The shape of the trip
Two comfortable cities hold this journey together, and the middle of it is spent underground. You start in Hanoi with a day in the hills at Ba Vi, fly south to the coast at Dong Hoi, then spend four days in the karst around Tan Hoa: wading rivers, swimming through cave mouths and sleeping in camps beside them. Afterwards comes a hot shower, a flight to Ho Chi Minh City and two days in the forest at Cat Tien.
The hotels, the drivers, the guide and the pace of the city days are yours alone. The caving section is the exception: it runs with a small joined group, because the ropes, the safety crew and the camps only work that way. If that does not appeal, we will build the Quang Binh days around day caves and a hotel bed instead.
Day by day
Day 1
You land at Noi Bai and a driver takes you into the centre, about forty minutes. Nothing is scheduled. Most people walk out for a coffee on a low stool, get an hour by the lake and sleep. Your guide comes to the hotel in the evening to run through the week and answer whatever has been worrying you.
Day 2
West to Ba Vi, an hour and a half out of the city, where the hills climb straight out of the delta. The day is spent walking under the forest canopy, visiting the old French buildings on the ridge and eating a long lunch cooked with what grows there. Back at the hotel by six.
Day 3
Transfer to the airport and a short flight to Dong Hoi, on the coast where the country is narrowest. The afternoon is free: the beach is a few minutes away, and the fish market is worth an hour. You eat seafood by the river and sleep in a hotel with a proper bed, the last one for several nights.
Day 4
Drive inland to Tan Hoa, a farming village where houses float on drums when the river rises, and meet the caving team. The walk in crosses fields and a stream or two, and Rat Cave comes first, an easy passage to test your footing. Night at the Tu Lan camp, food cooked over fire.
Day 5
The long day. Ken Cave and the Tu Lan system itself, then Kim Cave, with cold swims between chambers and a helmet lamp doing the work. Lunch is carried in and eaten on a rock. The route out drops into To Mo Valley, where you wash in the river and eat under a tarpaulin. Second night in camp.
Day 6
A shorter, wetter day. Song Oxalis Cave is entered from the water and Hung Ton takes a ladder descent into the dark, with bats overhead and formations the guides ask you not to touch. Back in camp by mid-afternoon with time to swim, sleep in a hammock and let the boots dry.
Day 7
Out of the valley the way you came, back to Tan Hoa for a rinse and lunch with the family who cook for the camp. The team drops you in Dong Hoi in the afternoon. You check in, wash everything, and the evening goes on doing very little near the water.
Day 8
Fly south to Ho Chi Minh City, around ninety minutes, and check into a hotel in District 1. The afternoon is loose: your guide can take you through the war museum and the old post office, or leave you to a spa and a long lunch. The city comes as a shock after the forest.
Day 9
Three hours north to Cat Tien National Park, where lowland forest still stands. The afternoon is a slow walk to the ancient tree that everyone photographs, and after dinner you take the night drive, spotlight sweeping the verges for deer and civets. Gibbons start calling before six the next morning, so set an alarm anyway.
Day 10
An early boat and a walk to hear the gibbons wake up, then breakfast and the bear and primate enclosures, which take in animals seized from the trade. Lunch in the park, then the drive back to the city, arriving late afternoon. The last dinner is wherever you want it, from a plastic stool to a rooftop.
Day 11
A late breakfast, a last walk if the flight allows, and a transfer to Tan Son Nhat with enough margin for the traffic, which is worse than it looks on a map. Your guide checks the luggage weight before you leave the hotel so nothing has to be repacked on the terminal floor.
What the price covers
- Ten nights: hotels in Hanoi, Dong Hoi and Ho Chi Minh City, a lodge at Cat Tien and two nights under canvas in the karst
- Domestic flights from Hanoi to Dong Hoi and from Dong Hoi to Ho Chi Minh City
- The Tu Lan caving expedition with its guides, safety team, porters, helmets, lamps and camp meals
- Private car and driver on every city and park day
- An English-speaking guide with you outside the caving section
- Breakfast daily, plus the meals listed on the expedition and at Cat Tien
- Park fees, cave permits and entrance tickets on the route
- Airport transfers at both ends
Not included
- International flights and Vietnamese visa or e-visa fees
- Travel insurance, which must cover caving and adventure activities
- Meals and drinks not named above
- Tips for guides, drivers, porters and camp crew
- Laundry and other personal spending
- The single supplement for a room of your own
Good to know
Days four to seven are the test. You cover several kilometres on foot over wet rock and loose ground, swim short sections in cold water and climb ladders in the dark. A confident swimmer of reasonable fitness manages it. Anyone else will struggle, and we would rather say so now than at the trailhead.
- You must be able to swim in a life jacket and put your face in the water
- Cave trips run in dry conditions; heavy rain can close the route and the operator decides, not us
- Camps have no electricity or phone signal, and washing is done in the river
- February to August is the usual window in Quang Binh, with storms and flooding likely from September to November
- The south stays hot all year, and Cat Tien is humid with mosquitoes after dark
- Bring quick-drying clothes and shoes you do not mind ruining; everything comes back muddy
Plan this trip
- Days
- 11
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