Is It Safe to Swim in Da Nang? Beach Flags, Hours and Rip Currents
Da Nang's beach management board tells swimmers to stay inside the buoyed area marked by yellow-red flags, follow the on-duty lifeguards, and stay out of the water once duty hours end or in bad weather, rough seas or big waves. Its 2023 notice set summer peak duty hours of 4:30–7:30am and 3:00–7:00pm.
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On 19 May 2024, a drowning at the beach access point at the end of Hồ Xuân Hương street (Khuê Mỹ ward, Ngũ Hành Sơn area) left 2 people dead and 1 missing. Here is what the beach management board’s own notices say about flags, lifeguard hours and rip currents.
What the flags and signs mean
Swim only inside the area marked off with safety buoys, identified by yellow-red flags, and follow the on-duty lifeguards’ instructions; don’t keep swimming once the end of duty hours has been announced, and don’t swim on days of bad weather, rough seas or big waves. Don’t swim where a sign posts a danger warning and prohibits swimming. The Rescue Team’s own mandate is to propose these warning signs — marking the safe zone, the unsafe zone, whirlpool areas and dangerous no-swim zones — so bathers can recognise and avoid risk.
Lifeguard hours
A Management Board notice posted 24 March 2023 set duty hours: from 15 March to 30 September, peak hours 4:30–7:30am and 3:00–7:00pm, low-traffic hours 7:30–11:30am and 11:30am–3:00pm; from 1 October to 14 March of the following year, peak hours 5:00–7:30am and 3:00–6:30pm, low-traffic hours 7:30–11:30am and 11:30am–3:00pm. A peak-season notice posted 3 June 2024 repeated the same summer peak and low-traffic hours. A 2022 notice added that from May through the end of August, the rescue team blows a whistle to signal the end of duty hours at 6:45pm.
Rip currents
The board lists the signs of a rip current: the water looks darker than the surrounding sea (it’s usually deeper there), the surface is calm with smaller waves, sometimes debris or foam can be seen floating on the current and drifting out to sea, and the lifeguard force posts a no-swimming sign over the area. If you’re caught in one: stay calm and let yourself drift, or swim with the current; signal for help from people nearby and the rescue force; swim to either side or in a V-shape toward the shore; never swim directly against the current straining toward the beach. Only swim inside the area marked off with safety-limit buoys, never in a rip-current area that already carries a no-swimming sign, and follow the on-duty lifeguard force’s instructions.
Who runs the beaches, and who to call
The Son Tra Peninsula and Da Nang Tourist Beaches Management Board was established under Decision No. 4694/QĐ-UBND (11 July 2006) of the Da Nang City People’s Committee, and its duties include carrying out rescue operations at Da Nang’s tourist beaches. Its posted rip-current guidance gives a rescue hotline: 0236.2.218.878. Beachgoers are expected to strictly follow the Management Board’s regulations, the beach’s own rules and the on-duty lifeguards’ instructions; cooperate with responsible staff and lifeguards, joining in promptly rescuing anyone in danger when asked to; and help keep order and environmental cleanliness at the beach.
A standards document published on the city’s tourism portal, “Bộ tiêu chí Chuẩn chuyên nghiệp trong phục vụ khách tại các bãi tắm du lịch trên địa bàn thành phố Đà Nẵng”, sets specs for each tourist beach: a safe-swimming corridor of buoys, boundary flags and warning signs extending at least 150m out to sea with markers spaced 50m apart, in a colour that contrasts with the water. Every beach access path must have at least one rules board, at least 6m² in size, stating the rules in two or more languages including Vietnamese and English. Rescue-observation stations must be spaced no more than 300m apart, and each tourist beach must have at least one rescue boat, one rescue jet-ski and one radio set.
Rules on the beach
At Da Nang’s public beaches, no one may dump untreated waste into the sea, litter outside designated bins, beg or hawk goods, fight or disturb public order, run unauthorised sports activities, herd or release livestock, or bring vehicles onto the beach. Running a business without the competent authority’s permission, bringing food or drink into areas where a beach’s own rules don’t allow it, and tapping a well or borehole without the state management agency’s consent are also prohibited. Beach-front businesses are strictly forbidden from encroaching on the beach to set up umbrellas or chairs inside the area reserved for swimmers. Vendor and business violations are handled under a Da Nang City People’s Committee decision and the Scheme for Managing and Exploiting Da Nang’s Tourist Beaches, together with each business’s own signed commitment.
Storms and seasonal closures
On the afternoon of 6 November 2025, the Management Board announced a temporary halt to swimming and water-sports activities from 1:00pm that day until further notice, to keep residents and tourists safe given Typhoon No. 13’s complex developments. In June 2024, the national forecasting centre said that year’s typhoon and tropical-depression activity was likely to concentrate from July to September over the Northern and North-Central regions, and from October to December over the Central-Central and South-Central regions. For the wider picture of Da Nang’s storm months, see Da Nang’s typhoon season.
Recent drownings
In April 2024, twin siblings P.G.B. and P.B.T., both 14, drowned at the Hòa Hải ward beach area. On the afternoon of 4 January 2025, two foreign tourists were swept away by waves while swimming in Hòa Hải ward, in front of a resort named only N.A; both were brought to shore safely, but one resort rescue worker who took part in the rescue was swept away and went missing.
Not confirmed: No single, confirmed, currently in-force Da Nang decision titled as a bathing-beach management regulation (quy chế/quy định quản lý bãi tắm) has been found after the Đà Nẵng–Quảng Nam merger — only fragments citing an unnumbered-here city decision covering vendor violations and an "Đề án quản lý và khai thác các bãi biển du lịch Đà Nẵng" turned up, with no full text or issue date found. No city decision listing designated bathing zones was found; the beach names below come from the Management Board's website. No Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism circular setting lifeguard-staffing or bathing-hours requirements for ordinary public swimming was found. The lifeguard hours above come from notices dated 2022–2024, with no newer notice found, so read them as those notices' hours rather than as necessarily current.
Common questions
What do the flags on Da Nang's beaches mean?
Swim only inside the area marked off with safety buoys and identified by yellow-red flags, and follow the on-duty lifeguards' instructions; a posted danger sign means swimming there is prohibited.
What hours are lifeguards on duty at Da Nang beaches?
Under a notice posted 24 March 2023, from 15 March to 30 September lifeguards are on duty at peak hours 4:30–7:30am and 3:00–7:00pm, and low-traffic hours 7:30–11:30am and 11:30am–3:00pm; from 1 October to 14 March of the following year, peak hours are 5:00–7:30am and 3:00–6:30pm.
How do I recognise a rip current at a Da Nang beach?
The water looks darker than the surrounding sea, the surface is calm with smaller waves, and debris or foam may be seen drifting out to sea; the lifeguard force also posts a no-swimming sign over the area.
What should I do if I'm caught in a rip current?
Stay calm and let yourself drift, or swim with the current; signal for help from people nearby and the rescue force; and swim to either side or in a V-shape toward the shore — never swim directly against the current straining toward the beach.
Which beaches does Da Nang's beach management board list?
Its website lists five under "Các bãi biển": Nam Ô, Xuân Thiều, Phạm Văn Đồng, Mỹ Khê and Non Nước. No city decision naming designated bathing zones was found for this guide.
Who do I call in a beach emergency in Da Nang?
Call the Management Board's rescue hotline, 0236.2.218.878, posted on its rip-current safety guidance.
Has Da Nang closed its beaches to swimming during a storm before?
On the afternoon of 6 November 2025, the Management Board halted swimming and water-sports activities from 1:00pm that day until further notice, given Typhoon No. 13's complex developments.
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