Bach Ma National Park Adventure Experience

Bach Ma National park– a protected area located in Central Vietnam between two famous cities, Hue and Danang. This mountain was previously used as a French Hill Station. Villas and hotels were built during the war, though most of it were abandoned and turned into ruins after Viet Minh ousted French and claimed the area, some are still there and now properly managed and readily available for guests who are up to some nature adventure.

The area was proclaimed as a national park last July 15, 1986, which is exactly 30 years today. Though it is summer right now in Vietnam, it has been really cloudy since the start of the week but now it is sunny, a perfect day to go for a trek.

It was an almost hour drive from Hue city to the Bach Ma National Park Entrance Area. Upon arriving to the Bach Ma National park Visitor Center, our tour guide, Sam, registered us while we watched a small live concert to celebrate the anniversary of the park’s national proclamation.

After around 15 minutes, we are all ready, the group is not that big, 10 tourists, Sam and the driver. Sam informed us about the itinerary and dos and don’t while trekking and made sure we all understood everything.

It took us another 40-minute drive to get close to the Bach Ma National Park Viewpoint. The road was winding but the view gets better as we go higher. The cool air is so refreshing that you tend to forget you are not even an hour away from the city of Hue. Motorbikes are not allowed to climb the mountain.

We stopped in front of was then the famous French hotel, Morin Hotel, which an abandoned. We started to trek to reach the viewpoint and on our way, we saw a couple of tunnels. I can’t help but admire the war strategy of the Viet Cong every time I see these tunnels.

Upon reaching the Bach Ma National Park viewpoint, we got mesmerized by the beauty of the Central Vietnam. You can see the Truoi Lake and Dam at the left side, Tam Giang Lagoon in the middle, Vinh Hien Beach at the right side and the Lang co Beach on the far right side.

Sam told us that Bach Ma Mountain is also known as the White Horse Mountain due to horse like cloud formations people often see at the top of the mountain. Summer is the perfect time to have a Bach Ma national park tour since you need sunshine to see the beautiful view on the peak of the mountain. The summit usually gets enveloped by thick clouds in the late afternoon.

A summit tower stands at the height of the Bach Ma viewpoint with 2 big marble horse statues in front of it. The view on the Summit Tower is splendid and there’s no surprise when Sam told us that it is a normal location for pre-nuptial photo shoots.

A small traditional bell tower was erected in this area too, emphasizing the fact that Vietnamese were able oust the French Army who roamed the mountain before. Though villas and hotels were built in several areas in the mountain, tunnels, Buddhist shrines and Vietnamese culture still makes the Bach Ma National Park interesting to tourists.

We rested for a couple of minutes at the tower and our lovely tour guide prepared drinks for us. Before a number of people flocks the viewpoint, we decided to go to make our way to see series of small of waterfalls and natural pools or famously known as Five Lakes.

Sam prepared helmets for all of us explaining that there are parts of the trek which might be dangerous so for our safety we have to stay together and wear our helmets all the time. There are two trails we can choose from, one with an easier trail but probably seeing same things or a little harder trail as we follow the stream and the wonderful fifth lake awaits our arrival. Of course we followed the second trail. The stone trail was not that hard to follow in the first few minutes of the trek.  As we continue the trekking, natural trail replaced the stone trail and it gets a little harder that we have to hang on unto the ropes. We followed the stream and the trail rewarded us with 5 beautiful lakes.

By lunch time, we stopped at one lake called The Turtle Lake because at the foot of the small waterfall there is a boulder that shaped like turtle with its head sticking out. We went for a swim and water was cold enough and refreshing. After the swim, Sam handed each of us lunchboxes with traditional Hue dishes.

After lunch and a little sunbathing, we continued our trek and this time to the top of a 300 meter waterfall, Do Quyen. The trail was longer but a lot easier. The length of the Do Quyen waterfall is not visible but the view on top of it is amazing.

We stayed on the top of the waterfall for a little longer and took wonderful photos. Then we trekked again to get back to the road where our ride is waiting for us. On our way we saw a couple of geckos, birds and green snakes. Some Buddhist shrines were everywhere in the mountain too.

We reached the road and the driver and Sam served us cold lemon juice. We looked at the wonderful view of the Truoi Lake as we rested. We got back to Hue tired from the trek but glad joined the awesome Bach Ma National Park adventure. I would highly recommend this to nature lovers and people who has been in the city for too long.

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