Sơn Trà Peninsula

Coasts & CliffsĐà Nẵng,Vietnam

Fragile nature — stay on the trail, leave no trace.

A rainforest mountain rising straight out of Đà Nẵng in Vietnam, holding one of the world's largest troops of the rare red-shanked douc.

September·Quiet month

Sep–Dec

The northeast monsoon: rain climbs to October's 650mm, the year's wettest month here, then eases through December, with typhoons into early December. The doucs and misty forest stay, but landslide risk suspends access during storm warnings, hours shorten and coastal views vanish.

Year-round The rainforest peninsula, its rare red-shanked doucs and the white Lady Buddha are here year-round; the drier months, February to August, are clearest, and dawn is best for the monkeys.

Sơn Trà Peninsula is a mountain of rainforest rising straight out of the city of Đà Nẵng on the central coast of Vietnam, 700 metres high and ringed by a coastal road, and it holds one of the largest troops in the world of the red-shanked douc, a langur with crimson legs and a white face, among the most colourful primates alive. The peninsula was a closed military zone through the war, which is why the forest survived while the coast below was built up, and it is a nature reserve now, ten minutes from the city's hotels; the doucs, more than a thousand of them, feed in the roadside canopy in the first hours after dawn, and the way to see them is to ride the Hoàng Sa road slowly with the engine off at the bends, scanning the treetops for a flash of red legs and a pale face among the leaves, with the sea behind. The road switchbacks up from the shore into the forest, each hairpin opening on a turquoise cove or a long drop to Đà Nẵng bay, and drops to small sand coves at the foot of the trees, Bãi Bắc and Bãi Rạng among them, where the swimming is off the rocks. At the southern foot of the mountain stands the Lady Buddha of Linh Ứng pagoda, a white statue of the goddess of mercy 67 metres tall, the tallest in Vietnam, gazing out to sea and dwarfing the pilgrims below. Near the peninsula's southeastern tip a banyan thought to be about 800 years old holds its crown aloft on a tangle of aerial roots, and on the seaward cliffs the headland track leads to the old Tiên Sa lighthouse, where the forest gives way to rock and open water. The doucs may be the mountain's best protection, since the monkeys are a large part of why the reserve has held off the resorts eyeing its shore. Sơn Trà is a forest a city kept, and the red-legged monkeys are its argument.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The dry months, roughly February to August, are the reliable window — from October the peninsula catches Đà Nẵng's typhoon season head-on and many of its roads and trails close.
Only geared motorbikes are allowed on the steep interior roads — automatic scooters are banned because the gradients defeat them, so rent a manual bike or take a jeep tour.
The high viewpoints have almost no shade — carry water and a hat for the midday heat, and cover your shoulders and knees if you plan to enter Linh Ứng Pagoda.

Things to do

1
Watch for the red-shanked doucs
In the first hours after dawn, scan the roadside canopy for a flash of crimson legs and a pale face as a douc feeds among the leaves. Catch one in the open and the drab grey body resolves into the full five-colour coat that earns the animal its title, the "queen of primates."
2
Ride the Hoàng Sa coastal road
Follow the switchbacking Hoàng Sa road as it climbs from the shore into the forest, each hairpin opening onto a new turquoise cove or a long drop to Đà Nẵng Bay. Only geared motorbikes are allowed on the steep sections, and the reward is the peninsula's wildest scenery seen straight from the saddle. Time the ride so the western viewpoints come last: as the sun drops, the beaches, the river mouth and the city below turn copper and gold, then the lights come on.
3
Swim off Bãi Bắc where the rainforest meets the sand
Drop down to one of the small sand coves at the foot of the forest, Bãi Bắc and Bãi Rạng among them. There the water runs clear and the crowds of Đà Nẵng's main beach fall away. Between swims the rainforest comes right down to the sand.
4
Walk out to the Tiên Sa lighthouse
Follow the headland track to the old Tiên Sa lighthouse on the peninsula's seaward cliffs, where the forest gives way to rock and open water. The climb is quiet and shadeless, but from the top the coastline and the Eastern Sea spread out in the widest view Sơn Trà offers.
5
Stand beneath the Lady Buddha
Climb to the foot of the white Lady Buddha at Linh Ứng Pagoda, where she gazes out to sea and dwarfs the pilgrims gathered below. Wander the quiet courtyards and dragon-flanked stairways, then turn around: the whole arc of Đà Nẵng Bay opens up beneath the forested slope.

Watch

Nearby

259 km