Locations in Cao Bằng · 7 found
Angel Eye Mountain (God Eye Mountain)
Angel Eye Mountain - also known as God Eye Mountain or Núi Thủng - is a limestone karst peak in Cao Bằng with a perfectly circular 50m hole piercing through its summit, set in the Thang Hen valley where the surrounding flatland floods into a 15-hectare lake each rainy season.
Ban Gioc Waterfall
Bản Giốc is the largest waterfall on any national border in Southeast Asia - a 300-metre-wide curtain of water crashing across three tiers on the Vietnam-China border in Cao Bằng, surrounded by karst mountains and emerald pools.
Khau Cóc Chà Pass
Khau Cóc Chà Pass, sometimes called the '15-tier pass,' is one of Cao Bằng's most dramatic mountain roads - just 2.5km long but packed with 14 hairpin switchbacks connecting Xuân Trường commune to Bảo Lạc town near the Chinese border, with a short hike leading to the best panoramic viewpoint over the whole switchback sequence.
Nguom Ngao Cave
Nguom Ngao Cave - 'Tiger Cave' in the Tày language - is one of northern Vietnam's finest cave experiences: a system with three entrances, surveyed at over 2km and explorable in full along a roughly 3.3km guided route, with dense stalactite and stalagmite formations and near-total silence, just 3km from Bản Giốc Waterfall.
Pác Bó Historic Site
Pác Bó is where Hồ Chí Minh secretly returned to Vietnam on January 28, 1941, after 30 years in exile - establishing his jungle base in a limestone cave beside the Lenin Stream, roughly 50-55km north of Cao Bằng city near the Chinese border.
Phong Nặm Valley
Phong Nậm Valley is one of Cao Bằng's most beautiful hidden gems - a wide agricultural valley where the Quây Sơn River winds between limestone peaks and golden rice fields, 15km from Trùng Khánh and 25km upstream from Bản Giốc Waterfall. September to October is peak season when the harvest turns the valley floor gold.
Thang Hen Lake
Thang Hen is a cluster of 36 interconnected karst lakes on a plateau 30km from Cao Bằng city, famous for their intense turquoise-blue water surrounded by limestone mountains and green grasslands. Visit June to September - outside the rainy season the lake drops to an unimpressive pond and the grass turns brown.
Local Food You Must Try
Vịt quay bảy vị
Whole roast duck marinated in seven spices including mắc mật, star anise, and galangal - the skin lacquers to a deep mahogany and shatters on bite, a Cao Bằng specialty distinct from any other Vietnamese roast duck
Bánh cóong phù
Steamed rice flour cakes filled with pork and fragrant herbs, wrapped in banana leaf - a Tày breakfast staple sold at Cao Bằng morning markets, eaten with chilli sauce and pickled vegetables
Bánh trứng kiến
Sticky rice cakes filled with black ant eggs harvested in spring - the eggs pop with a subtle sourness and rich flavour, a Tày seasonal delicacy eaten only in April and May when ant colonies are full
Lạp sườn
Air-dried highland sausage seasoned with mắc khén pepper, wild garlic, and rice wine - hung above the hearth for weeks until deeply smoky and chewy, sliced thin and eaten with sticky rice