Bach Ma National Park guide: waterfalls, summit trails and where to stay

How a Bach Ma day works

The park lies in Phu Loc commune, now part of Hue city, and its own visitor guide puts it about 40 kilometres from Hue. The visitor centre and ticket gate are off National Highway 1A at the end of Tran Dinh Tuc road; the park's guide says the turning is about a kilometre from Cau Hai market on the lagoon. Do not follow the signs for the Truc Lam Bach Ma Zen Monastery on the way — that road leads to Truoi Lake, not to the summit.

From the gate a narrow road climbs through the forest to the old hill station, and the trailheads are marked by kilometre posts along it. The park allows only vehicles of 16 seats or fewer on the summit road, and bars private motorbikes, so a car is part of the plan. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the park's transport price list (applied from 1 May 2025) offered its own cars for day trips and overnight trips, with a lower passenger limit for foreign visitors than for Vietnamese ones; larger tour coaches must transfer to the park's shuttle. The park's guide says fit walkers can hike up from the gate instead, in four to five hours, starting before 9:00.

The park asks visitors to book services in advance and to bring a warm layer and flat-soled shoes. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the official site carried a notice that the park had reopened to visitors from 1 January 2026, with phone numbers for bookings; check that page for any newer notice before you go.

Hai Vong Dai: the summit lookout

Start with the easiest and most rewarding walk. From the Morin villa a granite-paved path of about 800 metres climbs to Hai Vong Dai, the sea-view lookout at about 1,430 metres. The park describes it as the one trail suited to visitors of every age, and from the top you look over forested ridges to the coast and the lagoons.

If the summit is clear when you arrive, go up straight away rather than saving it for the end of the day: mountain weather changes quickly, and the view is the point of the climb. Along the way and around the summit area you pass ruined villa walls of granite, the remains of the hill station the French completed in 1942.

Five Lakes and Do Quyen waterfall

The park's main walking loop starts near the Kim Giao villa. The Five Lakes (Ngu Ho) trail follows a stream past a chain of five clear pools and small falls, about 1.5 kilometres and 30 minutes on foot; the park says you may swim in lakes 4 and 5 if you can take the cold water. At a junction, a path of about 500 metres leads to the top of Do Quyen waterfall, which the park gives as about 300 metres high. Turning the other way brings you back to the road at kilometre 16; the park puts the whole loop at about 3.3 kilometres.

Do Quyen can also be reached directly by a gently sloping 1.5-kilometre path from kilometre 16. The park mentions nearly 700 steps down beside the fall for those with the legs and time for it — remember that every one of them has to be climbed again. The red rhododendrons that give the waterfall its name flower along the rocks and streams in spring.

Stay off stream-side trails when heavy rain or a tropical depression is forecast, and never try to cross a stream that is rising. The park's weather page gives these rules and an emergency number; follow the rangers' instructions in the forest.

Other trails, birds and wildlife

Tri Sao falls are reached by a path of about 2.5 kilometres through open forest from a signed trailhead about 5 kilometres up the road from the gate; the park describes clear pools at the end where you can swim. The Rung Cho Den trail, about 3 kilometres down the road from the summit guesthouses, goes into a stand of old *cho den* trees, some over a metre across and more than 30 metres tall — the park admits it is mainly for people who love trees. Longer multi-day routes towards Truoi Lake need a guide and camping in the forest.

A national park was first proposed here in 1925 to protect Edwards's pheasant, and today the park says 363 bird species have been recorded. It recommends early morning and late afternoon for birdwatching, and its English-speaking guides and well-known bird-caller, Truong Cam, can be booked through the park. Red-shanked douc langurs are among the animals listed in its nature calendar; seeing them is luck, not a promise.

The summit also holds the Bach Ma tunnels, dug after the battle for the peak in 1973 and listed as a national historic site in 2009.

Staying overnight on the mountain

A night on the summit turns Bach Ma from a rushed outing into an unhurried one: you can walk to the lookout in the early morning, take the waterfall loop without watching the clock and hear the birds at dusk. The park runs the rooms itself, in restored villas — Do Quyen and Kim Giao — and the Bao An house, which has four-bed rooms; the villa rooms have en-suite bathrooms. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the park's price tables, applied from 1 January 2025, listed rooms from 500,000 dong without breakfast, with no more than three guests per villa room.

There are two campsites, Thong Nang at kilometre 17.5 and Kim Giao at kilometre 17, behind the villa of the same name; the park rents tents with sleeping mats and bags, and charcoal grills. Campfires can be booked for the evening. The park also tells visitors not to expect luxury hotels or nightlife here, which is exactly the appeal.

If you prefer to sleep in a city, Hue is the natural base for a day trip, and Da Nang works if you are willing to cross the Hai Van Pass both ways.