didn't have the raw, unheated honey. Apparently that's YUGOC's most popular product. So I quickly searched online to find a place selling YUGOC's raw honey 🔍 I forgot to take photos inside the shop, but I did manage to get the honey!   The location is "Tropical Coffee," which is listed on the shops page of YUGOC's official website. The 2nd floor turned out to be a souvenir corner! Tropical Coffee - a general goods store called "Tropical Coffee" located in the heart of the tourist area of Da Nang city, Yugoc. As a souvenir shop with an attached café, you can fully immerse yourself in a tropical vacation atmosphere.Please be sure to stop by between the beach and sightseeing around the city. yugoc.com To Danang's other indoor market, "Con Market

When it comes to Da Nang, the famous Han Market near Da Nang Cathedral comes to mind, doesn't it? This time, though, we visited Con Market instead. It's about a 5-minute taxi ride from Da Nang Cathedral. Since it's tucked away in the middle of town, it can be a bit hard to find, but in terms of scale, it might actually be bigger than Han Market.

Inside, it's dimly lit — truly the kind of local market you'd expect in Vietnam. When I visited, the only foreign travelers were Koreans and Chinese. The Koreans were browsing through miscellaneous goods, while the Chinese were haggling over jewelry. When I looked into it a bit, it seems that genuine jade jewelry is sold here. However, since Vietnamese-made and Chinese-made pieces are mixed together, and prices are by no means cheap, there doesn't seem to be much point in foreign travelers going out of their way to buy any. Well, I do understand how the atmosphere of the place can make you want to buy something anyway. Next, let's GO to "Linh Ung Pagoda" on the Son Tra Peninsula in Da Nang.

After finishing our exploration of Con Market, we took a taxi for about 25 minutes to "Linh Ung Pagoda" on the Son Tra Peninsula. On the way, we headed north along My Khe Beach. It was fascinating to watch the scenery change from a tourist-oriented beach area into a local, fishing-village-like harbor atmosphere. We crossed the sea and climbed the hill up to the Son Tra Peninsula. Since there's nothing to see there besides Linh Ung Pagoda, I did wonder whether it was really worth taking a taxi all the way out there, but since we had time to spare, why not! (^^♪

This is Rinun Temple. It has a main hall and a shrine hall, both lined with many Buddha statues. The construction looks fairly new, so maybe it was built recently?

Also, the ocean view from here is quite good. The Shakyamuni Buddha statue at Linh Ung Pagoda is said to be one of the largest in Vietnam. That said, with a 30-minute taxi ride each way—an hour round trip—you lose both time and taxi fare, so I felt this is a sightseeing spot you don't really need to force yourself to visit m(__)m

This was the last dinner of our Da Nang trip. "Herbal Pizza & Steak Da Nang." As usual, I made the reservation through Tabisupa. I did wonder whether a reservation was really necessary, but the restaurant has very few table seats. Also, many travelers order both pizza and steak, so table turnover seems to be pretty slow.   Reservations│Restaurant "Herbal Pizza & Steak" (Da Nang) | Herbal Pizza & Steak is located in the bustling My Khe Beach area of Tabispa Da Nang. Its melty, gooey pizzas and thick, perfectly medium-rare steaks are hugely popular. tabispavn.com

The steak was seriously delicious, just like the rumors said. You can choose from several kinds of sauce, but honestly, you don't even need sauce — just biting into the meat along with the peppercorns served with it is more than enough! And of course, it was cooked medium rare. With a heavy heart, it's time to say goodbye to Danang. After finishing dinner, we wandered around the shops near Miike Beach for a while, and after relaxing at a café, we went back to "Panda Spa" again, which we had visited on day one ♪ If you make a reservation through Tabispa before going, they'll give you a free car ride to the airport after your massage, so that's what we were aiming for (^_-)-☆   Reservations | Basic Information About Panda Relax Spa (Da Nang) | "Panda Relax Spa" is located in the lively My Khe Beach area, as featured on Tabi Spa Da Nang. It's a popular spot that draws travelers from all over the world, offering international-quality service. tabispavn.com Summary and next preview... What I felt through my trip to Da Nang We've been to Southeast Asian beach areas before, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, but Da Nang has a local Southeast Asian atmosphere unlike any of them. You might get more satisfaction simply visiting places like Bali or Phuket, where tourism development has been done well, but if you love Asia, Da Nang should be just as enjoyable in its own way. Next time on the show…I'm going to update a bit with information about moving to and living in Vietnam. I've been posting my Da Nang travel diary (2025) for a long time, so starting next time I think I'll write several posts about moving to and living in Vietnam. Going forward, I plan to alternate between sharing local information for people planning trips to Vietnam and for people considering moving to Vietnam. I hope you'll check it out again. Hẹn gặp lại! ※ This means "See you again!" in VietnameseThat's what it means! (^^)/