Lai Chau has many plateaus of over 1,500m high. This is a place with pristine natural landscapes that are not much affected by human hands, including many magnificent high mountains with pristine caves, beautiful primeval forests... suitable for adventure and exploration tourism activities.

Go to Lai Chau for mountain trekking

Vietnam has 10 highest mountain peaks, with up to 6 peaks located in Lai Chau province. This is one of the strengths for Lai Chau to develop a discovery tourism model.

These six peaks include Pu Ta Leng of 3,049m; Pu Si Lung (3,083m); Khang Su Van (3,012m); Bach Moc Luong Tu (3,046m); Ta Lien Son (2,996m); and Nam Kang Ho Tao (2,881m).

Mr. Tran Hao, an Australian Vietnamese, said: "I have a group of travel friends. Every time we have the opportunity to return to Vietnam, the first destination we visit is the Northwest, and one of the places that we always come is Lai Chau.”

“In Lai Chau, we not only enjoyed the beautiful landscapes of the Northwest region and experienced the unique life and culture of the indigenous people, but we were completely conquered when we explored the roads in Lai Chau, especially the journey to explore caves, trekking mountain peaks to admire the wild beauty...".

As someone who has conquered many high peaks in Lai Chau, Mr. Hao said that to reach these towering mountains, people must cross streams, go through forests, and then climb slopes from gentle to slippery terrain, especially having to immerse themselves in the fog and cold of the Hoang Lien Son range. In return, they have the chance to immerse themselves in magical nature and admire rare and beautiful scenes, even better than in their dreams.

Coming to Lai Chau, tourists will walk among the vast forest of cardamom, with towering ancient trees, inhaling the faint scent of cardamom; stand high up and admire the majestic waterfall. The most prominent among the vast green forests are the shimmering colors of maple leaves and rhododendron flower forests with all the beautiful and brilliant colors when conquering Khang Su Van peak in Phong Tho district.

Tourists will also admire the "paradise" of colorful azalea flowers if they go trekking at the top of Pu Ta Leng, Ky Quan San (Bach Moc Luong Tu).

Unlike Pu Ta Leng and Ky Quan San, if they trek to Pu Si Lung peak, they will see the forest of reeds, chit and the white pink azalea forest in full bloom, lighting up the entire sky.

And when they reach the top of Ta Lien Son, from an altitude of nearly 3000m high, tourists can see the panoramic view of the beautiful Lai Chau city and the Northwest villages hidden behind the cliffs. In particular, standing on the top of Ta Lien Son, they can see the Hoang Lien Son range, Bach Moc Luong Tu peak, Nhiu Co San,...

Many backpackers said that if they choose to travel to explore the high mountains in Lai Chau, the appropriate time to go is from September to the end of April next year. At the end of the year, people will admire the brilliant red color of a series of maple trees in the middle of the mountain, or go through forests of camellia, azalea... And if you go there in spring, you will admire the endless "green" space of ancient forests...

Exploring many pristine caves

Gentler than climbing high peakss, another interesting experience in Lai Chau is exploring caves.

Lai Chau has about 20 large and small caves that have been discovered, hidden deep in the heart of the mountain.

Only about 5 km from Lai Chau city, Pu Sam Cap is the largest cave complex, with very deep branches that very few people have fully explored.

There are also Tien Son cave in Binh Lu commune, Tam Duong district, Gia Khau cave in Nam Loong commune, Lai Chau city which also attract many tourists who love adventure in nature.

To get to these caves, visitors have to walk through the forest following trails made by indigenous people. The world inside the caves with darkness, silence and stalactites of various shapes and interesting shapes can bring strong emotions.

Trying paragliding - an adventure sport

In recent years, tourists who love adventure and exploration when coming to Lai Chau are often introduced to the adventure sport of paragliding.

This tourism model is organized in Si Thau Chai village (Ho Thau commune, Tam Duong district). This village has an altitude of 1,500 m, very suitable for this sport, so it is chosen by paragliders to organize paragliding tours.

From Si Thau Chai village, tourists will experience the feeling of freely flying in the sky and see the beautiful scenery of the mountains and forests, or admire terraced fields running long and winding along the immense mountainside... and then land at Tam Duong district stadium.

Previously, paragliders who wanted to fly long distances had to go to Thailand or European countries such as Switzerland, Italy... However, since 2019, Lai Chau has organized the Pu Ta Leng Open Long Distance Paragliding Tournament in Tam Duong district, gathering hundreds of domestic and foreign pilots. This is Vietnam's first paragliding tournament that meets international standards and is recognized by the International Air Sports Association (FAI).

In 2020, six colorful hot air balloons flew into the sky of Lai Chau for the first time, attracting the attention of residents and tourists with the unique experience of viewing the city from a height of 50m.

And at the end of 2021, Lai Chau succeeded with the Tam Duong Paragliding Festival program, attracting more than 90 domestic and foreign pilots. This event helped Lai Chau be honored as the place with the best paragliding flight performance in Vietnam.