“Very good travel agency in Phong Nha”

Very good travel agency in Phong Nha, review for Phong Nha Caves Tour

This agency is very very good! The girl that workes here is extremely friendly and answered all my questions. I had many questions, but that was fine, she took all the time for me. Everything I booked at this place was arranged perfectly. And the prices are good, I’m pretty sure this agency has the best prices of Phong Nha. I can highly recommend this place, thanks Helen for everything! 🙂

Visited March 2016
marinasusanne
Heteren, The Netherlands

Transport to Phong Nha

Phong Nha- Ke Bang National Park is located in Quang Binh province in the North central coast region, about 500km south of Ha noi and 200km north of Hue. around 40 km from Dong Hoi city, Dong Hoi Airport and Dong Hoi Railways station.

Most bus companies will now stop directly in Phong Nha, and taking a bus is therefore becoming a popular choice amongst travellers as it saves on the additional transfer required from Dong Hoi (closest train station and airport to Phong Nha).

1. Dong Hoi to Phong Nha
– Public bus running every hours from 6h00 – 17h00. price: 30,000 VND/ person
– Taxi cost: 500,000 – 550,000 VND

2. Hanoi to Phong Nha
– Sleeping bus from Hanoi to Phong Nha – this is the cheapest and most convenient way, all the tour bus leave Hanoi at 18h00 and arrival at 04h00. Price: 300,000 VND/ person (Camel Bus, Queen Cafe Bus and Hung Thanh Bus )

Hung Thanh Bus is Highly recommended

– Train to Phong Nha, actually the train go to Dong Hoi railways station. Price: 650.000 – 680.000 VND/ person
• SE1 – departs Ha Noi at 7:30 PM (19:30) and arrives the following morning in Dong Hoi at 5:35 AM

• SE19 – departs Ha Noi at 8:10 PM (20:10) and arrives the following morning in Dong Hoi at 6:10 AM

• SE4 – departs Dong Hoi at 7:52 PM (19:52) and arrives the following morning in Ha Noi at 5:30 AM

– Air to Phong Nha: The easiest mode of transport is to take a flight here from Hanoi, it being just a 50 mins flight. However, you have to factor in the time travelling to the airport (1 hour from old quarter) and the fact there are only 4 to 5 flights per week. It is best to check the Vietnam Airlines website ahead of time to ensure you can catch a flight on your desired travel dates. If you take a flight you will have to book a transfer from Dong Hoi to Phong Nha.

VN 8591 08:05 – 09:30

3. Hue to Phong Nha
– Sleeping bus (Camel bus, Quen cafe bus, Hung Thanh bus) leaves at 17h00 and arrival at 21h00 -21h30. Price: 150,000 VND/ person

– Train to Phong Nha, actually the train go to Dong Hoi railways station. Price: 250.000 – 280.000 VND/ person

– Private car: 2.000.000 VND

4. Hoian to Phong Nha
– Sleeping bus (Camel bus, Quen cafe bus, Hung Thanh bus) leaves at 13h00 – 13h30 and arrival at 21h00 -21h30. Price: 300,000 VND/ person

– Train Da Nang city to Dong Hoi

5. Ho Chi Minh to Phong Nha
The only practical way to journey between Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Phong Nha is to take a flight with Vietnam Airlines (or from February, Jetstar Pacific Airlines) to Dong Hoi City (located 45 mins drive from Phong Nha). The tickets cost between $80 and $120 each way and please note the flights are not daily.

The bus and train journeys are both just too long to be viable options for those wanting to get quickly between the two cities. Alternatively, for those on a budget but who have a little bit more time, it’s common to find that the cheapest flights are often available between HCMC and Da Nang or Hue (versus direct to Dong Hoi). From Da Nang or Hue, one can find a train to get to Dong Hoi, or even a bus to Phong Nha directly.

There are three flight from HCM city flight to Dong Hoi everyday, you can check flight as below:
Jetstar: BL 350 17:55 – 19:30
Vietjet: VJ 262 10:15 – 11:50
VN Airline: VN 1400 07:30 – 09:05

Phong Nha listed among top seven South East Asian national parks

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park has been rated by the ASEAN travel site GoAsean as one of seven national parks that travellers should visit in in Southeast Asia.

According to the travel site GoAsean, located in Quang Binh Province, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Phong Nha-Ke Bang has the most magnificent system of underground rivers in Southeast Asia. The national park is also home to some of the world’s most unique forms of flora and fauna, including hundreds of different species of birds.

Goasean said of the park, “It spans well over 800 square kilometers in area, and this means that you would probably need more than a day to experience its cavernous wonders.”

Famous for having over 300 caves and grottos, the park spans over 800 square kilometers in area. In April 2009, Son Doong Cave, one of the world’s largest caves, was discovered in Phong Nha-Ke Bang by a team of British cave explorers led by a local farmer.

Other national parks also on the list include the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in Indonesia, Gunung Mulu National Park in Malaysia, Doi Inthanon National Park in Thailand, Taman Negara in Malaysia; Khao Sok in Thailand and Komodo in Indonesia.

Phong Nha listed among world’s Top 5 caves

The England tourism magazine Wanderlust has voted Phong Nha cave in the Phong Nha National Park among the five most astounding cave sites in the world.

Ranked No. 5 on this list, the magazine described Phong Nha as a beautiful cave with stalagmite systems and spectacular stalactites.

The magazine writes “Phong Nha’s magnificent grottos are filled with spectacular stalagmites and stalactites and are distinctive examples of a complex karst landform. This has resulted in underground rivers and the development of a maze of caves.”

It notes “Phong Nha is also a fossil-rich site and a location where new caves are still being discovered.”

Phong Nha cave is located in the province of Quang Binh, in North Central Viet Nam, 500 km south of Ha Noi.

This cave has long been known as a unique wonder with seven criteria: The longest water cave, the highest and widest cave mouth, the widest and most beautiful sand & rock bank, the most beautiful underground lake, the most magnificent and miraculous stalactite, the nation’s longest underground river and the nicest and widest dry cave.

Other caves in the list are Waitomo Cave (New Zealand), Indian Caverns (United States), Dan-yr-Ogof Cave (Wales), and Eisriesenwelt (Austria).

Rock climbing in Phong Nha

Rock climbing contest to be held in Phong Nha-Ke Bang

Viet Nam’s first top-rope climbing competition will be organised in the world heritage site of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh province from August 5 to 20 as part of the Cave Festival.

The Phong Nha-Ke Bang Tourism Centre has built a 30 metre, partially-artificial cliff at the gate of Hang Toi (Dark Cave), the highest of its kind in the country.

The route will later be used as an adventure entertainment option for tourists.

Hang Toi is a part of tours of the national park, offering visitors such attractions as zip-lining and cave mud-bathing.

Established in 2001, the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is among the 238 most important ecological zones in the world.

Covering 85,754 hectares, the park was recognised as a UNESCO geological and geomorphological World Natural Heritage Site in 2003.

With the length of 7.7 kilometres, it boasts a system of 300 different caves and grottos which date back some 400 million years. Particularly, Son Doong, which was first explored in 2009, is considered the largest natural cave in the world.

Recently, the New York Times named Quang Binh as one of the most attractive destinations in Asia and the world’s 52 top must-go sites for 2014.

Khe ry Cave

Experts confirm world’s longest river cave in Quang Binh province

Stretching an impressive 20km, Khe Ry Cave in Quang Binh province’s Phong Nha – Ke Bang Complex has been officially declared the world’s longest river cave.

The announcement was made on May 26 by Howard Limbert who has led experts from the British Caving Association on a study project lasting several years.

Surrounded by the huge limestone walls, Khe Ry Cave was discovered in 1997. At that time, Limbert’s team only discovered a 13.5km part of the cave. In subsequent years, the expedition continued exploration and mapping of the cave, concluding that the total length reaches over 20km.

The cave ceiling is 120m high, allowing boats to pass comfortably through several stages. The experts described Khe Ry as a world of colourful stalactites in many different shapes and sizes.

The first water source of Khe Ry River is a stream trickling into the cave at an altitude of 1,300m. This forms the long river, which runs to En Cave before diving down into Son Doong Cave and feeding into the Phong Nha water system.

Khe Ry is a huge and significant cave both in terms of its appearance and ecological system. Due to the darkness inside, the cave is home to species such as bats, blind scorpions, fish and amphibians. Scientists said it would take many years to categorise the fauna because many species had never been found before.

There are no tours organized to this cave

U.S. television makes film in Phong Nha

U.S. television makes film about Phong Nha – Ke Bang caves

The management board of Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park on December 20 said that U.S. Travel Channel has finished a TV report exploring the imposing landscape of caves on Ke Bang Limestone Mountain and surrounding areas.

The channel has filmed En Cave – the third largest cave in the world and Tu Lan Cave in the north central province of Quang Binh.

In a meeting with the national park’s managers, Travel Channel representatives said they hoped to introduce beautiful nature of the national park to visitors from hundreds of nations and territories.

Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park is home to the world largest cave Son Doong which was discovered in April, 2009 and several of other caves in Quang Binh.

With assistance from local men, the British Royal Cave Research Association has explored the cave system in Phong Nha – Ke Bang since 1990.

Zipline in Phong Nha

Ziplining to attract more tourists to Phong Nha-Ke Bang

Visitors to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh can now take to the skies with ziplining, a new adventure tourism service launched on September 9.

Running from Chay River to Toi (Dark) Cave, the modern cable line allows tourists to glide into the cave or plunge into the river.

According to Le Thanh Tinh, the National Park Director, the new service is part of the park’s efforts to diversify tourism and meet the demands of domestic and foreign visitors.

Located approximately 500km south of Ha Noi, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a famous destination in central Vietnam and was recognised by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site.

Since the beginning of 2014, the site has welcomed more than 2.4 million visitors, generating over 1 trillion VND (47.6 million USD) in revenue, a 23.6 percent year-on-year increase.

Tourist in Phong Nha

Over 15,000 holiday-makers visited the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh during the first five days of the Year of the Goat (February 19-23), up over 10 percent against the same period last year.

Phong Nha and Tien Son caves were the most attractive destinations in the park, drawing nearly 8,900 visitors.

Le Thanh Loi, Director of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang Tourism Centre, said his agency offered a 10 percent discount on food and services at the centre’s restaurants, while adding traditional dishes to restaurant’s menu during the holiday.

During the occasion, historical and spiritual tourist sites in the province such as Than Dinh Mountain, Tam Co cave, Lieu Hanh princess temple also attracted a large number of tourists.

Established in 2001, the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is among the 238 most important ecological zones in the world. It was recognised by the UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site on geological and geomorphologic criteria in 2003.

Recently, the Viet Nam Records Organisation listed four tourism sites in Quang Binh amongst the top 50 must-see travel destinations in Viet Nam, including Phong Nha Cave, Ngang Pass, Nhat Le Beach and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

With the opening of Son Doong Cave in 2013, Quang Binh was instantly catapulted onto the bucket lists of travellers all over the world.

The New York Times named Quang Binh as one of the most attractive destinations in Asia and ranked it eighth out of the world’s 52 must-see sites for 2014, while US magazine Business Insider included Son Doong Cave in its list of the 12 most impressive caves.

Local food in Phong Nha

What to eat at Phong Nha?
Soup Porridge (Cháo canh) for local people
Chao Canh is one of the specialties of Quang Binh.This dish is the most favourite breakfast for the local people.
The ingredients are quite familiar included: Snakehead fish, shrimps, pork. When serving guests, porridge soup is sprinkled onions, cilantro and sliced fragrant. It is served with shredded green cabbage. Inspite of the simple ingredients, the flavour is truly amazing.

Only one western restaurant in Phong Nha is the best: Phong Nha Gecko restaurant

Best time travel to Phong Nha

The best time to go to Phong Nha- Ke Bang

Similar to Northern Vietnam’s weather, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park has a typical tropical monsoon weather with hot temperature in summer and high humidity. In summer it can go up to 41°C and it also can drop as low as 6°C in winter. As such, it is not advisable to go there during typhoon and rainy season, especially from October to December, although the temperature inside the cave is still cool (around 20°C) but the temperature outside is simply unbearable. You may not be easy and comfortable with rain or bad weather or typhoon during the month of October to December as the weather can turn cold.

So, we recommend to visit or join adventure tour in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park from February to August, the weather is more ideal

best time to come to Phong Nha, Phong Nha Ke Bang Weather, when is ideal time to visit Phong Nha

Phong Nha Weather

Phong Nha – Ke Bang Weather

Temperature: The annual mean temperature is 23 – 25 degree celsius. The highest temperature is in June, July and August, with mean temperature greater than 28 degree celsius. Daily variation in temperature is high, about 10 degree celsius in summer and 8 degree celsius in winter.

Rainfall: Phong Nha-Ke Bang is situated in region of the high rainfall with an average of 2,000 mm to 2,500 mm per year. The highest rainfall is concentrated in September, October and November. The rainy season is from July to December . The dry season is from January to June and the lowest rainfall is in February and March.

best time to come to Phong Nha, Phong Nha Ke Bang Weather, when is ideal time to visit Phong Nhabest time to come to Phong Nha, Phong Nha Ke Bang Weather, when is ideal time to visit Phong Nha

Humidity: Mean annual relative humidity is 83 – 84%. In the period September to April, humidity is highest (85-90%). The period of May to August experiences hot and dry northwesterly winds, so that humidity is lower.

Wind: The northeasterly winds and sometimes the easterly or southeasterly winds appeared in the winter . In the summer a southwesterly wind is common, which sometimes changes to a hot and dry northwesterly wind, in June, July, and August. The period from September to April, the easterly and southeasterly winds sometimes come from the sea.

Hydrology: The flooding season takes place from September to November, with the largest floods appearing in the middle of September and October. Besides the main rainy and flooding season, rains in May and June sometime cause large floods. In the dry season, from February to August, almost all the streams in Phong Nha – Ke Bang become “ dead streams”. The water level in the Chay and Son Rivers is very low at this time.

Phong Nha Travel Guide

Travel Guide in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park

Phong Nha-Ke Bang is a National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Quảng Bình Province, in the north of the Central Coast region of Vietnam. The park is 40 km north of Dong Hoi, around 500 km south of Hanoi.

Phong Nha town is on the edge of the park just off the main highway, and has undergone some growth since the caves were discovered. Most accommodation, restaurants and travel providers are in the town, although there are some good places in the surrounding villages – where the trade off is the peace and quiet!

Situated roughly 45km to the northwest of the provincial capital of Dong Hoi, the limestone massifs surrounding Phong Nha are similar to those seen on the Andaman coast of Thailand and central Laos around Vang Vieng and Vieng Xai and mark the stark change in the geology of Vietnam as you pass from south to north.

The original “discovery” of the cave system within Phong Nha park is credited to a Frenchman in the late nineteenth century, but it wasn’t until 1990 that the magnificent Phong Nha cave was surveyed by a team of British and Vietnamese cavers. Then in 1992 came the title of the world’s longest river cave with a length of 7.729km and the first 600 metres of the cave was opened up for public viewing.

Subsequently came the “discovery” of Son Doong — most recently in 1991 by a local villager named Mr Ho Khanh and this cave, the largest “yet” to be discovered, surveyed in 2009 and which was first opened to tourists in 2013 paying an extremely hefty fee to be the first through. Overall only 220 visitors are allowed into the cave system per year. The cave is recognised as the largest in the world and houses enormous stalagmites of up to 80m in height and fossils believed to be over 300 million years old.

As far as Phong Nha is concerned, the caverns that are open to tourists are quite close to the mouth of the cave. Just as you enter, to the right, the boat puts out on a landing giving on to a set of stairs that leads to two caverns, or grottos. At 400 million years of age, these are some of the oldest limestone formations in the world.

If you’re one who considers caves to be nothing more than a hole in the ground, you have to see these caves to realise just how mistaken you are. There are caves, there are big caves and there are gigantic, world record-breaking caves. You’ll find some of the Planet Earth’s best of the latter category around Phong Nha. If you’ve only got time for one cave in your holidays — or your life — make it one of these.

Phong Nha town is located along the main road from highway 14, stretching 2 km to the boat landing for the caves. Thanks to a semi-recent surge in tourism, accommodation is generally good and not too expensive for an area as remote as this. While you’ll find typical Vietnamese style hotels lining the highway through town, a fair few homestays and backpacker dorms are settled in the more peaceful and picturesque countryside and are also on the table. These tend to offer a better nights sleep and on-your-doorstep adventure, rather than the former. So skip the town hotels!

Also, while it may be tempting to think “one cave, one night” Phong Nha really deserves at least a few days if you’re really planning on getting the most out of the area’s sights and surroundings.

In October and November the Phong Nha area can see heavy flooding due to a combination of being on low ground and typhoon season and while the rainy season actually runs from October through to February, October and November are the worst time to visit and some accommodation may well be closed at this time of year — so check beforehand. The best time to visit Phong Nha is in March and April — between May and September is can be extremely hot so March and April is the sweet spot.

Orientation
A new ATM (the town’s only one) is located in the centre on Phong Nha. The post office is located across the street from the Saigon-Phongnha hotel near the boat landing at the end of town. Internet is freely available at most guesthouses, although reception can be spotty and frustratingly slow.

Get in
Air: The closest service is via Vietnam Airlines to Dong Hoi with flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air, and Jetstar Pacific Airlines).
Train: Several arrivals and departures at Dong Hoi daily from as far away as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, only a few hours from Hue.
Bus: A local bus goes from Dong Hoi to Phong Nha for 40,000 dong. It departs every hours from Nam Ly bus station.
The bus back to Dong Hoi leaves Phong Nha every hours
By sleeper buses From Hanoi, Ninh BInh, Hoian, Da Nang or Hue city to Phong Nha You may book tickets at the Bus Station, travel agencies and at some hotels.
Camel Bus, Hung Thanh Bus, Queen Bus

Motorbikes:

Motorbikes can be rented for 150,000 dong from hotels in Dong Hoi. It takes about 1 hour via a highway that has little traffic: the Phong Nha cave is about 45 km from Dong Hoi and the Thien Duong (Paradise) Cave is about 70 km from Dong Hoi.
Taxis: can be hired from hotels/resorts, airport or train station in Dong Hoi. About 1 hour on a highway with cars, oxcarts, motorbikes, buses, trucks.

Phong Nha flood

FLOODING SEASON:
Flooding season usually starts around mid-September and runs until mid-November every year. The flooding is not continuous; it rises and recedes with the heavy rains. Flood waters remain stay high for up to a week at a time. Please check the weather forecast in advance prior to traveling to Phong Nha at this time if you are interested in seeing Paradise Cave or Phong Nha.

Hang Tien Cave

Hang Tien Cave or Fairy cave belongs to the Tu Lan cave system,
The cave is located in Cao Quang commune, Tuyen Hoa district. It is the destination for those who started the tour to conquer in Quang Binh province. The cave is located between the great mountains and the dense forests so before to the shelf, you will have to pass through the jungle, streams and trekking. And the great thing in the Tien cave that you can admire the spectacular stalactites column in shelf, do not need deep inside.

First explored by experts from the Royal British Caving Association in 1994, the cave consists of stalagmites that at times look like terraced rice fields. As one of the largest in the Tu Lan Cave system, Fairy Cave, with a total length of nearly 3 km, includes two branches – Fairy Cave 1 and Fairy Cave 2 – which are connected by a primeval forest with huge trees. The cave is dry, with streams only appearing in the flood season.

The opening to the cave is quite wide, at 50 meters, and has a height of nearly 70 meters. Due to flooding in the wet season its walls are covered with a layer of sand.

The name ‘the Cave of Fairies’ is tinged with mystery. Legend has it that the cave was named after a myth: fairies from heaven descended to this land, and were so busy sightseeing they forgot their way back to heaven.

Local people discovered this place hundreds of years ago and consider it a sacred place to carry out important rituals in their spiritual life, including praying for rain and for peace. The sacred and mysterious factors retain this scenic beauty’s ancient and wild characteristics.

Hang Tien Cave you must follow the tours – Click here
Hang Tien Cave closed in October during raining season

Eight lady cave

8 Ladies cave & Memorial temple

The sacred ‘Hang Tám Cô’ (The Cave of Eight Ladies) is a popular stop for those traveling on Road 20 in the central province of Quang Binh. People often drop by to light incense for the souls of eight young pioneers of the Vietnam People’s Army. The women starved to death in 1972 in a rock cave when they were hiding from U.S. raids U.S. bombs caused an immense rock to fall over the only exit of the cave that the women were hiding in. Great efforts to rescue the women were in vain. Soldiers stationed nearby recalled that they heard cries for help resounding from within the cave. The voices were steadily weaker day after day and stopped after the ninth day.

The tragedy involving the eight women occurred on November 14, 1972 when U.S. fighters dropped bomb after bomb on the 16km milestone as on previous days. Eight women aged 18-20, who hailed from the central province of Thanh Hoa to repair roads in the area, had to shelter themselves in a rock cave. After a series of bombs were dropped on the area, a colossal rock fell and completely closed off the only mouth of the cave. Screams for help were heard. Three caterpillars were sent to pull the rock aside, but the efforts were fruitless. Blowing up the rock was a possibility, but it would certainly have killed the women inside the cave. Rescue soldiers outside passed a plastic pipe through slots of the rock cave into which they poured soup and water, although they were not sure if it ever reached the girls. Nine days later, people outside heard the volunteers for the last time.

The war ended that year and a temple was built near the cave to honour the eight and others who died keeping the road open.

In 1996 the Government used explosives to remove the rock and found bones and hair.

The Temple and the cave beside the road 20, The road was completed in 2014. It facilitates transport to the historic cave and traffic from Quang Binh to neighboring Laos. Regular commuters on Route 20 are local villagers, teachers assigned to the villages, and border soldiers. Sometimes, tourists, explorers, and young people on camping trips also visit the spot to offer incense to the dead.

There are no entrance fees
This is very small cave but it a very sacred place for Vietnamese and they not allow tourist come inside, you can see from outside of the cave.
At this temple they not allow you wear shorts or short dress whether you’re male or female. so you have borrow a sarong or something to cover your knees when entering temples.

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