Pu Luong, Vietnam

Pu Luong

Pu Luong District, and the national park of the same name, comprises a rugged, mountainous region situated some 160 kilometres southwest of Hanoi, close to the present-day border with Laos. The Park – officially categorised as a nature reserve, we believe – consists of alternate steep, forest-covered limestone ridges and lush, rice terrace-filled valleys. Villages nestled at the foot of the ridges are home to people of the White and Black Tai ethnic groups. (Distant cousins of modern-day Thais, Tai refers to the ethnic/linguistic group rather than the nationality, with such groups inhabiting a wide swathe of mountains in northwestern Vietnam.)

The steep slopes mean that outside of the cultivated valleys, extensive forest cover remains intact and the nature reserve lays claim to no less than 250 bird species as well as numerous mammal and reptile species.

Although traditionally a somewhat remote, off-the-beaten-track destination, access – i.e. the road infrastructure – has improved of late and Pu Luong’s spectacular scenery, homestays and eco-resorts are beginning to attract the more adventurous kind of visitors – both local and foreign.

As the area lies conveniently close to the Lao-Vietnamese border at Na Meo, Pu Luong has featured on our Laos and Vietnam tours (both Mountains and Hilltribes and Unexplored, the Far North) for some time. The tours takes us overland from the World Heritage Plain of Jars in northeastern Laos to Sam Nuea District and on to the border before winding through parts of northern Vietnam, including Pu Luong and the celebrated rice terraces of Mu Cang Chai, to finish in the capital, Hanoi.

We’ve also, in the past, organised trips to Pu Luong as extensions from Hanoi and the consistently awesome feedback has encouraged us to slot the destination into our popular Hanoi to Saigon as well as our Vietnam World Heritage tours. Both kicking off in Hanoi, these tours travel from north to south and while Mu Cang Chai is just too far out of the way, Pu Luong does lend itself to inclusion on a loop: Hanoi, Halong, Ninh Binh, Mai Chau, Pu Luong, Hanoi.

Halong to Ninh Binh is a comfortable morning’s drive, allowing for a late afternoon leisurely rowing boat tour of the World Heritage landscapes of Trang An with an overnight stay at the charming, family-run Nan’s House in Tam Coc. The following morning we then head west to Pu Luong with a break at the scenic town of Mai Chau for lunch and a cycle along the quiet lanes of the surrounding valley.

Our new Pu Luong section thus includes two nights at a beautifully situated eco resort and a full day’s exploration of the surrounding area with a nature and village hike and, water levels permitting, a boat trip down one of the area’s picturesque rivers. The following morning will provide some time at leisure; relax and admire the eco-resort’s poolside views or some optional additional hiking for the more energetic. The afternoon is a return drive to Hanoi to catch the night sleeper train south to Dong Hoi and further adventures in Phong Nha – Ke Bang, Vietnam’s largest, and now World Heritage-listed national park.

As we said, Pu Luong is just too good to miss and our itinerary tweaking adds what is undoubtedly one of Vietnam’s highlights to what, if we do say so ourselves, were already excellent tours.