Hai Van Pass by Motorbike, Jeep or Car, With 2027 Prices

The Hai Van Pass is 21 km of old Highway 1 climbing to about 496 m between Da Nang and Lang Co, and it is worth driving on a clear day. A self-hired scooter costs 150,000 to 250,000 dong a day, an easy rider from Hue to Hoi An about 40 to 70 dollars, a private car 1.7 to 2.2 million dong.

One change most guides have not caught up with: the gate at the top stopped being free on 2 June 2026. Hai Van Quan now charges 70,000 dong a person, children under 13 free.

Hai Van Pass in Vietnam: what it costs by road

These are prices operators listed for the Hue to Hoi An crossing in November 2026: market rates, not Jungle Boss prices.

Split four ways, the car is 16 to 21 dollars each. That beats every easy rider and jeep, and the bags ride with you.

The car's real risk is the tunnel. The 6.28 km Hai Van Tunnel takes about 10 minutes against roughly 30 on the pass, the driver pays a 110,000 dong toll either way, and a plain transfer will go underneath unless you ask. Write "over the Hai Van Pass road, with stops at the summit and Lap An" into the booking. The Hue to Hoi An transport guide compares the alternatives.

Riding the Hai Van Pass from Da Nang to Lang Co

The southern foot of the pass is about 20 km north of central Da Nang, past Nam O. From Hoi An add another 30 km of flat city road first, which the Da Nang to Hoi An guide covers. A car reaches the summit from Da Nang in about 30 minutes. On a scooter with photo stops, allow 45 to 60.

Da Nang Bay from the southern climb. Photo: Steffen Schmitz; CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo: Steffen Schmitz (more photos), CC BY-SA 4.0.

The southern side is the one with the view. Da Nang Bay opens behind you on the hairpins, so the best pull-ins come on the way up, heading north, and on the way down if you are riding south. Stop fully off the tarmac. The bends are blind, and the traffic that uses this road is not the traffic you would choose.

That traffic is the honest downside. Motorbikes, bicycles and fuel or hazardous loads are barred from the tunnel, so petrol tankers come over the top with you, plus tour coaches. You will meet a tanker on a hairpin. Hold your line, and do not overtake on the inside of a bend.

Hai Van Quan, the bunkers and the summit crowds

At the summit sits Hai Van Quan, the gate Emperor Minh Mang rebuilt in 1826 on the old frontier between Dai Viet and Champa. It reopened on 1 August 2024 after about two years of restoration. Around it are concrete pillboxes left by the French and then the Americans.

The gate itself is 70,000 dong. Hue and Da Nang residents pay half,.

The restored gate buildings, open again since August 2024. Photo: Chainwit.; CC BY 4.0. Photo: Chainwit., CC BY 4.0.

The summit also has coffee stalls, parking touts and a traffic jam on weekend mornings. Local papers reported crowds causing near collisions here within weeks of the 2024 reopening. Arrive before 9am or after 3pm. In 2008, Top Gear filmed its Vietnam special across this road, and Jeremy Clarkson called it "a deserted ribbon of perfection". It is not deserted now.

Lap An lagoon and Lang Co

The northern descent drops you onto Lap An lagoon, flat water right under the ridge. The lagoon is farmed for oysters. Seafood restaurants on stilts line the road, and they price by weight, so ask for the price per kilo and see the fish weighed before it is cooked.

Lap An lagoon, below the northern descent. Photo: lumoplank; CC0. Photo: lumoplank, CC0.

Lang Co town and its 10 km beach are the far side of the lagoon. If you are riding on to Hue, it is roughly another 65 km of flatter road, and the things to do in Hue guide explains why the city wants two nights.

How long does the Hai Van Pass take?

The pass itself is 30 minutes by car with no stops. Nobody does it with no stops. As a day out from Da Nang, summit plus Lap An and back, budget four hours. Hue to Hoi An over the pass is 150 to 170 km depending on the stops, and riders who do it in one day spend five to six hours on the road. Start after 8am, when morning cloud has usually lifted off the ridge, and finish before dark. If you would rather not drive at all, a Hai Van Pass tour to Hue from Da Nang crosses the pass and adds the Imperial City in the same day.

Riding Da Nang to Hue and back in a day is possible, and it is mostly riding. Put the bike on the tunnel shuttle for the return: 25,000 to 30,000 dong a motorbike plus 10,000 dong a person.

Boats on Lap An lagoon at the northern foot of the pass. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg; CC BY 4.0. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.

Is the Hai Van Pass dangerous?

For a competent rider in dry weather, no. For someone learning to ride on it, yes, and the trucks are the reason. In January 2019 a coach went 20 m into a ravine about 3 km from the summit, killing one person and injuring 20, and the road authority noted only 8 escape ramps along 19.3 km of the pass.

The UK government's Vietnam road advice is blunt: do not hire a motorbike unless you are an experienced rider. British riders need a 1968 international driving permit plus their home licence. Vietnam's A1 category covers bikes up to 125cc, which is most rental scooters. Check your travel insurance names motorbiking; many policies do not.

An automatic scooter is fine on the climb. A 50cc bike with two people and a backpack will crawl, and you will be doing 25 km/h uphill with a tanker behind you. Hire a 110cc or 125cc.

When the Hai Van Pass is not worth it

The name means sea cloud pass, and it earns it. Da Nang averages 628 mm of rain over 20 wet days in October and 448 mm in November, and on those days the summit can sit inside cloud while the beach below is dry. March is the opposite: 25 mm over about 5 days. March to August is the safe window. The Da Nang weather guide has the month-by-month picture.

In fog the whole point disappears. Pay for the car and the tunnel, or take the Hai Van Pass train, which runs round the seaward cliffs below the cloud line.

A grey day on the pass, typical of October. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg; CC BY 4.0. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.

The Phong Nha to Hoi An motorbike route takes in the Ho Chi Minh Road and ends in limestone country, where the caves need more than a scenic stop. Our Kong Collapse expedition runs 5 days and 4 nights, takes 10 people at most, and is rated extremely strenuous.