Behind the beaches, Da Nang holds the world's largest hoard of Cham sandstone, a lacquer-rich fine arts museum, a working masked-opera house and a 500-year-old rice-paper village. Three days trace that thread from colonial galleries to evening Cao Dai prayer.
Three floors at 78 Le Duan hold around 1,000 works: lacquer panels, silk painting, Dong Ho woodblock prints and Central Highlands ethnic folk art. The top floor rotates contemporary Da Nang painters. Open 08:00–17:00.
A restored ochre colonial shophouse on the river: the ground floor sells prints, ceramics and typographic posters by local illustrators, while the first-floor cafe serves com ga, banh mi and salt coffee facing the Han.
Built in 1923 by French priest Louis Vallet, the 70m pink Gothic spire carries a rooster weathervane that gave it the local name Con Ga. Inside: Munich-made stained glass saints and a rear grotto of volcanic rock from Lourdes.
Twenty-one stone, bronze and steel works donated by APEC member economies for the 2017 summit, from Peruvian granite to Japanese mirrored steel, set along the Bach Dang riverfront beneath the curved glass APEC Dome.
The world's largest collection of Cham art: some 500 sandstone works from the 5th–15th centuries in an ochre 1915 French pavilion. The Tra Kieu altar and the My Son E1 pedestal are both designated national treasures.
A 1920s-style yellow villa at 4 Bach Dang with 200 seats around a shaded courtyard, serving central Vietnamese home cooking: mi Quang, banh xeo, ca kho to and che. Dishes run 60,000–150,000 VND; open 06:30–21:30 daily.
Reopened in 2024 inside the restored French colonial administration building at 42–44 Bach Dang: 2,500 objects over three floors covering the Nguyen-dynasty port, the 1858 Franco-Spanish siege and Co Tu highland weaving.
Central Vietnam's home of tuong, the masked classical opera: chalk-and-crimson painted faces, falsetto declamation and gong-driven percussion at 155 Phan Chau Trinh. Shortened 45-minute visitor programmes run selected evenings.
A 500-year-old village 15km west of the city where the 1889 dinh still keeps royal Nguyen decrees on its beams, and families dry banh trang rice paper over charcoal — the smoky sheet that tops a proper bowl of mi Quang.
Da Nang's roll-it-yourself lunch: two-end boiled pork belly, soft rice paper, a plate of twelve herbs and fermented anchovy mam nem, assembled at the table. Sets run 90,000–130,000 VND and the room fills by 12:00.
The city's largest wet market: roughly 2,000 stalls over two floors selling dried squid, turmeric noodles, conical hats and made-to-measure ao dai, plus a ground-floor food court where nem lui and bun mam cost 25,000–40,000 VND.
Central Vietnam's largest Cao Dai temple: pastel columns, dragon-wrapped pillars and the all-seeing Divine Eye above the altar. White-robed congregants hold prayer ceremonies at 06:00, 12:00, 18:00 and midnight.