Cao Bang Ba Be Lake Trekking (8 days 7 nights)

Our tour guide will pick you up by car at your hotel around 7:30-8:00am, transferring you to Lang Son. We will start by driving in the direction of the Chinese border for about 3 hours, before stopping at Chi Lang Pass - a 20-km-long gorge created from a narrow valley between two mountains.

This place occupies an important position in Vietnamese history, being the place of many victories against various Chinese invasions over the centuries and millennia, as far back as 981AD. As such it bears the reputation of Vietnam’s strongest citadel and bastion. Here you will have roughly an hour to walk around and explore the area around the Quy Mon Quan Gate, which translates as “The Gate of Monsters”, named for the many invasion forces that would spill through the pass over the course of history only to be beaten back by stalwart Vietnamese defenders.

After lunch at a local restaurant in Dong Dang, you will continue your trip into the pass, stopping to visit Mother’s Temple and Dong Khe – an important historical site where The Battle of Dong Khe was fought during the First Indochina War. In fact, this was the very first battle of the Indochina Wars, and the fighting here took place through September and October 1950, ending in a resounding victory for the Viet Minh.

In the evening you will get to enjoy dinner and overnight rest in a local homestay owned and operated by a local Nung family.

Highlights and activities: Chi Lang, Quy Mon Quan Gate, Dong Khe Battle Site, Ethnic Villages, and a 3-5km walk.

We will set out to explore the traditional craft villages of Cao Bang after breakfast. The first stop is Phia Thap village, a Nung community famous for making incense for more than 100 years. Then we will continue the journey through the fields to come to the tile making village with yin and yang tile style. Next stop, Phuc Sen forging village. Here we will witness the stages of forging knives of the people here. Next is the knitting village of the Nung ethnic group.

We will have a picnic lunch before going to the paper-making village of the Nung here.

After that, we will return to the traditional house of the Nung in the incense village and enjoy dinner together.

Highlights and activities: Phia Thap, Phuc Sen Villages, and a 17-20km trek.

Today, we continue to cross the fields and hills from Quang Uyen to Ban Gioc waterfall. Nestled among these amazing landscapes is the breathtaking Ban Gioc waterfall that stretches over 300 meters, bisecting Vietnam and China. We will have some time here to enjoy the great atmosphere around the falls, this is a great opportunity to take some great photos.

Once you’ve finished at the falls, it’s time to head over to Nguom Ngao Cave, for a very different, but no less impressive natural wonder. The cave stretches for 2,144 meters underground and is brimming with incredible stalactites and stalagmites.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we will start trekking from Yen Nhi homestay through Thuon village and back to Yen Nhi homestay for overnight stay.

Highlights and activities: Nguom Ngao Cave, Ban Gioc Waterfall, and a 5-7km walk.

After late breakfast, we’ll visit a local market where you get to experience the diverse cultures of the area, before hiking to Phat Tich Temple which aside from being a great cultural experience, offers some of the best views of Ban Gioc with China in the background.

Next up with pass through several hill tribe villages and Ma Phuc pass before returning to Cao Bang city.

Enjoy your evening at hotel in Cao Bang.

Highlights and activities: Phat Tich temple, 1-2km walk.

In the early morning, we leave Cao Bang behind and drive through snake pass on our way to Ba Be National Park. Once in the park, you’ll have time to explore the many wonders located here, start with a visit to Hua Ma, a dry cave with thousands of amazing stalactites, followed by a drive around Ba Be Lake.

We’ll be staying in a traditional Tay stilt house overnight, staying with a local host family and swim in the infinity swimming pool.

Highlights and activities: Ba Be National Park, Hua Ma Cave.

07:00 - 07:30 Pick up at Ba Be Jungle Houses. Brief introduction and preparation are here.

After a thirty-minute drive, you'll reach Tham Phay Cave, the hike starts with a steep uphill leading into the forest. Some rock at the top, and then a similar slope before the trail fades and you enter the valley. Turning west of the trail is a large patch of rock for you to find your way through, with the help and direction of your guide and safety team. The precarious entrance is at the end of the forest. Enjoy some snacks before starting to explore the cave.

Tham Phay Cave is a beautiful stream cave with two underground river tributaries, where you will experience narrow passages, craggy mountains and some deep pools with very nice photo opportunities. Plants and algae cover many calcite formations. Going deeper into the cave, you will find many unusual features of the cave such as the ceiling dome and many layers of rock, giving the walls a striking appearance. You will spend about five hours exploring this 5km deep river cave, which geologists have not discovered so far. Of course, we will provide you with the necessary equipment, such as helmets and powerful headlights. The cave expands considerably as you go through the original entrance and offers some great opportunities for excellent photos.

Enjoy a few snacks before continuing the journey to explore the 2nd path of the cave system possesses miraculous stalagmites millions of years old, dangerous sinkholes and heat flows at the bottom.

Leaving Tham Phay, you will return to the cave entrance and return to the original pick up point.

Dinner and overnight at homestay.

Highlights and activities: Tham Phay Cave, 12-15km trek

7:30am, your local guide will pick you up from Ba Be Jungle Houses before starting your exciting day on Ba Be Lake in Ba Be National Park. Your guide will help you to learn how to paddle a kayak on lakes and rivers, take dry bags, sports equipment and life jackets...

Kayaking along the lakeside past the islands is the most enjoyable experience, we can continue to travel down the Nang River to see Puong Cave then Dau Dang Waterfall before having lunch at a nearby riverside village restaurant. We can return to Ba Be Lake by motorboat or by a canoe. Swimming is available here.

Before finishing our trip today, we will pay a visit to Cam Village – the H’mong ethnic minority then straight to Fairy Pond and Widow Island.

Have dinner and overnight at Ba Be Jungle Houses.

Highlights and activities: Puong Cave, Dau Dang Waterfall, Cam Village, Fairy Pond, Widow Island.

After breakfast, you will board a boat to cross the lake to the north shore. From here you will start a hike in the rainforest of the central area of the Ba Be National Park. Along the shores of the lake, you will reach a prehistoric cave dating back 500 million years, hidden in an ancient forest composed of rare and hard wood trees, as strong as steel. A little further, a fire station allows to observe the birds.

Resume your hiking to reach the An Ma temple (a sacred temple of the Tay people venerating the snake god and military general of the Mac dynasty).

Return to Ba Be Jungle Houses restaurant for lunch before ending the tour, you will be taken about 230 km back to Hanoi and stop at a tea plantation located among rolling hills. When we arrived in Hanoi, it was time to say goodbye, creating lifelong memories and bonds.

Highlights and activities: An Ma Temple, a 3-km walk.

For Tham Phay Cave tour:

- Safety and caving equipment: caving helmets, caving headlights, gloves

- Basic canvas hiking boots (only if you don't have your own) sizes 36 - 46

- Water and picnic lunch

- Professional English speaking guide and safety assistant

- Porters to prepare meals and pump water

- Shared dry storage case for small phones and cameras (limited quantities for larger cameras)

- Water filter (only used by guide and porter)

- Eco-friendly compost toilet using western-style toilet at lunch spot

- First Aid Kit and Medical Rescue Equipment (applicable to instructors and porters only)

- Dry box prepared in case of high water level

- Safe storage to store your luggage that you won't take with you when you go backpacking

• Kayak with floating jackets
• All sightseeing tickets.
• Bottled water on the coach.
• 24/7 hotline support guaranteed