So we had no idea this was a thing before arriving in country and a local guide mentioning it. There is some info here and there is also a Facebook page with a lot of detail. We discovered the finale was China vs Finland and anything with fireworks and China in it is gonna be good! We also realised it would be on while we were in nearby An Bang Beach. Reading about the history of the event tells me that it was first organised in 2008 by the People’s Committee of Da Nang City. Since DIFF 2017, the festival has featured 8 teams from different participating countries and 10 or 11 pyrotechnic shows. Each performance night has two teams at 20 mins each so 40 mins of fireworks! The theme for 2024 is “made in unity”.
Hotels were expensive and booked out months ahead for this but I managed to get a stay at Wink Riverside with a package including accomodation, a rooftop seat and buffet dinner with drinks package. I was not up to watching fireworks with potentially thousands of locals…and tourists….crammed into stands haha. By the time we retreated to the hotel the number of road closures and security made me very happy with this decision. Apparently hotel occupancy tonight is 99% and they are expecting over 100 000 (yep, not a typo) people to come into the area. Last year in 2023 just under a million people attended over the 5 nights which is crazy. This was some of the traffic at the end tonight!
We checked into Wink Riverside Da Nang at 12:30pm. It’s a young person/business stay hotel so tiny rooms but excellent value. Similar to Tune Hotels if you have ever used those.
We went up to the rooftop for a brief paddle around in the pool. They really don’t seem to embrace sun covers here…I just don’t get it. The UV index is bloody 10 today!
We then walked down the road for lunch at My Quáng Co Sau where we had another regional delicacy – Quang noodles! They were absolutely amazingly flavourful. Each bowl was 40k VND which is around 2.50 AUD.
At this stage it was starting to get very busy in the local area as people arrived for this evenings finale show. We retreated to the hotel room and enjoyed the river view and some reading with the soothing background noise of endless car/bike horns 😀
The rooftop fireworks was an excellent idea. It wasn’t too crowded, the food was decent and the free booze was Australian wine! It’s worth being aware we booked very late and the table was crap – which is understandable. I was grumpy though as the advertising did not represent that (Vietnam things) and made my feelings clear. We got moved further forward just before the fireworks which I was really glad about.
The fireworks started at 8:30pm and went for two 20 min slots. Although we missed a few bits on the roof it was still pretty amazing. My rooftop pics don’t do it justice so I borrowed some off their social media – well done team Finland for the win! Well deserved. Also well done team Mel for finding out about this, booking it in country and getting a rooftop view!
Mel's Travel Blog 