For anyone with a motorbike here going over the Hai Van Pass is a right of passage of sorts. It isn't difficult and just like most places in Vietnam the roads are very well maintained so one need not worry about safety.
According to legend this winding road that leads to a beach city on the other side and eventually leads to Hue city, used to be the only method of getting over there. There was no other method to get over the mountains. Then they drilled a tunnel through and made a shortcut but this old road is still quite famous to take with motorists, so they never shut it down or just allowed it to deteriorate. Quite the opposite actually, it was in extremely good shape.
The road marked QL1A is the new tunnel, over here on the right with the winding bits, that's the Hai Van Pass. I've been here for years and never got out there to actually do it. A friend was visiting and wanted to do it so I did. Once you cross over to the top of the mountain and get though the fog of the low hanging clouds, you get pretty awesome views of the bay on the other side.
There was some concern on my part about running out of gasoline, getting a flat tire, other bike oriented things but my mind was put at ease pretty quickly when I realized that every couple kms or so there are these roadside cafes that while they don't have a great deal to eat or drink, they do have the numbers of local bike fixers and they also sell bottles of gasoline, which I believe is illegal but up here in the mountains I guess nobody really cares. It's not like someone is going to install a petrol station here.
We stopped for a coffee and while I should have been taking pictures of the view, there was this very cute dog that was right at my feet. He was hanging out in this shop with another larger dog and 2 cats and they all seemed to get along with one another which is something I always find cute.
There are dozens of places to stop like this on the entire way over the mountain and at the tippy top there is some sort of place where tour busses all stop and they have build multiple viewpoints. We did not stop there in order to dodge the crowds.
The beach on the other side was a little disappointing and dirty looking but apparently this time of year that is just what the water looks like. During other seasons it turns wonderful aquamarine and lovely. I guess I'll come back here sometime when it looks like that. We sat down and had some of the clams that the area is famous for and they were quite good. Then we just had a couple beers and got back on the bikes and went back. We were fortunate that while the sky did look threatening all day, it never rained on us.
If you rent a motorbike in Da Nang I recommend that you do this. You do not need to be an expert rider to get it done because the road is very wide and impeccably maintained. I didn't notice a single pothole or any danger the entire time we were on it. It takes about an hour or so and there are lots of places to stop if your but starts to hurt from riding. The Lan Co Beach area on the other side is a good place to stop for lunch before heading back.
The only downside I would say is that in order to get there you have to navigate the horrible Da Nang traffic in order to even get started on it. Seriously, that took longer than the actual mountain pass did.