A Complete Guide To Phong Nha Cave Vietnam

Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park is one of Vietnam’s most unique and rich ecosystems, with forests, mountains, caves, and underground rivers. Amongst the most famous caves is Phong Nha cave.

About Phong Nha cave Vietnam

Located about 50km from the center of Dong Hoi city to the Northwest, Phong Nha cave is considered one of the most impressive caves in Vietnam.

The cave is 7,729 meters long with a 13,969-meter underground river. It is famous for its unique rock formations named after natural shapes such as “Lion,” “Unicorn,” “Octopus,” “Royal Palace,” or “Buddha Statue.”

Phong Nha cave has two parts: dry and water caves.

The dry cave is located at an altitude of 200m. According to geographers, the underground river has dried up since ancient times, leaving only the white stone arches and jade green pillars.

If you love exploring more of it, you can sign up for an intensive trekking tour covering cave exploration to Bi Ki cave. 

Best places to stay in Phong Nha

To enjoy the best of Phong Nha, we recommend staying in Phong Nha town so you can reach other attractions easily.

We’ve stayed at different places in Phong Nha, and we loved our experience at Phong Nha farmstay and Nguyen Shack Eco Resort.

Phong Nha cave admission fee

The entrance ticket to Phong Nha cave is 150,000 VND per person (1.3m up). For kids (under 1.3 m): Free entrance.

If you’d like to visit Tien Son cave on the same trip, you need to pay an 80,000 VND fee for Tien Son cave.

The boat ride (maximum 12 people) is 550,000 per boat. If you’d like to save some cost, you should wait at the ticket entrance to gather enough 12 people and travel.

How to get to Phong Nha Cave?

You can travel to Phong Nha cave from Dong Hoi city or Phong Nha town (Quang Binh) by motorbike or bike.

To explore the cave system, you can join the trekking tour or cave exploration by boat crossing the Son River.

To explore Phong Nha by boat, you can buy tickets at the Phong Nha tourism center. The place is located conveniently in the middle of Phong Nha town.

When is the best time to visit Phong Nha cave Vietnam

January to June is the best time to visit the caves in the Phong Nha system.

Because this season has favorable weather and less rain, Son river water is not too high, and you can take a boat into the caves of Phong Nha.

How long is the Phong Nha Cave boat tour?

Phong Nha cave tour by boat takes approximately 2.5 to 3 hours. It includes the boat ride from the tourism center to the cave’s entrance, then 1.2 km exploring the cave by boat and 100 meters exploring on foot. 

Then, the boat will take you back to the starting point. 

After exploring the cave, you should not miss other famous caves in Phong Nha, such as Paradise cave or Dark cave. A relaxing trip to Mooc spring or trekking the Botanical garden is also a good idea. 

Explore Phong Nha cave – Our review

We got to the cave entrance after about 30 minutes of traveling by boat from Phong Nha tourism center. Along the way, we could enjoy the local life and scenery of Phong Nha.

The cave entrance appeared closer and closer. Before getting to the cave, our boat lady stopped for a few minutes to check in with the control center and removed the cap of our boat. 

We saw many stunning shapes of stalactites in the cave. The size might not be as impressive compared to Paradise cave, but it’s still worth seeing. 

After a boat trip around 1.2 km of the wet cave, our boat lady dropped us off to explore the dry part of Phong Nha cave.

The walking path was quite short but very impressive.