BA BE LAKE – BAC KAN PROVICE

Ba be Lake is about 240km from Ha Noi and it will take you about 5-6 hours to get Ba Be by bus.
Normally there are several additional tours that also go to Ban Gioc Waterfalls, so you can spend an additional day travelling there. The distance to travel to Ban Gioc Waterfalls from Ba Be is about 5 hours.

How to get there: There are 3 buses that go to Ba Be from Hanoi as follows:

Thuong Nga:

This bus departs from The My Dinh bus station and arrives at Ba Be boat station.
The ticket prices are 120.000 VND per person.
The bus leaves Me Dinh Bus Station at 9:00AM every morning and it arrives at around 2:00 – 3:00PM (except for public holidays).
The bus travels back to Hanoi at 11:30AM.
This is their phone number: 0961.613366 or 0989.151838. You should book the ticket before you go to the bus station and make sure you get there around 30-40 minutes early to make sure you can find the bus.

Q Bus & Mr.Linh Travel:

These buses will pick you from Hanoi Old Quarter, Lotte Dao Tan in Dao Tan Street.
They depart in Ha Noi at 7:00AM and arrive at Pac Ngoi at around 1:PM.
The bus to go back to Hanoi at 2:00PM
Ticket prices are 250.000 VND per person ( Mr. Linh travel, Address: 83 Ma May) & 280.000 VND per person (Q Bus ).

Accommodation: Ba Be has 2 main villages: Pac Ngoi and Bo Lu

Pac Ngoi: has many homestays for foreigners, it offers a great tourism experience and is closer to travel to.

Huyen Hao Homestay: 01676496504. Price: 90.000 VND per person, 180.000 VND for a room for 2 people.

Bo Lu: this is a relatively new place in terms of tourists vising and is therefore quite deserted.

FOOD:

Grilled fish: This is one of favorite dishes visitors would like to eat in Ba Be Lake. The size of the fish is as small as our finger, so you can eat their bones after grilled.

Sour shrimps: This food is eaten with boiled meat and some kinds of herbs.

Wild banana:

Smoked sausage is a famous specialty. The sausage made from pork pigs that live only in the forest) mixed with ginger, a kind that grows only on rocks.
Corn wine is famous wine in Ba Be. It is made from corn grain that is brewed for 30 days.
In Ba Be we still have some other delicious foods, that you should come and try
“Rớn” vegestable: is a kind of wild vegetable which is so delicious.

Things to do

PLACES TO GO:

Puong Cave: Located in Ba Be National Park, about five kilometers from the town of Ba Be District, Bac Kan Province, formed by the Nang River is where tourists should visit to trace vestiges of time and riddles of nature. The cave with over 30 meters high and 300 meters long which is attractive thanks to its primitive surroundings, is the residence of many nocturnal creatures and there are 18 species of bats numbering in the thousands living there. Entering into the cave, tourists will certainly be amazed by ethereal lights, colorful stalactites and giant rocks in strange shapes. Tourists can go on a boat cruise to visit the cave.

Hua Ma Cave: located in Quang Khe Commune, Ba Be District, has only recently been discovered so it is still almost untouched and enigmatic. The cave has been naturally shaped during the many-thousand-year process of geological changes. It is 700 meters in length and in some places the cave opens up and is 50 meters in height. Inside the cave, there are thousands of stalagmites and stalactites of different shapes; some look like small towers, others are like a statue of Goddess of Mercy or a formal court of mandarins in the feudal time.

Dau Dang waterfall, 16km from Ba Be District, 3km from Ba Be Lake, flows for 2km where the Nang River is blocked by various sized stones slopping for nearly 500m. The pleasant look of the waterfall and the primitive nature of the forest are extremely impressive. Besides, there is a special rare and valuable species of fish called ca chien living in the river.

Tien pond (Ao Tien), a small pond locates at the middle of Limestone Mountain, is surrounded by green trees. The water of the pond is so clear that visitors can see fishes and shrimps swimming. Ao Tien impresses tourists by its unique secret beauty.

Thac Bac Ban Vang: Silver Waterfall, Vang Village, located in Hoang Tri commune, Ba Be District, is 8 km far from Ba Be Lake, far from Hua Ma cavern of 3km. It is a multi-layer natural waterfall, the waterfall base is small lakes with areas of from 100 to 200 m, creating beautiful natural beaches.

Pac Ngoi Village, 2 kilometers from the Ba Be Lake, located between an alluvial plain full of corn stalks and a range of Rocky Mountains. This village is one of just a few places the traditional customs of the Tay minority ethnic group are still practiced. Their stilt houses, against the mountainside and reflected in Ba Be Lake, create a charming picture. Visitors come to Pac Ngoi in the middle of Ba Be National Park to see stilt houses and listening to Then and Sli songs, the typical music of Tay ethnic people.

Example itinerary

Day 1: Ha Noi – Ba Be Lake

If you are travelling by bus and if it arrives early at around 1PM you can absolutely go to visit Hua Ma cave as you will still have plenty of time to explore. After that you can enjoy your dinner then go around and look to find some houses that have repertoire art and you can join with them.

Day 2: Hua Ma Cave – Ba Be

Rent a bicycle: I asked my host at the homestay to rent a mountain bike for about 70.000 VND for the day. The road is generally really easy to ride however there is some places where there is slopes and you will have to jump down and push the bicycle up but when you ride down them the feeling is really cool hehe.
When you see the bridge, you will buy some fruits, waters and cakes and put the sunscreen and you’ll be ready to go!
Hua Ma cave: The views on the way to the cave are really beautiful, they make for a great selfie that’s for sure. If you feel tired because of all the riding you can stop at the roadside to take rest. After riding for a little while you will see the street signs for the cave and keep going.
The ticket for the cave: 22.000 VND per person, parking for the bicycle is free, some people say all caves are the same, but I really like Hua Ma cave there’s just something really special about it. I can be quite tiring to go up and go down because inside the cave is really big, the first thing you will notice when you go inside is that it is really cold hehe!
Big note: You should bring water, sneakers for walking and trekking, and the cave is quite slippery.
After visited the cave I went down and sat at the water stall to take rest, I ate some boiled eggs: 3.000 VND per egg and sugarcane juice: 10.000 VND a cup.
Near here there is a nice place to visit called Bac waterfall, but unfortunately at my time of travelling the waterfall didn’t have any water so I didn’t go.
Go back to then homestay to look at the views and take rest, I chose to travel by bicycle and go to the caves, but you can also choose to go by boat to lots of other attractions. The places and ticket prices are as follows:

+ Ba Be lake – Tien pond – Puong cave – Dau Dang waterfall: 800.000 VND

+ Ba Be lake – An Ma temple – Puong cave: 600.000 VND

+ Ba Be lake – An Ma temple – Tien pond – Dau Dang waterfall: 550.000 VND

+ Ba Be lake – An Ma temple – Tien pond: 400.000 VND

+ Ba Be lake – An Ma temple: 150.000 VND

I saw some people who took one of these trips and it turns out they just went to An Ma temple and Tien pond for about 1.5 hours because they didn’t have enough time, If you go with a group and you want to explore more you can go to Puong cave and Dau Dang waterfall.
After resting I went on another trip to Ba Goa Island, the price to go by boat is not cheap so I chose to go by kayak, also I could work out and look at the views and take as long as I wanted haha.
You have 2 options at the boat: They have 2 kinds of life jacket so don’t worry.
+ The yellow: 100.000 VND a kayak per hour for 2 people.

+ The blue: 200.000VND a kayak per hour for 2 people. This one looked newer than the yellow.

I took the kayak to Ba Goa Island and when I got there I was really hungry, so I bought some more boiled eggs (egg again hehe), Com Lam (this is a kind of rice). I wanted to go to An Ma temple, but I didn’t have enough time, so I went back to the boat because I didn’t want to be too tired for the evening. My price for kayaking was 150.000 VND for 1 and a half hours.
I finished the day having done 3 activities: riding bicycle (14km), trekking in the cave (1 hour) and playing kayak (1.5 hours).