Over 400 Tay households (accounting for 90% of the whole community) live in traditional stilt houses which have two floors made of wood, bamboo and double roof tiles. 

In a traditional stilt house of the Tay ethnic minority, the first floor is often used to store agricultural products and keep animals, while the second floor is the living space.

In recent years, many households in the Quynh Son Commune have built more modern stilt houses with the first floor used for keeping motorcycles, televisions and refrigerators. With an impressive cultural identity and unique traditional architecture, many stilt houses have also been built to serve community-based tourism activities.

Quynh Son Commune of stilt houses seen from above.

Concrete roads to the villages

The newly-built stilt house of a well-off family

Visitors joining art activities in stilt houses

Nong Luc Temple in Bac Son District bears the traditional architecture of the Tay ethnic people’s stilt houses.

Hai Duong (Nhan Dan)

Rock stilt houses of Tay ethnic people in Cao Bang province

Khuoi Ky village in Trung Khanh district, Cao Bang province, is famous for its stilt houses built of rocks and its tradition of worshipping the Rock God.