The old French presence is also apparent in the leafy boulevards and colonial edifices along the riverfront promenade. The elongated oval of Da Nang occupies a small headland protruding into the southern curve of Da Nang Bay.
The city itself harbours few specific sights of its own, beyond the wonderful Cham Museum with its unparallelled collection of sculpture from the period. However, there are a number of interesting sights in the area — just across the Son Tra Peninsula is China Beach, an increasingly developed stretch of sand from which you can see Monkey Mountain to the north and the Marble Mountains to the south.
My Khe is a long, if not exactly glorious, stretch of sand less than 3km southeast of central Da Nang. These days, most buses cut out the pass via the Hai Van Tunnel, leaving a more peaceful journey for those that choose to take on the pass. From the top of the pass there are superb views, weather permitting, over the sweeping curve of Da Nang Bay, with glimpses of the rail lines looping and tunnelling along the cliff.
The two routes converge again where the tunnel emerges, at the small beach town of Lang Co, whose beach boasts brilliant white sands — and is still, as yet, markedly undeveloped. To the west is Bach Ma National Park, a gorgeous place where the remains of another French-era hill station are swamped by some of the lushest vegetation in Vietnam. Da Nang during the war The city of Da Nang mushroomed after the arrival of the first American combat troops on March 8, An advance guard of two battalions of Marines waded ashore at Red Beach in Da Nang Bay, providing the press with a photo opportunity that included amphibious landing craft, helicopters and young Vietnamese women handing out garlands — not quite as the generals had envisaged.
For most US troops the approach to Da Nang airfield formed their first impression of Vietnam, and it was here they came to take a break from the war at the famous China Beach. After much posturing Ky crushed the revolt two months later, killing hundreds of rebel troops and many civilians. Communist units had already cut the road south, and panic-stricken South Vietnamese soldiers battled for space on any plane or boat leaving the city, firing on unarmed civilians.
