Contents
Introduction
Tien Son Cave is among the largest caves found in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. It arouses people’s curiosity thanks to its diverse and mysterious nature. Indeed, its landscape includes long rivers, huge mountains, lush forests, and especially stunning caves.
Likened “the place of wonder”, Tien Son Cave Vietnam proves its heavenly beauty through magical formations and impressive appearance. Besides, it hides a mysterious legend behind this beauty, leaving an even more curious atmosphere for visitors.
Let’s discover all about this cave with Phong Nha Private Car!
If you want to see prominent caves in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, we would like to introduce some cave tours for you:
- Paradise Cave And Phong Nha Cave Tour – 56 USD/person
- Paradise Cave And Dark Cave Tour 1 Day – 65 USD/person
- Elephant Cave & Ma Da Valley Jungle Trek 1 Day – 71 USD/person
- Ma Da Valley And Tra Ang Cave Hiking – 85 USD/person
Tien Son Cave Location
Tien Son Cave Vietnam is one of many caves found in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. It was discovered by a local inhabitant by accident in 1935. Located in Son Trach Commune in Bo Trach, it is 45 kilometers away from Quang Binh’s city center to the west-north.
This cave is about 200 meters above sea level and 1000 meters away from Phong Nha Cave. Tien Son Cave’s entrance is amid mountains and bushy trees, giving it a mysterious appearance.
Travel Guide To Tien Son Cave
How To Get To Tien Son Cave
If you want to reach Tien Son Cave, you have to enter Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province first. It’s not hard to go to Quang Binh as it has good roads and easy routes. You can get there by buses, trains, airplanes, private cars, taxis, or even motorcycles.
Yet, for buses, trains, and airplanes, you need to get another transfer from their stations to Phong Nha as they are in Dong Hoi. Moreover, for long trips from other areas to Phong Nha, taxis are quite expensive while motorcycles require a lot of energy.
We highly recommend you book a private car, which can take you right to wherever you want. Take a look at our private car transfers to Phong Nha:
- Dong Hoi Airport/Station to Phong Nha by private car – 17 USD/sedan
- Hue to Phong Nha by private car – 95 USD/sedan
- Da Nang to Phong Nha by private car – 143 USD/sedan
- Hoi An to Phong Nha private car – 147 USD/sedan
- Ninh Binh To Phong Nha by private car – 217 USD/sedan
- Hanoi to Phong Nha by private car – 260 USD/sedan
Tien Son Cave Opening Hours
You can visit Tien Son Cave from 07:30-16:00. Please take note of this time frame to better plan your trip.
Tien Son Cave Entrance Fee
- For adults: 90,000 VND (~4 USD)/person
- For children under 1.3 meters: free of charge
- Boat fees to Phong Nha & Tien Son: 550,000 VND (~24 USD)/boat /12 people (including life jackets)
Note: As the cave is connected to a river, a boat trip is necessary to visit it. You can share the boat with other people so that the boat fee is more affordable.
Legend About Tien Son Cave
In the name “Tien Son”, “Tien” means “Fairy” and “Son” means “Mountain”. As its name evokes, the locals told a legend related to this cave about the love between a brave man and a fairy.
Once upon a time, an aquatic monster was destroying innocent people’s lives. A courageous man wanted to exterminate that monster, so he set off on a big journey to search for a fairy who owned a magical sword. After overcoming deep abysses and towering mountains, he found her.
However, she was swimming in the lake without any clothes on. When thinking about his suffering people, he couldn’t wait any longer, but he couldn’t ask her in that situation. Thus, he decided to “steal” the magical sword. Thanks to that, he eliminated the monster and successfully protected his people.
Then, he immediately came back to return the sword. However, he saw the fairy crying alone. She didn’t dare to fly back to Heaven because she lost the precious sword. To beg for her forgiveness, he told her all about his situation. Fortunately, the fairy wasn’t mad at him but admired his bravery.
It’s Tien Son Cave where they developed a beautiful love. Soon, however, the Heaven residents knew about their story and called the fairy back right away for punishment. Being made to separate, they missed each other every day.
Their love melancholy moved the Jade Emperor, so he allowed the fairy to marry the earthman. He also bestowed her the magical sword so that the couple could protect their people. Plus, the Jade Emperor had his fairies create a heavenly scene for their date place, turning it into an earth paradise.
Local people use this story to explain why Tien Son Cave has such a heavenly beauty.
What Is Special About Tien Son Cave?
Picturesque Path To Tien Son Cave
Along the Son River, the path to Tien Son Cave appears exactly like what is usually depicted in art. When zooming out to the mountain’s foot, you will see rice paddies, as well as corn and sugarcane fields, stretching out gorgeously.
Peaceful rural features are reflected on this path, giving you a firsthand viewpoint of a typical Vietnamese countryside. You will definitely have perfect relaxation with this poetic scenery.
Heavenly Landscape Inside
Once you enter Tien Son Cave, you will see a heaven palace with thousands of formations in different shapes and colors. They cleverly pile up and connect, creating a consistent mass.
Its entry mouth is 1 kilometer from Phong Nha Cave, at an altitude of 200 meters. As one of the largest caves in Phong Nha-Ke Bang, this cave is up to 980 meters in length. Yet, tourists can only visit 400 meters of it. If you go 500 meters further, you have to encounter a dangerous underground reef of 10 meters in depth. This is only suitable for professional expeditionists.
Obviously, like Phong Nha Cave, Tien Son Cave also features spectacular stalactites and stalagmites shaped like fairy tales. Stalactite and stalagmite columns and walls here create strange sounds like that of a gong and drum when knocked with hands.
According to British cave scientists, the cave was created tens of million years ago when a water current holed this limestone mount in Ke Bang. Following a series of landforms and movement of rocks, this mass was levered or lowered.
This caused cave collapses, which blocked the current and created what is now Tien Son Cave. Meanwhile, the underground river redirected its current to Phong Nha Cave. Although these two caves are located next to each other, there are no linking grottoes between them.
Conclusion
In brief, Phong Nha Private Car has provided some information about Tien Son Cave, one of the must-see attractions in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. We hope that you have collected useful information for your travels in Vietnam. Thanks for reading!