Dalat to Hoi An and Da Nang: how to get there (and the 6-day ride)

Dalat and Hoi An are a long way apart: roughly 750 km by the inland road, and more by the coast. There is no train between them and no quick road, so your choice comes down to flying via Da Nang, a long bus ride, or making the distance into a journey on a motorbike along the Ho Chi Minh Road. Here is how the options compare — and how to do it the other way round, from Da Nang or Hoi An to Dalat.

At a glance

• Flying: Lien Khuong airport (about 30 km south of Dalat) to Da Nang, a little over an hour in the air; Hoi An is about 30 km south of Da Nang airport
• Bus: sleeper buses run between Dalat and Da Nang or Hoi An, usually 15 hours or more
• Bus and train: bus down to Nha Trang, then the north–south railway to Da Nang
• Motorbike: about 750 km to Hoi An on the Ho Chi Minh Road through the Central Highlands; five to seven days
• Da Nang or Hoi An? They are next to each other. Hoi An is the old trading town; Da Nang is the big modern city with the airport and the main railway station.

Flying via Da Nang

The quickest way by far. Direct flights between Lien Khuong and Da Nang are scheduled by more than one airline, though not always every day, so check before you plan around a particular date. If there is no direct flight, connecting through Ho Chi Minh City is common.

From Da Nang airport it is about 45 minutes by taxi or ride-hailing car to Hoi An. Allow most of a day door to door, including the drive to Lien Khuong.

By bus

Sleeper buses run from Dalat to Da Nang and Hoi An, usually overnight. Most go down to the coast at Nha Trang and then north on the coastal highway, QL1, so expect a very long ride — often 15 to 18 hours, depending on the company, traffic and the number of stops. It is the cheapest option, but you arrive tired and see little of the country.

A more comfortable version is to split it: bus from Dalat down to Nha Trang (about four hours over the Khanh Le Pass), then the north–south railway from Nha Trang to Da Nang. The train takes most of a day or a night, but you can walk around, the sleeper berths are real beds, and the coast between Quy Nhon and Da Nang is a fine thing to watch from a window. Check current timetables with the railway before you commit.

Riding the Ho Chi Minh Road

For riders, this is the classic long journey from Dalat. Instead of the busy coastal highway, you go north through the Central Highlands on the Ho Chi Minh Road and the roads that feed it, and only drop to the sea at the very end.

• Dalat to Lak Lake. North-west out of Dalat through Nam Ban and the hills beyond, then down to Lak Lake, a large natural lake ringed by M'nong villages. A calm, green first night.
• Buon Ma Thuot. The capital of Vietnam's coffee country. The Dray Sap and Dray Nur waterfalls on the Serepok River are close by.
• Pleiku. Higher, cooler and greener, with the round crater lake of Bien Ho (Sea Lake) and tea plantations just outside town.
• Kon Tum. A quiet town on the Dak Bla River, known for its wooden church and the Bahnar villages around it, with their tall communal rong houses.
• Kham Duc. The road climbs into the Truong Son mountains, past sites from the American War such as Charlie Hill. This is the most remote part of the ride: long, quiet stretches, few towns and plenty of bends.
• Down to Hoi An. From Kham Duc the road winds down out of the mountains onto the coastal plain and on to Hoi An.

The roads are sealed for the most part, but surfaces vary, there are roadworks and landslide repairs in the mountains, and fuel stops thin out north of Kon Tum. Fill up whenever you can, carry water, and ride only in daylight.

What about the coast road?

You can also ride north along the coast on QL1 via Nha Trang, Quy Nhon and Quang Ngai. It has more beaches and more towns, but it is the country's main trucking route, hot and heavy with traffic for long stretches. Many riders mix the two: inland through the highlands, then down to the coast at Quy Nhon, which is another of our drop-off cities.

When to go

Two climates again. Dalat and the Central Highlands get most of their rain from about May to October. Da Nang and Hoi An get theirs later, roughly from October to December, when storms can flood Hoi An's old town and close mountain roads. That makes autumn the trickiest time for this trip. From about February to August the odds are much better, with the coast hot and dry by the summer. Our guide to the best time to ride around Dalat goes into more detail.

Riding it one-way, or with a guide

With a one-way rental you pick the bike up at our shop in Dalat and drop it off in Hoi An (about 750 km, five to seven days suggested) or Da Nang (about 780 km); Hue is a further option if you want to keep going over the Hai Van Pass. For a trip this long, most riders choose the Honda XR150L or CB150X. You need an International Driving Permit (1968 convention, category A) plus your home licence — see our IDP guide.

Prefer to be ridden? Our Dalat to Hoi An tour covers this route in six days — Lak Lake, Buon Ma Thuot, Pleiku, Kon Tum and Kham Duc — with you on the back of a local guide-rider's bike, and nights in hotels and homestays included.

Da Nang or Hoi An to Dalat: the other way

Coming south, the same choices apply in reverse. Fly from Da Nang to Lien Khuong if there is a direct flight on your day, or connect via Ho Chi Minh City. Buses leave Da Nang and Hoi An for Dalat, usually overnight, and the bus-plus-train route works too: train from Da Nang to Nha Trang, then a bus up the Khanh Le Pass to Dalat.

Our rental bikes are picked up at our shop in Dalat, so if you want to ride this road yourself, the trip runs from Dalat north to Hoi An or Da Nang. Coming from the north, travel to Dalat first and start riding here — or ask us about the guided tour.

A small note on names: after Vietnam's 2025 reorganisation of provinces, Hoi An is now administratively part of Da Nang city, and several highland provinces were merged. Road signs, bus companies and maps may use old and new names side by side for a while.