The Marble Mountains are 9.7 km from the city centre, about 14 minutes, and open 07:00–17:00. Thuy Son costs 40,000₫, the Am Phu cave 20,000₫, and the lift is 15,000₫ one way or 30,000₫ return. Two hours covers both if you take the lift.
- Opening hours
- 07:00–17:00Gates close at 17:00
- Thuy Son ticket
- 40,000₫Students 10,000₫, under 6 at no charge
- The lift
- 15,000₫ / 30,000₫One way / return
- Distance
- 9.7 kmAbout 14 minutes from the centre
What it is, and what it is not
Ngu Hanh Son — the Mountains of the Five Elements — is a cluster of five marble and limestone hills about 9 km south of the city centre, named for water, wood, fire, metal and earth. Only one of them, Thuy Son (water), is set up for visitors, and that is the one your ticket covers.
It is not a mountain hike. It is a set of caves, shrines and terraces packed into one hill, with a lift on one side and stairs on the other. The visit is two hours, not half a day, and the reason to go early is heat and tour buses rather than crowds at the gate.
Tickets, in plain numbers
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| What | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Thuy Son (the main hill) | 40,000₫ | Students 10,000₫, under 6 at no charge |
| Am Phu cave | 20,000₫ | Students 7,000₫, under 6 at no charge |
| Lift, one way | 15,000₫ | Cuts the stairs to the Thuy Son terrace |
| Lift, return | 30,000₫ | What most people buy |
Add it up for two people: 80,000₫ for Thuy Son, 40,000₫ for Am Phu and 60,000₫ for two return lift tickets is 180,000₫ — about 7 USD — for the whole visit. It is the least expensive half-day within reach of the city, which is part of why it is worth doing properly rather than squeezing in.
How long you actually need
Ninety minutes if you take the lift and skip Am Phu. Two hours for Thuy Son plus the Am Phu cave at a normal pace. Three hours if you climb every stair, stop at every shrine and want a drink at the top — which is an entirely good way to spend a morning, but it is a different plan.
The hard stop is 17:00, when the gates close. A 15:30 start gives you an hour and a half before you are being walked out, and after 16:00 the lift queue is the slowest part of the visit because everyone has left it late.
The lift, and the 300 steps
The lift is not a shortcut for the lazy; it is a different visit. It drops you at the Thuy Son terrace, near the main shrines and the Huyen Khong cave entrance. The stairs start lower on the other side and bring you up through the pagoda, which is the better walk if the marble is dry and you are not carrying a child.
Choose by condition, not by pride: 30,000₫ for a return lift on a wet afternoon is the soundest 30,000₫ of the trip, and 15,000₫ one way going up, then walking down through the pagoda, is the version that most people end up preferring.
Pairing it with Hoi An
The mountains sit on the road south, which makes them the obvious first stop on a Hoi An day: arrive at 07:30 when the gates open, spend two hours, and be back on the road by 10:00 with the worst of the heat still ahead.
In the other order — Hoi An first, mountains on the way back — you arrive at 15:00 with two hours before the gates close, which works but leaves no slack for a slow lunch. Hoi An is 32.2 km from the centre and about 30 minutes with clear roads, so the geometry is easy; the timing is what needs care.
Getting there, and what is around it
The mountains are 9.7 km from the centre — 14 minutes in clear traffic — on the road that continues south to Hoi An. A Grab is the simplest way; a motorbike is fine in dry weather; the local bus runs along the same road and stops within a short walk of the gate.
Around the base there is a stone-carving village where workshops sell statues and lamps, and a handful of cafes aimed at tour groups. Neither takes long. If you are combining the mountains with Hoi An, leave the shopping for Hoi An — the old town has better and cheaper versions of most of it.
A rest hour near the end of the day
LENA Nails & Beauty (our salon)
By late afternoon on a wet day your shoes are finished and the museums are closing. LENA is an indoor stop with fixed prices and no weather risk, and all three branches are a short Grab ride from My Khe and An Thuong.
The Deluxe Foot Spa is 300,000₫ (about 12 USD): shaping, cuticle work, heel scrub, dead skin removal, a hot towel and a cream massage, with no soak. The VIP 4-in-1 at 400,000₫ (about 16 USD) adds the soak in a single-use liner, a salt scrub, mud mask and lotion, with five scents. Staff speak English and Vietnamese; open 8:30–20:30.
- 89 Pham Tu, Son Tra
- 211/88 Nguyen Van Thoai, An Hai
- 34 An Thuong 3, An Thuong
- Open daily 8:30–20:30
Prices from the salon's menu of 1 November 2026. USD figures use 25,000₫ = 1 USD.
Questions people ask
How long does it take to see the Marble Mountains?
Two hours for Thuy Son and the Am Phu cave, or ninety minutes if you take the lift and skip Am Phu. The gates close at 17:00.
Is the lift worth 30,000₫?
Yes on a wet or hot day, and yes if you are with children or anyone who should not do 300 steps on marble. On a dry morning, going up by lift and walking down through the pagoda is the better version.
What should I wear?
Shoes with grip. The stairs are polished marble and the terraces are uneven; sandals are fine until they are wet. The caves are warm and humid, the terraces are not.
Can I visit the Marble Mountains and Hoi An on the same day?
Yes — the mountains are on the way. Two hours at 07:30, then 30 minutes south to Hoi An, and you are there before the day buses.
Sources and check dates
- Da Nang City Tourism Portal — 2026 admission prices and opening hours for the Marble Mountains and the museums, checked 2 November 2026
- WMO World Weather Information Service, Da Nang station — monthly rainfall, rain days and temperatures, retrieved 2 November 2026
- Drive distances and times measured on OSRM (OpenStreetMap routing), 2 November 2026