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 is a mountain of rainforest that rises straight out of Đà Nẵng, on the central coast of Vietnam, about 700 metres of it, ten minutes from the city's beach hotels. The forest is still there because the peninsula was a closed military zone through the Vietnam War, while the coast below it was built up. It is a nature reserve now, and it holds one of the largest populations anywhere of the red-shanked douc. The douc is a langur with crimson leg-stockings, a pale startled face and a grey coat, and primatologists call it the queen of primates. In the first hours after dawn the troops feed in the roadside canopy. You find one by riding the Hoàng Sa road slowly, engine off at the bends, watching the treetops for a flash of red legs with the sea behind. That road switchbacks up from the shore into the forest, and every hairpin opens something else: a small cove below, the long curve of Đà Nẵng Bay, then forest again. Side tracks drop you to sand coves at the foot of the trees, Bãi Bắc and Bãi Rạng among them. The water runs clear there, and the city beach crowds are behind you. On the seaward cliffs a headland track ends at the old Tiên Sa lighthouse, where the forest gives way to bare rock and open water. It is the widest view you get on the peninsula. Near the southeastern tip stands a banyan reckoned to be about 800 years old, twenty metres high, holding its crown up on more than two dozen secondary trunks. At the southern foot the white Lady Buddha of Linh Ứng Pagoda looks out to sea, 67 metres tall, dwarfing the pilgrims in the courtyards below her. In 2016 a plan to build seaside resorts inside the reserve met fierce public opposition and was shelved, and the monkeys were a large part of why.

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