Da Nang to Hoi An: Grab, Bus and Airport Transfer Prices

Da Nang to Hoi An is 30 km and takes 40 to 50 minutes by road. A Grab car costs 250,000 to 350,000 dong, about 10 to 14 US dollars, a shared airport shuttle is 130,000 to 150,000 dong a seat, and the public bus is 35,000 dong. Hoi An has no airport or railway station. Prices checked October 2026.

Da Nang to Hoi An: every option compared

The decision is mostly arithmetic. A car costs about the same for one passenger as for four, so two people in a Grab pay roughly what two shuttle seats cost and go door to door. Alone, the shuttle saves about 150,000 dong. The bus saves another 100,000 and adds a trip across Da Nang to reach it.

How far is Da Nang from Hoi An?

About 30 km from Da Nang airport or the railway station to the edge of Hoi An's old town, and 25 km from My Khe beach. There are two roads. The coast road runs south along the beach past the Marble Mountains and a long row of resorts. The inland road is duller and no faster. Drivers take the coast road unless asked otherwise.

Allow 40 to 50 minutes in normal traffic, an hour at 17:00, and up to 90 minutes in heavy rain between September and December, when parts of the coast road hold water.

Cars from the airport cross the Han river before turning south for Hoi An. Photo: Rusu Radu / Google Maps.

Da Nang airport to Hoi An

Da Nang International is the airport for Hoi An, with direct flights from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and a growing list of Asian cities. Our guide to Vietnam's airports covers the terminals. Outside arrivals there are three sensible choices.

Grab or Xanh SM

Open the app once through customs, set the hotel as the destination and read the price before confirming. Expect 250,000 to 350,000 dong for a four-seat car, more in rain or late at night. Xanh SM is the pale blue electric taxi fleet and is often a little cheaper. Both need mobile data, so buy a SIM or activate an eSIM in the arrivals hall first. Xanh SM registration can ask for a Vietnamese phone number.

Metered taxi

Mai Linh, in green, and Vinasun, in white, are the two companies to use. The meter should read 300,000 to 450,000 dong by Hoi An. Da Nang airport has no fixed fare to Hoi An, and the men who approach inside the terminal offering a "fixed price" of 500,000 or more are charging for your tiredness. Walk past them to the rank.

Shared shuttle

Hoi An Express and a few similar companies run minibuses from the airport to Hoi An hotels about once an hour between 6:00 and 21:00. A seat is 130,000 to 150,000 dong and is best booked online the day before. The van waits to fill and drops several hotels in turn, so the trip takes 60 to 75 minutes.

Bus from Da Nang to Hoi An

The old yellow bus number 1, which every older guide describes, no longer runs. Its replacement is route LK02, in service since April 2024. It starts at the Viet-Han University bus stop in the south of Da Nang, runs every 15 to 30 minutes between about 5:45 and 18:00, and costs 35,000 dong to Hoi An bus station, at the north edge of town, before ending at Cua Dai. Timetables change, so confirm at the stop before relying on it.

Three things to know. The first stop is a long way from the airport, so most arrivals need a taxi to reach the bus. Bags over about 10 kg can be charged as an extra seat, though drivers do not always ask. And the last departure is around 18:00, which rules it out for evening arrivals. For a solo traveller already in Da Nang with a backpack, it works well.

Taxis, ride-hail pickups and the Hoi An shuttles all leave from the terminal forecourt. Photo: Võ Minh Đạt / Google Maps.

Private car with a stop at the Marble Mountains

The Marble Mountains sit beside the coast road south of central Da Nang, directly on the way. Stopping there with luggage in the boot is the most useful thing a private car does on this route, and it turns a transfer into half a day out. Entry to the main hill is 40,000 dong, the lift up is 15,000, and an hour and a half covers the caves and pagodas. Read our Marble Mountains guide for which caves to choose.

A pre-booked car with an hour or two of waiting costs extra, so ask for the price with waiting included. Agree the waiting time in writing when booking. Hotels in Hoi An arrange the same car at a small premium, which buys a driver holding a name board at arrivals at midnight.

Da Nang to Hoi An by motorbike or bicycle

The coast road is flat, wide and one of the easier rides in Vietnam. A scooter rents for 100,000 to 150,000 dong a day in either town and the ride takes 45 to 60 minutes. One-way rentals between the two are possible through a few shops and need arranging in advance.

Check the law first. Vietnam accepts a foreign licence only with a 1968-convention International Driving Permit marked for motorcycles, which the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand do not issue. Riding without one voids most travel insurance. Scooters of 50cc or less need no licence, and several shops rent them.

The Marble Mountains stand beside the coast road and cost 40,000 dong to enter. Photo: Julien / Google Maps.

By bicycle the 30 km takes about two hours at an easy pace. Start before 7:00, because there is no shade on the coast road and by 10:00 the heat is punishing from May to August.

From Da Nang railway station to Hoi An

Trains do not go to Hoi An. Da Nang station, in the middle of the city, is the stop, and the onward options and prices are the same as from the airport, minus the shuttle, which only serves the terminal. A Grab from the station is 250,000 to 350,000 dong. Drivers waiting at the exit quote more. If the train has come over the hills from Hue, our guide to the Hai Van Pass train says which side of the carriage to sit on.

Hoi An to Da Nang: the return trip

Everything works in reverse with two differences. Cars are not allowed into the old town's walking streets, so the pickup is at the edge, a five to ten minute walk with bags from the centre. And Grab cars are fewer in Hoi An than in Da Nang, so for an early flight book the car the evening before through the hotel or an app's scheduled ride. The fare to the airport is 270,000 to 370,000 dong.

Cars stop at the edge of the old town, and the last stretch is on foot or by cyclo. Photo: Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Leave Hoi An two and a half hours before a domestic flight and three and a half before an international one. That allows for the drive, a slow check-in queue and the rain.

Stay in Da Nang or Hoi An?

They are close enough to visit one from the other, and different enough that the choice matters. Da Nang is a modern beach city of over a million people with the airport, the big hotels and the Dragon Bridge, and the city runs an official tourism portal in English. Hoi An is a small old trading port with tailors, lanterns and far better food per street. Most first-time visitors are happier sleeping in Hoi An for three nights and seeing Da Nang on the way in or out.

Our lists of things to do in Da Nang and things to do in Hoi An show what each town has.

Rice fields like these line the last few kilometres into Hoi An.

North of Da Nang the road and the railway both continue to Hue and then to Phong Nha, where the caves are. Our central Vietnam 5-day itinerary fits all of it into one route, and the leg north is set out in our guide to getting from Hoi An to Phong Nha.