(HBO) –Owning beautiful landscape with green mountains and forests as well as diverse cultural colours, the Hoa Binh Lake Tourism Area has become a popular tourist destination, attracting a large number of both Vietnamese and foreign tourists.




                 Photo: Early morning in a lake in Thai Thinh commune, Hoa Binh city

HoaBinh Lake was formed after the construction of the Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant. It is Vietnam's largest lake with a length of more than 100km and a capacity of nearly 9.5 billioncu.m, spanning the districts of Cao Phong, Tan Lac, Mai Chau, Da Bac and HoaBinhcity. The lake is home to 47 islands of different sizes, including 11 limestone islands covering 116 hectares, and 36 earth islands with total area of 157.5 hectares

Currently, many islands have been developed into attractive eco-tourism attractions such as Dua and Xanh islands and Coi Xay Gio guesthouse. Dua island is the current most popular destination, luring a large number of tourists thanks to the uniqueness of the stilt houses built with the Muong ethnic minority group’s traditional architecture, and special tourist activities such as fishing, fruit picking, boating and camp-firing. Visitors also have a chance to enjoy local dishes and Da River fish.

Before coming to the Hoa Binh Lake Tourism Area, tourists can visit the Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant –a work of the 20thcentury that was built from 1979 to 1994 with eight turbines units having total capacity of 1,920 MW. This is an important industrial project of Vietnam as well as an attractive tourist attraction. Visitors can go down to the tunnel of the plant to see its turbines and traditional house where a century message that the predecessors sent to the next generations is being kept. They will also contemplate the spectacular scene of the plant’s spillway, and offer incense to President Ho Chi Minh at his 18m-high statue on the Tuong hill where they have an impressive panoramic view of Hoa Binh city.

Every year, on the occasion of the early spring, the Bo Temple Festival is held from the seventh day of the first lunar month to the end of the third lunar month in Hoa Binh Lakearea. Visitors will experience the Mother Goddess Worshipping, a unique cultural activity of locals, which is also a popular spiritual cultural tourism site.

The Hoa Binh Lake Tourism Area is also home to pristine karst caves such as Thac Bo and Hoa Tien caverns which were named national relic sites by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. While inside the caverns are stalactites in various shapes, in the outside of their mouths, tourists can stretch their vision to admire the nature’s masterpieces on the lake’s green water surface with imposing mountains.

In May 2017, the biggest floating water park in Vietnam was inaugurated in Ngoi village of NgoiHoa commune, Tan Lac district, offering 34 groups of games with floating structures. Once visiting this place, tourists can experience water sports such as jetski, sailing inflatable boat, canoeing, kayaking, rafting and fishing which suit people of all ages.

The most interesting are community-based tourist sites of Muong ethnic minority people in Ngoi villageof Ngoi Hoa commune, Ke village of Hien Luongcommune, and Da Bia and Mo Hem villages of Tien Phong commune, which are associated with eco-tourism activities on Hoa Binh Lake and natural landscapes. It will be a fascinating experience for those who love trekking, visiting villages, exploring untouched caves or joining local farmers in netting and feeding the fish.

Due to the potential tourism resources, the Prime Minister signed Decision 1528/QD-TTg on August 1, 2016, approving an overall planning on the development of the Hoa Binh Lake National Tourism Area until 2030. The planning is an important orientation for Hoa Binh province to call for investment in tourism development and gradually meet the criteria of a national tourism area, the biggest tourism centre of the province and one of the 12 key national tourist sites of the northern midland and mountainous region. The unique tourism values imbued with cultural identities of Hoa Binh ethnic groups will give tourists unforgettable impressions of the Hoa Binh Lake Tourism Area.

                              Luu Huy Linh (Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

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