Nihibayashi Yasushi, who has been in Vietnam for 10 years, and who has worked as a manager at an IT company in Hanoi, as a weekly magazine writer, and as the representative of a local swimming school, and who is currently serving as a manager of an animation studio, talks about what he found in Danang.
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4 entertainment experiences that surprised me in Danang
Da Nang is famous as a beach resort, but it also has a rich entertainment scene. I would like to introduce some entertainment experiences that surprised me.
① Banahills opened in 2013. I visited it for the first time in 2014. It had not yet opened fully, so the shows and restaurants were not yet complete. However, I was amazed by the fact that the cable car had a Guinness World Record for the longest and highest difference in elevation, and the idea of creating a huge theme park on a mountain peak at an altitude of 1,400 meters (the difficulty of the construction and the enormous cost of the construction).
2. The InterContinental Danang Resort, a resort-style accommodation located on Songch'am Peninsula. There are no other similar resort facilities in the area, making it the only luxury resort facility in the area. The ocean views, which take advantage of the peninsula's elevation differences, are magnificent, and the facilities and services are of the highest standard. Despite the high cost of accommodation, many travelers from all over the world stay here. How much development cost has been invested?
3. The amusement park in the center of Da Nang, Asia Park (now Da Nang Downtown), has a Ferris wheel. I was able to enjoy the wonderful night view of Da Nang from a 360-degree view. I was intrigued by this huge size that was not typical of Vietnam, so I researched it and found that it was imported and installed in 2013 from the same Ferris wheel that was installed at the amusement park in Lake Biwa (at that time the largest in the world).
4. In Danang, the "Danang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF)" is held every year from late May to July for about 1.5 months. In 2026, 10 teams from 9 countries around the world participated, and high-level competitions were held every weekend. When it comes to fireworks festivals in Japan, "one-night events" are the standard, but a long-running fireworks festival that makes an entire city go crazy for a period of this length has never been seen before anywhere else.
These four entertainment projects that surprised me were actually all produced by Sanglu Group, one of Vietnam’s two largest conglomerates.
Saguru Group's grand future vision
As we mentioned in a previous column, starting this year and into next year, Sanglu Group will successively open four luxury residences along the Han River in the center of Da Nang. The total number of units for sales is a whopping 3,500 units. That’s an overwhelming amount of supply.
In addition, several residential developments are being built around the area where an Aeon Mall is scheduled to open in 2028 outside of Da Nang. Furthermore, larger projects are also under construction in the Da Nang downtown area, with an opening scheduled for 2035.
And Sangru Group secured 90 hectares (equivalent to 1.7 Tokyo Disney Land) of land at the foot of Banahills. It is creating a “platform” to attract investors and high-caliber talent from around the world, including a financial center, an international business conference venue, and an exhibition venue.
With the expansion of the largest port facility in central Vietnam planned by Danang City and the synergy effect with the high-tech park that will gather semiconductors and AI, Sang Group is expected to become an infrastructure developer that will push Danang to become a major city in Southeast Asia.
While writing this column, I researched Sanglu Group’s future plans. In general, I have the impression that Vietnam’s urban planning projects continue to be delayed; when will they finally be completed? However, looking at Sanglu Group’s achievements in Danang so far, I feel a sense of awe that this magnificent future vision may actually come to fruition.
Ten years from now, what will this city look like? I’m really looking forward to seeing the “final answer” then.
