Location
© Bùi Thuận
Famous for its name given from Bac Son revolution against the Japanese & French in the 1940s, the valley is a remote mountainous district of Lang Son province, North East Vietnam, which is 160 kilometers away – about 4 hours’ driving on the Highway 1B from Hanoi. One interesting aspect about this valley is its incredibly high mountains, which are about 500-1200 meters from the water level. It is also a homeland of Tay Ethnic folks who are staying in their traditional stilt houses. To Bac Son is to admire the primitive beauty of an ethnic region and to enjoy magnificent panoramic views from mountain summits, that one can hardly forget or never regret being here.
When to Visit?
© Bùi Thuận
July and November are certainly the best time to visit Bac Son, even though the area is green year-round creating impressive views for photographers. During both of those periods, the rice fields are ready to be harvested and the landscape is covered in the yellow color.
Na Lay Mount
© Bùi Thuận
Mount Na Lay is at an altitude of about 600m above the sea level. It is the place where most of Bac Son tourists come to, because of the view angle spread out in the direction. It’s a great point to view the Bac Son valley from above.
The way to the top of Mount Na Lay, with about 1,200 steps climbing up will take around 45 minutes to 1 hour to reach on top. Then the scene from the top of Na Lay will be a gift for tourist, and remove all the tiredness before. And it would be even better if you stayed overnight at the top of the mountain to enjoy the enchanting sunsets.
During the sunset, the river bends illusory color, and space gradually darkened, each roof under the town began to light, looks like a small fireflies embrace the foot of the huge limestone mountains. At the sunrise, the bright view combined with vast green fields, blue sky, and magnificent mountains is enough to win over every tourist.
Quynh Son Village
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Officially called as Quynh Son Community-based tourism village, home of Tay Ethnic Minority living with long traditional history.
In particular, the entire Quynh Son village has a unique homogeneous architecture, with hundreds of stilt roofs in the same south, at first look very similar but when looking closely you will notice the difference on the limbs. Traveling to Quynh Son Village, you will have the opportunity to walk around the village on the romantic street, learn the simple locals’ daily life, and enjoying local foods such as sticky rice, sausages, red remixed meat, chicken cooked with ginger, grilled spring rolls fish …
The village of tourism community Quynh Son also has a team of artists of Tay people, who will perform the song then sing and dance happily. This kind of event is hard to find elsewhere throughout Vietnam.
Bac Son Flower Valley
© mrkphotography
Bac Son Flower Valley is in the village of Lan Gian, the municipality of Tran Yen. This place is more and more romantic than ever before, with seductive fragrance over the beauty of dazzling flowers: butterfly flowers, orange daisies, broccoli, white triangle. The valley of the flowers of Bac Son becomes the new “virtual residence” of many tourists. Just standing in front of this beautiful flower field, all the tiredness of life seems to disappear.
Dang Mo Waterfall
© Nguyễn Lâm Anh Tuấn
Dang Mo waterfall is poetic beauty, all year round poured over the slopes of the mountains in the wild forest. Situated in Binh Gia district, this cool waterfall is a combination of underground water from the mountains of the same mountain range.
Dang Mo waterfall is still quite primitive. If not at heavy rains or floods, Dang Mo waterfall is so gentle, with sloping, moderate depth and “natural bath” in green. But with the poetic beauty and the unique advantages, Dang Mo waterfall is still evidently becoming an attractive picnic spot, not only for the people around the area but also for the visitors from everywhere.
Nong Luc Temple
© alongwalker
Not only the cultural destination but also the historical place is the Nong Luc Temple. Since 1940, this temple was used as a meeting place for the Bac Son Revolutionary Campaign. Nong Luc is a harmonious combination of traditional ancient architecture of the Northern Delta with the traditional stilt house architecture of the Tay people in Lang Son, built during the Nguyen Dynasty (1927), later renovated based on retaining the traditional art architecture. It was classified as a national historical relic in 1962. Still, now, a historical tourist attraction that worth your visit.