Ba Vi national park Hanoi | Complete guide 2024

1. How to get to Ba Vi national park from Hanoi

This is one of the perfect destinations near Hanoi for a visit in a short time. Visitors can go by motorbike, bus, private car or tour.

• By motorbike:

If traveling by motorbike, there are two different routes you can choose from:
From Hanoi old quarter, follow Tran Duy Hung street, Hanoi (near Big C Thang Long), Thang Long avenue to Hoa Lac overpass, go straight to Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism, follow the directions to Yen Bai commune.
Starting from Cau Giay district, you follow Nhon direction to Highway 32 to the intersection of Son Tay bus station, turn left to the junction of 105 hospitals. Then go straight to Tan Linh intersection, turn left for more than 3km will arrive.
Don’t forget to ask locals if you are unsure about the road.

• If you go by bus, you can choose one of the two bus routes:

• Bus 214 comes from Yen Nghia - Xuan Khanh bus station
• Bus 71 or 74 from My Dinh - Xuan Khanh bus station.
At the end of the bus stop in Xuan Khanh, 5km from Ba Vi, then you should take a motorbike or taxi to continue moving.

• By private car (Grab) or tours

This is expensive, but it is really comfortable, and you can have your own space (no need to worry about getting crammed on a bus). Furthermore, a private car will definitely be better for you if you go to a large group.
 

1.1. Ba Vi national park entrance fee and opening hours

Ticket price: VND 60.000vnd/ person
Tickets to the Cactus Garden: 20,000 VND / per person
Parking fee: 3.000 VND for scooter
Opening hours: 6: 00 a.m to 7: 00 p.m; every day
 

1.2. Ba Vi national park map

Ba Vi national park map 

The national park is located about 15 km from Son Tay city, and 50 km from Hanoi city center, combined with two districts from Hoa Binh province (Luong Son and Ky Son districts) covering 10,814.6 ha.
This is has become a famous place for eco-tourism with beautiful scenery and cool weather.
Especially when viewed from afar, we have admired the picturesque scenery of 3 mountains: Vua (1,296 m), Tan Vien (1,226 m), and Ngoc Hoa (1,120 m)
In the middle of the mountain, many waterfalls are pouring down, forming attractive tourist destinations such as Khoang Xanh, King Pond, Thac Nga, Suoi Ngoc ..., all attracting many visitors.
 

The main gate

2. The best time to travel to Ba Vi national park.

With a relatively mild climate, the temperature in the year does not differ much, so you can go to Ba Vi any season of the year.
However, the weather from April to October is cool and quiet, and fresh air is the best time to create favorable conditions for organizing sightseeing trips and picnics.
In addition, from mid-November to early December, you can come here to enjoy the beauty of wild sunflowers start blooming, conquering the top of a mountain, or just hiking around.

>>> Read more Hanoi tours with many attractions outside the city center with the best prices, services, and itinerary

3. Things to do and what to see in Ba Vi national park

3.1. Hiking at Ba Vi national park

This away the most exciting activity in here, tourists will immerse themselves in nature, and you will feel like entering a completely different world with fresh air, cool and incredibly very quiet for hiking.
Going along a trail from the entrance gate, we will enter the soaring Pine forest; this is a fascinating place to take pictures and set up camping tents.
 

 The beautiful road for hiking

3.2. Cactus garden

It’s far from the main gate, about 1km. This place is known as the cactus kingdom, with about 1200 varieties from all over the place. This is the cactus garden is recognized as the largest in Southeast Asia until now. Cactus is grown in gorgeous and unique greenhouses.
 

Cactus garden

3.3. French ruins (Old French church)

French-built this project with a bold Western beauty at about 800m (above sea level). Therefore, this stop will bring you lots of exciting things.
This place also attracts a lot of youth people to take photos or selfies because of the mysterious and miraculous background.
 

French ruins

3.4. Ho Chi Minh Temple

Built on the highest mountain of Ba Vi, to visit Uncle Ho temple, visitors will have to go a long way and climb up to 1320 steps. Therefore, the journey to explore here requires good health and a strong spirit to explore more places.
 

Uncle Ho Temple

3.5. Bao Thien Tower 

It was built near Ho Chi Minh temple on the Peak of King Mountain and completed in 2010 on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi. The tower consists of 13 floors, 26.9 meters high, on top of large bronze berries.

Bao Thien tower

3.6. Thuong Temple

It’s located on the top of Ba Vi Mountain at an altitude of 1227m, also known as the Palace of the Shrine, is a place of worship of Emperor Tan Vien Son. This place all visitors want to conquer to get the best view from the top of the mountain.
 

Conquer the top of the mountain

3.7. Ngoc Hoa cave

This cave is located at the bottom of a rocky cliff right below the mountain. Due to the impact of nature, the landscape here is gorgeous. In particular, the large platforms line up neatly to form a cave used as a place to worship Princess Ngoc Hoa.
 

4. Where to stay - Ba Vi national park accommodation

Because it is pretty close to Hanoi, many young people often go to Ba Vi National Park during the day, hang out sightseeing, and back home. However, a lot of families in the city center still want to stay overnight and relax on the weekend before coming back to the city center. Here is some advice for you.

4.1. Homestay, Hotel, Resort

Tourism services here are growing. Typically, there are 4-star standard resorts or homestays were built with unique styles for tourists to stay in Ba Vi for two days or longer.

• Melia Bavi Mountain Retreat

Standard: 5 star
Price: from 150$-500$/Night
Address: Cote 600m Ba Vi National Park Ba - Hà Nội
Contact: 024 3200 9999
 

• Tan Da resort

Standard: 4 star
Price: from 70 $-85$/Night
Address: Tan Linh- Ba Vi- Hanoi
 

• Ba Vi Homestead

Standard: Homestay- homestead with unique styles
Price: from 15 $- 35$/Night
Address: Thong Nghe-Van Hoa- Ba Vi- Hanoi

• Family homestay

Standard: Homestay with unique styles
Price: from 12 $- 30$/Night
Address: Ba Trai- Ba Vi- Hanoi
 

4.2. For camping

Ba Vi National Park has many places to camp with large groups. Here are the areas that allow camping for you to choose.

• Campsites in Ba Vi National Park:

Pine forest in Ba Vi Resort: With the sloping land and relatively quiet, you will easily find a spacious place to camp between the pine trees that grow close together. You can camp at any location in the area and no charges. You are not allowed to fire a bonfire in this position, opposite the pine forest, which is on the side of Xa Huong restaurant.

• Private pine forest in Cactus garden area:

Not as beautiful as the pine forest in Ba Vi Resort, but you can camp overnight, get bonfires, camping cost is 20.000 VND/ person, there is a service for Rent a tent and set a campfire.

• Ho Tien Sa:

Located at the beginning of Ba Vi national park will have a turn to the lake. Ho Tien Sa tourist area also rents tents, tarpaulins, and campfire services.

• Around the Old French Church:

Around the house, thanks to the vacant grounds, you can camp here, but you can only camp during the day and not stay overnight.

5. Ba Vi Cuisine

5.1. Ba Vi hill chicken

There are many farms raising hill chicken, with the quality of aromatic meat and delicious. Chicken hill is processing into many dishes such as chicken frequency, boiled chicken, roasted chicken with chili, etc.

5.2. Forest pork

You can enjoy the specialties of wild boar at Ba Vi restaurants, with many different processing methods such as grilled five-spice, stir-fried, re-vinegar, bamboo shoots, etc.

5.3. Dairy products

The vast Ba Vi plateau is one of the largest dairy farms in the country. The products are processed as diverse as fresh milk, yogurt, cheese, caramel, etc.

5.4. Baby beef & calves

A specialty accompanying the Ba Vi brand is clean cow and calf farms that have created pure ingredients to create a nutritious and delicious calf dish. The ingredients are simple but with ingenuity created a great dish. Young calves can make lots of delicious dishes like re-calves or stir-fries with pretty simple ingredients. You can’t refuse the invitation of this mountainous specialty.

5.5. Fish on Da River

Fish is one of the famous specialties of Ba Vi, especially the lentils, barbs, and fried fish, etc. to catch this fish is very difficult because these fish are firm and live in the deepest reaches of the river areas. The fish caught are usually from a few kg to even oats, firm meat, delicious, once enjoying this type of specialty will make you unforgettable. Besides that, visitors also can have the chance to try a lot of fresh vegetables, tasty and strange to eat like Tam Bop vegetables, stir-fried Chin vegetables with garlic or soup, banana flower soup, etc.

6. Tips for visitors visiting Ba Vi national park.

• The road to Ba Vi has a lot of sharp, steep bends and sleeve bends, .. you should pay attention.

• When it's raining and foggy, you should move slowly, and when walking in the forest, you should wear boots or shoes to avoid slipping.

• Don’t forget to bring on insect repellent.

• Remember to bring all your belongings when going into the forest for camping.

6.1. Frequently Asked Questions

• How much is the ticket price to visit Ba National Park?

The price is 60.000vnd/ person

• How many days should you go to Ba Vi?

This far from the Hanoi city center 60km with more than 1.5 hours, visitors can completely make a day trip. 
However, if we have time, we can go for 2 days 1 night, and get out of the busy and noisy city central. 

• Where to stay in Ba Vi

There are many hotels, guest house or resort that visitors can pick from, the price is also very suitable. If you want to experience the feeling of camping in the middle of the forest, you can rent a tent, the rental price is from 120k to 200k/tent
 

• Where to book Ba Vi national park tour?

Many travel agents in Hanoi organize daily or 2 days 1 night tours. However, this is not a popular place to visit, which is why only a private tour is available. You can contact Go Viet Trip - one of the best local travel agencies.
 

7. Ba Vi national park day trip - Itinerary suggestion

08:00: Our tour guide will pick you up at the hotel from Hanoi old quarter and transfers about 60km to explore the most famous things in Ba Vi national park.
Arrive at the national park, take a rest and visit the Cactus garden, where more than 1,200 cactus species are planted and preserved here. Continued visit to Pine forest where you could trek to the Ngoc Hoa cave which was shaped naturally and magically by the fault of the geology.

Then we will visit the ruin of French colonists like ancient church, French summer camps, French Military zone. Especially, located at Point 600m is the historical battle of Ba Vi Regiment on Dec 31, 1951, which successfully broke off the Da river defense line of the French, leading to the victory of the Hoa Binh campaign in 1952. You would also have a chance to walk through the jungle and visit the old green cypress trees as well as the stunning flora and fauna surrounding.

Have lunch at the local restaurant and enjoy specialties from the mountainous area of Ba Vi national park.
After lunch, you climb up to a mountain of about 300m and visit Thuong Temple - the temple worshiping Saint Tan Vien. Then, continue to visit Mau temple on the top of the mountain and enjoy the stunning view.
Continues to visit Uncle Ho's temple - built in the 1970s, Bao Thien tower, go further you can climb to Vong Canh peak,
Come back to the car and return hotel, goodbye and see you again.

Include:
Transportation 2 ways as indicated
Entrance fee tickets
English speaking guide
Lunch

Tour Excluded:
Drinks, other meals not specified,
Personal expenses, tips,
Travel insurance.
What should bring:
Good trekking shoes,
Camera,
Insect repellent

Ba Vi National Park is always a perfect place for people to escape from the crowded city center and ideal for a picnic, especially on weekends.

You may also like some attractions outside the city center can go for one day:

>>> Duong Lam ancient village - oldest village in Vietnam
>>> Admire Perfume pagoda Hanoi one day
>>> Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism

Go Viet Trip hope this article will help you understand more about Hanoi if you need any more help. Please feel free to contact us: Email: Goviettrip@gmail.com or hotline +84968667589. We are guarantee about quality and prices. Get a full refund if you do not feel happy with our services.

Author Hoan Nguyen

He has over 10 years of experience working in the tourism sector and operator. He has traveled to many places in Vietnam and around the world.

Photos: internet