Cat Tien National Park guide: gibbons, night drives and where to stay

Sleep inside the park: headquarters, Ko Nia or Crocodile Lake

Cat Tien's lodging is run by the park itself, in three places: the headquarters area, Ko Nia lodge (Kơ Nia Lữ Quán) and Bàu Sấu, the Crocodile Lake. You reach the park by crossing the Dong Nai River from Nam Cat Tien by ferry or boat. Once you are on the far bank you do not have to keep paying entry and crossing back, and the park points out that this is the practical reason to stay inside.

The headquarters is the base for almost everyone. The park lists about 60 rooms there, from doubles and family rooms to dorm-style rooms and stilt houses, set in small blocks among trees by the river. It has two restaurants and phone and wifi signal. The ferry landing, the nature museum, the wildlife rescue centre and the campsite are all within a few minutes' walk.

Ko Nia lodge is beside the Dong Nai River on the night-drive route, marked by a huge old kơ nia tree. It is about a third of the distance of the Crocodile Lake trip, so you can reach it by park vehicle or by bicycle all the way, and it still has phone signal. Crocodile Lake is the remote option. The park describes the route as 14 km, with the last 5 km on foot along a forest trail. That makes it a night for walkers, not a base.

Gibbons at dawn and the Dao Tien primate centre

The park says more than 500 yellow-cheeked gibbons live in Cat Tien. They are tailless apes that live in family groups and almost never come to the ground. You find them by their song. The park's sunrise gibbon tour follows a ranger or guide to where the families feed early in the morning. Vietnam's tourism authority calls the half-day gibbon hike from the headquarters the park's most popular trip, and it needs an early start to catch the dawn chorus. Ask about it at the tourism office when you check in.

Dao Tien Endangered Primate Species Centre, on an island in the river, takes in primates rescued from the wildlife trade, rehabilitates them and releases them into protected forest. When we checked on 2026-10-03, its operator (the UK charity EAST) listed a daily tour at 8:00 from the Cat Tien tourism office. The tour lasts about two and a half hours with an English- or Vietnamese-speaking guide and includes a boat ride to the island and a platform where you can watch gibbons in the trees. Sessions are limited to 30 people. Listed prices were 400,000 VND for foreign adults and 200,000 VND for children and students aged 3 to 15, and under-3s go free.

Do the gibbon walk first, then the Dao Tien tour. You see wild apes and rehabilitated ones on the same morning, and you are back at the headquarters before the midday heat.

The night drive on the grasslands

The night drive is the other half of a Cat Tien stay. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the park's page described it as leaving every night from 18:30 in an open-topped vehicle, a round trip of 12 km lasting about an hour. It heads out to the grasslands to look for deer, porcupines, hares and civets feeding in the dark. In some seasons, with luck, you may see a herd of gaur.

Keep your expectations honest. In a 2023 report republished by Vietnam's tourism authority, a park guide put the chance of seeing gaur at about 20 percent. Wild elephants are rarer still: rangers sometimes go months without seeing one. In the rainy season animals have food and water everywhere, so sightings depend more on luck. In the dry season the vegetation is thinner and animals are easier to spot.

The guide shines a dimmed yellow spotlight and asks for silence when an animal appears. Phone flashes are forbidden because the white light frightens the animals. Bring a rain layer in the wet months, because the drive can run in the rain.

Crocodile Lake, the old trees and the forest trails

Bàu Sấu (Crocodile Lake) and the wetlands around it are a Ramsar site, listed in 2005 as a wetland of international importance. In the rainy season the Dong Nai River floods into them through a stream that flows backwards, refilling the lakes and grasslands. Siamese crocodiles are among the park's reptiles, and Vietnam's tourism authority describes walks where visitors can see wild crocodiles and, at times, gaur grazing in the distance. Because the last 5 km are on foot, a Crocodile Lake trip is a full day or an overnight. Arrange it with the park's tourism office.

Closer to the headquarters, the trails pass huge old trees. Vietnam's tourism authority singles out a tùng tree more than 400 years old with giant buttress roots. You can explore the flatter tracks by mountain bike, which the park rents along with places on its open-topped vehicles and local guides. Keep to marked routes and go with a guide for anything longer.

For a longer trip, the Dong Nai tourism department approved three guided trekking and camping programmes in the park in July 2026, run by the operator Oxalis: 2 days and 1 night with 6 km of walking, 3 days and 2 nights with 21 km, and a 4-day ranger-patrol trek of 20–25 km.

Getting there from Ho Chi Minh City or Da Lat

The park lies about 150 km from Ho Chi Minh City and 175 km from Da Lat, so it fits on the road between them. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the park's directions page listed these options:

• Local buses to the gate: small local companies run from Ho Chi Minh City straight to the park gate. The park's English guide says to buy tickets at counter 5 of the Eastern (Mien Dong) Bus Station. The park quoted 120,000–150,000 VND a person as a reference fare.
• Phuong Trang on the Ho Chi Minh City–Da Lat route: get off at the company's Phu Lam office, about 25 km (30–40 minutes) from the park. Ask for the transfer when you book.
• Via Tan Phu bus station: Phuong Trang and Thanh Buoi buses also stop at Tan Phu bus station, 24 km from the gate. From there take a taxi; the park notes that Xanh SM taxis now run from Tan Phu.
• From Da Lat: the Duc Loc bus company runs to the park gate.
• Private car: the park's tourism office can arrange cars and shared taxis from Ho Chi Minh City or Da Lat. Contact it by email, phone or Zalo.

A two-night plan

This is an editorial suggestion, not a timetable. Confirm the night drive, the gibbon walk and the Dao Tien tour with the park's tourism office when you book your room. The park's published group programmes apply to groups of ten or more; smaller parties book from its service price list.

• Day 1: travel from Ho Chi Minh City in the morning, cross the river and check in at the headquarters. Walk the forest trails near the river in the late afternoon, then take the 18:30 night drive.
• Day 2: go on the dawn gibbon walk, take the 8:00 Dao Tien tour, rest through the midday heat, then cycle the tracks or visit the nature museum. If you are fit and have arranged it, spend this day, or a third, on Crocodile Lake instead.
• Day 3: go birdwatching or walk in the early morning, then leave for Ho Chi Minh City, or carry on up the hill road to Da Lat.