Da Nang: beaches and marble mountains

The Marble Mountains, five limestone hills representing the natural elements of Buddhist cosmology, preserve caves, temples, and pagodas carved into the rock.

Just minutes away, the Dragon Bridge, which every weekend spouts fire and water from its sculptural head, crosses the Han River in the heart of the city.

Continuing along the coast, you walk on My Khe Beach, which American magazines in the 1960s called one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Toward evening, taking the cable car up you reach the Golden Bridges, a pedestrian bridge supported by two enormous stone hands, on the hills of Ba Na.

The Golden Bridge, opened in 2018, quickly gained international fame for its design featuring giant stone hands that appear to support the entire structure suspended between the hills.

The Marble Mountains take their name from the five elements of Oriental philosophy — metal, wood, water, fire, and earth — each represented by one of the five hills.