The Golden Bridge is one of the main attractions at the Ba Na Hills mountain-top resort and amusement park in Vietnam. Sitting almost a mile above sea level and accessible only by cable cars, you’ll be rewarded with magnificent views as you ride high up into the mountains to reach this iconic pedestrian bridge. Visiting the Golden Bridge and Ba Na Hills is an incredible experience the entire family will love. Here’s everything you need to know before you go!
Where is the Golden Bridge?
The Golden Bridge, also known as the Golden Hand Bridge, is one of the main attractions at the Ba Na Hills amusement park, which is located about 30 minutes outside of Da Nang, Vietnam.
Da Nang is one of the three major cities of Vietnam, after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. One of the main airports in Vietnam is here, as the city is conveniently located right in between Hue and Hoi An, two of Vietnam’s most charming and touristic towns. You’ll definitely want to add them to your Vietnam Itinerary, if you haven’t aren’t already!
If you plan to visit Hue and Hoi An, you can easily visit the Golden Bridge on your travel day as you drive from one city to the other. Or you can visit as a day trip from either city. Plan to spend the whole day — you can’t just roll up and see the bridge and leave!
Read More: The Perfect 2-Week Vietnam Itinerary
How Do You Get to the Golden Bridge?
After entering through the main entrance of the Ba Na Hills theme park, you must then take a cable car to reach the Golden Bridge.
There are three main cable car stations at Ba Na Hills that take you to various parts of the park. If you want to visit the Golden Hand Bridge first, follow the signs to the Hoi An Station cable car.
Pro Tip: You can purchase tickets for the cable car (which also acts as your entry ticket to the park) when you get there, but lines can be long during peak season. Save time by buying online in advance.
What To Do After Visiting the Golden Bridge
After visiting the bridge, there are a few other unique things to do at Ba Na Hills. To make sure you see them all, we recommend walking to the gardens after visiting the Golden Bridge. Then, walk back to the bridge and take the Bordeaux Station cable car to the French Village.
When you’re ready to leave, take the L’Indochine Station from the French Village to Toc Tien Station. This will take you back to the main entrance.
This line (the Toc Tien line) has won the Guinness World Record for being the longest cable car ride, and takes about 17 minutes to travel from one station to the other. You’ll also pass over some some breathtaking waterfalls, so have your camera ready!
Riding the Cable Cars at Ba Na Hills
The cable car trip to the Golden Bridge is one of the highlights of the entire experience. The view is absolutely breathtaking as you ride high up in the Truong Song Mountains. It takes about 20 minutes to go from the Hoi An Station to the bridge.
Have your camera ready and be sure to look out for waterfalls when you are riding in the cable cars! There are so many amazing ones to see, especially the massive Toc Tien Waterfalls on the the Toc Tien line.
They are currently working on building additional cable car stations with overlooks so you can get out and see the waterfalls closer. I imagine these will be quite impressive once completed!
Why Was the Golden Hand Bridge Built in Vietnam?
Constructed in 2018, the bridge is part of a huge, Disney-style theme park called Ba Na Hills.
The hands and the bridge are meant to symbolize the hands of God pulling gold from the resource-rich area. And Ba Na Hills certainly feels like a celebration!
The amusement park features rides, restaurants, gardens, and more. There are even people in character costumes walking around everywhere, just like at Disney!
Since the resort is still fairly new, when we visited there was a lot under construction, but still a good number of attractions to see.
More Things To Do At Ba Na Hills:
If you’re going to see the Golden Bridge, you’ll definitely want plan for a few extra hours to see the other areas of the resort.
One of the attractions at Ba Na Hills is the French Village, a tribute to the French colonists of the early 1900s. It is built to look like a mini French village. There is even a recreation of the Notre Dame Cathedral, and a replica of the Moulin Rouge from Paris.
This area is where most of the shopping and dining opportunities are located. Many of the restaurants offer French and French-inspired Vietnamese cuisine, at varying price levels.
The French Village
Pictured above: The main thoroughfare of the French Village at Ba Na Hills. Can you spot the Moulin Rouge to the left, and the Notre Dame cathedral to the right?
The main thing that you don’t want to miss in this section of the park is the outdoor Alpine Slide roller coaster that you can ride! It’s included with the price of your ticket.
Le Jardin D’Amour — The Garden of Love
Along with the Golden Hand Bridge and French Village, another main attraction at Ba Na Hills are several beautiful gardens. Each one is uniquely sculpted.
You’ll walk through this colorful archway to get from the Golden Hand Bridge to the gardens. There are different styles of mosaic work using glass and stone, which together make for stunning photos!
The Peacock sculpture pictured above is from my favorite garden in the French Village, the Love Garden.
There are nine small gardens in this section of the park: the Love Garden (above), Mystery Garden, Legendary Garden, Memory Garden, Heaven Garden, Grape Garden, Thought Garden, Suoi Mo Garden, and Sacred Garden. Each garden is meant to evoke a different emotion.
In addition to the Golden Hand Bridge, there are many spiritual attractions at the resort. These include a giant Buddha statue, colorful pagodas and shrines, a Zen Monastery, and a few other Buddhist sites of worship.
They are located near the gardens and you can easily walk to them after visiting the gardens.
Tips for Your Visit:
Dress warmly! You’ll definitely want to bring a sweater or jacket with you to Ba Na Hills, no matter what time of year you are visiting! It gets pretty chilly up in the mountains even during the summer — but especially during the winter — and you’ll be spending most of your time walking outside.
Keep a close eye on the weather before you travel to see the Golden Hand Bridge. You won’t be able to enjoy the views much on a cloudy or rainy day. In fact, the cable cars won’t run if the weather gets too bad, and the cable car is the only way to the top.
Luggage Storage at Ba Na Hills
Like we mentioned earlier, the best way to visit the Golden Bridge is on your travel day as you travel from Hue to Hoi An (or vice versa).
If you’ll have large pieces of luggage with you, don’t worry! There is free luggage storage at Ba Na Hills. The storage facility has no size limit and is located to the right of the ticket booth by the cable car stations.
Theyy’ll give you a numbered ticket that links you to your luggage, which is privately and securely stored under camera surveillance right there at the ticket office.
The luggage storage desk is open from 8.a.m. to 9.p.m.
Visiting the Golden Bridge from Hue or Hoi An
Hue and Hoi An are about 4-5 hours apart by car. And you’ll want to spend at least 5-6 hours to fully experience the Golden Bridge and Ba Na Hills. It will be a long a day, but you’ll can definitely do it in one day!
To make your day more relaxed and stress-free, we highly recommend booking this excursion with Indochina Voyages. They’ll pick you up at your hotel in one city, and you can relax while your private driver takes you to Ba Na Hills. Your private guide will accompany you to the park. They’ll make sure you don’t get lost and take all the right cable car lines! You also won’t have to worry about buying any tickets because your guide will do that for you.
After staying as long as you want at the park, you can then totally chill out in the car as your driver takes you to your new hotel in the other city. You can fully enjoy your time at the park without having to worry about finding a taxi after, getting lost in the park, or wasting time! And you also don’t have to worry about storing your luggage — you can keep it in the car!
Hiring a Private Driver & Guide in Vietnam
We booked our entire 3-week trip to Vietnam with Indochina Voyages. When you book with Indochina Voyages, all of your hotels, transportation, and entry fees are included in one easy transaction. When you add up the costs of all the hotels, taxis, transportation etc., that you’d have to book yourself, it’s really not that much more expensive to hire these professionals to do everything for you. And you’ll even have your own private driver and guide. They make the entire process so simple, it’s definitely the best way to have the most relaxing experience in Vietnam!
And fun fact: President Jimmy Carter even chose to book with Indochina Voyages when he traveled to Vietnam in 2009!
Questions about the Golden Hand Bridge at Ba Na Hills?
Do you have any questions about traveling to Ba Na Hills in Vietnam? Let me know in the comments! We want to make your trip as easy as possible, so we’ll do our best to help!
Thanks for the tips
Is the bridge accessible for wheelchairs?