Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam
** Phong Nha Adventures **
We are an Aussie family of four (two adults, kids 15 and 11) and just spent 2 nights/two days in beautiful Phong Nha. It was one of the highlights of our trip so far, already on our list to return next time (we really wished we had at least two more days).
We stayed at The Lake House Resort in two ‘West Lake Villas’, and which has been our favourite accommodation in all of Vietnam so far. Private villas tucked into gorgeous gardens, with balconies right on the most spectacular lake. The four-poster beds were amazingly comfy, air con strong and we had an outdoor shower and bath as well. Immaculately clean, amazing breakfast, the restaurant was sensational for dinner, beautiful staff. Couldn’t fault this beautiful place!
Kicked off our first cave tours with the Commander Cave, which only opened one week ago! This 7-storey cave was a key headquarter, hospital and rest area for the Vietcong during the war and was filled with awesome war memorabilia and info - our youngest is a war buff and was in heaven.
A luxe lunch at The Rice House in Phong Nha town - highly recommended! Have one of the family meals, and make sure you try the clay pot pork. Mind blowing!
We then jumped in a scenic river boat cruise to visit Phong Nha cave. It was stunning coming through the national park with villages and mountains on each side, then only a few stairs to get up and inside the cave. It’s massive, the colours were just spectacular. Definitely a must see.
Day 2 was an ‘adventure day’. We are not a super fit or active family, but really wanted to push ourselves to experience a bit of adventure! Completely out of my comfort zone… but pretty proud that we pushed ourselves!
We started with a visit to Paradise Cave - which is the largest dry cave in Asia. To get to the cave we had to climb 500m up a mountain, then down 300 steps into the cave itself. A kilometre walk through the cave, then back out through those same steps, then back down to 500m of mountain. Inside the cave was a beautiful 23°, outside was 35 with extremely high humidity. It really, really pushed us physically, but we did it!
Next was the adventure we’ve been waiting for, heading into the Dark Cave. First was a zip line into the cave then we travelled 750m into the depths of the cave - crawling, swimming, climbing through narrow passageways. The only light was from our helmets.
We reached the mud chamber, where we could splash about in a huge mud room. Turned all of our lights off to experience the complete darkness and silence of the cave - it was incredible hearing all of the water running through the rocks.
Swimming out of the cave in the beautiful, cold freshwater felt so amazing, especially getting all the mud off! Unfortunately due to flooding the usual swimming fun on the river (inflatable bouncing pillows and slides) was closed… but even without it, this was an amazing experience.
Our last stop was a small family run duck farm, and that was so much fun. The ducks literally swamped us looking for pellets and treats. I haven’t laughed so much in ages.
We are definitely planning to return to this area, we would’ve loved a full day just to spend at the Lake House swimming and kayaking, and another day going around on a scooter to explore. Landscapes, villages, farms and national parks in this area are just spectacular.
If you are thinking about including Phong Nha, do it!
(our entire month-long trip has been planned with help from our incredible local Vietnamese Travel Agent Trang from Viet Expert Travel. She helped with our itinerary and recommendations for accommodation, and has organised all of our private transfers and tours. She’s amazing, and I highly recommend her!)