Cuc Phuong National Park is located 120km southwest of Hanoi, adjacent to Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh and Thanh Hoa. This is a large nature reserve, storing many diverse and abundant species of animals and plants of Vietnam. Cuc Phuong forest owns many old trees for many years, beautiful birds… is a great place for outdoor picnics. Now, let’s explore this forest with VNTRIP.VN through the Cuc Phuong National Park travel guide .
1. Introduction to Cuc Phuong National Park
Cuc Phuong National Park (photo collection)
Cuc Phuong National Park covers an area of 25,000 ha and is also the first national forest of Vietnam. The characteristic of Cuc Phuong is tropical rainforest, green all year round with extremely rich and diverse flora and fauna. There are many endangered species of flora and fauna that have been discovered and preserved here, of which the outstanding black-and-white langur is considered the symbol of Cuc Phuong forest.
2. What is the right time to come to Cuc Phuong?
The most suitable time to come to Cuc Phuong National Park is in the dry season (from December to May), at this time the weather in the forest is very cool. Avoid going in the rainy season because at this time the road is slippery and there are a lot of mosquitoes and squeezes, which will affect the experience when traveling.
Especially coming to Cuc Phuong National Park in May is the time when butterflies in Cuc Phuong forest are at their most blooming. With the number of individuals that can be up to millions, they are racing to show off the sky, making this place like a beautiful “butterfly forest” like in a fairyland.
Butterfly forest in Cuc Phuong National Park (collected photos)
3. How to move to Cuc Phuong forest?
Coming to Cuc Phuong, you can go by motorbike, self-driving car or bus. If you go by private car, you will feel more comfortable, the car can run deep into the forest.
- Traveling by motorbike or self-driving car: From Hanoi, move along National Highway 1A, go to Gian Khau junction (Gia Vien district, 10km from Ninh Binh city) and then continue to turn onto National Highway 12A passing through town Nho Quan 2km and then turn left to Cuc Phuong.
- Traveling by bus: You can go to Giap Bat bus station to take the Nho Quan bus route – from here get off the bus and continue to catch the bus to Cuc Phuong forest.
4. Places to visit when coming to Cuc Phuong National Park
Ancient cave: Also known as Dang cave. This is a place to keep traces of residence and burial of prehistoric people, a precious heritage of Cuc Phuong garden.
Cave of the Ancients (collected photos)
Con Moong Cave: Because outside the entrance of the cave, there is a large rock protruding that looks like an animal, so it is named Con Moong cave (the cave of the beast in the Muong language). This is also the residence of the ancient people, and is also an important archaeological site classified as a national monument.
Inside Con Moong Cave (photo collection)
Moon Crescent Cave: From afar, the entrance of the cave is shaped like a crescent moon, the cave is located deep in the forest.
Crescent Moon Cave (photo collection)
Silver Cloud Peak: Silver cloud top has a height of 648m, from the top we can enjoy a panoramic view of the national park along with Hoa Lu ancient capital and Bai Dinh pagoda. However, the way to the top of May Bac has many rocky slopes that are quite difficult to go, so this place is only suitable for people with good health.
Silver Cloud Peak (photo collection)
Yen Quang lake – Pho Ma cave: go back to Nho Quan street about 7km, go to Tri Phuong bridge and turn west to Yen Quang lake. Going through Thung La to the foot of the limestone mountains is Pho Ma cave. Pho Ma cave is a magical architectural work of nature with countless stalactites with interesting shapes.
Ho Yen Quang (photo collection)
Thousands of years old trees: Cuc Phuong forest has many old trees such as: Dang tree 45m high with a diameter of 5m, thousand-year-old green Cho tree with a circumference of more than 20 people hugging, ancient crocodile tree…
The root of the thousand-year-old cypress tree (collected photos)
Muong village: Cuc Phuong is also home to the Muong community with many unique cultural features such as houses on stilts, terraced fields, brocade looms…
Muong village in Cuc Phuong National Park
Primate Rescue Center: A place to preserve and nurture many rare primates. Coming here, visitors will not only observe the beauty of primates but also learn more about this animal.
Primate Rescue Center (photo collection)
5. Resting place in Cuc Phuong forest
In Cuc Phuong National Park, there are 3 areas of accommodation, dining and entertainment for visitors to choose from:
- Garden gate: there are full rooms from 200,000 VND. In addition, there is a rental service of forest equipment, mountain bikes.
- Mac Lake area: here for rent collective stilt houses, rooms. This is an area suitable for large groups, you can light a campfire, eat, drink, sing, and have cultural exchanges here.
- Central area: including stilt houses and separate apartments.
6. Things to note when traveling to Cuc Phuong National Park
- It is necessary to prepare all necessary items such as hats, forest shoes, medicine, bandages, food and drink…. before joining Cuc Phuong.
- You can bring binoculars for sightseeing
- In the forest, there are many kinds of mosquitoes, so a tip for you to avoid these obnoxious animals is to buy DEP (medication for scabies) cream applied to sensitive areas such as the head, nape, etc. wrists, ankles… The burning smell of this drug is the quintessence of the above animals.
7. What to eat at Cuc Phuong?
Ninh Binh mountain snails (collected photos)
After visiting and exploring for a round in Cuc Phuong, you can enjoy the specialty mountain goats and special mountain snails only available here. In addition, there are still many other attractive dishes such as grilled garden chicken, deep-fried perch with a cup of Muong rice wine…
Wish you have a wonderful experience, discovery, and memorable vacation when coming to Cuc Phuong National Park .
Source: Collected internet.