Hải Vân Pass

Hải Vân (literally translated from Vietnamese: Ocean Cloud) Pass marks the border between Đà Nẵng City and Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, Vietnam. Prior to 2005, this pass, especially dangerous during rainy days or otherwise foggy weather at dusk, used to be the only way to traverse between the North and South of Vietnam. Since then however, Hai Van Tunnel, built between 1998 and 2005, has taken over the role of the pass as the primary transportation linkage. Banned from tunnel access, motorbikes, gas tankers and carriers of live animals, as well as some tourist coaches are among the few vehicles frequenting the pass nowadays.

What it means for tourists is that there is very little traffic on the pass, which would make for a lovely motorbike sightseeing trip at your own pace. Although I am overseas most of the time, I do ride on motorbike whenever I am back to Vietnam. Most recently, during Tết (Vietnamese New Year holiday), Nicolas and I decided to travel to Hue for a few days, and we wanted to do that via Hai Van Pass, on a motorbike, motivated by praising words of gorgeous sights from travellers who have taken this route.

View of the Hai Van Pass in the direction towards Hue, taken at the top of the Pass. The highest point is said to be 496m from sea level.

Too bad when I mentioned this, my parents objected right away, unconvinced of my ability to handle the pass's twisting bends, especially with a heavier person behind. There are also rumours about the risks of falling victims to road crimes due to lack of road patrols and traffic in general. ... We ended up arranging for a car with a driver that would take us all the way to Hue's city centre, not skipping the Pass of course. This set us back by US$ 55.

It was a beautifully clear and sunny day in February when we departed. Seeing that road visibility was excellent, and that there was a reasonable number of motorbikes braving the road, I actually regretted not doing it myself!

Traffic on Hai Van Pass (Photo credit: Nicolas Boichat)

I think many of those people must be going from Da Nang to Hue and vice versa to visit their relatives, as part of our Tet customs. Completing the pass on a day like this takes as fast as 30 minutes to as long as a little over an hour, depending on how long you stop for photo-taking.

I will definitely keep this road trip in mind for next time, if the weather is favourable and the timing is neither too early nor late (just a safety precaution).

Shop houses at the top of the pass. There is a post office too but I don't know whether the service there is reliable.

Opposite the shop houses, at the top is a fortified gateway built by the French. Inscribed on it are three Chinese characters in the following order: Gate Van Hai.