Is Da Nang The New Digital Nomad Hotspot in Southeast Asia?

Is Da Nang The New Digital Nomad Hotspot in Southeast Asia?

This is not Bali. This is Da Nang, Vietnam. Like many Aussies, when we initially 
seeking a life abroad, we were looking at Bali as our second home. But as it gets 
busy and busier, it became less attractive. We slow-travelled and lived in a few digital 
nomad hotspots for the last 2 years. And everyone is talking about dining right now. So, we’re 
actually staying here for 2 months this time. And we’re just here to check out 
the beach scene, the coffee scene, and also really get an idea of the cost 
of living. And is it as cheap as they say? I mean, Da Nang might look good on paper, but it’s so different when we actually 
live here full-time, right? Yeah. There are so many things that people don’t 
tell you about living in Da Nang. So,   to dive a little bit deeper this time, we are 
obviously staying here for a little bit longer. We’re also exploring a lot of the local 
neighbourhoods, trying a lot of local food,   speaking with the local people, and even 
expats who have lived here for a long time, just to really get an idea of what 
life is like living in Daang in 2025. All right. So Da Nang is actually divided into 
two main areas with the Han River in the middle. So this is the the mainland side, the other 
side across the river. This is a lot busier and a lot more spread out cuz a lot of the 
businesses and local lives are around this area. We’re at a cafe at the moment. Not a big 
street, but there’s a lot of like traffic noise. You hear the noise? And it’s not 
even a busy time of the day. The midday is generally quiet because it’s hot and 
people stay in, but it’s a different vibe. It’s got like the streets a bit more developed,   I guess. Cuz it’s not as touristy, so 
you don’t have new things popping up. The housing is a little bit older, but it’s 
quite, it’s greener. It’s more leafy. Yeah. No more smaller streets and like little shops. 
And it’s actually quite cute. You just have to get over the beeping. Yeah. And the traffic. Yeah. 
The beeping is everywhere in Vietnam. Vietnam is   a loud country. Yeah. Then we will take you 
to the other side of the river. Let’s go. So, we’re currently on the coastal side of Da 
Nang, which is on the peninsula. On the peninsula, you have really gorgeous beaches like this 
behind me, which is the My Khe Beach. It’s   known for its gorgeous waters and white sands. 
This area is also very popular with expats, and also it’s slightly quieter 
compared to the main tourist hotspot. So, the main tourist hot spot is An Thuong 
and that area is crazy busy. You’ll see a lot of buses coming through, a lot of locals, 
tourists, expats. Everyone is there. A lot of bars and restaurants as well. So, if you do 
want to live that sort of bit more beachy lifestyle and a bit more tranquil area, 
that’s probably not the best area for you. And then if you want even quieter, you can go 
like really up north to the Son Tra Peninsula, where you got the stunning view and 
also the Linh Ung Temple there as well. Or you can go south of My Khe Beach which is   the Ngu Hanh Son area where they 
have their famous Marble Mountain. But do keep in mind that a lot of these newer 
areas and less popular areas development is constant in Vietnam. So the chances of 
construction nearby is very, very high. Yeah. So, Da Nang, it is quite an affordable 
place to live. However, in comparison to other Southeast Asia cities, I would say 
the quality is just a little bit different. It’s definitely subpar to um places like 
Thailand. Like the concept of luxury condos is still quite a new concept here 
in Daang. You do have a lot of, you know,   lowrise apartments and a lot of like 
maybe houses, a lot of duplex as well. They’re quite narrow generally and they 
maybe about three, four stories high. You generally don’t have a lot of high-rise 
apartments here. Maybe about a couple. I think there’s a couple established ones 
along the river. The rest are generally   hotels. There are some that are building, 
but it’s sort of in a less desirable area. And because it’s such a new concept, there’s a 
lot of construction going on. It’s quite dusty. It’s just not a good area to live at the moment. 
Maybe in a few years it will become quite nice and populated. So you might get the same amenity 
as you would in a nice condo in Thailand. so yeah, I would say yes, 
it is very cheap. You know,   you can afford to live here well, 
but it’s just not the same quality. So here in Da Nang, the best way to get 
around is having a bike. So this is my bike. I got my bike through TBike Da Nang. I’m going to put their link here so you can get 
in touch with them. They are actually very good. They bring the bike to you also pick up the bike 
when you finished as well. So, very convenience Because I rent monthly so, they   do a service monthly for you as 
well. When you’re here long-term, I would recommend trying to rent them monthly 
because you can get the price down quite a lot. For my bike because it’s a bit more newer bike. 
Normally, you would pay about 130,000 dong per day for this bike. But because I rent it monthly, 
so I pay about 2.7 million dong per month, which is around 90,000 vnd a day. So 
you do the math, it’s a lot better. And if you can’t ride a bike, I 
would recommend just take a Grab or Green SM, which is another shared ride app. They are very convenient, they’re everywhere 
and it’s pretty cheap as well. And for long distances like from Da Nang to Hoi An or 
Hue or Ba Na Hills, you can get a private car to take you there. You will pay around 
250,000 dong from Da Nang to Hoi An, one way. To Ba Na Hills or Hue, you will pay around 800 
to 1 million dong uh each way. And as usual, when you get a bike, make sure you 
check your bike before uh taking it. Make sure you have your helmet, a good helmet, check your brake. Good brake is very important 
as well, especially if you go uh uphill. All the lights are working properly, back 
light, brake light, and headlight. Make sure everything is in good condition before you 
take the bike. And if it’s not up to scratch, just swap for another one, or you can walk away,   go to another shop. There are plenty of 
buy rental shops here in Da Nang. So yeah. So in Da Nang there are only two seasons,   dry and wet. We’re currently in the wet season 
which runs from August to about December. But as you can see behind me, the sky 
is completely blue and super sunny. It actually has been quite dry. We 
haven’t had a lot of rainy days,   maybe a couple here and there. So, when 
it doesn’t rain, it does mean it gets super super muggy, and it’s not a very nice 
like environment to be outside for long. It does make it super hot. So a bit 
of rain is welcome but when it does rain and the monsoon season comes, 
it is very very common to be super   windy and quite destructive. So you would 
generally avoid the wet season if you can. So when it does rain heavily in 
Vietnam flash floodings happen,   and because the drainage system is not that good 
here. Water could rise really, really quickly. So it’s very often that you just see rows 
of like inches of water and motorbikes   and pedestrians just going through. You 
know, you’re better off being in a dinghy when that happens and then it subsides 
quite quickly as soon as the rain stops. But just be mindful of wet season, 
it can get very, very wet. Yeah. You should clean your utensils 
and lemon. Yeah. But let’s talk   about the most important thing for 
us anywhere we go to – is food. And here in Da Nang, just like 
any other big city in Vietnam,   you can find a lot of variety 
of true Vietnamese food. The flavour of central Vietnam 
is a little bit different from   the Southern Vietnamese food. I 
would say it’s less complex. Yeah. But still quite delicious. They’re not 
really known for like their pho cuz it’s the flavour is different, but they’re more 
like, you know, the banh xeo, mi quang. But surprisingly in Da Nang, we 
found a lot of good Korean food. Yeah, there’s an entire area of Korean 
restaurants somewhere out North and they You feel like you’re in like 
little Korea or something cuz   the whole street is full of um Korean restaurants, Korean barbecue, a lot of Korean tourists in 
that area. I think for that reason as well. Well, obviously being next to the ocean, 
you get lots of I’ve got something here. You got some? We get lots of seafood 
around. Yeah, they’re quite fresh. We’ve not had them at restaurants 
this time yet. Yes. we will be, but we bought quite a bit from the local 
market. It’s like fresh prawns and squid, and it’s really, it’s quite good. 
It’s quite affordable as well. Yeah. How much was the squid you got? 110,000 
vnd, which is like not even $10. It’s $6.50 Yeah. $6.50 $7. Yes. So our squids and the prawns we got 
last time got half a kilo of like fresh river prawns. But they’re 
very, very good for 200,000 vnd. It’s $12. And do you want to talk about 
food hygiene in Vietnam? As I mentioned, I have a very, very 
sensitive gut like a lot of food,   but I always have to be very, very cautious. 
The hygiene here in Vietnam in general, is slightly more questionable than some of the 
other Southeast Asia countries we’ve been to. So for me, I don’t really eat anything 
raw in the restaurant because I don’t know how they prepare it, how they 
wash it. The tap water here is not   drinkable. So if they wash it with tap 
water, then that’s it’s over for me. so we always like with pho, cuz you come out 
with these beautiful like herbs and vegetables that you put in your soup and you have to 
have it. You just have to. We get it boiled. We ask to boil it cuz it goes 
in the soup anyway. It cooks it. It’s supposed to be cooked. 
Yeah. So, we asked for it oiled. Ice is fine. You just need to 
look for ice that has the tube in the middle so it comes out of your 
machine to filter out. What else is But yeah, you don’t have to be very if 
you are quite sensitive or prone to food poisoning. I’ve had it several times 
since we travelled and it’s not fun. So, hence why I’m very very 
cautious what I put in my mouth. I don’t often eat at like street food He. He you can you can lick the pavement actually I have a video about 
street food Da Nang as well It’s coming out very soon. 
So, keep an eye out for that. I missed out on the whole adventure. 
It looks really delicious, but I know it’s a potential aftermath 
for me. So, that’s a no for me. I’m outside. It’s very loud 
here, but she’s got the   eastern medicine for Cathleen. So, 
yeah. But this place is very good. So I have been a little bit 
under the weather lately   since Portugal I believe. So it 
was about 3 months ago. In Da Nang, we went to Vinmec for a checkup just to see 
why I’m still feeling under the weather. And then we also decided to give Chinese 
medicine a go. So this is one of the medicines I have to take. This is actually the 
third iteration. It’s in a tablet form. So much easier to take than like the actual brewing 
of the herb. It’s like eating fish pellets. So the medical system in Vietnam 
is actually adequate. Vinmec was a really good hospital. It is definitely 
Western standard. It’s an international   hospital and you have chains in Ho Chi 
Min and Hanoi, like the biggest cities. We went in there was nice and 
clean. Everything seems organised.   The receptionists speak English really well. 
The doctors, it depends on who you see. Some of them don’t speak English as well. Luckily, 
I do have Tan who can translate for me. So, it was much, much easier. I would say 
in terms of the communication level,   Thailand was definitely a lot better. We 
were able to talk to the doctors seamlessly. There was no issues and you know, I just felt 
like I was understood a little bit better,   I guess, cuz I was speaking to 
her directly rather through Tan. but they’re still 100% fine. Really good. In terms of, I guess if you like, have anything major things that are 
a bit more serious, we would prefer. I mean I would prefer, I would just 
go back to Australia. We are very lucky that we do have Medicare. So our 
medical system is free for all citizens.   So we’re able to do that. But for anything 
that’s just like sort of smaller illnesses, getting treated in Vietnam is 
totally fine, in my opinion. Okay. So, you’re never really short of cafes in 
Da Nang. You get a lot of different variations, I guess, different kinds. You’ll have your 
local ones and then you’ll have ones like this,   where it’s sort of like designed for you to work the whole day in here and or 
networking or an event space. We’re actually coming here to this 
one for a painting workshop and they always really like they always 
have really good Wi-Fi as well. So,   you can just order a drink and stay here and 
bring your laptop and just work the whole day. So, in Vietnam, they actually have a lot of 
like Korean skincare, which is what I use. A lot of good quality ones like not 
just Korean but Japanese brands as well,   and they are a really reasonable pric,e 
better than Australia for some stuff. So this serum, Summer by the retinol intense 
I use this is a very very light retinal like 0.1%. And in Australia it’s about $35 to 
$40 depending on where you get it from. It is $449K vnd, which is about $27 
here. And that’s just normal price. I actually bought one on sale the other 
day. It was even cheaper. I bought two. All right, we are here at the local 
market. Yes, the local market. Yeah. What are we doing here? We are looking for 
household goods cuz we just moved into apartment. cuz it’s a long-term lease. A few things 
are missing. So, we’re just here to get   some bits and bobs like I don’t know dust pan, 
broom, cooking utensils, um random things. So, we just try to check it out and see 
what’s here. So, few places you can get household goods here. You can go to Jolly Mart, 
the shopping center Vincom I think it’s called. Or you can go to local shops like 
this, which is like it has absolutely   everything. Sort of like your variety 
shops, $2 shops we call it in Australia. lots of bits and bobs and 
lots of household stuff. So   we’re going to go check it 
out and see what we can find. And we need like these baskets for 
the condiments. I really like those. Oh, I get that for a fruit bowl. 
We need a fruit bowl. Yeah. Um, if this is microfiber, I want cotton,   you know, like a tea towel, cuz 
this will just like slide over. Okay, we got quite a lot of 
stuff. Tan is now paying. I want to get some fresh flowers for 
the apartment. I want to get some. This is the food and dry goods section. Hello. There’s a distinct smell in these market. 
This is similar to the one the central market. If you have an iron stomach like Tan, sure for me unless I want to potentially sit 
on the toilet for the next 3 days. Also, if you are here, I’m just going to 
let him buy grass jelly, shall we? Wanna sit? Uh, no. Let’s keep moving. 
I’m too hot. Let’s get moving. Okay, so the wet market, you can come really, 
really early in the morning where everything is still relatively fresh. Um, cuz there’s 
no refrigeration where you get the meat. So, if you come in the morning, 
obviously, they’re much fresher. I wouldn’t buy it past 11:00 a.m. Um, 
for us, we would buy our meats from the actual supermarket where there’s 
refrigeration. And we actually found a   really good one local to us, like down the 
literally downstairs from our apartment. I got it. Dried coconut. 
Yeah, you got grass jelly. Uh, coconut milk. Pink one. Pink one’s kind 
of like jelly. Jelly. And then the yellow one. Jelly. The yellow one is the um mong. Have 
you paid? Yeah. How much was it? Uh 15,000. 15. Tan is such a big like Asian dessert eater. He’s   not a big Western dessert 
either, but Asian dessert. He’s in love. Love this jelly. I 
don’t eat a lot of dessert. Actually,   I prefer western dessert over Asian dessert. So, we’re opposite in that sense. But in 
general, we’re not very desserty people. Get 10. 10. Five. got. Thing is in Vietnam, we have like a 
random siesta. So around 12 to 2 or 3, people just like randomly just left the shop 
open and then just went back home and then just um let the neighbours look 
after it or just whatever. Trust system. Go for a nap. All right, time to tetris. 
Tetris our shopping in our   bike. The booth is really big, so we 
able to fit all our fruits in there. Our household stuff and our bike is a not like 
the smaller or the lower gray one. And it’s just like more comfortable and the boot is bigger. His 
hand got a good deal cuz he speaks like a local. Honestly, I rather hold it. We’ve arrived at Lotte Mart. So 
second attempt into coming into a bigger I guess this is like a mega mart I will say Apparently it’s groceries household stuff, fashion. I guess it’s like a Walmart we’re not 
sure but we’re here to trying to get like other bits and pieces we weren’t able to find at the 
local market, and some stuff I found on Lazada. But we just want to like see if it’s easier 
to get it here or the price is better. Just want to explore and get some like maybe other 
groceries that we can’t get at local markets, trying to find a good granola and 
um just yeah, other bits and bobs. That’s good. It’s like a department store 
of things. They have a Guardian pharmacy which I love. household good. Well, you look 
out here first. Yeah. And then we’re going kind of feel like Costco. Yeah. It’s now 
like a Walmart and Costco had a baby. Blend in with maybe a bit of David Jones cuz 
downstairs was like a department store. Lot more variety. Obviously, they’re much 
better presented. Lot of imports. Okay. Mandarin from Australia is $6. Asian suit packs. So you’ve got carrot 
lotus root lotus. See I was like be and those are juju bees or red dates. 
They make like it’s really nice. Oh, and there’s shitake in there somewhere. 
Mushroom. If you’re Asian, you know. Okay, so this is typically where we would 
get like meat from at a supermarket like this. Doesn’t have to be this one, but 
generally like a refrigerator like you   would get at our normal supermarkets 
back home like Cole’s and Woolworths. like I explained, it’s just cuz they store 
better and they generally a bit safer. The other place I said it was fine if you go like 
first thing in the morning like when they   just open because there’s no refrigeration 
and if you leave it any later it gets hot, the meat will turn and then you get flies. 
You’ll see it. The flies are like everywhere. So it’s just not that nice. Uh, in charge 
of the dish. I’m doing the soup. So you need Do you want pork belly? It’s so fatty. 
Fatty. Are you just stir frying them? Yeah. Or you want ribs? Stir 
fry ribs. Yeah. Um get like What is that one? Is that like 
the loin? Just Yeah. Fillet? just cut them like thin and then do you 
know like a Yeah. Is that the same? Yeah. This is my gym in Da Nang. This is a decent 
size gym. it’s got pretty much everything. Gym in Da Nang. Normally you can pay as you 
go. So it’s normally cost you about anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 per entry. But if you 
go more than twice or three times a week, it’s worth paying for a monthly or weekly fee. But I think they don’t do weekly much 
here, mainly monthly or 3 months. So I pay it for my monthly is 
uh around 250,000 dong which works out a lot better since I go 
to gym like three times a week. Another thing you should know 
about gym in Vietnam is especially the local gyms, they don’t have air 
con, so the place can get like really,   really stuffy like in there. So expect to 
sweat a lot. So bring the towel with you. All right. This is where I play soccer in Da Nang with my mate Ilia. So yeah, so I’ve been playing with a few teams,   but I finally set on Da Nang United, 
which is not just a good team, but just a bunch of good guys here that we 
can hang out after soccer, have a drink. very good people. I found in general, soccer in 
Da Nang is a lot cheaper as well. So if we play a 7v7 games, I pay about 30,000 dong 
which is like not even two bucks. Well, if we play like 11 like this, it’s 
like 70,000 dong per person. And yeah, it’s like about five bucks if I got my math right. yeah, a lot cheaper than compared to Thailand 
and Bali, cuz normally in Bali I pay about 12 to 15 bucks per game and same Thailand, Thailand 
about 10 10 to 15 bucks per game as well. Depends. 83,000 for two mangoes, rose 
apple and lychee. My god,   you know ly it’s like $40 a kilo in Australia. So obviously one of the biggest draw cards of 
moving to Vietnam is the cost of living. It is very, very affordable in particularly 
in Daang. Yeah. And your money just goes a lot further living here. So for us, we 
set a budget of a million dong per day as our expenses and groceries. So a million dong 
is about $60 Aud, and we get by pretty well. Like we’re not we’re living, I would say,   a quality lifestyle in comparison. And there’s 
no way you could do that in Melbourne at all. you know, we get things, we get nice groceries,   we do the things we want, we go 
out for coffees, we get massages, I get my nails done. Like, there’s no way 
we could do that in Melbourne for $60 a day. That’s not including our rent and our 
utilities. That’s a separate category,   but it does include our motorbike. Also, we will have a video coming out soon with 
the full detailed budget breakdown for you guys. Okay. So, do we think Da Nang is a good place 
to live for those who wants to move here or expats or digital nomads? I think so. You get 
a lot here. You know, affordability is number one. The lifestyle is pretty good. The beach is 
pretty amazing. You have quite a lot of amenities. You’re not really missing all the modern 
things that you may crave. There are certain things that are, you know, not quite there for 
us. In particular, you do have to be mindful Vietnam is a very, very loud country. If you 
like, it’s just not for the sensory overload. Even though there’s a beautiful beach here, keep 
in mind it is what’s the time? Midday right now. Not a single local will be out here because 
they don’t come out during like peak UV Ray. They would come out much later on, 
around 4:00. Yeah. You’ll see this   whole beach is full of people. So you do have 
to really like crowds and don’t mind noise. For me, and I think for both of us, 
it’s just a little bit too loud.   The quality of things are very questionable at 
times. Yeah. Even for you as well, like you can speak Vietnamese and you communicate with people 
like you don’t always get the right answers and um you don’t always get told the right 
things and it’s very disorganised. So if you do need stability and you need rules 
in your life, there’s no rules here. Yeah. The rule here they called the rubber 
band rules here. So is it? Yeah. Is it is very flexible. Yeah. It’s like, 
you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that’s just something that maybe for 
us we know like if you can if if that’s not a problem for you, great. This is a great place 
for you to live cuz it does have a lot to offer. For us, I think it’s just missing that little 
bit of assurance and tranquillity. Yeah. Yeah. Can we call it that? Assurance 
and tranquility. So that’s that. It’s not for us at this stage. Yeah. Well, 
I guess we just keep moving on until we find our next destination. Yeah. Yeah. We just 
keep experiencing and exploring different places. And some places might surprise 
us, so you never know. Cool. All right. Thank you for watching this video 
and we will see you in the next one.

Is Da Nang the ultimate digital nomad paradise? We’ve heard all the hype about Vietnam’s new hotspot—the beautiful beaches, the incredible food, the low cost of living. But is it all just social media smoke and mirrors? We spent a couple of months living and working here to find out the truth!

Join us as we explore what it’s really like to live in Da Nang, uncovering the hidden truths and honest realities of life in this stunning coastal city. We’ve done all the research, so you don’t have to! If you’re considering moving to Da Nang or just curious about living in Vietnam, this is your guide.

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Chapters
0:00 – Intro | Everyone talks about Da Nang now
1:05 – The Vibe | City centre vs My Khe Peninsula
3:55 – Real Estate | Availability & Building quality in Da Nang and Vietnam
5:12 – Transportation | How we get around and where we rent our motorbike monthly
7:33 – Weather | Dry and Monsoon season in Da Nang
8:55 – Food | Varieties and Food Hygiene
13:15 – Healthcare | Hospital facility & Eastern Medicine
15:20 – Amenities | Cafes, Beauty shops, Local market, Marts, Gym, Sport (Soccer, Football)
28:01 – Affordability | Cost of living in Da Nang
29:27 – Our final thoughts on living in Da Nang

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