We've been mates for decades. We play golf badly, argue about everything, and decided the world needed our completely unqualified opinions on Vietnam. You're welcome.
Every restaurant, hotel, bar, tour and experience gets the Gold Corp treatment — honest reviews from four mates who know what they like. Kicking off with getting there, first impressions of Da Nang, our Ba Na Hills round, and the lowdown on playing golf with a Vietnamese caddie.
GETTING THERE
Flying from Christchurch to Da Nang was a bit of a mission. Our route was Christchurch to Auckland, Auckland to Singapore, then Singapore to Da Nang. If I were doing it again, I'd skip the Auckland leg and just fly straight Christchurch to Singapore, then on to Da Nang.
One highlight of the journey was the stopover at Changi Airport — it's a great place to break up the trip. It's basically a massive shopping mall, so there's plenty to look around and plenty of spots to grab a rest before the final leg.
DA NANG: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Arriving in Da Nang, we were absolutely blown away — what a great place. Think Asian Surfers Paradise, but a lot cheaper and a lot friendlier. First tip: download the Grab app before you land. It's like Uber, and it'll get you around the city for next to nothing — short trips run about $3 USD, and we never paid more than $10 USD for any Grab ride, no matter how far.
We checked into our hotel, the Sala, and it was magnificent. We headed straight up to the rooftop infinity pool, which also has a great Japanese restaurant attached — the view over the beach from up there is something else. After settling in we went for a walk outside, and the beach itself is fantastic, lined with restaurants and bars, locals out exercising, and vendors selling the usual sunglasses and hats. One tip: always make sure the free breakfast is included in your package before you book — it's massive, with a spread covering pretty much every breakfast food you could want.
The local beer of choice is Huda, and it's a good drop — a pint will set you back about $1.50 USD at the hotel, or roughly half that from the convenience store across the road. There are also pickleball courts nearby you can hire if you're keen for a game.
For shopping, there are three good markets close by — Con Market, Han Market, and the night market — all about a $3–5 Grab ride away. This is where you'll find all the "replica" goods: North Face, Patagonia, and plenty more, plus sunglasses of every brand going. We were told locals shop at Con Market, but once you find the right price everywhere else, there's not much in it — you'll end up haggling over a dollar either way. Rough pricing guide: a North Face puffer vest for $20, Prada or Ray-Ban glasses for $6, good branded t-shirts for $7.50 (cheap tourist ones for $3), and genuinely good Adidas Samba shoes for $20. There's a huge range of shoes to choose from, and even more selection once you get to Hanoi, so it's worth holding off if you're after something specific.
On packing: you won't need any cold weather gear. Just bring lightweight trousers (vendors sell them right at the gates of some temples if you turn up without) so you can visit the temples, which are well worth it, and a rain jacket for the odd quick downpour. We did all the usual tourist stops, which are cheap and easy to get to — the Military Museum in Da Nang was eye-opening and well worth visiting early in the trip, as it gives you a real understanding of what the people of this country have been through.
Crossing the roads is a bit scary to begin with, but you get used to it fast — you just walk out into the traffic and people stop and flow around you. People genuinely look after each other in Vietnam; we never saw a single bit of road rage the whole trip. This is a country we'd happily come back to.
BA NA HILLS GOLF COURSE REVIEW
This was an amazing experience from start to finish. We drove out from Da Nang, and it's a great drive in itself — well worth keeping your eyes out the window and taking in the scenery along the way.
We arrived to some genuinely great hospitality that made you feel like kings. The locker room staff were amazing — they even did up your shoes for you. One of the guys was so taken aback he took a photo to send to his wife.
Since this was the first time any of us had experienced that level of service, we asked about tipping. The answer was that they don't expect it — it's built into their wages — but if you feel the service has been good, you're welcome to tip anyway. So we did. Vietnam isn't like the USA, where tipping is essentially an extra tax you pay to subsidise low wages. It always helps to tip in Vietnam, though staff can sometimes seem a little embarrassed by it — wages are quite low, but it's balanced out by a low cost of living.
Get to the course about 45 minutes early so you've got time to hit a bucket of balls (around $7.50) before heading to the putting green. This was our routine at every course we played — your caddie will let you know when it's time to tee off.
Ba Na is a Luke Donald design, and it's a top-notch golf course — fantastic from start to finish. Everything was pristine, and it was a genuinely tough track. We played off the white tees, which suited our abilities — the group had a real mix of skill levels, and everyone enjoyed the challenge, even though it tested us. As mentioned earlier, our caddies were fantastic throughout. The greens were fast, the rough was tough but fair, and the fairways were magnificent.
After the round we headed into the changing rooms for a shower — bring a change of clothes, because what you played in will be drenched in sweat. Then it was off to the restaurant for a beer and a meal, around $10 USD for the lot. The place wasn't crowded at all, and it's an absolute must-play if you're in the area.
THE CADDIES
You can't play golf in Vietnam without a caddie — and every single one of ours was female. Their English varied from caddie to caddie, but my first caddie had the best of the lot, and we had a lot of laughs out on the course together. Ours even shared their lunch with us while riding on the back of the cart, whether that was watermelon or some interesting local Vietnamese food.
They had some great sayings. Whenever you hit one into the rough, or near out of bounds, the standard line was "how good is that?" — usually followed by something like "fifty-fifty" on your chances of finding it. They genuinely knew the course and gave good advice on where to hit it, and just as importantly, where not to.
Not everyone in the group warmed to having a caddie. A couple of the boys had never played with one before and weren't quite sure how to get the most out of the experience — it takes a bit of getting used to.
These women work hard for not much money — only around US$15 a day — so tipping properly matters. We were advised to give around US$20 per round. They'd have a club ready for you before you even asked, and if it wasn't the right one, you'd see them sprinting back to the cart — or yelling at a fellow caddie — to get the correct club.
We took our own towels for the caddies to prepare for us in the cart's ice buckets — it genuinely pays to do this, as it gets extremely hot out there. Make sure you fill your bag with water beforehand too. It's much cheaper to buy before you get to the course rather than on it — on course, coke runs about $2.50 a can and water around $1.50.
It's worth remembering the caddies are there to help you enjoy your day, not just to keep score. It's about looking up, smelling the roses, and having fun out there, even if the golf is tough.
SUN WORLD BA NA HILLS
Saying Vietnam makes you say "WTF" every single day, with the sights and just how the country is, would be an understatement. Sun World Ba Na Hills is another perfect example of that.
We did a last-minute booking and got taken up and brought back by the Sala Hotel — Tram, their very helpful and friendly concierge, sorted the whole thing, and there was no difference in price booking it through the hotel versus anywhere else.
For around $38 USD you get entry and a ride on the Guinness World Record cable car — the longest non-stop single-track cable car in the world, climbing nearly 1,400 metres up the mountain in one unbroken run. Add the roller coaster ticket on top if you can — still super cheap. You get up the mountain and your jaw just keeps dropping the whole way.
At the top is a full European village built into the mountainside — French chateaux, a Gothic cathedral, cobbled streets, the works. It's genuinely bizarre and brilliant in equal measure. Must, must, must do.
Scattered through the grounds are these enormous stone giant sculptures, half-buried in the mountain — genuinely impressive scale, and worth building time in just to wander around and find them all.
Dave, our head rugby coach for the mighty Banks Peninsula Rugby Club, won the German beer hall drinking competition against the other Dave, Glenn, a German, an Argentinian, a Japanese guy and a Korean. Skull a litre and get crowned King of Sun World, with all the fanfare that comes with it — he walked away with a giant sausage and another litre of dark beer for his troubles.
If you want to really commit, it's 250,000 VND (about $9.50 USD) for all-you-can-drink — as long as you don't leave the beer area. This whole zone was great just to walk around, eat, and play in the amusement area.
Then there's the Golden Bridge — the walkway held up by two giant hands reaching out of the mountain. Whoever thought this up, and why, we have no idea, but it's all so cool. Opened back in 2018, it's become one of the most photographed spots in the country, and you'll see exactly why the moment you're standing on it.
Ba Na Hills also has its own replica of Rome's Trevi Fountain, complete with gold statues and horses — another one of those "only in Vietnam" moments. This is genuinely a whole day up there, and worth every hour of it.
ZONE 5 MILITARY MUSEUM & THE HO CHI MINH HOUSE
Just down the road from the hotel is the Zone 5 Military Museum, and it's a genuinely cool couple of hours. Unlike most museums, a lot of the hardware outside isn't roped off — tanks, helicopters, artillery, missiles — you can walk right up and get your hands on it. Inside, the war photography and exhibits give you a real "other side" view of what's called the American War here, told entirely from the Vietnamese perspective, which is worth seeing whatever your own views on it. The complex also includes a full-size replica of Ho Chi Minh's stilt house from Hanoi and a museum dedicated to his life. Barely anyone else was there when we visited. Entry only cost $2.30 USD — but that's Vietnam for you, everything "only costs."
Just down the road from the museum we wandered into a stadium and caught some of the 2026 Beach Volleyball 2x2 National Championship, including a moment where someone's umbrella took off across the stands mid-point. Had a good chat with a few locals, then found a pickleball court nearby — pickleball is everywhere in Vietnam, seems like half the country's taken it up.
12 days • 5 championship courses • 3 cities • Christchurch to Christchurch via Singapore.
View full flight times & day-by-day itinerary
Booking ref LGTA-0149 • Da Nang → Hoi An → Hanoi • Golf trip of a lifetime.