Tham Phay caving tour & kayaking Ba Be lake 2 days 1 night

Tham Phay Cave expedition and kayaking on Ba Be Lake is an incredible 2-day caving tour for the adventurous. Tham Phay Cave is a big new discovery in the North, another great reason to visit Ba Be National Park, a limestone karst area surrounded by breathtaking lakes. This cave is an underground river system that has yet to be documented by geologists.

Destination:

Ba Be National Park - A wild treasure home to one of the biggest natural freshwater lakes in Asia

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Tour code: BBAT02C
Duration: 2 days 1 night
Level of difficulty: Medium trek
Activities: 20 – 25km trek
Percentage of trekking: Jungle 60%, trail 40%
Elevation: 150m – 600m
Tour: Small group
Pick up: 08:00 AM at Mr Linh's Adventures - Ba Be office
Drop off: 05:00 PM at at Mr Linh's Adventures - Ba Be office
Price from: $274 / person

Highlights:

- Jungle trek inside Ba Be National Park and across the river
- Explore the diverse and beautiful landscapes of Ba Be
- Expedition water river cave – 3km
- See the most beautiful stalactites formed naturally
- Swim in a pretty natural freshwater cave
- Lunch with traditional dishes prepared by locals
- Kayaking, boat tour on Ba Be lake & Nang river
- Visit the legendary An Ma Temple

Day 1: Tham Phay cave expedition (L/D)
- 07:00 - 07:30 Pick up to Mr Linh Adventures - Ba Be office at Nam Mau. Brief introduction and preparation are here.
  
  After a thirty-minute drive, you'll reach Tham Phay Cave, the hike starting with a steep uphill, leading into the forest. Some rock at the top, and then a similar slope before the trail fades and you enter the valley. Turning west of the trail is a large patch of rock for you to find your way through, with the help and direction of your guide and safety team. The precarious entrance is at the end of the forest. Enjoy some snacks before starting to explore the cave.
  
  Tham Phay Cave is a beautiful stream cave with two underground river tributaries, where you will experience narrow passages, craggy mountains and some deep pools with very nice photo opportunities. Plants and algae cover many calcite formations. Going deeper into the cave, you will find many unusual features of the cave such as the ceiling dome and many layers of rock, giving the walls a striking appearance. You will spend about five hours exploring this 5km deep river cave, which geologists have not discovered so far. Of course, we will provide you with the necessary equipment, such as helmets and powerful headlights. The cave expands considerably as you go through the original entrance and offers some great opportunities for excellent photos.
  
  Enjoy a few snacks before continuing the journey to explore the 2nd path of the cave system possesses miraculous stalagmites millions of years old, dangerous sinkholes and heat flows at the bottom .
  Leaving Tham Phay, you will return to the cave entrance and return to Ba Be lake for dinner and overnight at Ba Be Jungle Houses.
Day 2: Kayaking On Ba Be Lake (B/L)
- 7:30am, berakfast at your homestay before starting your exciting day on Ba Be Lake in Ba Be National Park. Your guide will help you to learn how to paddle a kayak on lakes and rivers, take the dry bags, sports equipment and life jackets... Kayaking along the lakeside past the islands is the most enjoyable experience, continuing to travel down the Nang River to see Dau Dang Waterfall before having lunch at a nearby riverside village restaurant. We can return to Ba Be Lake by motorboat or by a canoe. Swimming is available here. Before finishing our trip for today, we will pay a visit to An Ma temple - the sacred place of the Tay people then trek through the jungle to reach the observation hut for a panorama view of Ba Be lake. End tour.

Tour Includes:

Air-conditioned vehicle, Round-trip transportation from selected hotels/homestay in Ba Be National Park
Door to door pick-up drop-off service
Accommodation at Tay's House in Ba Be National Park
Experienced local English-speaking guide
Porters to prepare meals and pump water
Meals as stated in the itinerary (B: Breakfast; L: Lunch; D: Dinner)
(Optional) Vegetarian and vegan food is available
Bottled water
All sightseeing tickets and environment protection fee
Trekking tour in Ba Be National Park
Kayak & boat tour on Ba Be National Park
Shared dry storage case for small phones and cameras
Eco-friendly compost toilet
Safety and caving equipment: caving helmets, caving headlights, basic canvas hiking boots, gloves
First Aid Kit and Medical Rescue Equipment
Safe storage at Mr Linh’s Adventures - Ba Be Headquarters
Conquest Medal Rewards
All Taxes and Fees
No extra charge after confirmation
24/7 hotline support guaranteed
(Optional) Child seats are required

Tour Excludes:

Personal expenses, tips and gratuities
Travel insurance
International & domestic flights and taxes
Beverage
Other personal expenses: drinks, souvenir, etc.

What To Take:

Pack essentials, including light comfortable clothes suitable for outdoor activities, comfortable walking shoes. Take a small day pack for hiking and trekking
It is essential to bring your passport on this trip. We also recommend packing: insect repellent, sun cream, raincoat and sun hat...
1 long pants and 1 long sleeve shirt to wear during the trip (quick dry)
1 pair of hiking boots / shoes - difficult terrain, good shoes are required
1 change of clothes after the tour
1 pair of thick calf-length woven socks
Medium sized backpack for your water bottle and cave helmet provided

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Tham Phay caving tour & kayaking Ba Be lake 2 days 1 night

Accommodation List

Please note that the hotels mentioned in this list are for reference only. Depending on availability and your preference, they can be changed. If we are unable to book any hotel, it will be replaced by another hotel at least of equivalent standard and value.

Ba Be Jungle Houses

Address: Coc Toc village, Nam Mau commune, Ba Be district, Bac Kan province

A step up in amenities to Ba Be's homestays, this lakeside place in Coc Toc village takes the form of six small, spic-and-span, wood-panelled private rooms, and a dorm. Visitors are well looked after by friendly English-speaking staff.

Review

5 average based on 1 reviews.

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Edwina Shaddick

Wrote a review 9 - 2023

Tham Phay cave expedition - Kayaking, trekking in Ba Be 2 days

Review of: Hang Tham Phay expediton & kaykaing on Ba Be lake 2 days 1 night

I would highly recommend the Tham Phay cave expedition for anyone looking for excitement. Lots of caves in Vietnam are quite institutionalised in that they have ramps and stairways set up, they have permanent light fixtures and so on. This is a real cave! There was a lovely half an hour walk through the countryside to get there. The guides were very knowledgeable about the local flora and fauna, pointing out leaves and plants that were edible and sharing how they're used in local cuisine. Then the cave itself was magnificent. The water inside the cave is fresh and wonderful to wade in. The rocks themselves are not slippery nor difficult to walk on. The cave is full of wonderful rock formations but also life. We saw lots of bats and insects. The guides are also very creative at suggesting photo opportunities and can make you look like an intrepid explorer! For the more adventurous, there are opportunities to explore parts of the cave with beautiful rock pools and internal waterfalls. Truly a cave worth visiting.

The homestay is luxurious! The staff are exceedingly kind and accommodating. The home-cooked food is absolutely delicious, and there was even home-made rice wine for dinner. This facilitated ready conversation with other guests already easy to talk to. It truly felt like an intimate and warm encounter with the hosts and with fellow travellers.

The kayak on the lake was also wonderful. It is possible to borrow the kayaks on your own, but the tour gives you an opportunity to go right to the end of the river (before it becomes a waterfall), and to get off and go see that waterfall. Kayaking on the lake itself was so peaceful and the limestone cliffs enveloped the lake on all sides. I suspect it might be a lovely place to do rock-climbing also. My guide shared stories of his childhood on the lake and how, before motorised boats arrived, they would paddle to and from the various shores of the lake for festivals. He pointed out little cave shelters along the shore that paddlers could hide in during big storms. Little stories like these really made the place come alive. We also got to see the An Ma temple, an old Tay temple built on an island in the middle of the lake. He shared also shared what the temple meant to him and his people. I especially loved swimming in the lake. For those few minutes lying in the calm water staring up at limestone cliffs covered in trees, it felt like anything was possible.

Last but not least, the staff were very helpful and flexible in modifying the tour so that I could catch a bus back to Hanoi. They were also very helpful in making arrangements and calling the local bus company so that they would make a stop at Ba Be Lake and pick me up. I really appreciated that.

All in all, Ba Be Lake is a wonderful place and I wish I had stayed one more night to go walking and exploring the villages along the lake coast. There are activities suitable for all levels and everyone from the adrenaline junkie to the laid-back relaxer will find something here for them.

Date of experience: 9 2022