The Marble Mountains are found in Da Nang, approximately a 15 to 20 minutes ride via taxi from the central city. If you are staying at a hotel in Da Nang City, take a taxi to the beautiful Marble Mountains where you see a site where Vietnamese people worship. There are many beautiful spots at the Marble Mountains, but particularly this largest main cave gives a special spiritual feeling with a natural light shining through holes from above. It is a great place to visit for those who enjoy visiting historical sites of worship.
Visit Vietnamese people's place of worship
The Marble Mountains are the tourist attraction to visit when you are traveling to Da Nang. As one might guess, these are a group of 5 mountains in the area, which are made of marbles and limestones. When you are traveling from Da Nang City, you see mountains of rocks suddenly appear right in front of you. They are located on the way to Hoi An, the ancient city, and it is approximately halfway between Da Nang City and Hoi An. The 5 marble mountains represents the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, which represent the ancient Asian philosophy.
Climb up the rocky stairs or take the elevator
When you get to the Marble Mountains, there are a few gates, making it a little confusing to find where to go at first. The entrance fee to the mountain is 15,000 VND (0.67 USD) and there is a particular gate that lets walkers enter the mountains. For those of you who think going up the rocky uneven stairs to be quite a challenge, especially if you are with children and/or elderly, you can pay an extra of 15,000 VND (0.67 USD) one way to take an elevator up the mountains.
For those of you taking an elevator, the ticket booth for the elevator is separate from the ticket booth for walkers, so find the right ticket booth to pay your entrance fee when you arrive at the entrance. On a hot sunny day, going up those rocky uneven stairs can be quite a sweaty challenge so you can always take an elevator down and/or up as long as you pay an extra 15,000 VND one way.
Feel the spiritual energy in the caves
There are a lot of beautiful spots at the Marble Mountains that if you enjoy taking pictures, you will have no problem finding picture perfect sculptures, architectures, and natural wonders. However, the highlight of this spiritual location is the main cave. There are a few caves before reaching this main cave, but this main cave is nothing like others, especially because of its size and beauty.
On a hot spring day, even in April when it is 30 degree Celsius (86 F) outside, as soon as you enter the cave, it is so refreshingly cool that you just want to stay there forever. It is refreshing not only because it is cool in the main cave, but also the cave itself is beautiful and quite special. This is where man-made sculptures and nature perfectly match to create a special spiritual atmosphere.
Tips for traveling to the Marble Mountains
If you are visiting to the Marble Mountains from a hotel in Da Nang City, you want to take a taxi. It is about 15 to 20 minutes one way to get there. Because it is hard to find a taxi back to the city once you get to this part of Da Nang, you should ask your driver to wait for you at the entrance upon your arrival. Some drivers may offer to stay there before you ask so if the driver asks you, definitely say yes since you may not easily find a ride back to the city.
If you happen to be staying by the Han River around the Dragon Bridge, the round trip to the Marble Mountains costs little over 350,000 VND (16 USD) if you take a regular size taxi. When you travel in Vietnam, you quickly realize that depending on the size of taxi, the price differs so unless you are in a big group, try to catch a smaller taxi, which reduces unnecessary costs.
Spiritual experience at the Marble Mountains
The Marble Mountains is the place to visit when you are in central Vietnam. It is between the central Da Nang City and Hoi An, thus you can perhaps take a half day adventure out to this beautiful mountain before you head out to experience the evening out in Hoi An.
The caves at the Marble Mountains create natural air-conditioned rooms, but walking up the stairs and walking around the Marble Mountains can be quite a sweaty challenge on a hot day, thus you could also hit the white sand beach before heading out for an evening adventure in Hoi An. If you wish to experience Vietnamese culture, traditions, and philosophy, this is the place to visit.
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