In 2026, the Pickleball World Cup comes to Asia for the first time — and it's landing in Da Nang, on a stretch of Vietnamese coastline that didn't have a single dedicated court before 2023. That's the headline, but it's really just the most visible marker of something bigger: Vietnam has become one of the fastest-growing pickleball countries anywhere, and it happened in under three years.
The short version
The scene: from almost no dedicated courts before 2023 to hundreds of clubs nationwide by 2026.
The proof: the 2026 Pickleball World Cup in Da Nang, plus PPA Asia tour stops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City this year.
The three scenes: Da Nang, Hanoi and Saigon each have their own courts, prices and personality — and all three are covered below.
The numbers behind the boom
Local media have been tracking this for the past year, and the shape of the story is consistent: pickleball barely existed in Vietnam before 2023, and by 2026 it's being covered as a genuine economic trend, not just a sport — new clubs, new equipment brands, new coaching businesses, all built in the space of two or three years. Vietnamese outlets have called it exactly that: a boom. The equipment is cheap, the rules take ten minutes to learn, and it slotted neatly into a country that already had huge tennis and badminton followings. What's unusual is the speed. Most countries take a decade to go from "what's pickleball" to hosting international tournaments. Vietnam did it in three years.
Three cities, three different scenes
The boom didn't happen evenly — each of Vietnam's three biggest cities built its own version of the scene, and they're different enough to matter if you're planning a trip around playing.
Da Nang got there first, helped by an international airport, a long beach, and a remote-worker community that adopted the sport early. It's also the city the world is about to notice: the 2026 Pickleball World Cup is being held here, on the central coast. See where to play in Da Nang.
Hanoi came second, and came in fast — the capital hosted its own first professional stop, the MB Hanoi Cup on the PPA Tour Asia, at the My Dinh Indoor Athletics Arena in April 2026. See where to play in Hanoi.
Ho Chi Minh City had the numbers all along — more people, more money, more expats — and in August 2026 it proved it, hosting the PPA Asia 500 MB Ho Chi Minh City Open at a brand-new sports complex, drawing more than 500 international players. See where to play in Ho Chi Minh City.
Why travelers are starting to plan trips around it
None of this would matter to a visitor if it were only a spectator story. It isn't. Court fees across all three cities run roughly $4–10 a session — a fraction of what the same hour costs in the US, Australia or the UK. The climate means there's almost always a good window to play somewhere in the country, even outside the ideal season in any one city. And the culture around it is unusually open: clubs run drop-in sessions, Facebook groups post games daily, and a foreigner showing up to play is treated as a welcome novelty rather than an intrusion. Put those three things together — cheap courts, forgiving weather, and an open door — and it's easy to see why "play a few mornings while we're there" has become a real reason people build a Vietnam trip, not an afterthought once they've already booked one.
What's coming next
The 2026 Pickleball World Cup in Da Nang is the biggest thing on the calendar — the tournament's first time in Asia, and a strong signal that Vietnam isn't done growing this sport. Between now and then, expect more of what's already happening: new courts opening in secondary cities, more PPA Asia stops following Hanoi and Saigon's lead, and a scene that keeps getting easier for a visitor to walk into, not harder.
See it from the court, not the sidelines
Every one of our trips is built around playing in the cities driving this boom — Da Nang, Hanoi, and Saigon. Tell us your dates; we build the rest around them.
See the toursThe bottom line
Vietnam went from almost no pickleball to hosting a World Cup in three years — and the courts, the prices, and the welcome haven't caught up to that reputation yet, which is exactly why now is a good time to come play. Pick a city, book a morning session, and see the boom from the inside.