The boat route through Puong Cave is the headline, but the park also holds a waterfall, an undeveloped cave, forest trails and three Tay villages on the shore. Here is what is worth your time and the order to take it in.
Vietnam's largest natural mountain lake is the reason people make the long drive north, but the things to do in Ba Be National Park are not confined to the water. Around the lake sit a river cave big enough to sail through, a boulder-strewn waterfall, an undeveloped cave system, primary forest on limestone hills, and three Tay villages of wooden stilt houses. The park is recognized as an ASEAN Heritage Park and as a Ramsar site, meaning a wetland of international importance. Here is what is worth your time.
The lake itself: three basins, one body of water
The name comes from three connected lakes, Pe Leng, Pe Lu and Pe Lam in the Tay language. From a boat they read as one, with cliffs rising sheer on either side and the water shifting between jade and a much darker green as the light moves. Early morning is the moment: the surface goes flat as glass and mist hangs low over it, which is when almost every photograph you have seen of this place was taken.
Puong Cave
The Nang River has cut a tunnel clean through a limestone mountain, and your boat sails into it. The passage runs about 300m (980 feet) with a roof more than 30m (100 feet) overhead, and the light drops away before flaring again at the far mouth. A bat colony lives up in the vault, so keep the noise down as you pass. It is the moment of the standard circuit that people talk about afterwards.
Dau Dang waterfall
At the far end of the Nang River, the water drops through a chaos of stacked boulders for about a kilometer (0.6 miles) in a series of steps rather than a single fall. Reaching it means a long stretch on the boat and then a walk of 15 to 20 minutes. It is at its most powerful in the high-water months from June to September; in the dry season it is gentler and easier to scramble around on the rocks.
Ao Tien, the fairy pool
A short, steep climb up from a landing brings you to a small pool sitting isolated above the lake, clear and completely still, closed in by forest. Local Tay families tell it as the place where fairies came down to bathe, and note that it has never run dry however long the dry season lasts. It takes twenty minutes and it is the quietest stop on the circuit.
An Ma and Ba Goa islands
An Ma rises from the middle of the lake in the shape people describe as a resting horse, and carries a small temple where families from the surrounding villages come to make offerings at the start of the year. Nearby, Ba Goa island, meaning Widow Island, is attached to the flood legend that explains how the lake was made. Both are standard mid-route stops where the boat ties up for a while.
Pac Ngoi and the villages on the shore
Pac Ngoi sits right on the water and is a working Tay village of wooden stilt houses, as well as the place with most of the homestays. Bo Lu and Coc Toc, a little further along, are quieter. Spending an afternoon here on a borrowed bicycle, past the rice fields and the suspension bridge and the boat landing, is the part of the trip most people say they did not expect to like most. In the evening you eat on the wooden floor: grilled lake fish, foraged greens, and corn wine if you want it.
Tham Phay cave and walking in the forest
About 20km (12 miles) from the lake, Tham Phay is a largely undeveloped cave with big stalactite formations and a stream running through it. Going in means a local guide, rubber boots, a headlamp and wading through water, and it is not for small children or anyone unhappy on slick rock. For something calmer, the park has short forest trails on the limestone hills leaving from Pac Ngoi and Bo Lu; they are not difficult but they get greasy after rain, so ask your host or the park office about a guide.
Plenty of people drive up, take one loop of the lake and drive home the same day, then report that it was pleasant but nothing special. They are describing the middle of the day, which is the worst of it. The lake belongs to early morning and late afternoon, once the day boats have gone and the village goes back to being a village. Stay a night and you are looking at a different place.
Things to do in Ba Be National Park: what order to take them in
- Early morning: get on the boat while the water is still, and do Puong Cave first
- Mid-morning: Ao Tien, then An Ma Island, the stretch with the most to look at
- Afternoon: Dau Dang waterfall if you booked the long route, or back to the village to cycle if you did not
- Second day: Tham Phay cave with a guide, or a forest trail inside the park
- Any evening: the shore at Pac Ngoi about an hour before sunset
Practical notes for the boat
- Boats are priced per boat rather than per person, so ask your homestay to put you with another group
- Wear the life jacket for the whole trip, including while the boat is stopped for photographs
- Take a hat, sunscreen and water, because most of the route is fully exposed
- Confirm before you agree a price whether Dau Dang waterfall is included
- The park entrance ticket is charged separately at the gate, so keep it with you for the checkpoints
