Average rating Ba Be Lake & Homestay in Vietnam

270 kilometres north of Hanoi lies Ba Be lake, a mysterious place almost as rich in legend as it is in biodiversity. This small pocket of tropical paradise is a haven for a plethora of species, several of which are endangered, as well as a home to a host of people from Vietnam’s ethnic minorities, who still live in rural simplicity along its shores. This is a unique chance to see a more remote part of the country and stay in an authentic homestay in Vietnam.

Ba Be Lake is the largest natural lake in Vietnam. Situated in the North of the country, at the centre of a National Park created to protect the lake area from development, this eight-kilometre-long stretch of water is surrounded by waterfalls, caves and bizarre rock formations; limestone crags draped with tropical forest and climbing bamboo descend steeply to the edges of crystal clear water containing over a hundred species of fish. The forest is home to at least fifty animal species, including Pangolin, Loris and Black Gibbon, and well over 400 species of plants. There are several villages around the lake, inhabited by White Hmong, Tay and Coin Dao peoples, whose way of life has remained relatively unchanged for hunderds of years.

You’ll take a boat ride out onto the placid waters of the lake to take in the stunning scenery, including caves and alien limestone shapes created by the seasonal fluctutions in the level of the lake waters. One cave shelters a colony of up to ten thousand bats of different species. You’ll stay at the traditional Tay village of Pac Ngoi, with its stilt houses, where you’ll get a feel for the simplicity and directness of a life lived fishing and planting rice in such beautiful and fertile surroundings.

If you’re a nature lover, you’d be hard-pressed to do better. This place is alive in a way that few places can be; the fertile surroundings produce a riotous explosion of diversity; everything is green and lush, and the hillsides resound with the calls of birds and mammals hidden in the forest. The homestays are far from being five-star accommodation, but this is precisely their charm: for two nights you get to experience what it’s like to live here, amid towering, vine-clad hills, in houses built from the surrounding forest, eating food grown and cooked by the hands of your hosts, and enjoying what must be one of the loveliest lakeside settings anywhere in the world.

Getting there

You need to get to Hanoi. There are flights to Noi Ba Airport from most major UK airports.

Price includes

All transportation and transfers (including transfer from and to hotels in Hanoi) in air conditioned vehicles, English speaking guide, all accommodation based on twin share basis with daily breakfast, additional meals as indicated in the itinerary, admission fees when on guided tours.

Price details

Price quoted above is per person for a group of six. A group of five will cost $121pp, four people is $136pp, three people is $160pp, two people sharing is $210pp and price for a single traveller is $342.

Available

Jan—Dec

Typical Duration

3 days

Comfort level

Down to earth (hostels, camping, huts)

Experience required

A reasonable interest is all that is needed