Two Caves You Must Visit in Phong Nha, Vietnam!

Mar 26

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Phong Nha is a small, one-street town in Vietnam and it conveniently sits just outside Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, which is known for being home to over 400 caves. In this article we run through the two that we visited, Paradise Cave and Dark Cave, and why you should add them to your next Vietnam itinerary!

*Dark Cave, Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam*

Phong Nha Travel Resources

Flights: Search for the best flight deals to Vietnam with Skyscanner!

Accommodation: We stayed at Sunshine Homestay and loved it, but you can also search for other Phong Nha accommodation on Booking.com, which is our go-to for accommodation. Alternatively, you can look to stay in Dong Hoi, which is a more central location. Most tours will also pick you up from here and transport you to Phong Nha which is great.

Transport: We use 12Go to book all our transport around Asia - we used it to get to and from Phong Nha.

Activities & Tours: We booked this tour through Klook and LOVED it! Our guide was amazing and it was an all around great day. You can also search for other tours here. Plus, you can use code “GOFORLAUNCHKLOOK” to get a discount on your bookings!

HOW TO EXPLORE

While some caves in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park are only accessible by tour, there are quite a few that you can get to yourself via scooter or motorbike. If you’re like us and don’t drive motorbikes or scooters, then your best bet is to jump on a tour! While this is the more expensive option, it is definitely more convenient, as you can sit back and just take in your surroundings. Plus, if you get an incredible guide like we did, you’ll have a lot of fun and learn so much about the different caves you visit!

If you have opted to stay in Dong Hoi instead of Phong Nha, most tours will still pick you up and transport you to the parks and this is probably your better option. It is probably a little far to ride your motorbike or scooter.

PARADISE CAVE

Paradise Cave is the longest dry cave in all of Asia, at 31.4km long! Despite its length, only the first 6km are accessible to the public, and only the first 1km for day tours like this. It was actually only discovered in 2005 by a local man, and the full length of the cave was discovered by some British Explorers. Since then, it has become one of the most popular caves to visit for tourists visiting the Phong Nha area.

This cave is absolutely massive on the inside, and is definitely a great option for those looking for something a little less adventurous. There is a full boardwalk fitted on the inside, with light fittings, meaning aside from the stairs down and out of the cave, it is a relatively easy cave to walk through. This is also one of the most popular caves to visit by yourself from Phong Nha, as it isn’t too far from the entrance of the National Park, and you don’t really required a guide to go in and explore.

—> A Harry Potter themed café in Hanoi!

Inside the cave were some of the biggest stalactites and stalagmites we had ever seen, which would have taken millions of years to get to their current size!

It was a really cool experience and we highly recommend it! As a note, if you are driving yourself to Paradise Cave, make sure you keep in mind that you’ll need to pay the entrance fee. If you do a tour, this is usually already included!

Tours Visiting Paradise Cave

—-> Paradise Cave and Dark Cave Day Tour (this is the one we did!)

—-> Paradise Cave and Phong Nha Cave Day Tour

DARK CAVE

This was honestly one of our favourite experiences we’ve done in Vietnam. While there is definitely a bit of a novelty to it, we just had so much fun and found it to be such a unique experience.

As the name suggests, Dark Cave is completely pitch black, with no lights fitted on the inside. I don’t know if we’d ever visited a cave of this size before without any fitted lights, and we loved the experience. However, before we get to discussing the cave itself, we should run through how you get there, because it certainly is a very unique experience!

—> Riding in a hot air balloon in Vang Vieng, Laos!

First of all, you ride a 400m zip line. Yep, that’s right, a zip line! We both conquered our fear of heights and had so much fun. It is worth noting there are some weight limits for the zip line - a minimum weight of 40kg, and a maximum weight of 90kg. If you don’t fall within those requirements, or you’ve got a massive fear of heights, don’t worry, you can still access the cave. You’ll just do it via kayak instead!

Once off the zip line, we actually hopped into the water and swam 20m to the cave entrance. Again, if you can’t swim, there is a somewhat sketchy looking path that you can walk instead. That was something we liked - that there were alternative options for everything, making the tour more accessible to more people.

Once at the cave, it’s time to switch on your headlights and walk 1km through the darkness. Our guide even had us all turn our lights off at one point and it was completely pitch back - you couldn’t see your hands in front of you, it was kind of crazy! You make your way across small rivers, through narrow passageways, and over some rocks, and once you do, you’ll make it to the natural mud bath! Our guide Victor claimed that he looks so young from bathing in the mud every day. We’re not so sure about that but we sure had a lot of fun! Before jumping in, Victor made sure to let us know not to let any mud get in any of our “holes”. To quote Victor, “your eyes, ears, nose, mouth and maybe some other ones…”.

—> ALL the gear we use to film our YouTube videos!

One of the coolest parts about being in the mud bath was that you were completely buoyant! It was such a bizarre feeling but a really cool experience.

Once we were done with the mud bath, we made our way back out of the cave, kayaked back to where we started, and we got to spend some time swimming in the river, and enjoying some of the different adventure activities, including a zip line into the water, an above-water trampoline and a giant waterslide!

Tours Visiting Dark Cave

—-> Paradise Cave and Dark Cave Day Tour (this is the one we did!)

—-> Dark Cave and Phong Nha Cave Day Tour