Ba Be Lake & Ban Gioc Waterfall Tour Itinerary
Day 1
Hanoi – Ba Be National Park
Meals Included: Lunch, Dinner
7:30 AM. Our driver and tour guide will pick you up in the early morning from our office in Hanoi and you will begin your journey through North-eastern Vietnam. The drive to the national park is roughly 230 kilometres. On the way, we will make a stop in a local Tay village, where you will get to spend some time learning about their traditions and rice farming. Once you arrive at Ba Be National Park, you will eat lunch then board a boat and head down the Nang River as it winds through wild and rugged landscapes before reaching Puong Grotto, where you can marvel at the impressive stalagmites and stalactites found within. Afterwards, you will continue along the river until you reach Ban Can village where Tay ethnic minority people live on the river bank. Take a walk through the village before getting on a boat which will take you onto Ba Be Lake. Here you will get to visit Widow Island (named for the local legend regarding the lake) and those who wish can go for a refreshing swim in the crystal clear waters. You will end the day in Coc Toc Village, inhabited by the Tay ethnic minority, where you will spend the night in Mr Linh’s Homestay.
Highlights and activities: Ba Be lake, Tay ethnic villages
Day 2
Ba Be National Park – Ban Gioc Waterfall
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
7:30 AM. After enjoying breakfast at the homestay, you will depart for Trung Khanh which lies right on the border with China. Here you will have another chance to meet and interact with the local Nung people living in the village of Phuoc Sen, a mountainous village famous for its traditional blacksmithing. The farming tools made here are an integral part of the lifestyle which is evident in the surrounding rice paddies and fields. Lunch in a local restaurant.
Nestled amongst these amazing landscapes is the breathtaking Ban Gioc Waterfall which spans over 300 meters, split half and half between Vietnam and China. You’ll get some time here to simply take in the amazing atmosphere surrounding the falls, which presents an excellent opportunity for some fantastic photography.
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.
You will then enter Khuoi My, a stone village where you will stay overnight in a homestay constructed in traditional Nung fashion and owned and operated by a local Nung family. Here you can relax and unwind from the day and enjoy a delicious and authentic home-cooked meal.
Highlights and activities: Ban Gioc waterfall, Nguom Ngao cave, Ba Be National Park, ethnic villages
Day 3
Ban Gioc Waterfall – Lang Son – Ha Noi
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
7.30 AM. After breakfast we’ll kick the final day of the tour by continuing your trip into the pass to Dong Dang, 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.
Transferring you to Lang Son for Lunch then 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.
Highlights and activities: Chi Lang pass, Quy Mon Quan gate, Dong Khe battle site, ethnic villages, and a 3-5km walk
Lisa –
I had a fantastic time on this trip. It was very easy to go via Southeastasiabackpacker site and were very quite to communicate with and answer any questions, which I appreciated as I was organising my trip within a week.
I saw pictures of Ban Gioc on Instagram and I really wanted to go, unfortunately yes it I struggled to find a place that didn’t do it via private tours as I was a solo traveller and ideally wanted to do it with others and it would have been too expensive to do alone. I was able to find this group tour on this site. It only happens one a week I believe and usually on a Friday for 2 nights.
Ba Be Lake was very peaceful, being a country girls at heart I loved this location, you do get woken up by cockerels but then your homestays will be on ritual farms with local people as this is how they feed themselves and make a living. It’s as free range as it gets.
Ban Gioc waterfalls were amazing and i’m really happy I made the trip.
The homestays were very welcoming the fed us really well and the accommodation was of a good standard.
The tour guide Giang and driver Long were wonderful and made the trip very fun, Giang is full of humour and knowledge and on top of the trip to Ba Be Lake and Ban Gioc we made various stops to help the long journey and he would tell us about various temples or spots that were significant in the War with China.
I would highly recommend this tour especially if you want to do something a bit different to the usual tourist hot spots.