Golden Bridge: Da Nang's Sculptural Mountain Walkway

The Structure

The Golden Bridge — "Cau Vang" in Vietnamese — is a 150-meter pedestrian walkway inside the Ba Na Hills resort, about 30 kilometers west of Da Nang. What makes it memorable isn't the engineering; it's the design. Two oversized hands, cast from fiberglass and wire mesh, appear to support the bridge from below, as if carved ancient stone has emerged from the mountain itself. The bridge loops almost back on itself, creating a distinctive silhouette that reads instantly in photographs.

The hands are the concept. They're designed to resemble weathered stone, but the fiberglass-and-wire-mesh construction keeps the whole structure light enough to cantilever across the gap. The walkway itself is steel-framed and paved, simple and functional — the hands do the visual work.

Who Built It and When

The Sun Group commissioned the bridge. TA Landscape Architecture, a Ho Chi Minh City–based firm affiliated with the city's University of Architecture, designed it. Vu Viet Anh, the firm's founder, led the project; Tran Quang Hung designed the bridge itself; Nguyen Quang Huu Tuan managed the design team.

Construction started in July 2017 and wrapped in April 2018 — roughly nine months. The bridge opened to the public in June 2018. It went viral almost immediately, becoming one of Vietnam's most Instagram'd landmarks within a couple of years.

Image by Trung Le via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

What You See From Up There

The bridge's main job is practical: it connects the cable car station to the resort's gardens, cutting out a steep climb. But the elevation — and the mountain location — means clear-day views reach across to the Truong Son Mountains and, on the coast side, the Da Nang shoreline and South China Sea. Misty mornings create a different mood, clouds wrapping around the hands like the structure is floating.

The bridge is part of a larger resort experience. Ba Na Hills includes French Village (a colonial-era mock-up), a fantasy park, temples, and various gardens. Most visitors spend a half-day or full day here. The cable car ride up the mountain is itself a draw — long, slow, and panoramic.

Image by Laslovarga via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

How to Get There and Visit

You'll need a ticket to Ba Na Hills. The resort is accessible only by cable car, which departs from the base station west of Da Nang city center. The ride takes around 20 minutes. Once at the top, the Golden Bridge is one of several attractions; most visitors spend 30 minutes to an hour on and around it.

Check the official Ba Na Hills website for current ticket prices (they shift seasonally), cable car hours, and any closures due to weather. Strong winds or heavy rain can shut the bridge down. Clear skies in early morning or late afternoon give the best light for photography. Weekends and Vietnamese holidays get crowded; weekday visits are quieter.

Why It Matters

The Golden Bridge landed in travel magazines, TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram because it looks like nothing else in Vietnam — and because it's a rare case of modern architecture that prioritizes visual storytelling over pure function. It's become a symbol of Vietnamese tourism pivoting toward Instagram-era design: bold, memorable, photogenic. It draws visitors who might not otherwise visit Da Nang or Ba Na Hills. And it's legitimately well-executed — the hands don't feel kitschy or forced, even if they're definitely theatrical.