If you’re looking for a short trip away from the hustle of Hanoi – Ba Vì is your place. It’s a short hour and a half bike trip which allows for a quick and affordable weekend away. Ba Vì National Park, originally a French Hill station, is created around three-peaked mountains jutting out of the otherwise seemingly flat landscape.
How to get there?
I rode my bike from Hanoi to Ba vi on a Friday evening after work. It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, with 100k petrol getting me there, around, and back. I would highly recommend taking your own bike (or hiring one there) due to there being a lack of taxis to take you around. And although Ba Vì is relatively small, the thought of walking around the national park makes me sweat.
If you travelling through Vietnam or you not so comfortable on a bike, there are lots of day or weekend trips, where a guide takes you where you need to go. These can be found anywhere along Ma May street in Old Quarter, Hanoi.
Where to stay?
You can type in “homestays in Ba Vì” in bookings.com and a number of options will pop up. However, I would highly recommend staying at BaVi Homestead. The staff are super friendly, you can book a private room with air conditioning and a relatively comfy bed, and its close and convenient to the national park and water park. They have a pool, darts, table tennis, and other various games to keep you busy. They allow you to keep your own drinks in their fridge or you can buy from them all through the night.
The town is very small so we ate at the homestead for every meal, but there are local Vietnamese places to grab a pho or fried rice.
The Bucket List 