5 most spectacular Halong bay caves to explore

Famous for many beautiful and unique caves, Halong Bay has become a destination for many travelers who target for a journey of discovery and relaxation. With that, your Halong Bay tours must include one of the most following special Halong Bay caves.

Sung Sot Cave

Located in the heart of Halong Bay World Heritage, Sung Sot Cave is discovered by the French in 1901 with its first name being “the cave of wonders”. True to that title, Sung Sot Cave was voted as one of the 10 most beautiful caves in the world.

The cave then is re-named by locals being Sung Sot which means astonishment. Indeed, as the name itself, the moment you step in the cave, you will surprise with the scenery, the magical space inside the cave. The further you go, the more surprised you might get.

Sung Sot cave is divided into 2 main compartments with thousands of great stalactites. The larger theater-like compartment can accommodate thousands of people. The vast ceiling of this part combined with neon light makes you feel like the roof of this theater is the moon’s surface.

The second compartment opens up a whole new space. The rich system of stalactites on the ceiling of the cave form creates many unique shapes such as the old banyan tree, the bamboo, etc. When you reach the top of the cave, you might feel like getting lost in a fairy place where has a clear blue lake, many different kinds of plants and birds. The charming scenery of this part is extremely beautiful.

Thien Cung Cave

Bringing a splendid beauty, many travelers visiting Thien Cung cave think that this is a paradise on the ground. Thien Cung Cave was discovered in 1993, located on Dau Go Island, 4 km from the tourist port.

The road to visit the cave is quite difficult as it is all craggy cliffs and covered with green trees. However, this must have stimulated your desire of conquering. Once you overcome the difficulties and challenges, you will reach an amazingly beautiful Thien Cung cave. This cave is nearly 10,000m2 wide with the complex structure of many ceilings and walls compartments covered by a magnificent stalactite system. Stalactites are artworks of nature appearing everywhere in the cave. The center of the cave is four large, beautifully carved pillars.

The most impressive point of this cave is the last compartment that is connected to the outer space. In this part of the cave, you will find the sunlight crept through the ceiling to illuminate the inner space. This feature combined with the small gully, plants, and flowers forms a charming picture of nature right inside the cave.

Dau Go Cave

This cave is about 5000m2 wide with the cave gate being 17m wide and 12m high. Located at an altitude of 27m above sea level, Dau Go cave is divided into 3 main compartments with lots of beautiful stalactites on the walls and ceiling of the cave that creates a vivid painting of nature.

The first compartment is dome-shaped creating a large space. The ceiling is a huge painting with characters created from stalactites that exude a graceful and elegant appearance.

To the second compartment, you will meet the fanciful beauty of the sun’s rays shining on rock clusters like flowers on the ground, and the peaceful rocky islands protruding on the waves.

The third compartment is located at the top of Dau Go cave. This place impresses you with the emphasis of the towering pillars, finely honed by nature.

Tien Ong cave

Tien Ong Cave is located on Cai Tai island, belonging to Hang Trai island cluster, right behind the Cua Van fishing village. In 1938, a Swedish archaeologist named J. Anderson went on a journey to survey ancient Vietnamese traces in Tien Ong cave. There, he discovered gigantic sediments filled with stream shells and some fairly primitive pebble tools. Tien Ong Cave has been marked as an archaeological site on the distribution map of ancient Halong relics since that discovery.

If most of the caves on Halong Bay have a common feature of the moderate cave entrance, or caves’ inside space is very wide, Tien Ong cave has a nearly opposite structure. The cave gate is very wide (70m), like a “frog jaw”, the cave floor is about 5m high from the sea surface. Outside the cave, there are many falling stalactites – geological tectonic traces of nature. The cave bed slope gradually inward, about 50m deep. According to a survey of Halong Bay Management Board, Tien Ong cave bed is about 1,000m2 wide.

In the middle of the cave, the stalactites dropped from the top and grew from the bottom up creating a wall dividing the cave into two chambers.

Local people call this cave Tien Ong as in the inner compartment, there is a stalactite block that looks like a hibiscus.

As the cave is on the southeast side and many stalactites falling down in front of the cave, the air inside is always airy and cool in the summer, and quite warm in winter.

Thien Canh Son cave

Located in Cong Do Island Reserve, one of the most unspoiled islands of Halong Bay, Thien Canh Son cave is attractive due to its pristine natural beauty.

To get to Thien Canh Son cave, you will need to cross 400 stone steps under the forest canopy. Then crossing the entrance to the cave, you will admire the mysterious and magnificent beauty of Thien Canh Son with thousands of glittering stalactites. The cave ceiling is decorated with lots of shimmering stalactites hanging down making you think of the dome of medieval theaters with stalactite hanging lamps with a long life span.

These stalactites have been formed for up to thousands of years. And over time, through the wonderful hands of nature, these stalactites have beautiful shapes such as lotus, monkey, flower, seal, chandelier, etc.

When you come to Thien Canh Son cave, standing in front of the long beauty of the amazing nature, you will feel the eternal steps of time on the stalactites. Although there are many fluctuations outside the cave, in Thien Canh Son cave, it seems that the fairy landscape is always there.

Suggested Halong Bay tours

• Northern Vietnam Highlights 6 Days
• Halong & Cat Ba Charm Discovery 5 Days
• Charms of Hanoi & Halong Bay 4 days

That is all the op Halong bay caves that you should not miss. Take Vietnam tours to discover those magnificent wonders now!

Phuong Dao – Travel Lover