Wide cascades of Ban Gioc Waterfall tumble over limestone cliffs beside green rice paddies in Cao Bang.

Northern Vietnam

Ha Giang’s quieter neighbour

The province east of Ha Giang, with the largest waterfall in the country on its border, a cave you walk through for a kilometre, and roads with almost no traffic on them.

Plan my trip

Orientation

What Cao Bang is

The province sits against the Chinese border in the far north-east, six hours from Hanoi on a road that is expressway for half the way and mountain for the rest. Because nearly every visitor to the north picks Sapa or Ha Giang, the roads here carry local traffic and very little else, and that changes the character of a drive completely: you stop where you like, nobody is selling anything at the viewpoints, and a market is a market rather than a performance put on for a coach.

Cao Bang gets a fraction of Ha Giang’s visitors and has much of the same landscape: karst hills, river valleys, Tay and Nung villages of stilt houses, and roads where you can drive for an hour and meet three vehicles. Its centrepiece is Ban Gioc, a wide terraced waterfall on the river that forms the Chinese border — you can take a bamboo raft to the line in the middle of it.

Two nights does the waterfall and the cave properly. Three lets you add the Phia Oac mountain road or the lakes at Thang Hen and turns it into a proper loop rather than an out-and-back.

Nights: 2 to 3
From Hanoi: 6 hours
From Ha Giang: 6-7 hours
Best water at Ban Gioc: September to November
Traffic: Almost none

What to do

Ban Gioc waterfall — biggest and widest in Vietnam, best after the rains from September to November, thin and rocky in spring.
Nguom Ngao cave, ten minutes away — about a kilometre of walkable passage, well lit, and much less visited than the caves in the centre of the country.
The Pac Bo caves near the border, of specific historical importance to Vietnam and modest as a sight.
Thang Hen lakes and the Ma Phuc pass, which is the drive worth doing for its own sake.
Homestays in Tay villages, which here are still mostly houses with a spare room rather than purpose-built.

Rafts carry visitors across the river beneath the wide cascades of Ban Gioc Waterfall in Cao Bang.

Visitors walk along a lit wooden walkway inside a large limestone cave near Ban Gioc, Cao Bang.

An aerial view captures a serpentine mountain road winding through green hills near Cao Bang.

A stilt house glows under a bright moon against dark limestone hills in Cao Bang.

Routes

Combining it with Ha Giang

The two provinces adjoin and the road between them takes six to seven hours of mountain driving, which is a day in itself. A combined loop — Hanoi, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Ba Be lake, Hanoi — takes eight to nine nights and is the best long overland route in the north. If you have less than a week, do one or the other rather than both.

Ba Be lake, between the two, is worth a night on that route: a freshwater lake among limestone, boats, and homestays that are quiet even in high season.

Timing

September to November puts water in the falls and clear air over the hills, and is the best window by a wide margin. March to May is warm and green with less water. Winter is cold and misty; July and August bring heavy rain, a full waterfall and roads that wash out.

Not for everyone

Who should skip it

If you only have one far-north trip in you, Ha Giang is the more dramatic landscape and the better use of the days. If you visit Ban Gioc between February and May, expect a much smaller waterfall than the photographs. And if you need comfort, accommodation here is simple.

Common questions