The best time to visit Cuc Phuong National Park is during the dry season

Located about 100 km South of Hanoi, Cuc Phuong is the first and one of the most impressive national parks in Vietnam. The primary rainforest is coated with layers of fauna and flora, caves and hot springs. Trees that have lived for the millennium are not rare, and it is striking how they survived the numerous battles that Vietnam has gone through.

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Cuc Phuong National Park

At the rear entrance gate to the park, there is a center for preserving endangered species sponsored by a German development agency. Within the forest itself, bird-watching is a popular activity and as you walk or bike the trail, it is possible to catch sight of many reptiles or animals.

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What to bring

Hiking shoes for slippery trails are highly recommended. Apply plenty of bug-repellent before you enter the park. It is also advisable to take a bottle of water with you as the walk can be strenuous. There are stone-based tables dotted along the way, which make a picnic meal ideal for the trip.

Best time to visit: the dry season from December to April is the best time for visit, since the trails are less slippery. Some caves may not allow entrance during wet season for safety reasons.

Facilities

At the entrance gate, there is an information center where you can obtain a map of the trails. There are also restaurants, souvenir shops, and a mini hotel at affordable rates ($10 per room). You might also consider renting a bike from the information center instead of taking the car option.

As you approach the park, there is another accommodation facility with more authentic natural feel. Staying the stilt house is a memorable experience but not recommendable for those who do not tolerate mosquitoes and biting insects.

Example of trails and routes

Fauna and flora garden: especially good for sunrise or sunset. The trail is about 3 km and lasts up to 2 hours. Observation tower: a short walk up the mountain with beautiful landscape that takes about 1 hour.

Camping overnight: require the assistance of a guide from the park and local people, including watching wild animals at night. Camping equipment need to be rented from Hanoi.

Bach Ma National Park - Hue

Situated in the Annamite Range, in central Vietnam and near Hue City, Bach Ma national park covers an area of about 37,487 hectare over there districts of Phu Loc, Nam Dong and Dong Giang. It’s quite easy to access Bach Ma National Park from Hue (40 km), Da Nang (65 km) and also Hoi An (90 km). This protected area was established in 1991 and consists of three zones: a strictly protected core, an administrative area and a buffer zone.

Bach Ma National Park

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The national park features tropical climate with 2 distinctive seasons: dry one and rainy one. It is regarded as one of the wettest place in Vietnam, where the weather can easily change from sunshine to tropical rain just within hours. The summit area is always cooler, thanks to its high altitude. Therefore it’s also called “Dalat of Central Vietnam”.

What to see

As being the bio geographical border between northern and southern Vietnam and having a wide variety of habitats, the park is well-known for its biodiversity. Some people consider Bach Ma as “The Centre of flora diversity in Vietnam”, as it represents around one-fifth of the entire flora of the country. The forest also possesses a precious source of over 500 species which serve as medicinal plants. Besides, this is where people can luckily see “Sao la” (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) – a type of antelope, exists only in Vietnam, first discovered in 1992 and may be one of the rarest mammals on the planet.

What to do

Bach Ma will not fail you in a single bit in terms of activities. One can camp, trek, rappel or simply wander through the jungle to discover the beauty of Bach Ma’s flora and fauna. At Do Quyen Fall (Rhododendrun Fall,) adventurers have chance to thrillingly abseil down the upper section of the fall. Or else, visitors can walk down to the bottom of the falls to catch the whole fantastic view of the fall and spend more time swimming in the stream.

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Nature lovers, especially those who are eager for bird-watching would find Bach Ma a real paradise on the ground. The 358 species of birds in the park account for more than one-third of the bird species of Vietnam, including the fabulous crested argus pheasant and the tenacious Edwards’ pheasant (the symbol of Bach Ma National Park) – unseen and thought to be extinct for 50 years. Numerous bird species like pigeons, bulbuls, malkohas, crow pheasant, herons and egrets but sights of parakeets, kingfishers or jungle fowl are worth adding to tourists’ bird-watching collection.

Best time to visit

Tourists are advised to visit Bach Ma National Park on February, when famous red Rhododendron simsii blossom along small streams and in particular at the bottom of the Rhododendron waterfall. During that period of time, the weather is ideally dry with favorable temperatures. In addition, summer is tourism season as people want to escape the heat, from June to August.

How to get there

From Hue City, tourists can travel to Bach Ma by car by following the National Highway 1A for about 40km. There’s a small road leading to the National Park next to Cau Hai Market. From here, Bach Ma’s main entrance is just 3km behind.

Tours to Bach Ma are available from both Hue and Danang, and make sure you look around to get the best deal.

Dong Khanh Tomb in Hue

The tomb was situated near Cu Si Hamlet, now Thuong Hai Village, Thuy Xuan Commune, Hue City. It’s only 5km from the city center. The construction of Dong Khanh Tomb met with many obstacles, prolonged over 35 years and 4 kings.

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Dong Khanh Tomb

Also an adopted son of King Tu Duc, King Dong Khanh was sworn to throne by the French colonists. After being crowned, he ordered to build a temple called Truy Tu Temple inside the tomb of his father – Kien Thai Vuong. Since he didn’t expect himself to pass away at the age of 25 (3 years after taking power), he did not plan for his tomb. When King Thanh Thai continued the kingship, the country was at an unstable phase of development thus King Dong Khanh also was worshipped in Truy Tu Temple, which was then renamed as Ngung Hy Temple. His corpse was buried simply on a hill named “Ho Thuan Son”, 30m to the west of Ngung Hy Temple. The whole tomb area was called Tu Lang. The building process had to be halted many times and most of the construction work was only completed under the reign of Khai Dinh – Dong Khanh’s son, in 1917, Vietnam.

What to see

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The complicated history of building resulted in a mix of influence in this monument’s architecture. One of the most notable sites in the complex is Ngung Hy Temple – a twin mansion typical of Hue Citadel but backed by a third house, which makes it into a triplet complex. The temple is well-equipped with typical royal furniture and calligraphy. Besides the traditional aspects, Ngung Hy also opened up to a new era of arts inspired by both Western and Eastern traits. Remarkably, there were 24 drawings illustrating the Chinese story named “Nhi thap tu hieu” – 24 examples of filial sons and daughters.

On the contrary, the tomb area’s design was almost influenced by Western style, from its architectural peculiarities or decorative models to the building materials. The Stele Pavilion was constructed with cement, tile bricks and bricks instead of stone.

How to get there

The tomb opens all year round from 7.30Am to 5.00PM. It’s about 200m from Tu Duc Tomb and tourists can get there easily by bike, taxi or motorbike.

Dam Da-Hoa Binh is a new attraction to tourists in Vietnam tourism

While such names as Hoa Tien cave, Tien Phi cave, Mai Chau valley, Hoa Binh hydroelectric dam are tourists highlights, Dam Da seem to be an obscure historical site. Dam Da is located in Phu Lao commune, Lac Thuy district, Hoa Binh province.

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Dam Da

Dam Da is actually a vast complex of temples, pagodas and caves in the district, including Trinh temple (also known as Quan Trinh), Mau temple, Tien pagoda and etc. The temples and pagodas here are closely related to legendary characters in Viet Nam’s history such as Au Co mother, Lac Long Quan Father, Hoang Bay Mandarin and Tam Toa Thanh Mau. In Tien cave and Ho cave (other name: Nguoi xua cave), archaeologists have found traces of ancient people, contributing a great deal to the historical study. Now Tien pagoda has received national recognition as a historical cultural site and it is attracting many visitors to come here for sightseeing or worship.

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Apart from historical and cultural values, Dam Da is marked by its natural spectacular caves. There are Tam Toa cave, Thuy Tien cave, Cung Tien cave, Hoang Muoi cave, Co Chin cave etc. One will find it extremely difficult to list all the caves here. When coming into each cave, tourists will be totally taken by surprised at the gigantic and illusory stalagmites and stalactites.

Dam Da is most crowded in spring, particularly from January to March when there is Chua Tien festival. It is also convenient for tourists to visit Huong pagoda nearby – a famous attraction in My Duc district, Ha Noi.

The National Museum of Vietnamese History is housed

Vietnam History Museum lies silently on the back of the renowned Hanoi Opera House, at No.1 Pham Ngu Lao Street, Hoan Kiem District. This museum was built in 1926 under the name Louis Finot Museum by the Ecole Française d’Extreme-Orient and finish in 1932. After being taken over by Vietnamese Government, the museum changed its official name to Museum of Vietnam History and opened to the public on 3 September 1958.

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Vietnam History Museum

Although the museum is only 2,000m2 in total, it provides a great overview of the history of Vietnam thanks to chronological sequence. The site has two floors, among which Vietnam’s history is divided into 10 different sections, from the prehistoric era to the day when President Ho Chi Minh read out the Declaration of Independence giving birth to Vietnam.

In here preserving more than 7,000 precious objects, some aged thousand years old which represent the cultural diversity of the country. Historic objects exhibited here are not only Vietnamese origin but also consists other culture like China, Japan, Thailand and especially Champ with more than 50 stone-engraved back to 7th-13th centuries.

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Visitors may have to make full use of imagination as well as sensitivity to understand artifacts and relics exhibited in the museum. This is good chance for you to test your ability to perceive art because the descriptions of the objects are quite sparse that most of them are in Vietnamese and only indentify what the object is rather than what is its meaning.