Restaurants – Page 4 – Travels with Ali

Da Nang is the third largest city in Vietnam and most people visit here for the amazing beaches. Its close to Hoi An and Hue. It has a great laid back atmosphere and also offers a range of accommodation from luxury to budget.

We drove from Hue with Hue Private Tours again and this time went through the tunnel. Arriving at our hotel – Belle Maison – too early to check in, we looked for a place for lunch. Strangely the manager would not recommend any seafood restaurants around the hotel as he said the fish might not be too fresh! So we headed away from the beach across the river to the Waterfront restaurant. A great find and we had a gourmet lunch.

Burrato cheese and tomato salad with mango

fresh rice paper rolls

Crab cakes with chilli and mango salsa

Back to the hotel for check in and found we had been upgraded to a family size room with ocean front views!

Da Nang beach front — Great view but so many people!

Heading down to the beach to check out the water we found there was not much room to move! There were a crazy amount of people in the sea, most could not swim as they were all in rubber rings, there was a small mountain of them on the beach for hire. This part of the shoreline is extremely popular with local families. Also hardly any wear swim suits! Just swim in their clothes.
Later we went up to the 21st floor to have cocktails at the Sky Lounge. Stunning views!

Passionfruit Mojito

Sky 21 Lounge

For the next couple of days it was just going to be relaxation – no more trips. So the next day we tried further down the beach where it seemed less crowded and found some nicer sunbeds in front of the Holiday Beach resort. Great service from the staff on the beach there.
Da Nang has the most amazing coast line and it goes on for miles. The sea is lovely and warm and not rough at all – just the way I like it!

More cocktails that night and then dinner at Madam Lan’s with a couple of fellow Australians who we had met at the hotel. After reading good reviews about this restaurant must say we were all a bit disappointed with the blandness of the food.

The next day we headed off to the Novotel for breakfast, as breakfast at the Belle Maison was so busy, a table was an hour long wait! Took some snaps on the top of the hotel there.

So after breakfast we thought we would have a look at another beach much further along the coast. The Centara Sandy Beach Resort offered day tickets for a reasonable price where we got to spend the day around the pool and their beach front. Had an incredible afternoon here and I think it will be our next holiday destination.
Finally finished off our three days here with dinner at the Waterfront restaurant.

To sum up Da Nang will definitely be on my list again and I can honestly say that Vietnam is now my favourite country in Asia.

Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam and is a city in Central Vietnam, and sits on the banks of the Perfume River. There are many historical monuments here and we hope to visit a few in the three days we will spend here. Australian passport holders do require a visa which is easily obtainable online. Vietnamese currency is the dong.

We flew into Da Nang to meet our driver Alex, who I had organised online through Hue Private Cars. It was a great service, so nice to be met at the airport instead of waiting in line for a taxi and be bombarded by different companies trying to offer you a taxi. I had agreed on a route beforehand to Hue which was over the Hai Van Pass and not through the tunnel. The day was perfect for travelling the three hour drive to our hotel in Hue. There was breathtaking scenery on the way and we stopped at a very tranquil place for lunch just past Lang Co Beach.

Hai Van Pass

View from the top

Lang Co Beach

Waiting for a La Rue

Arriving at our hotel at around 4pm we checked in to a fantastically large room. We were staying at the Saigon Moirin. This hotel dated back to 1901 and the French owners have tried very hard to keep it in line with its origins. Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard stayed here on their honeymoon and every night we were treated to the film “The Dictator” on the screen in the garden!

Views from our room and the hotel:

corridor to our room

Sunset from the balcony

Enjoying a cocktail

From our balcony

Busy Bridge

Saigon Moirin Garden

The road in front of our hotel was extremely busy, with the traffic lights sometimes working sometimes not. So Anthony just grabbed my hand and off we went, dodging motor cycles to get to the otherside. How the motor cycles miss each other is a mystery!

Dinner that night was at a Vietnamese restaurant called Elegant Vietnam which I had read good reviews about. We were not disappointed especially with the good wine list! The service was fantastic and food excellent.

For the next two days I used the hotel concierge to organise some trips for us as they had such interesting trips on offer. On the first day we were driven to some very famous tombs and the hidden bridge. To begin with we went first to the hidden bridge – Thanh Toan. It was incredibly hot!

Plowing the fields

Hue, Vietnam

Baby chicks

Red Tiled Thanh Toan Bridge

Elegant Vietnamese Gentleman

We then went to Khai Dinh Tombs and Minh Mang Tombs. Below are some shots from Khai Dinh. Beautiful ceramic tile decoration.

Dinner that night was at Les Jardines de la Carambole just across the river. What a fantastic restaurant and great service too. It is off the beaten track so you need to “google map” it. Delicious food and good wine.