Most foreigners who stay in Da Nang for more than a season end up in one of four places: An Thượng if they want cafés and company within a two-minute walk, Mỹ An and Phước Mỹ along the beach if they want a tower with a pool and a quieter street, Sơn Trà north of the bridges if they want the sea and the mountain without the backpacker crowd, and Hải Châu on the city side if they want the river, the market and a real city. Our own catalogue on 09.10.2026 has 36 apartments, nearly all on the beach side, which matches where foreign tenants usually ask to live.

This guide is for a stay of three months or longer. If you are choosing a hotel for a week, the answer is different and shorter: stay near Mỹ Khê beach.

How the city is laid out

Da Nang sits on a bay with the Hàn River running north through the middle of it. Everything you will hear about neighbourhoods comes down to which side of the river you are on.

  • West bank (Hải Châu, and further out Thanh Khê and Liên Chiểu) is the old city: the market, the offices, the Dragon Bridge, older housing stock, the cheapest rents.
  • East bank (Sơn Trà to the north, Ngũ Hành Sơn to the south) is a strip between the river and the sea, two to three kilometres wide. This is where the new towers, the beach and nearly all foreign residents are.
  • The Sơn Trà peninsula closes the bay to the north: a nature reserve with a road, a few resorts and no apartments.
  • South of the beach strip the city thins into Hòa Hải and the FPT campus area, then the Marble Mountains, then Hội An 25 km away.

A note on names. In July 2025 Vietnam abolished the district level of government and merged wards; Da Nang also absorbed Quảng Nam province. Addresses now use new ward names, but everyone in the city, including landlords and taxi drivers, still says Sơn Trà, Ngũ Hành Sơn, Hải Châu. So do we. The new names are in a separate guide.

An Thượng: walkable, social, loud

The square kilometre between Võ Nguyên Giáp (the beach road) and Ngũ Hành Sơn street, south of the Mỹ Khê beach entrance, is where Da Nang's café and expat life is concentrated. Coworking spaces, gyms, Western and Vietnamese restaurants, bars that stay open late, a beach two to five minutes away on foot.

  • Housing: mostly low- and mid-rise serviced buildings with studios and one-bedrooms, some two-bedrooms; few large towers with pools. In 35 listings on Cho Tot on 27.09.2026, furnished studios and one-bedrooms mostly fall between $285 and $440 a month, with a median of about $330.
  • Who it suits: people who work from cafés, arrive alone, or want to meet people fast.
  • Who it does not suit: anyone who needs a quiet bedroom. Bars, scooters and construction are close on every side, and the streets flood faster than elsewhere in the rainy season.
  • Our catalogue: we do not list apartments here today; when a tenant insists on An Thượng we find serviced apartments through our partner agent.

Mỹ An and Phước Mỹ: the beach towers

North of An Thượng, along the beach road and the streets one block back, the buildings get taller and the streets calmer. This is the belt of Mường Thanh and Alphanam Luxury on the beach road itself, with Times Square at the north end: pools, gyms, underground parking, the sea across the road.

  • Rents (public listings, medians): Mường Thanh about $300, Alphanam Luxury about $760 a month. Mường Thanh has still not been formally accepted for use, and residents have reported being refused temporary residence registration; before paying, ask the owner how they will declare you.
  • Our catalogue (09.10.2026): nothing in this belt right now; found on request.
  • Who it suits: couples and families who want the beach every morning and a building with a pool, and remote workers who need a real desk and a quiet night.
  • Trade-offs: the beach road is busy with tourists in summer, and the older towers (Mường Thanh) show their age in the lifts and corridors.

Sơn Trà, An Hải side: river, bridges, newer towers

Between the Hàn River and the beach, from the Trần Thị Lý bridge north past the Dragon Bridge to the fishing quarter of Mân Thái and Thọ Quang, is where most of our catalogue is. Here the towers stand by the river rather than the beach: The Panoma (towers P1 and P2 of Sun Cosmo Residence at the Trần Thị Lý bridge; by address it is already Ngũ Hành Sơn), The Monarchy, Azura between the Han River and Dragon bridges and Sun Ponte Residence at the Dragon Bridge, with Hiyori Garden Tower a little further in; at the north end, by the Thuận Phước bridge, stands Sơn Trà Ocean View. The beach is a ten- to fifteen-minute walk or a three-minute scooter ride; the river promenade and the bridges are at the door.

  • Our catalogue (09.10.2026): 24 apartments in The Panoma from $654 to $1,808. In Son Tra, in The Monarchy and Hiyori, 10 apartments from $731 to $1,000.
  • Market medians from public listings: Monarchy $800, Hiyori $590, Panoma $840, Sun Ponte about $720, Sun Cosmo about $870, Azura about $760, Sơn Trà Ocean View about $380.
  • Who it suits: people staying six months or more who want a modern building, a view and a quieter street, and do not mind a short ride to the beach.
  • Trade-offs: the north end (Mân Thái) is local and low-key, with fewer Western restaurants; evening traffic on the bridges; some buildings have fewer foreign tenants, which some people like and some do not.

Ngũ Hành Sơn, south: space, schools, villas

South of Mỹ An the beach strip continues past the Non Nước beach and the Marble Mountains toward Hội An. The housing changes: fewer towers, more villas and townhouses, the golf resorts, gated compounds such as The Ocean Villas (market median about $2,590 a month for a villa), and, further inland, the FPT City area with the university and some of the cheapest new apartments in the city (FPT Plaza, median about $300).

  • Who it suits: families with children (several international schools are in this direction), people who want a garden or a private pool, anyone who works remotely and does not need the city every day.
  • Trade-offs: you will use a scooter or a car for everything; the FPT area is a 20–25-minute ride from the centre; the rainy-season wind off the sea is stronger down here.
  • Our catalogue: no apartments here today. Villas in the catalogue run from $2,684 to $5,752 a month.

Hải Châu: the city, the river, the lower rent

The west bank is where Da Nang works and eats. Hàn Market, the night market, offices, hospitals, the train station, and the older housing stock. The river promenade on this side is the best in the city, and the Dragon Bridge and the Love Bridge are your evening walk.

  • Our catalogue (09.10.2026): 4 homes from $846, including The Vista Residence.
  • Market medians: FHome about $460, HAGL Lakeview about $420, Indochina Riverside about $680, The Filmore about $1,060. This is the widest spread in the city: an old tower and a 2023 one can stand two streets apart.
  • Who it suits: people who want to live among Vietnamese neighbours rather than expats, who work in the city, or who care more about the rent than the beach. From most of Hải Châu the beach is a ten-minute ride over a bridge.
  • Trade-offs: traffic and noise on the main roads, older lifts and wiring in the cheaper buildings, and almost nothing with a sea view.

Side by side

Catalogue as of 26 September 2026, market as of 25 September. "Market" is the median asking rent for a furnished apartment from public listings in the buildings we track; "ours" is our catalogue.

Area Beach on foot Noise Typical building Market, 1–2BR Ours today
An Thượng 2–5 min high low-rise serviced ~$285–440 on request
Mỹ An / Phước Mỹ 5–10 min medium beach towers, pools $340–1,060 on request
Sơn Trà, An Hải side 10–15 min low–medium river towers, 2016–2024 $570–1,140 10 apartments
Ngũ Hành Sơn, south 5–20 min low villas, compounds, FPT towers $290 (FPT) to $2,590 (villas) on request
Hải Châu 10 min by scooter medium–high mixed, old and new $340–1,060 4 homes

Where do most expats live in Da Nang?

On the east bank, within two kilometres of Mỹ Khê beach: An Thượng for the short-term and social crowd, the beach towers and the An Hải riverside for people who stay a year or more. Hải Châu has a smaller, more settled foreign community, often people working for Vietnamese companies or married locally. Almost nobody stays in Thanh Khê or Liên Chiểu by choice, though rents there are the lowest in the city.

What we would actually tell you

If you write to us saying "I don't know which area", we ask three questions: do you work from home, do you need silence to sleep, and does the beach have to be walkable. The answers sort people quickly.

  • Work from home, need quiet, beach can be a short ride: Sơn Trà, An Hải side. Most of our catalogue is here for a reason.
  • Beach every morning, building with a pool, family: Mỹ An / Phước Mỹ towers.
  • Arriving alone, want company, do not mind noise: An Thượng, then move after the first lease.
  • Children in an international school, or you want a garden: Ngũ Hành Sơn south.
  • Lower rent, city life, Vietnamese neighbours: Hải Châu.

Then look at the apartments available now, or read what a month actually costs in our cost-of-living breakdown.